Abortion

Axios - The legal battle over accessing abortion pills is returning to the Supreme Court after a panel of appeals court judges on Friday froze federal rules allowing the teleprescribing and mailing of the widely used drug mifepristone. The ruling was a major win for the anti-abortion movement, which had been pressing the Trump administration to reinstate in-person dispensing requirements.

Danco Laboratories, the maker of mifepristone, asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to stay the decision, saying it "injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions." The maker of a generic version made a similar request.

• A 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Friday sided with Louisiana in a case challenging Biden administration rules that expanded access to mifepristone.
• The state argued the federal rules undermined its laws protecting unborn human life and caused it to spend Medicaid funds on emergency care for women harmed by mifepristone.
• A lower court judge had ruled last month that mail-order prescriptions for mifepristone should continue while the FDA finishes a safety review of the drug.

Reproductive rights advocates said the appeals court ruling will force women to navigate new barriers to access the drugs, even in states where abortion is legal. It also puts the Trump administration in a bind after the  president vowed not to block access to abortion pills on his watch.

The Supreme Court threw out a challenge to the mifepristone rules in 2024, finding that doctors who pressed the case lacked legal standing. More