Supreme Court briefly extends telehealth and mail access for mifepristone as deliberations continue

By John Fritze, CNN

(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Monday extended a short-term order that will allow patients to continue to access the abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth visits while the justices deliberate over a high-profile emergency appeal.

Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary order last week that allowed widespread access to the drug while it considered the case. That “administrative” order had been set to expire Monday evening. The new order extends that stay until Thursday at 5 p.m. ET.

The order keeps on hold a May 1 decision from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that had abruptly required women to obtain the drug through in-person visits.

Alito, a conservative, handles emergency appeals rising from the 5th Circuit. His order, as is typical with “administrative” stays, included no rationale or explanation.

The case is the most significant involving abortion to reach the high court since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 precedent that established a constitutional right to abortion. And both the case and mifepristone are heavily wrapped up in that decision. After the fall of Roe in 2022, many conservative states banned in-clinic abortions, which increased demand for mifepristone.

Louisiana sued the Food and Drug Administration last year over its policy allowing telehealth access to the pill, asserting in part that the Biden-era regulation undermined its abortion ban. A federal district court in April partly sided with the state, finding that the FDA’s policy was arbitrary and capricious because the agency did not have adequate data to judge the drug’s safety. But the district court held its own decision to give FDA time to complete a review of the drug.

But a 5th Circuit panel of three judges, all appointed by Republican presidents, put the FDA’s rule about mifepristone on hold immediately earlier this month. That meant that patients seeking to access the drug over the weekend were suddenly required to do so with in-person visits. Medical providers who spoke to CNN described the hours following that order as some of the “craziest” and most “chaotic” they’ve experienced.

Danco Laboratories, the maker of mifepristone, raced up to the Supreme Court on May 2 with an emergency appeal, warning of the chaos. GenBioPro, which makes a generic version of the drug, filed its own appeal asserting that the 5th Circuit’s ruling risked “cutting off access for patients nationwide.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

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