NEW ORLEANS – A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous ruling Friday temporarily blocking a Biden-era FDA rule permitting the abortion pill mifepristone to be sent through the mail.
In the ruling, the judges noted that “[e]very abortion facilitated by FDA’s action cancels Louisiana’s ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that ‘every unborn child is human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.'”
The decision applies nationwide, reestablishing critical regulations on the dangerous drug which is increasingly prescribed online and mailed nationwide – including to states with laws banning or limiting abortion.
“Mifepristone is a dangerous drug, and allowing it to be mailed nationwide has put women and unborn babies at serious risk while undermining state pro-life laws,” said Oregon Right to Life executive director Lois Anderson.
“When the FDA recklessly allowed the abortion pill to be prescribed online and sent through the mail, it created an environment where anyone could access mifepristone through a simple online form,” Anderson continued. “The results have been serious. Women and girls have been placed at risk of injury and even death because they did not receive basic protections like accurate pregnancy dating or screenings for ectopic pregnancy. Abusive partners have been able to obtain mifepristone to secretly cause forced abortions. The harm is far from theoretical.”
“The abuse is real and it’s about time it was stopped,” she added. “The Fifth Circuit Court made the right decision today.”
The Friday decision by the federal appeals court comes after the FDA initiated a safety review of mifepristone following a 2025 study finding the adverse reaction rate associated with the drug to be over one in ten (10.93%), twenty-two times the one currently listed on its official FDA label.
Federal regulations and safeguards on abortion drugs have been severely eroded over the past decade. In 2016, the FDA expanded the timeframe in which mifepristone could be prescribed during pregnancy and removed the requirement to report complications that do not result in death. In 2023, the FDA implemented its new policy permitted the online prescription of mifepristone and its distribution through the mail. Local pharmacies were also authorized to dispense the drugs. That permission was also extended to retail pharmacies, including Walgreens and CVS.
Pro-life advocates have long raised the alarm that – in addition to their intended lethality for the unborn – abortion drugs pose serious risks to women.
Without a required ultrasound, women and girls may be incorrectly prescribed abortion pills even if they have a later or ectopic pregnancy, placing them at risk of serious side effects or even death. Meanwhile, online prescription and distribution through the mail further increases the risk that bad actors may obtain the pills to carry out forced abortions.
A recent national poll found that 69% of respondents across the political spectrum agreed that “it makes sense for the FDA to bring back” the requirement for in-person doctors’ visits removed under the Biden administration.
Friday’s temporary ruling is likely to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
