A federal appeals court in New Orleans just upended the way most abortions are carried out in the United States.
On May 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a nationwide stay of the FDA’s 2023 rules that allowed mifepristone, the most widely used abortion drug in America, to be prescribed through telehealth appointments and mailed directly to patients. The order is effective immediately and restores the pre-2021 requirement that patients pick up the drug in person at a clinic or qualified provider’s office.
The ruling came from a three-judge panel acting on a challenge brought by Louisiana officials, who argued the FDA’s loosened rules amounted to an end-run around state abortion laws. In granting the stay under 5 U.S.C. § 705, the court found that Louisiana had demonstrated real sovereign and financial injury, and that the FDA itself admitted it was still collecting safety data and could not say when its review would be
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