The Supreme Court on Monday restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone, blocking a ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortion is provided across the nation.
The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor.
Those rules had been in effect for several years until a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions last week.
The majority of abortions in the U.S. are obtained through medications, usually a combination of mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol. Their availability has blunted the impact of abortion bans that most Republican-led states have started enforcing since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed for state bans.
Louisiana sued to restrict access to mifepristone, asserting that its availability undermined the ban there.
Some Democratic-led states, including Massachusetts, have laws that seek to give legal protection to those who prescribe the drugs via telehealth to patients in states with bans.
In fact, Massachusetts has some of the nation’s strongest protections for abortion providers. In March, a report from the state’s Department of Public Health found that more abortions are now being provided to people living outside of the state than residents. Most of those appointments are happening without any in-person visits, through prescriptions to mifepristone.
Alito’s order will remain in effect for another week while both sides respond and the court more fully considers the issue.
Manufacturers of mifepristone filed emergency appeals asking the Supreme Court to step in.
