With a ruling expected by Monday, Gov. Maura Healey and local reproductive rights advocates are calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to allow continued telehealth access to the abortion drug mifepristone, which is currently in jeopardy thanks to a lawsuit brought by the state of Louisiana against the Food and Drug Administration.
“My message to the Supreme Court: do the right thing,” Healey said at a press conference Friday, where she was flanked by politicians, members of her cabinet, and advocates. “Protect mifepristone. Protect women’s access to healthcare in this country. There’s no medical or legal reason to do otherwise.”
Healey added that “the targeting of mifepristone isn’t about healthcare. The targeting of mifepristone isn’t about science. It’s an attack on women. To be clear: this whole discussion, this whole debate, all these court cases, it’s all about an attack on women.”
On Monday, Justice Samuel Alito put a one-week stay on a recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals which said that, across the country, mifepristone could no longer be prescribed via telemedicine visits or sent through the mail and had to be prescribed in person instead.
That ruling involves a 2025 lawsuit brought by the state of Lousiana, which has a near-total abortion ban, against the Food and Drug Administration, which changed its rules in 2023 to allow broader access to mifepristone. The ruling described the use of mifepristone as “unsafe,” a claim with which Healey and other speakers took vigorous issue.
Dr. Luu Ireland, the chief medical officer of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, described last week’s ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as “reckless and baseless.”
“Abortion pills are safe, legal, and they’re here to stay,” Ireland said.
After noting that more than half of the abortions at PPLM are provided via a combination of mifepristone and a second drug, Ireland reiterated her characterization of the use of those drugs as safe.
“These two medications together are the most effective medication regimen for abortion and for managing early miscarriage,” Ireland said. “The antiabortion groups who brought this case pretend it’s about safety, but there is nothing about this decision that will increase patient safety or have any clinical benefit whatsoever.”
“Abortion care is legal and available here in Massachusetts,” said Taylor St. Germain, the co-executive director of Reproductive Equity Now. “Medication abortion, including using mifepristone, is safe, effective, and currently accessible in the commonwealth.
“The federal court decision that was released last Friday was the latest escalation in a coordinated effort to restrict abortion care nationwide, even in protected states like ours,” she added. “So yes, as of today, telehealth abortion care with mifepristone remains available. But this could change again as early as Monday.”
Massachusetts has consistently embraced pro-abortion rights policies in recent years, including the ROE Act, which codified the provisions of Roe v. Wade in state law before the Supreme Court’s reversal of that decision in 2022, and the Shield Law, which protects patients and providers who seek and provide abortions or gender-affirming care. The latter law first passed in 2022 and was updated to provide enhanced protections.
In 2023, when a federal court ruling temporarily blocked the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, Healey announced that the state would stockpile thousands of doses of the drug to ensure its accessibility to Massachusetts residents.
Last year, the number of medication abortions provided by Massachusetts providers to people living out-of-state soared, making up the majority of all abortions provider by local healthcare organizations.
