The US Supreme Court on May 14 (US time) decided to allow abortion drug mifepristone to continue to be prescribed through remote medical examination and sent by mail, while Louisiana's lawsuit is still being considered.
The ruling was issued after two pharmaceutical companies Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro proposed to restore the 2023 federal regulation of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under former President Joe Biden. This regulation loosens access to abortion drugs.
The court did not state the reason in the brief decision and did not sign, which is common in emergency rulings. 2 conservative judges Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas opposed the decision.
On May 1, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans once requested the restoration of the old regulation requiring patients to meet medical staff directly to receive mifepristone.
Mifepristone was approved by the FDA in 2000 and is now part of a two-drug abortion regimen, usually used in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. According to the FDA, this drug is safe and effective if used in accordance with instructions.
The new ruling brings the abortion issue back to the center of US politics before the November congressional elections, in the context of President Donald Trump's Republican party seeking to maintain control of Congress.
Controversy over abortion rights increased after the 2022 Dobbs ruling, when the Supreme Court overturned the precedent of Roe v. Wade in 1973, which recognized abortion rights throughout the United States. After that, 13 states applied a near-complete abortion ban.
Louisiana sued the FDA in 2025, arguing that the 2023 regulation was illegal and caused the number of abortions using drugs to increase sharply despite the ban in this state. Louisiana also accused the FDA of ignoring the risk of serious complications such as sepsis and bleeding.
The Trump administration opposes Louisiana's lawsuit, arguing that the state does not have the appropriate legal basis to pursue the case and the FDA is still reviewing safety regulations related to mifepristone.
Abortion rights organizations consider lawsuits against mifepristone to be the biggest threat to abortion access in the US since the Dobbs ruling.
