Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued an order Monday allowing the abortion pill to continue to be available through remote appointments and mail, putting on hold an appeals court decision that had found the FDA botched its approval of the process.
Justice Alito, a George W. Bush appointee, issued what’s known as an administrative stay, which blocks the lower court decision for a week while the high court hears more briefing and considers the case more fully.
He made the move just three days after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling and two days after two pharmaceutical firms asked the high court to intervene.
The lower court’s ruling had upended both abortion policy and politics, shoving the perennially thorny issue back on the front burner.
At issue is mifepristone, a drug critical to medication abortions, which allows a pregnancy to be terminated without a surgical visit.
The drug has been approved for decades but had traditionally required an in-person visit and distribution.
The Biden administration’s Food and Drug Administration issued new rules allowing it to be prescribed by a telehealth appointment and sent through by post. That move was seen as a counter to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which spurred abortion bans in some states.
Louisiana, which has a strict abortion law, sued to shut down mail distribution, arguing it trampled on the state’s prerogatives.
The FDA, meanwhile, has admitted the Biden approval wasn’t sufficient. It is conducting a re-review.
But the 5th Circuit said Louisiana shouldn’t have to wait for that.
“The public interest is not served by perpetuating a medical practice whose safety the agency admits was inadequately studied,” Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee, wrote for the court.
He said the FDA’s approval needed to be put on hold nationwide.
GenBioPro Inc. and Danco Laboratories LLC, the manufacturers, had rushed to the high court to delay the ruling from taking effect.
The case puts President Trump under scrutiny.
His administration had largely been trying to stay out of the legal battle, urging the courts to let the FDA finish its new review.
The American Civil Liberties Union called Monday’s delay “a positive short-term development.”
“The Supreme Court needs to put an end to this baseless attack on our reproductive freedom, once and for all,” said Julia Kaye, an ACLU lawyer.
As of early last year, 27% of all abortions in the U.S. were done by telehealth, fueling a rise in overall abortions nationwide.
The total went from 1,058,650 in 2023 to 1,123,920 in 2024 and 1,126,470 in 2025, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The abortion pill now accounts for roughly two-thirds of all terminations.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.