Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen commonly used to terminate pregnancy before 10 weeks and to treat miscarriage. (Photo: Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court extended a long-awaited stay, blocking an appeals court recess on telehealth abortion access until May 14.
US Food and Drug Administration-approved medication abortion regimen will continue to be available via telehealth, one week later uncertainty among abortion patients and providers.
“We hope that by extending this critical temporary administrative suspension, some of the chaos and confusion that caused patients and providers this past weekend will be reduced,” Evan Masingill, CEO of abortion pill maker GenBioPro, one of the defendants in the case, said in a statement.
May 4 Supreme Court he stayed temporarily the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling to reinstate the FDA’s in-person requirement for mifepristone, which the Biden administration officially eliminated in 2023. Last week, several physician groups filed friend of the court panties arguing that cutting off access to mifepristone could harm many women seeking abortion and miscarriage treatment. Republican Attorneys General z 23 statesMeanwhile, he insisted The Supreme Court does not allow providers to mail mifepristone.
People in states that ban or restrict abortion access continue to depend on abortion providers prescribing the FDA-approved mifepristone-misoprostol regimen via telemedicine and mailing it to patients.
According to novel preliminary findings from the Family Planning Society, telehealth abortions accounted for 28% of all abortions at the end of 2025, up from 25% at the end of 2024.
Lawyers representing Louisiana they argued that in addition to undermining the state’s abortion ban, the federal rulemaking process allowing abortion medications to be prescribed via telehealth was flawed.
University of Michigan law professor Samuel Bagenstos, who served as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Biden administration’s implementation, said the policy was well-thought-out and evidence-based.
“The 2023 update was the result of an extremely careful, thoughtful, time-consuming and painstaking process to ensure the evidence was followed,” Bagenstos said. He added that if the plaintiffs prevail, ending telehealth access to mifepristone nationwide would have “truly harmful effects on women across the country, as well as a truly destabilizing effect on the drug approval system.”
Louisiana’s lawsuit against mifepristone has nationwide ramifications and could threaten residents of states with access to abortion and so-called Abortion Shield Actsuch as Maryland.
Regardless of what happens in this case, abortion providers he told Stateline are committed to continuing to provide telehealth abortions, although potentially without mifepristone. Dr. Angel Foster, a telehealth provider in Massachusetts, a shield state, said about 100 patients requested pills for future operate last week, up from 34 in all of April. She said constantly changing rules on abortion access, followed by sensational news headlines, continue to cause confusion among people seeking abortion or treatment for miscarriage.
“At this point, I live and breathe abortion and I find it can be difficult to keep up with the ever-changing legal environment and the way things are framed and framed,” Foster said. “When you’re a patient and all you see is the headlines and you have to understand what that means for you, it’s really complicated.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the number of Republican attorneys general who have asked the Supreme Court to prevent mifepristone from being prescribed through telehealth visits. It should be 23.
Stateline reporter Sofia Resnick can be reached at: sresnick@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by state linewhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
