By Andrew Rice | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – The U.S. Supreme Court will temporarily allow women to obtain abortion pills through the mail, without visiting an in-person doctor.
Justices on the court blocked a ruling out of Louisiana that would have restricted a woman’s ability to access a pill through the mail. Louisiana already has a ban on the abortion drug mifepristone, but sought to prevent its access through the mail from other states.
An order, finalized by the Joe Biden administration in 2023, allowed for women to access mifepristone without an in-person doctor’s visit. A federal judge ruled in favor of Louisiana last week, blocking access to the pill through the mail.
Danco and GenProBio, two abortion drug makers, filed emergency requests to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking relief from the order. The high court’s temporary order, from Justice Samuel Alito, will give time to weigh the requests for one more week.
“Making it a federal crime to mail drugs for lawful medical purposes contravenes nearly a century of precedent and all indicia of Congressional intent,” Danco Laboratories wrote. “It would also significantly interfere with states’ traditional power to enact their own ‘health and welfare laws.’”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said removing the in-person doctor’s visit requirement causes undue harm to women. She said the lack of an in-person doctor’s visit facilitates potential abuse an coercion for women who do not want abortions.
“We will continue to pursue enforcement of our laws, both civilly and criminally, against anybody who has facilitated the distribution of these drugs for the purposes of causing an abortion,” Murrill said. “It is a violation of our criminal laws, and we will pursue them and hold everyone accountable.”
Louisiana is not the only state challenging either the approval of mifepristone or subsequent actions easing the restrictions for mailing abortion pills. Missouri, Idaho, Kansas, Florida and Texas have also challenged the ease of restrictions.
Justices on the nation’s highest court will hold the ban in place until May 11, while they further consider the restrictions and weigh whether to take up the emergency petitions.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Scores of people have been killed after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, authorities said, as rescuers struggled to reach some of the hardest-hit areas, while a less powerful tremor was reported in North Sumatra province.
Five people were injured, one critically, in a shooting involving multiple gunmen at Virginia State University early Saturday, authorities said, a day after six people, including a suspected shooter, died in separate shootings in Michigan.
Romania and neighboring Hungary are facing an energy crisis linked to a record heat wave and the related low level of the Danube River, with Romania forced to shut down its last operating nuclear reactor while Hungary struggles to keep the only one of its four Paks reactors still operating online.
An elderly Christian leader has been detained in India for allegedly offending the religious sentiments of the Asian nation’s Hindu majority on social media.
Members of Pakistan’s Christian minority were reeling Friday after numerous violent incidents over faith and what they say were false allegations of blasphemy against Islam, the majority religion in the Asian nation.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits remained relatively low in early August, offering another sign that widespread layoffs have yet to take hold even as hiring across the U.S. economy remains subdued.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a second preemptive airstrike in Gaza in two days Thursday, targeting a Hamas terror cell in Khan Yunis that Israeli military officials said was preparing an attack against Israeli forces.