Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Halts Abortion Pill Access by Mail, Appeal to SCOTUS

 Is the state of Louisiana harmed if women living there can receive abortion pills by mail?

Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Halts Abortion Pill Access by Mail  The court order, in a lawsuit by the state of Louisiana, pauses a Food and Drug Administration regulation that greatly expanded access to the abortion pill mifepristone. 
By Pam Belluck

"A federal appeals court issued a ruling on Friday temporarily halting the ability of abortion providers to prescribe pills using telemedicine and send them to patients by mail, blocking what has become a major avenue for women seeking abortions in recent years.

"The order comes in a case in which the state of Louisiana is suing the Food and Drug Administration, seeking to sharply curtail access to the abortion pill mifepristone. In the order, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted Louisiana’s request for a temporary stay of the F.D.A.’s decision several years ago to remove a requirement that patients see a medical provider in person before the pills could be prescribed.

"The court order, citing Louisiana’s claims that making pills available by mail has allowed patients there to access the medication despite the state’s near-total abortion ban, said that “Louisiana has shown that it is irreparably harmed without a stay.”

"In April, a Federal District Court in Louisiana had declined to pause the availability of pills by mail, instead saying that the proceedings should be delayed until the F.D.A. completes a safety review of mifepristone that is underway and is expected to take until late this year."

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And here's the NYT on the appeal by pharma companies to the Supreme Court:

Supreme Court Asked to Restore Access to Abortion Pill by Mail  By Ann E. Marimow and Pam Belluck

 "Administration officials recently told The New York Times that the review would not be finished until the end of this year, a time frame that would fall after the midterm elections.

"The mifepristone case puts the Trump administration in a politically tricky position, given that many of President Trump’s supporters oppose abortion."