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US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has issued an order temporarily restoring nationwide access to the mail-order abortion pill mifepristone.
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The order halts a lower court ruling that required patients to pick up the pill in person
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Access to the drug through the health sector will be in effect at least until May 11
TUESDAY, May 5, 2026 (NewsDay News) – US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. On Monday, it issued an order allowing patients to continue to get the abortion drug mifepristone by mail order.
The one-sentence order halts Friday’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, which required a private transfer. mifepristoneaccording to Newspaper “Washington Post”.
If the lower court’s ruling is upheld, health care providers will no longer be able to prescribe and dispense the drug to their patients over the phone. Instead, patients must obtain a prescription from their healthcare provider — a previous requirement by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that was lifted during the pandemic in 2021.
About a quarter of abortions in the United States are now reportedly provided via telemedicine New York Times.
Danco Laboratories, a drug manufacturer and GenBioProthe maker of its generic version, asked for an immediate stay of the lower court’s decision – one According to Danko, he described it as “unprecedented” in his appeal The Post.
“Never has a federal court ordered the immediate approval of a multi-year drug; restricted the distribution system of a drug that manufacturers, providers, patients, and pharmacies have used for years; or reinstated conditions that the FDA determined did not meet mandatory statutory criteria,” Danko wrote.
In its emergency filing, GenBioPro wrote: “The order concerns drug sponsors, health care providers, patients and the public — all of whom rely on the exercise of scientific judgment and orderly administration of the Nation’s complex drug regulatory system.”
The FDA is conducting a review of mifepristone, and the Trump administration has asked a lower court to stay the case pending its completion.
Alito’s suspension will last until at least May 11, he said The Timeswhen the full court will then determine how to move forward.
More information:
The US Food and Drug Administration has more information mifepristone.
SOURCES: Newspaper “Washington Post”.May 4, 2026; New York TimesMay 4, 2026
What does this mean for you?
Currently, patients can get mifepristone by mail from their doctors.
