FILE - Mifepristone tablets ("abortion pill") sit on a table at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
Courts in the United States continue to litigate the distribution by mail of the abortion pill, mifepristone. After a federal appeals court this spring ruled that mifepristone can only be distributed in person and at clinics, the Supreme Court temporarily restored access. Access is preserved for now in states where (medication) abortion is legal, but the issue of future availability remains unresolved.
Acting attorney general Todd Blanche has committed to stopping the shipment of abortion medication through the mail. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent Blanche a letter, referring the nonprofit Plan C and manufacturer Danco Laboratories for criminal investigation.
Yet last week, a federal judge in Virginia upheld the safety of the abortion medication mifepristone and ordered the Trump administration to reconsider restrictions on the drug.
At the same time, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is set to hear oral arguments next month in a case brought by the state of Louisiana. The state is asking the court to block telemedicine prescriptions and mail delivery of mifepristone. Separately, the attorneys general of Louisiana, Idaho and Missouri filed a federal lawsuit in October 2025 seeking to ban telehealth abortion and pharmacy dispensing of mifepristone nationwide.
