The Supreme Court of the United States has temporarily upheld the postal delivery access to an abortion pill, mifepristone, used in the majority of abortions in the country.
The highest American court extended its suspension of the decision made on May 1 by an ultra-conservative appellate court, which temporarily blocked the mailing of this abortion pill, preventing American women from accessing it in their mailboxes.
This suspension will remain in effect until the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, decides whether or not to take up the case on the merits.
The nine judges had until Thursday to rule on the legal challenge brought by the laboratories Danco and GenBioPro, which manufacture mifepristone, a medication used in medication abortions – which accounted for nearly two out of three abortions in the United States in 2023.
At least two conservative judges, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, have expressed their disagreement with the decision made.
In its petition to the Supreme Court, Danco argued that the suspension of postal delivery “causes immediate confusion and disruption for manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, pharmacies, and patients across the country” for “highly time-sensitive medical decisions.”
“What happens when patients enter pharmacies today to get the pill prescribed by a provider yesterday? What should a patient do if she cannot get an in-person appointment immediately?” he questioned.
In the United States, one in four people who had a medically supervised abortion by early 2025 did so via a telemedicine prescription, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a leading organization on the subject.
Suspending the mailing of the abortion pill would further restrict access to voluntary pregnancy termination (abortion) in a country where, since 2022 and the historic ruling of the Supreme Court, the right to abortion is no longer guaranteed at the federal level and is now in the hands of each state.
This was a procedure initiated by Louisiana, a state that adopted one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, which led to the decision of the ultra-conservative appellate court.
In 2024, the Supreme Court had already rejected an attempt to restrict access to mifepristone for procedural reasons, finding that opponents of abortion and the doctors behind the challenge did not have the legal standing to act.
Mifepristone is generally used in combination with misoprostol for medication abortions in the United States.
