May 14 (UPI) — The Supreme Court on Thursday opted to allow mail orders of the abortion drug mifepristone to continue for now as a legal battle challenging the practice continues to play out.
In the order handed down Thursday, the high court granted a continuing a stay of a lower-court order blocking mail orders of mifepristone.
The order did not specify how many justices voted in favor of continuing the stay, but two conservatives members — Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — issued written dissents to the decision.
“The Court’s unreasoned order granting stays in this case is remarkable,” Alito wrote. “What is at stake is the perpetration of a scheme to undermine our decision” overturning constitutional abortion rights in the landmark 2022 Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
The latest ruling allows mifepristone to continue to be sold via mail across the country, even in states where local laws ban abortion. It came three days after the high court had granted an emergency extension of the stay blocking last week’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit banning the distribution of mifepristone via mail.
The lower court’s May 1 ruling came in response to a suit filed by the state of Louisiana against the Food and Drug Administration, which under President Joe Biden in 2023 began allowing patients to be prescribed mifepristone through telehealth, certified pharmacies or by mail order.
Louisiana officials say that FDA rule violates their state abortion regulations.
The high court’s stay came at the request of drug manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, who argued Louisiana has no grounds to sue because it has suffered no harm from the FDA rule.
The Supreme Court’s reprieve for mifepristone drew praise from abortion and women’s rights supporters.
“The Supreme Court just preserved mifepristone access for now,” Illinois Gov. J.D. Pritzker said in a social media post. “The American people shouldn’t constantly be worried that one ruling could strip away access to medication that was medically proven safe decades ago.
“I’ve been and will always fight for your reproductive freedom,” he said.
“Mifepristone was safe and effective when the FDA first approved it over 25 years ago, and it has been safe and effective since,” added the Democratic Women’s Caucus.
Conversely, abortion opponents assailed the ruling.
“Today’s order is tragic and wrong,” said Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action. “The Supreme Court has allowed the mail order abortion pill regime to continue while litigation moves forward, enabling abortion businesses to ship deadly drugs across state lines and into states that have acted to protect preborn children.
“This is a direct assault on the right of states to defend innocent human life, and on the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of equal protection, which must extend to every human being, born and preborn.”