New court-imposed restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone could cut off access to the drug entirely for months, the Biden administration and the drug's distributor, Danco Laboratories, said in petitions asking the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the curbs.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily put a lower court order imposing significant restrictions on the distribution of the abortion drug mifepristone on hold through next Wednesday as the high court considers a request by the Biden administration to block the restrictions.
The abortion pill mifepristone will remain available in the United States for now but with significant restrictions, including a requirement for in-person doctor visits to obtain the drug, a federal appeals court ruled.
U.S. telehealth and in-person abortion providers scrambled on Thursday to keep medication abortion services available after a federal appeals court ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone could be distributed amid ongoing litigation but with significant restrictions.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a dispute over the abortion pill mifepristone after U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas last Friday suspended approval of the drug, effectively banning it nationwide.