Patients can still get a key abortion drug from a pharmacy or via telehealth after the Supreme Court extended its block of a lower-court ruling until May 14, 2026 at 5 p.m.
The Court on May 11, 2026 extended its stay on a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that had temporarily prevented mifepristone, one of two drugs commonly used in U.S. medication abortions, from being accessed outside an in-person health-care visit.
The abortion-access case had been making its way through the courts since last year, when Louisiana sued the Food and Drug Administration over a 2023 rule change that allowed mifepristone to be prescribed remotely and dispensed through the mail or by a pharmacy. Previously, the agency had required the pill to be dispensed in-person at a clinic or other health facility.
That rule change greatly expanded access to telehealth abortion care, allowing health-care providers to serve patients living in states that banned abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
(Read more: Everything you need to know about abortion pill access)
In her 2025 lawsuit, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill argued that the FDA’s 2023 policy ran afoul of the state’s near-total abortion ban. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed her a win on May 1, 2026, when it temporarily blocked the FDA’s rule, restricting mifepristone access nationwide.
The next day, GenBioPro and Danco Laboratories, the two pharmaceutical companies that manufacture mifepristone, filed emergency petitions with the Supreme Court. And on May 4, the Court had temporarily stayed, or paused, the Fifth Circuit’s block until May 11 at 5 p.m. Eastern, restoring broad access to telehealth abortion care. That deadline has now been extended for at least a few more days.
This is a developing story. RNG will update this article as the case continues.
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