Supreme Court restores access to abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth, mail and pharmacies

By MARK SHERMAN and GEOFF MULVIHILL
May 4, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone, blocking a lower-court ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortions are provided across the nation.

The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor.
Those practices had been permitted for several years until a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions last week.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pills-mifepristone-supreme-court-louisiana-0533e83d67148fdfec53b1d0d30c1e8a

USA – A Right-Wing Court Just Moved to Choke Off Abortion by Mail

A sweeping decision threatens to unravel one of the most important pathways to care post-Dobbs.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
May 1, 2026

A federal appeals court packed with conservatives has handed abortion opponents a major victory against the US Food and Drug Administration, reinstating an in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion medication mifepristone and shutting down telemedicine providers—at least temporarily—from prescribing the abortion pill across the US.

In a 3-0 order issued Friday afternoon, the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals granted Louisiana’s request for an injunction against FDA rule changes from 2023 that have allowed blue-state telehealth providers to send mifepristone to thousands of patients every month in states where abortion is banned. Abortion pills now account for almost two-thirds of abortions nationwide.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/a-right-wing-court-just-moved-to-choke-off-abortion-by-mail/

USA – Inside the legal fight over the telehealth clinics that help women defy abortion bans

Every month, thousands of women evade abortion bans in their home states by turning to telehealth clinics willing to send them pregnancy-ending drugs through the mail

By MICHAEL HILL and SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press
June 12, 2025

Every month, thousands of women thwart abortion bans in their home states by turning to telehealth clinics willing to prescribe pregnancy-ending drugs online and ship them anywhere in the country.

Whether this is legal, though, is a matter of debate. Two legal cases involving a New York doctor could wind up testing the shield laws some states have passed to protect telehealth providers who ship abortion pills nationwide.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/inside-legal-fight-telehealth-clinics-women-defy-abortion-122763768

Louisiana mother pleads not guilty following abortion pill indictment

By: Lorena O'Neil
March 11, 2025

A mother from Port Allen caught up in a landmark abortion pills case pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony criminal charges for allegedly providing her minor daughter with medication to end her pregnancy.

The woman was indicted Jan. 31 for allegedly giving her teen daughter pills she had obtained through the mail. Dr. Margaret Carpenter, the New York physician who allegedly prescribed and sent the pills to Louisiana, was also indicted on felony changes. It’s the first criminal case of its kind in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Continued: https://lailluminator.com/2025/03/11/abortion-pill-10/

Arrest warrant issued for New York doctor indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pill

By SARA CLINE and GEOFF MULVIHILL
January 31, 2025

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor indicted on Friday by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge unanimously issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and the minor’s mother. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-indictment-lousiana-new-york-doctor-63ff4d9da8a9b592a7ca4ec7ba538cd3

USA – ‘Clinics will be forced to close’: Abortion rights backers fearful of upcoming Supreme Court ruling

'Clinics will be forced to close': Abortion rights backers fearful of upcoming Supreme Court ruling
A Louisiana law in question requires clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.

June 7, 2020
By Chloe Atkins

The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on its first major abortion case since President Donald Trump put in place a conservative majority on the bench.

At the heart of the case is a Louisiana law, Act 620, that requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. If the law is upheld, a district court found that Louisiana would be left with one abortion clinic to serve the nearly 10,000 women who seek abortions in the state annually.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/clinics-will-be-forced-close-abortion-rights-backers-fearful-upcoming-n1226721

USA – The Future Of Abortion Is In The Hands Of John Roberts

The Future Of Abortion Is In The Hands Of John Roberts
Medically unnecessary laws regulating abortion have been exposed as dishonest attempts to close clinics. Will the Supreme Court still give them legal cover?

03/06/2020
By Melissa Jeltsen, HuffPost US

In 2016, Louisiana had six abortion clinics. By 2017, the number had dwindled to three. Soon, there may be only one clinic left to serve nearly 1 million women of reproductive age in the state. Whether or not this happens will likely depend on the outcome of a critical abortion case now with the Supreme Court.

The case centers on a Louisiana law that requires doctors who provide abortions to have “admitting privileges” at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic, a difficult-to-obtain arrangement that critics say is a sly attempt to wipe out abortion access in the state.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/john-roberts-abortion-supreme-court_n_5e613793c5b601904ea6fd78?ri18n=true

A nervous wait at Louisiana abortion clinic at center of U.S. Supreme Court fight

A nervous wait at Louisiana abortion clinic at center of U.S. Supreme Court fight

Lawrence Hurley, Reuters
February 18, 2020

SHREVEPORT — A 27-year-old woman from southern Arkansas waited nervously at the Hope Medical Group for Women after traveling two hours for a medical procedure that is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain in certain parts of the United States: an abortion.

Four weeks pregnant, the woman felt she had no option but to seek an abortion because she suffered serious medical complications during her last pregnancy, which ended in stillbirth.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/a-nervous-wait-at-louisiana-abortion-clinic-at-center-of-u-s-supreme-court-fight

The Louisiana Clinic At The Center Of Abortion Case Before Supreme Court

The Louisiana Clinic At The Center Of Abortion Case Before Supreme Court

December 29, 2019
Sarah McCammon

On a recent Saturday morning at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, La., Kathaleen Pittman was preparing for a day of procedures, as a couple dozen patients sat quietly in the waiting area.

Her clinic is challenging a law passed by Louisiana's state legislature in 2014, which requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital in case of an emergency. The case, June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee, is scheduled to go before the U.S. Supreme Court next year, and the court's decision has the potential to chip away at existing precedent protecting abortion rights.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/29/791514162/the-louisiana-clinic-at-the-center-of-abortion-case-before-supreme-court

USA – One of Supreme Court’s most important abortion cases has just begun

One of Supreme Court’s most important abortion cases has just begun

By CBS News -
November 26, 2019

The lawsuit that will decide the future of abortion access in Louisiana – and the rest of the country – is officially underway.

A 63-page opening brief was filed late Monday night by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) in a Supreme Court case that could leave Louisiana without access to legal abortion and provide a roadmap for other anti-abortion access states to follow.

Continued: https://www.wcbi.com/one-of-supreme-courts-most-important-abortion-cases-has-just-begun/