Danco Laboratories moved urgently to the Supreme Court on Saturday, asking the nation's highest court to freeze a fresh lower court ruling that would force the abortion pill mifepristone to be dispensed only in person. The company also requested an immediate pause on the decision while the justices weigh the full appeal.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had just hours earlier reinstated an old in-person requirement for mifepristone distribution, blocking telehealth and mail access to the medication. That ruling came at Louisiana's request and delivered a major victory to abortion restrictions advocates who have fought to tighten access to medication abortion.
In its filing, Danco's legal team argued the lower court had overstepped dramatically. "The Fifth Circuit's decision immediately ends" the FDA framework the company had relied on for distribution, the lawyers wrote, warning of "disruption and confusion" if the ruling remained in place. They pointed out that the court had wiped away conditions that had governed mifepristone sales for more than five years, calling the move "unprecedented."
Danco emphasized that mifepristone is its sole product and that a nationwide ban on mail and telehealth distribution would strip away its only revenue stream. "Danco will lose its only source of revenue and may be unable to continue operating," the company's lawyers stated.
Mail access to mifepristone has become a critical lifeline since the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Women in states with abortion bans have relied on remote access to the pill, with medication abortions now accounting for more than half of all U.S. abortions. A nationwide shift to in-person-only distribution would severely limit this pathway.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson swiftly backed Danco's appeal. "Activist judges once again upended countless lives by making it harder for patients to get the care they need, when and where they need it," she said in a statement, pledging continued defense of mifepristone access.
The case traces back to a 2023 FDA decision to permanently adopt a Covid-era policy that permitted telehealth and mail distribution of mifepristone. Louisiana challenged that guidance last year, setting in motion the legal battle now reaching the Supreme Court.
Two years ago, the Supreme Court had already rejected a challenge to mifepristone, ruling that a group of doctors lacked standing to sue over access to the pill. That decision left nationwide mail and telehealth distribution intact, until Friday's Fifth Circuit action.
In its Supreme Court filing, Danco pushed back on the idea that a single state should be able to reshape national drug distribution policy. "The stay factors show that the public interest and equities weigh against allowing the Fifth Circuit to change the availability of a drug nationwide at the request of a single state," the company argued.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The speed with which this landed at the Supreme Court's doorstep shows how volatile abortion access remains, and the Fifth Circuit's willingness to upend five years of settled distribution practice overnight is a stark reminder that the judicial battle over medication abortion is far from over."
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