The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that chemical abortion drug mifepristone should not be distributed through the mail or prescribed via telemedicine in a ruling that cannot take effect until the Supreme Court issues a ruling on the decision.
The appeals court did not go as far as U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk who moved to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone earlier this year, but it did reinstate regulations on mailing and prescribing the pill. Mifepristone is used in up to half of all abortions.