US Supreme Court asked to restore abortion pill access

A lower court has limited mail-order access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which the drug's maker says will cause "irreparable harm".

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In a decision issued on Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily reinstated a requirement that abortion pills be obtained in person.

That will, for now, curb access to abortion pills - the most common method of terminating pregnancies in the US - in states where abortion is banned.

In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed doctors to send pills without seeing patients in person, giving women the ability to receive the pills by mail or at a pharmacy through telemedicine.

"Every abortion facilitated by FDA's action cancels Louisiana's ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that 'every unborn child is human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person,'" the appeals court wrote in the order.