The state argued it has a legal right to sue because, among other reasons, the FDA’s policy allowing medication abortion to be sent through the mail impinges on the state’s “sovereignty.” The hypocrisy is thick, Flaxman says, since the lower court’s decision didn’t just end the mailing of mifepristone to residents of Louisiana, but to … Read more
Although untouched by the Fifth Circuit’s ruling, misoprostol is not necessarily immune to legal attacks. Louisiana’s lawsuit and parallel suits filed by Florida and Missouri argue that the Comstock Act—a dormant, 19th-century anti-obscenity statute that anti-abortion legal strategists have spent years working to resurrect—bars the mailing of any drug used to induce abortion. This reading … Read more
But the state-by-state patchwork of women’s rights remains an untenable reality, and the ferocity of the anti-choice movement’s misogyny has not been abated. The Supreme Court has kicked the can down the road, perhaps hoping to keep the issue’s salience to a minimum ahead of the elections. But this uneasy political settlement over abortion access … Read more
But the medication in question are not used exclusively for abortion. Doctors routinely prescribe them for miscarriage management, endometriosis, fibroids, complications from Cushing’s disease and other serious reproductive health conditions, where they can prevent infection or reduce severe pain. and Enforcement is unlikely to involve inspecting packages. Instead, it would likely focus on providers, telehealth … Read more
The Supreme Court on Monday provisionally blocked a lower court decision that would have limited availability nationwide of the abortion pill mifepristone. Read more at NBC
Drugmakers file emergency appeal to restore abortion pill access The emergency appeals ask the high court to temporarily restore a federal policy that allows the pills to be prescribed online and delivered by mail, arguing that failing to do so would cause “immediate chaos” and leave patients around the country in limbo. and The decision, … Read more
Appeals court approves sweeping abortion pill restrictions, teeing up SCOTUS showdown The decision, which applies to both states like Louisiana that ban abortion and states that allow the procedure, restores the FDA’s prior policy mandating that patients only obtain the drug in person from a physician. It is arguably the biggest rollback in access to … Read more
To Jay, a win for Paxton would put patients in a risky place, forcing doctors and nurses to choose between “doing what is medically right, or doing what is politically ‘safe.’” “That is a dangerous place for any healthcare system to be,” Jay said, noting that “when politicians override clinicians, patients pay the price” through … Read more
But recent blue-state efforts to regulate these outposts of the anti-abortion movement have run into the buzzsaw of the right-wing Supreme Court, as the crisis pregnancy centers shroud themselves in First Amendment protections. In 2018, the Court knocked down a California law that would have forced the pregnancy centers there to inform patients about their … Read more
Letitia James will ‘step in to defend’ New York doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to Texas The move on Monday tees up a showdown between states that ban abortion and those that protect it – one that, legal experts say, challenges fundamental constitutional issues and will likely end up in front of the US … Read more
