Abortion pill maker asks Supreme Court to pause telehealth prescription block
May 2 (UPI) -- A company that makes the abortion drug mifepristone on Saturday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately pause a ruling that prevents doctors from prescribing it during telehealth visits.
Late Friday, a three judge panel on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of the state of Louisiana in a case asking the court to block doctors from prescribing the drug in telehealth visits.
Louisiana in the last four years has moved to prevent women in the state from obtaining abortion care legislators there were among the first to ban abortion after the repeal of Roe v. Wade, and later blocked doctors from prescribing the medical abortion pill in virtual telehealth visits.
The company, which is not the only drugmaker planning to file an appeal, said that patients will be stuck in limbo because of the lack of clarity it leaves for legal use of the drug, NBC News and Politico reported.
Roughly half of all abortions in the United States are performed using medications.
"Danco has been free to rely on procedures set by the FDA to distribute its product," lawyers for the company said in a filing with the court.
"The Fifth Circuit's decision immediately ends that," the lawyers said. "A stay should issue to prevent the disruption and confusion that will result if the decision below were to remain operative."
In addition to Danco, Politico reported that GenBioPro, which also manufactures the drug, has indicated that it will also file an appeal with the court.
Mifepristone was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000 for medical termination of pregnancy and, until the COVID-19 pandemic, could only be prescribed during in-person appointments.
Early in the pandemic and the country locked down in an effort to stem the spread of the virus, doctors sued the FDA to allow them to prescribe mifepristone during telehealth visits.
The FDA temporarily changed the rule, but in 2023 adopted it permanently as some states started to restrict access to abortion and abortion services after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
Pharmaceutical companies and patient advocates warned that the restriction circumvents the FDA's regulatory authority, which is based on evidence and data, and that it may offer a path for people to challenge other medications based on personal interest or opinion.
In the case of Danco, it also immediately filed the appeal because it is the only product it makes and "without a valid legal framework for distributing that product, Danco will lose its only source of revenue and may be unable to continue operating."
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This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 2:09 PM.