A federal appeals court in the United States on Friday temporarily suspended the mail shipment of mifepristone, the pill used for most abortions in the US. The ruling applies to the entire country.
The court’s decision requires the pill to be obtained in person from doctors or clinics, once again limiting American women’s access to abortion. That access had already been hampered since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022, which ended the federal guarantee of the right to abortion.
Friday’s unanimous ruling by three judges of a conservative appeals court in New Orleans follows a request from the Republican state of Louisiana. It already has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. The state had also opposed lifting the obligation for patients to collect mifepristone in person. This happened in 2023 at the initiative of the American Medicines Authority (FDA).
The Court of Appeal now contradicts an earlier ruling by a court of first instance.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed her satisfaction with the court’s ruling on X and called it a “victory for life.”
