Appeals court ends nationwide access to abortion pills via telehealth and mail

BREAKING NEWSMay. 1, 2026, 10:23 PM UTCAbortion RightsAbortion RightsAppeals court ends nationwide access to abortion pills via telehealth and mailThe ruling is a blow for abortion rights advocates, since it reinstates a requirement that mifepristone — one of the two pills used in medication abortions — be distributed in person.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00A patient prepares to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for a medication abortion during a visit to a clinic in Kansas City, Kan., in 2022.Charlie Riedel / AP fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Aria BendixA federal appeals court on Friday granted the state of Louisiana's request to reinstate a nationwide requirement that abortion pills be dispensed in person. The ruling represents a victory for opponents of abortion rights, since it limits access by blocking people's ability to obtain mifepristone — one of the two pills used in medication abortions — through telehealth and by mail.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Telehealth prescriptions have been key to maintaining abortion access in states that outlawed or restricted the practice after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.“Anti-abortion politicians have just made it much harder for people everywhere in the country to get a medication that abortion and miscarriage patients have been safely using for more than 25 years,” Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the Reproductive Freedom Project of the ACLU, said Friday in a press release.During the Covid pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration temporarily eliminated a requirement for mifepristone to be dispensed only in clinics, medical offices and hospitals. The change was then made permanent in 2023.Louisiana challenged that FDA regulation in federal court last year, alleging that the data to support it was flawed or nonexistent. Multiple studies have shown that mifepristone is safe and effect...