Telehealth abortion will remain available for now, after a federal judge's ruling

Health Telehealth abortion will remain available for now, after a federal judge's ruling April 7, 20269:52 PM ET Selena Simmons-Duffin An abortion-rights rally outside the Supreme Court on March 26, 2024 when the justices heard another case about mifepristone, one of the drugs used in medication abortion. The High Court did not roll back the FDA's approval of the drug in that case. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images A federal judge in Louisiana ruled Tuesday that access to a drug used in abortions can remain as it is nationally for the moment. But the 37-page ruling by Judge David C. Joseph is far from an endorsement of telehealth abortion, which has become far more common in the past few years, now accounting for more than one in four abortions in the U.S. The judge granted a request from the Food and Drug Administration to put a hold on the case for now while the agency completes its own review of the safety of mifepristone, a medication that's been available in the U.S. for more than 25 years and is now widely prescribed by medical providers through telehealth appointments.  Health Despite state bans and restrictions, the number of abortions in the U.S. holds steady While the ruling is sympathetic to Louisiana's arguments about the harms it suffers from mifepristone being available via telemedicine, "ultimately it is FDA, not this Court, that possesses the expertise to evaluate scientific evidence and make public health judgments," writes Joseph, a Trump appointee. By granting a stay in the case, he says the FDA should be allowed to complete its safety review, and orders the agency to update the court on its progress in six months. A split in Trump's support When it comes to abortion, "we're seeing a kind of civil war between Republicans about how quickly and how far to go that the Louisiana case exemplifies," says Mary Ziegler, legal history professor at the University of California, Davis. "Abortion opponents [...