A US court restricts access to abortion pills by mail

Washington.- A U.S. federal appeals court temporarily reinstated this Friday the requirement that pills used for medication abortion be dispensed in person and can no longer be sent by mail.

The decision was adopted by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and responds to a lawsuit filed by the state of Louisiana against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which questioned the rules that allow prescription via telemedicine and dispensing without an in-person medical visit. The ruling, issued by a majority of judges appointed in different Republican administrations, argues that current federal regulations allow circumventing state restrictions on abortion by facilitating access to drugs like mifepristone through remote consultations. The case is framed within the growing legal battle surrounding medication abortion in the United States, which currently accounts for around two-thirds of abortion procedures, in a context of strong political division, following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that eliminated federal protection for abortion. We recommend reading: After the ruling, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the measure a “serious act” because it would endanger women who “live in rural areas, suffer from domestic violence or have a disability” and will lose “the option of telemedicine” which is the same as losing access to the medication.