The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed women to continue to access the abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth visits, maintaining the status quo while officials in Louisiana continue to push for limiting availability of the drug in lower courts.
The conservative Supreme Court imposed a pause on a May 1 decision from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that abruptly required women to obtain the drug through in-person visits. The focus will now return to the New Orleans-based appeals court, which will decide the merits of Louisiana’s challenge.
The court did not explain its reasoning, nor did it disclose the vote count. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the decision.
The order landed nearly half an hour after an earlier “administrative” stay extending widespread access to the drug expired at 5 p.m. ET.
“The court’s unreasoned order granting stays in this case is remarkable,” Alito wrote in his dissent.
“What is at stake,” he added, “is the perpetration of a scheme to undermine our decision” overturning Roe v. Wade four years ago.
Thomas wrote in a brief solo dissent that he thought a long-dormant 19th century law that bans the mailing of drugs used for abortions barred the manufacturers from getting courts to intervene on their behalf.
The companies, he wrote, “are not entitled to a stay of an adverse court order based on lost profits from their criminal enterprise. They cannot, in any legally relevant sense, be irreparably harmed by a court order that makes it more difficult for them to commit crimes.”
Also notable was that the court did not agree to hear arguments in the case, as both sides had asked it to do. Instead, the decision means the merits of the case will now be hashed out in a federal appeals court and the issue will likely reach the Supreme Court again in the future.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
