More than 250 congressional Democrats urged the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday to keep the Food and Drug Administration’s telehealth and mail-order rules for mifepristone in place, entering the merits stage of a Louisiana lawsuit that could reimpose a nationwide in-person dispensing requirement.

Mifepristone was approved by the FDA in 2000 and is used in a two-drug regimen for medication abortion.

The amicus brief, filed as the case heads toward en banc oral argument, was signed by all 47 Senate Democrats and 212 House Democrats.

It backs the FDA’s 2023 rule permitting mifepristone to be prescribed by telemedicine and dispensed by mail or at retail pharmacies, a policy Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is seeking to strike down under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The lawmakers wrote that Louisiana “now seeks to re-impose this onerous nationwide restriction on all Americans,” warning that granting the state’s request would undermine the FDA’s congressionally mandated approval process.

The dispute has already run one full lap through the courts.

A three-judge 5th Circuit panel sided with Louisiana on May 1 and reinstated the in-person requirement nationwide while the appeal proceeded, briefly cutting off access to telehealth and pharmacies.

Two weeks later, the Supreme Court blocked that order for the duration of the litigation, over dissents from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, restoring the 2023 rules and sending the case back to the 5th Circuit.

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Tagged: Abortion BACK TO HOMEPAGE