WASHINGTON — The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision today temporarily blocks the Biden-era FDA rule that allowed abortion pills containing mifepristone to be distributed through the mail without an in-person medical visit. Today’s decision restores a critical layer of oversight for women’s health and state authority and reinstates the prior requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in person while litigation continues.

“This decision is an important step toward restoring common-sense medical safeguards that were recklessly discarded by the Biden administration in the rush to expand abortion pill access,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Mail-order abortion drugs bypass basic protections such as physical exams, accurate pregnancy dating, screening for ectopic pregnancy, and the abortion-by-mail scheme complicates emergency care.”

Tobias continued, “Women deserve better than an abortion-by-mail system that prioritizes ideology over safety.”

The court’s ruling comes amid growing legal and medical scrutiny over the FDA’s loosening of mifepristone regulations under the Biden administration, particularly the removal of in-person dispensing requirements in 2023. Louisiana argued that the federal government failed to adequately justify these changes and ignored serious risks, including hemorrhage, sepsis, and complications that may require emergency intervention.

“For years, pro-life advocates have warned that mailing abortion drugs across state lines undermines both women’s health and duly enacted state protections for unborn children,” Tobias said. “Today’s decision recognizes that the FDA cannot simply sweep legitimate safety concerns aside in favor of politics.”

Medication abortions now account for a majority of U.S. abortions, making regulatory accountability more urgent than ever.

“The abortion industry has aggressively pushed convenience over caution,” Tobias added. “Women facing unexpected pregnancies deserve real medical care, real information, and real support—not dangerous shortcuts.”

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.