With 5th Circuit’s Temporary Block of Abortion Pill by Mail, Louisiana v. FDA Might Get SCOTUS Review – RedState
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling in the case Louisiana v. FDAwhich was a major blow to the abortion industry. The Fifth Circuit temporarily blocked the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2023 changes to its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) rule, which allowed the abortion pill Mifepristone to be distributed over-the-counter and by mail, without medical safeguards or oversight.
Los Angeles Attorney General Liz Murrill shares “victory for life” on social media:
🚨BREAKING: Victory for life! Fifth U.S. Circuit blocks Biden’s abortion scheme that facilitated the deaths of thousands of Louisiana babies through mail-order abortion pills.
The Biden abortion cartel facilitated the deaths of thousands of babies in Louisiana (and millions in other… pic.twitter.com/1ROMOUMXrb
– Attorney General Liz Murrill (@AGLizMurrill) May 1, 2026
BREAKING: Victory for life! Fifth U.S. Circuit blocks Biden’s abortion scheme that facilitated the deaths of thousands of Louisiana babies through mail-order abortion pills.
The Biden abortion cartel facilitated the deaths of thousands of babies in Louisiana (and millions in other states) through the illegal mail-order sale of abortion pills. Today, this nightmare is over, thanks to the hard work of my office and our friends at @ADFLegal. I look forward to continuing to advocate for women and babies as this case continues.
Learn more: The abortion pill now accounts for most abortions in the United States. Hawley wants it off the market.
Pro-life laws didn’t kill Amber Thurman, the abortion industry did
Here are the order details:
A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Friday temporarily blocked a federal rule allowing mail distribution of the abortion drug mifepristone.
A panel of the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Louisiana would likely succeed in challenging the federal rule adopted under the Biden administration, according to Reuters.
The order also adds to a lower court’s ruling that Louisiana and abortion drug coercion survivor Rosalie Markezich would likely win the case, but said the lower court erred in denying immediate relief and that the Food & Drug Administration could still complete its review of mifepristone’s safety.
“The public interest is not served by perpetuating a medical practice whose safety, the agency admits, has not been sufficiently studied,” the judgment states. “Indeed, the public interest demands the opposite.”
The decision, although temporary, significantly restricts access to the drug nationally and particularly in states that have banned abortion. A previous rule required the medication to be dispensed in person.
The Biden administration’s FDA changed the REMS rule in response to the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, which removed the so-called right to abortion as a federal protection, placing the issue of abortion access back in the states.
The FDA has permanently removed the in-person dispensing requirement and added a new pharmacy certification process, which will allow retail pharmacies meeting certain qualifications to dispense mifepristone directly to patients who have a prescription from a certified prescriber. All other previous REMS requirements for mifepristone remain in effect, including the need for prescriber certification and completion of prescriber and patient agreement forms. How the updated REMS mifepristone will affect clinical practice will vary depending on state-specific abortion laws and regulations.
This change in the REMS rule left the door wide open for Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion organizations to create mail-order sites that allowed the abortion pill to be sent to states that had restricted abortion. In 2023, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), on behalf of a group of obstetricians and pro-life groups, filed a lawsuit against the FDA and Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of the abortion pill, (FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine) for the REMS change to be reversed and reinstated to the pill dispensed in person through a medical provider. In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that doctors lacked standing to sue at the federal level. However, the principles and merits of bringing the case were intact; it simply required a different group of plaintiffs.
Enter Louisiana AG Murrill, who led the charge on behalf of his state to fight the mail-in abortion system. On April 7, a federal court ruled that Louisiana did indeed have standing to challenge the FDA policy because it “causes the state irreparable harm, according to Friday’s ruling” and “was likely unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act.” This, along with the addition of abortion drug coercion survivor Rosalie Markezich, moved the needle for the case to be heard before the Fifth Circuit panel.
Don’t miss this critical discussion of state sovereignty from today’s 5th Circuit decision in Louisiana v. FDA. ⬇️
When federal policy is designed to undermine a state’s legal code, it is not simply a matter of political disagreement. It is a sovereign harm.
Each State should take note: if the… pic.twitter.com/S9ibg3rZGH
– Kristen Wagoner (@KristenWagoner) May 2, 2026
Don’t miss this critical discussion of state sovereignty from today’s 5th Circuit decision in Louisiana v. FDA. ⬇️
When federal policy is designed to undermine a state’s legal code, it is not simply a matter of political disagreement. It is a sovereign harm.
Every state should take note: If the federal government develops regulations with the express purpose of circumventing your laws, you are not helpless. You have the ability to fight back.
After the favorable ruling on May 1, Murrill said in a statement:
“The Biden abortion cartel facilitated the deaths of thousands of babies in Louisiana (and millions in other states) through the illegal sale of mail-order abortion pills. Today, that nightmare is over, thanks to the hard work of my office and our friends at the Alliance Defending Freedom. I look forward to continuing to defend women and babies as this case continues.”
ADF President and CEO Kristen Wagoner also commented on the decision, writing on X:
The human cost of the FDA’s recklessness cannot be overstated. In Louisiana alone, nearly 1,000 abortion drugs are illegally shipped into the state each month, despite its pro-life laws. That’s nearly 1,000 babies killed every month in just one state. And the FDA’s black box warns that about 1 in 25 women will go to the emergency room after taking abortion medications as directed. Nonetheless, he chose to allow the drugs to be mailed to circumvent pro-life state laws after the Dobbs decision.
This left countless women suffering the trauma of induced labor without a medical examination and allowed abusive men, human traffickers, and other bad actors to order these high-risk medications online and force or trick women into taking them.
Chemical abortion accounts for approximately 63 percent of abortions nationwide, so any restrictions on the use of these drugs not only limit the tool used by the merchants of death to continue the practice of killing babies, but also affect the bottom lines of drug manufacturers who profit from the widespread use of mifepristone.
That’s why the aforementioned Danco Laboratories filed an emergency petition on Saturday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the Fifth Circuit’s ruling.
A pharmaceutical company that manufactures and distributes the abortion pill Mifepristone asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to block a federal appeals court ruling barring doctors from prescribing the drug through telehealth services or dispensing it by mail.
Delaware-based Danco Laboratories, LLC, filed an emergency petition with the high court seeking an “immediate administrative stay” of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision while the court considers the appeal.
“The committee’s decision injects immediate confusion and upheaval into very urgent medical decisions – and it requires Danco, [Food and Drug Administration] The FDA, certified Mifeprex providers, patients, and pharmacies are all left to guess what is allowed and what is not,” the attorneys wrote in the filing.
With a plaintiff now having a stake in court and a pharmaceutical manufacturer pushing to have the court’s ruling blocked so its abortion pill can continue to be freely distributed, it appears the same SCOTUS that might have thought it had wiped its hands of the abortion issue is back in the thick of things.
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