National Right to Life Responds to Supreme Court Decision

on Lower Court Orders Regarding Mifepristone

WASHINGTON — National Right to Life expressed deep disappointment today following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that allows loosened regulations surrounding the abortion drug mifepristone to remain in place while broader legal and scientific questions continue to be debated.

“This decision is deeply troubling because it leaves women exposed to powerful abortion drugs,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Women facing unexpected pregnancies deserve real medical care and support, not a one-size-fits-all mail-order abortion system that minimizes risks and leaves women isolated during medical emergencies.”

Under President Biden, the FDA expanded access to mifepristone through telehealth prescribing and mail delivery. Louisiana and other states have argued that the agency failed to adequately consider the impact on women’s health, emergency medical systems, and state authority to regulate medical practice. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the Biden-era FDA rule that allowed abortion pills containing mifepristone to be distributed through the mail without an in-person medical visit.

“When abortion drugs can be ordered online with minimal medical oversight and shipped directly to homes, women become more vulnerable to coercion, manipulation, and exploitation,” Tobias said. “There have already been disturbing reports of abusive partners obtaining abortion drugs and administering them to women without their knowledge or consent. A regulatory system with weaker safeguards makes these crimes easier to commit and harder to prevent.”

Ongoing concerns include incomplete adverse event reporting, emergency room visits linked to chemical abortion complications, and the lack of meaningful long-term study regarding the effects of increasingly unrestricted distribution of abortion drugs.

Tobias added, “The evidence and concerns surrounding chemical abortion remain serious and unresolved.”

National Right to Life will continue advocating for policies that protect women and their unborn children.