Supreme Court Extends Temporary Stay Maintaining Telehealth Access to Mifepristone — But Threats Loom

LOS ANGELES, CA — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court extended a temporary stay that maintains mifepristone access via telehealth, pausing a Louisiana lower court ruling that would have blocked access to the medication through telehealth. The Louisiana case will continue legal proceedings and could ultimately return to the Supreme Court. 

Let us be clear: Mifepristone is still accessible through telehealth for the time being. The freedom for people to control their own bodies, lives, and futures is a human right — and access to mifepristone through telehealth is fundamental to that right. Essential Access Health will continue working to secure every person’s freedom to control their lives, bodies, and futures.

The safety of mifepristone and telehealth abortion care is well-established and backed by hundreds of studies and real-life experience, and telehealth care is just as safe as in-person dispensing methods. Any attempt to restrict or ban access to mifepristone through telehealth is not based in science. 

Eliminating that access would cause immediate, serious harm to people across the country. Roughly one in four abortions in the United States are now provided through telehealth — and nearly half of those are for people living in states with abortion bans. 

The American public is clear: the majority support access to medication abortion, including through telehealth. And despite years of relentless legal and political attacks, people continue to access the care they need — and providers continue to find ways to reach them. 

Essential Access Health will continue to advocate for every person's right to make their own healthcare decisions, free from political interference.