Fifth Circuit Questions Louisiana's Standing In Mifepristone Case
Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,
A federal appeals court on Sept. 9 questioned whether Louisiana, which has a near-total ban on abortion, has standing to force a nationwide return of in-person dispensing for abortion drug mifepristone, which patients can now obtain by telehealth and mail.
Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic in Rockville, Md., on April 13, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
A medication abortion generally involves mifepristone, which blocks the hormone progesterone, and misoprostol, which induces contractions.
Louisiana says mifepristone can cause heavy bleeding and, in rare cases, life-threatening infection, and that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should bring back the pre-2023 rule requiring the drug to be dispensed in person at a clinic, office, or hospital. The state argues the Biden-era change, which allows a certified prescriber to order the pills by telehealth services and a pharmacy to mail them, skipped an adequate safety review and undercuts Louisiana's abortion ban.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily blocked the rule in May, but later that month the Supreme Court lifted that ...
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