The commonly used abortion pill mifepristone will remain on the market with restrictions, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans ruled the pill could not be delivered by mail or prescribed by telemedicine and should only be accessible in person.
As reported by The Dallas Express, these methods of obtaining the drug have become common in red states.
The Fifth Circuit’s ruling will not immediately take effect, as an emergency order from the U.S. Supreme Court in April preserves the pill’s availability by mail during the appeals process.
An emergency order from the U.S. Supreme Court in April preserved the status quo pending an appeal over whether the pill, sometimes called Mifeprex, its brand name under manufacturer Danco Laboratories, should have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the first place.
“This means that, until final judgment, Mifeprex will remain available to the public under the conditions for use that existed in 2016,” read the Fifth Circuit’s opinion, per CBS News.
The three-judge appeals court was reviewing an order from U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, who ordered it off the market.
Kacsmaryk heard the original lawsuit filed in November by Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and four doctors who oppose abortion.
Mifepristone, the first of two pills taken to induce a chemical abortion, blocks a woman’s progesterone receptors, stopping fetal growth, according to the Mayo Clinic. Misoprostol, the second pill, induces contractions to expel the fetus.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Medical Association have said in court filings that pulling mifepristone off the market would force patients who wanted to terminate their pregnancies to undergo more invasive surgical abortions.
“Recent evidence highlighting the potential for mifepristone to significantly improve the safe and effective medical management of early pregnancy loss, such as a missed abortion, provides incentive to facilitate improved access to mifepristone,” ACOG said on its website.
The appeals court panel included Jennifer Walker Elrod, James Ho, and Cory Wilson. Ho said in a separate opinion that he believes the FDA’s initial approval in 2000 violated the agency’s own rules and must be invalidated.
In May, Ho said: “I don’t understand this theme [that] ‘the FDA can do no wrong.’ That is basically the narrative you’re putting forth — nobody should ever question the FDA,” CNBC reported.
The case is likely to be appealed to the full Fifth Circuit and then to the U.S. Supreme Court.