Ban Lifted on Abortion Pill by Appeals Court, but Mail Order Still on Hold

A federal appeals court has taken action to allow the abortion medication Mifeprex and its mifepristone generic forms to stay on the market, with the same restrictions that existed before FDA loosened prescribing requirements in 2016.

The ruling follows the April decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas who ruled that the FDA had improperly approved the abortion pill more than 20 years ago. The drug is currently used in an estimated 53 percent of all abortions in the U.S.

The 93-page opinion which again allowed the drug, written by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, also contains dissenting opinions expressed by other judges on that bench — among them, that the drug’s initial approval in 2000 was illegal.

Read the full opinion here.

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