Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 16, 2023 / 14:32 pm
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved additional abortion pill restrictions, including ending mail-order abortions, in a Wednesday ruling in the high-stakes abortion case Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration (AHM v. FDA).
The court did not disapprove all use of abortion pills but rather ruled that the FDA must reinstate restrictions in place before 2016, most notably banning administering the pills through the mail or via telemedicine.
In loosening its restrictions on the abortion pill, mifepristone, the 5th Circuit Court said the FDA “failed to address several important concerns about whether the drug would be safe for the women who use it.”
The court said that the FDA failed to “consider the cumulative effect of removing several important safeguards” and “to gather evidence that affirmatively showed that mifepristone could be used safely without being prescribed and dispensed in person.”