Judge refuses to block sending abortion pills by mail

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A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday declined to block mifepristone prescriptions from being filled by mail across the U.S. for now, in a setback to Louisiana’s effort to stop organizations from sending the abortion pill into states where abortion is banned. U.S. District Judge David Joseph, who sits in Lafayette, ruled against Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s request to pause U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules that allow mifepristone to be dispensed through the mail while a challenge to the 2023 regulations moves through the courts.

Joseph granted the federal government’s request to put the case on hold for now, while warning the pause would not be indefinite and that he could side with Louisiana later. The judge said he would follow an FDA study of the drug that is in the works, and he told the agency to update him on the status of its investigation within six months.

Murrill said in a statement that she would ask an appeals court to throw out the federal rules. She cited Joseph’s warning that Louisiana suffers irreparable harm every day the current rules remain in effect.

In Joseph’s opinion, he said the timing and outcome of the FDA review would affect what the court ultimately weighs. He told the agency that if it fails to complete its review and make any necessary revisions to the rules within a reasonable time frame, the court’s analysis and the weight accorded to the relevant factors would change, and he said he believes the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits.

The dispute centers on whether the FDA’s 2023 mifepristone regulations—issued after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion—should be paused while the challenge proceeds. Murrill argued that allowing mail fulfillment undermines Louisiana’s abortion ban, and similar legal challenges by Republican state officials have been filed in other districts.

Planned Parenthood also emphasized that Tuesday’s ruling does not settle the fight. “From the courts to the Trump administration to state legislatures across the country, mifepristone and abortion access are very much still under attack,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement.

Mifepristone, typically taken in combination with the second drug misoprostol, has become central to legal battles over abortion access since the 2022 Supreme Court decision. In 2024, the Supreme Court declined to block filling prescriptions for mifepristone by mail, but that case differed because it was brought by anti-abortion doctors, and the court said the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to challenge the rules.

While some states with bans have moved to restrict abortion, other states have moved to protect access by passing laws that seek to shield providers who prescribe abortion pills by telehealth and mail them into jurisdictions where abortion is banned. The filings also reflect the broader fight over how coercion and abusive partners can affect abortion decisions; Murrill is pursuing criminal cases against two doctors—one in California and one in New York—accused of sending pills to patients in Louisiana.

In the lawsuit and related arguments, Murrill joined as a plaintiff a Louisiana woman who said her boyfriend coerced her into taking mifepristone from a California doctor. Plaintiffs’ arguments highlighted the risk that, without in-person requirements surrounding the abortion pill, intimate partner abuse could increase, while some anti-domestic-abuse advocates said telehealth can instead be a lifeline for survivors.

The case also fits into a wider legal and regulatory landscape shaped by federal actions. The Trump administration approved an additional generic version of mifepristone last year, which outraged anti-abortion groups, and a Hawaii judge last year ruled that the FDA violated the law by imposing restrictions on mifepristone, a drug also used for miscarriage management.