Telehealth abortion still available after judge’s ruling: NPR

a federal judge in louisiana Judgment announced on Tuesday Access to abortion medications may remain the same nationally for now. But Judge David C. Joseph’s 37-page decision is far from an endorsement of telehealth abortion, which has become far more common over the past few years, now responsible for even more one in four abortions in America

The judge granted the Food and Drug Administration’s request to put the case on hold for now while the agency completes its review of the safety of mifepristone, a drug that has been available in the U.S. for more than 25 years and is now widely prescribed by medical providers via telehealth appointments..

While the ruling is sympathetic to Louisiana’s arguments about the harms from mifepristone available via telemedicine, Joseph, a Trump appointee, writes, “Ultimately it is the FDA, not this Court, that has the expertise to evaluate the scientific evidence and make public health decisions.”

They say a stay in the case should allow the FDA to complete its safety review, and ordered the agency to update the court about its progress in six months.

split in support of trump

When it comes to abortion, “we’re seeing a kind of civil war among Republicans over how quickly and how far to go, exemplified by the Louisiana case,” he says. mary zieglerProfessor of Legal History at the University of California, Davis. “Abortion opponents are trying to force the President and Congress to take a more neutral stance rather than allowing them to manipulate their position, as they have done to some extent to date.”

This issue is complex for President Trump. In this case, their FDA is being sued over a regulation imposed by the Biden administration. In seeking a moratorium, Trump’s FDA also indicated it would take a tougher stance against mifepristone, potentially reversing some of what Biden’s FDA had done to maximize access to telehealth abortions.

Ziegler says the Trump administration got what it wanted with the delay, but it’s temporary, and now there’s new pressure on the FDA to complete the mifepristone review.

Trump faced pushback from congressional Republicans earlier this year when he suggested they Be “flexible” About abortion restrictions in health care law. Abortion was also notably absent from Trump’s State of the Union address in February. Opposition to abortion is popular with Trump’s base, but independent voters, who were crucial to his victory, support abortion rights.

Anti-abortion Republicans in Congress have begun to be more aggressive about banning the drug in recent weeks. Senator Josh Hawley, R.-Mo., introduced a bill to remove full approval of mifepristone, and Senator Bill Cassidy, R.-La. Announced investigation into drug manufacturers behind mifepristone.

who’s who in the case

The lead plaintiff in the case is the state of Louisiana. Complaint Asked the judge to undo a change the FDA made in 2023 to the way mifepristone is prescribed. Previously, receiving mifepristone required an in-person appointment. In 2023, the FDA changed regulations for mifepristone to allow patients to visit doctors virtually and receive the medication through the mail.

Louisiana resident Rosalie Markezich is the second named plaintiff. The complaint states: “She became a victim of the FDA’s mail-order abortion scheme in October 2023 when her boyfriend ordered FDA-approved abortion drugs from a California doctor, and, by her boyfriend’s actions, she felt forced to take them.”

The complaint filed last October argues that by removing the in-person appointment requirement, the Biden administration attempted to weaken Dobbs, Supreme Court’s decision which was overturned Roe vs. Wade, “By facilitating the matching of mifepristone to every pro-life state, Louisiana was thus harmed and women like Rosalie caused extreme suffering.”

The defendant in the case is the FDA, and the judge allowed two mifepristone drug makers, GenBioPro and Danco Laboratories, to intervene in the case to defend their drugs.

louisiana leads the way

The first state to schedule mifepristone as a controlled substance and criminally charge Ziegler says an out-of-state physician providing telemedicine abortion puts Louisiana at the forefront of anti-abortion actions.

The state is trying to be more strategic after legal setbacks for abortion restrictions, including the mifepristone case that the Supreme Court unanimously rejected in 2024.

“I think there has been some deliberate effort to try to correct the mistakes that doomed the first mifepristone trial,” she says. One way to do this is to offer more than one potential plaintiff, she explains, if the judge disagreed with one of the plaintiffs’ arguments.

In his decision, Joseph determined that the state’s position was certain and did not analyze whether Markezich would also have standing in the case.

Ziegler says another change is in the scale of the demands. The previous case called for mifepristone to be removed from the market after more than two decades of use.

“Focusing on the individual delivery requirement appears to be more politically polite,” Ziegler says. However, Joseph acknowledged in the decision that changing the rules that had been in place for many years would have had a “widespread impact” across states with and without abortion restrictions, which is why he decided to put the case on hold for the time being.

grateful for access

AD is 31 years old and lives in New Orleans. She had two abortions after receiving medications in the mail after Louisiana’s abortion ban took effect in 2022. E. requested NPR to use only her initials because she fears legal and security consequences for sharing her story.

She says living in a state that is so adamant about restricting abortion “feels very depressing, like your government hates you.” She’s grateful that she still has access to an abortion at home despite Louisiana’s ban due to telemedicine rules.

She is currently pregnant, due to deliver in September, and she says making the decision to become a parent was empowering. “I chose this Louisiana on my clock and my time, not yours,” she says.

Abortion continues despite ban

even before roe vs wade This was overturned, with global health researchers determining that abortion rates are similar in countries with restrictions on abortion and countries without restrictions. In other words, banning abortion does not stop abortions from occurring, although it does make it more difficult for patients to have one.

Similarly, the number of abortions in America did not decline even after the Supreme Court overturned roe vs wade In 2022, even with a large part of the country‘S Population living in states with restrictions on abortion. The most recent estimate from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization that supports abortion access, found that there could be 1.1 million abortions in the U.S. in 2025, almost unchanged from the previous year.

In Louisiana, Guttmacher found that there were about 2,500 abortions in 2023, and more than 9,000 last year. Overall, 91,000 patients received telehealth abortion in states with a ban in 2025.