Days after the Food and Drug Administration restricted access to the abortion pill mifepristone, the Supreme Court on Monday temporarily restored access — causing whiplash for women across the nation seeking to end unwanted pregnancies via telemedicine and mail.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. paused the lower-court ruling, which came down on Friday and prohibited providers from prescribing the pill by telemedicine and mail, until May 11. Both parties must file briefs by Thursday, according to the New York Times.
The temporary order does not indicate how the full court might eventually rule.
The precariousness of the situation has forced patients and providers to scramble for a plan B. While questions around the legality of mifepristone arise, another abortion pill, misoprostol, is still available to women who need it — regardless of what the Supreme Court says. Mifepristone and misoprostol are often used together since patients experience fewer side effects when they’re combined.
Using only misoprostol, which has been on the market longer and was first approved to treat gastric ulcers, “is still incredibly safe and effective,” Dr. Kristyn Brandi, a New Jersey family planning specialist and spokesperson for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told NPR.
For women using only misoprostol for their medication abortions, patients take the same amount of the drug that they’d take if they were using both pills together. They repeat that for three to four doses until the pregnancy passes, which can typically take up to 12 hours.
Nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States are now carried out with abortion pills, according to the Times.
