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FILE - Mifepristone tablets sit on a table at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

A court has restricted abortion access across the US by blocking mailing prescriptions to a pill

May 1, 2026 | 3:59 PM

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court has restricted access to one of the most common means of abortion in the U.S. by blocking mailing of prescriptions to mifepristone.

A panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is requiring that the abortion pill be distributed only in-person at clinics.

Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed enforcement of abortion bans, prescriptions by mail has become a major way that abortions are provided — including to states where bans are in place.