Democrats erupt over abortion pill block: ‘We won’t stop fighting’

Democrats are pushing back on a recent court ruling that blocked doctors’ ability to prescribe the abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth and dispense the drug through the mail, arguing it will significantly restrict reproductive care nationwide.

“A court packed with Trump-appointed extremists decided to make medication abortion harder to access,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a statement on the social platform X. “Let’s be clear: mifepristone is safe, effective & FDA approved.”

She added, “We won’t stop fighting to protect our reproductive freedom & this basic, essential form of healthcare.”

The Friday ruling from a three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates a 2021 requirement that mifepristone be prescribed and dispensed in person. It reverses a Biden administration policy that allowed access through telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery.

Mifepristone was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000. The pill is typically used in combination with misoprostol and is widely prescribed through clinics and, more recently, online providers.

Democrats argued the latest decision disregards decades of clinical evidence and federal oversight.

“The Fifth Circuit just told millions of women that three judges know better than the FDA, their doctors, and 25 years of evidence. They don’t. This restriction on medication abortion is a nationwide abortion restriction, full stop,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on social media. “I have no intention of letting this stand.”

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