Supreme Court preserves abortion pill access over Alito, Thomas dissents 

Abortion pills can remain available through the mail for the immediate future after the Supreme Court on Thursday paused a lower court ruling that would have blocked access while a lawsuit proceeds. 

The justices halted a May 1 order from the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that reinstated a requirement that women must visit a healthcare provider in-person to obtain mifepristone. If it had taken effect, the order would have severely curtailed abortion access across the country. 

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented separately.

“The Court’s unreasoned order granting stays in this case is remarkable. What is at stake is the perpetration of a scheme to undermine our decision” overturning constitutional abortion rights, Alito wrote. 

Thomas referenced the Comstock Act, an 1873 anti-obscenity law, to argue that federal law already makes mailing mifepristone a criminal offense. 

“Applicants are not entitled to a stay of an adverse court order based on lost profits from their criminal enterprise. They cannot, in any legally relevant sense, be irreparably harmed by a court order that makes it more difficult for them to commit crimes,” Thomas wrote. 

Thomas and Alito repeatedly referenced Comstock during oral arguments in a 2024 case about mifepristone. 

It is not a final decision in the high-stakes dispute. The case now heads back to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit, and it could ultimately return to the justices on their normal........

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