Arizona patients have been able to get abortion pills in the mail and use telehealth for about three months — access that could be revoked again depending on the outcome of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court on May 4 reinstated mail and telehealth access to mifepristone, an abortion drug, after a lower appeals court had blocked those methods days earlier. The appeals court ruled in favor of a prior requirement that the pills be prescribed in-person.
The Supreme Court's preliminary move includes few details about the legal path forward, potentially signaling a return to what abortion access advocates fear is an unstable policy that could leave patients confused about their rights and potentially without care.
Temporarily at least, Arizona abortion providers said they had no plans to change the way they provide services today. Here's what to know about the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling.
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What did the U.S. Supreme Court do?
The nation's top court stayed implementation of a May 1 ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The action effectively continues mail and telehealth access to mifepristone, although temporarily.
In the case, Louisiana sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the grounds that allowing abortion pills to be mailed thwarted the state's ban on abortion.
Opponents to telehealth and mail delivery cite safety concerns or complain that people can get around bans in red states. But abortion access advocates have pointed to decades of research that show the pill is safe.
The U.S. Supreme Court on May 4 reinstated mail and telehealth access to mifepristone, an abortion drug, after a lower appeals court had blocked those methods days earlier.
Arizona and twenty-one other states filed a brief just prior to the Supreme Court's administrative ruling, urging it to restore access to the drug, and they are likely to continue to weigh in on the case.
"Today's stay from the Supreme Court is a critical — if temporary — victory for the women of Arizona and across this country who depend on mifepristone for their health care," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said. Mayes, a Democrat elected in 2022, has opposed abortion restrictions and pledged never to prosecute an abortion case.
Is the Supreme Court's ruling on mifepristone final?
No. The court's administrative ruling — which blocks the ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — is in force through May 11. In that time, the court is expected to decide how to proceed.
What does the mifepristone ruling mean for Arizona?
Arizona patients just recently became able to receive mifepristone via mail and by telehealth prescription.
State law banned both until a February ruling from a Maricopa County Superior Court judge struck them down. The judge determined the bans on mail and telehealth were unconstitutional under the provisions of Proposition 139, the 2024 voter-approved measure that created abortion rights in the state and prevented most restrictions on abortion access.
That ruling is being appealed by Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Steve Montenegro, both Republicans who stepped in to defend the bans and other abortion restrictions after Mayes declined to do so.
Can Arizona women get mifepristone now?
Planned Parenthood Arizona, which offers abortions at four locations around the state, said that its clinics' offerings would not change because of the Supreme Court's stay, meaning mail and telehealth services will continue.
But if the court were to permanently require in-person prescriptions in the Louisiana case, that could mean abortion drugs would no longer be available to Arizonans via mail or telehealth, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Abortion pill manufacturers, who sought and got the Supreme Court stay, laid out the stakes:
"If allowed to remain in effect, it would eliminate access to mifepristone through certified pharmacies and by mail, abruptly cutting off access for patients nationwide — including in the States that do not ban abortion," they wrote, asking the court to reverse the 5th Circuit Court.
What is mifepristone?
Mifepristone is one of two drugs typically used in pill abortions, which are available through about 10 weeks of pregnancy. Just shy of half of the women who got an abortion in Arizona in 2024 did so via the pills, according to the most recent state data.
The Food and Drug Administration first approved mifepristone in 2000 after determining it was safe and effective. During the Biden administration and the COVID pandemic, the FDA removed a requirement that the drug be dispensed in person. That went into effect in early 2023, ultimately leading to the lawsuit in Louisiana.
Last fall, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new review of mifepristone's safety, an exercise that abortion providers have feared aims to limit access and is done at the request of conservative allies of President Donald Trump. That review was requested by 22 Republican attorneys general from around the nation.
