Anti-abortion groups renew calls to ban mifepristone after Supreme Court ruling
The Trump administration just wants this to all go away
The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that would have restricted access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Anti-abortion activists responded with outrage, renewing calls to ban the drug altogether and urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce the archaic Comstock Act to prosecute providers and patients who obtain abortions via telehealth.
Louisiana v. FDA is the anti-abortion movement’s legal challenge to end patients’ ability to access abortion pills by mail through telehealth medicine. These telehealth-prescribed abortions are an absolutely critical way for women in states with near and total bans to access care, accounting for nearly every abortion in states with restrictions and 30 percent of abortions overall.
Telehealth abortions are possible because of a Biden-era FDA rule that finds mifepristone and its sister medication misoprostol to be safe and effective without needing to visit a health care provider in person. The administration’s refusal to change the FDA rules around mifepristone has become a sore subject for the anti-abortion movement.
The Supreme Court’s order pauses the Fifth Circuit’s ruling until May 11. The justices will then decide whether or not to extend it.
Anti-abortion influencers call on the Trump administration to enforce the archaic Comstock Act.
The Comstock Act, passed in 1873, disallowed the mailing of “obscene” materials like pornography and contraception. It is known as a “zombie law” because it is still on the books despite being an outdated relic of another era. For years, the anti-abortion movement has pushed Republicans to revive the statute to target telehealth abortion providers and patients. Using the Comstock Act to criminalize abortion is a key provision of Project 2025.
Kristan Hawkins, president of the anti-abortion group Students for Life and Students for Life Action, has been driving the conversation around the Comstock Act online, urging the DOJ to enforce it and for the Small Business Administration to debar Planned Parenthood.
Student for Life spokesperson Lydia Taylor Davis called the Supreme Court ruling “devastating” and advocated for the weaponization of the Comstock Act.
The social accounts for Students for Life and Students for Life Action also made similar calls.
Through her numerous posts yesterday, Kristan Hawkins also tried to get the MAHA movement to back attacks on abortion medications.
They want to use the FDA to ban mifepristone.
The anti-abortion movement wants the Trump administration to reverse the Biden administration’s FDA rules around mifepristone. The agency is now conducting a “safety review” of the medication, citing a study from the right-wing think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center that reproductive health experts have repeatedly dismissed as junk science, and has said they’ll determine how to proceed after it is done. This “review” is not needed — more than 100 studies have found mifepristone and misoprostol to be safe and effective. The Trump FDA hopes that conducting a review satiates the anti-abortion movement, while slow-walking it helps them avoid backlash from voters.
In light of the pending review, the FDA asked the courts to pause Louisiana’s case in January. The administration has avoided taking a stance in the case as much as possible. In addition to leaving the Biden-era rules in place and asking courts to either dismiss or delay challenges to them, the administration has been vague on where it stands on mifepristone overall.
Live Action, a major anti-abortion group, called for the FDA to “ban the abortion pill completely” and adopt a more aggressive regulatory stance on mifepristone.
Anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America reiterated its call for Trump to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary over his inaction on mifepristone. Former Vice President Mike Pence endorsed their position as well.
Lila Rose, the prominent founder of Live Action, claimed that mifepristone killed Amber Thurman and called for a total ban of the drug. Thurman’s death was a major issue in the 2024 election. Healthy at 28, she was prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol to terminate her pregnancy, and died after being denied a routine dilation and curettage procedure to clear her uterus after experiencing a complication. Anti-abortion activists frequently claim Thurman’s death, which left her 6-year-old son without a mother, reflects the risks of abortion medication, when in reality it is the restrictions around them that put pregnant people’s lives in danger.
They’re also calling on Congress to end access to mifepristone.
Tennessee Representative Diana Harshbarger used the Supreme Court ruling to promote her Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act.
Senator Josh Hawley, lead sponsor of companion legislation and whose wife Erin is a lawyer on the Louisiana v. FDA case, amplified Senator John Cornyn’s tweet expressing hope that SCOTUS will strike down the “reckless Biden-era policy” and advocating for Congress to pass a ban.
What the Supreme Court does next will be critical to the future of abortion care in this country. In the meantime, it’s important not to give in to fear. Telehealth abortions can still be accessed in all fifty states. Learn more about your rights at youalwayshaveoptions.com and plancpills.org. And make sure to support your community by only sharing information about abortion-related court rulings from verified sources and donating to your local abortion fund.