Trump administration asks Supreme Court to reverse abortion telemed ruling

In July, a Maryland federal judge issued an injunction blocking the FDA’s in-person abortion requirements for the duration of the pandemic. he Trump administration this week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed for mail-order and telemedicine abortion during the COVID-19 crisis.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations require mifepristone, which is used in medication abortion, to be dispensed at a clinic, hospital or medical office. In June, U.S. District Judge for the District of Maryland Theodore Chuang blocked the requirements during the pandemic, finding them to be a “substantial obstacle.”

Mifepristone, in combination with misoprostol, is FDA-approved for abortions up to ten weeks’ gestation. In 2017, a New England Journal of Medicine article argued against the FDA regulations for mifepristone given the drug’s safety record.