Cambridge, MA, May 1, 2026 – Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in State of Louisiana et al. v. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which requires the FDA to temporarily reimpose in-person dispensing requirements on mifepristone, despite a large body of evidence demonstrating that these requirements were not medically necessary.
Ibis President, Kelly Blanchard, released the following statement:
"This Fifth Circuit decision ignores the huge body of rigorous evidence demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of mifepristone–misoprostol abortion, telehealth, and medication abortion delivery by mail. Decades of research has demonstrated that these medications can be used safely without in‑person care or direct interaction with a health care provider. Everyone deserves access to the abortion method and model of care that they prefer, in their community, guided by the best clinical evidence. This ruling will severely restrict access to a proven, widely used model of abortion care that has, and should continue to serve as a lifeline for people needing to overcome barriers to abortion access in this critical moment. We will continue working with our partners to fight this ruling, fight back against other medically unnecessary restrictions, and to ensure that we can all make important decisions about our own health and lives."
Learn more about Ibis’s research demonstrating the safety of telehealth provision of medication abortion here.