Providers in Oregon can continue — for now — to offer telehealth abortions by mailing medication following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to temporarily block a lower court’s ruling for a week to allow further consideration.
The Supreme Court’s pause followed an appeal by Oregon and 20 other Democratically led states against the lower court’s ruling. The coalition supported an appeal to the Supreme Court by two manufacturers of the abortion pill that was filed Saturday.
The companies, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, asked the high court to block a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday. The Fifth Circuit ruled that the abortion pill, mifepristone, should only be dispensed when patients see their providers in person — and not through a long-distance telemedicine appointment that involves the medication being mailed.
Telehealth abortions made up nearly one-third of all abortions in the first half of 2025, increasing from 10% in 2022, according to the Society of Family Planning, which tracks reproductive health. The share of medication abortions has also risen, from about 50% in 2020 to more than 60% today, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion data.
The Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000, and in 2021, during the pandemic, approved mailing the medications. Today, patients in remote and rural areas that lack providers are especially dependent on obtaining abortions through telehealth and the mail. And in some cases, like those provided by Planned Parenthood in Oregon, the percentage is even higher.
The Fifth Circuit’s ruling involves a case filed by the state of Louisiana last year against the federal Food and Drug Administration, saying allowing mifepristone to be mailed is eroding its abortion ban. The case marks the latest high-profile action by abortion opponents against mifepristone — and abortion in general — and comes at a time of increasing restrictions in many states, though not in Oregon.
In their appeal to the Supreme Court, the coalition argued that the Fifth Circuit ruling goes against evidence showing mifepristone is safe, citing a 2018 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that found that complications are rare, occurring in less than 1% of cases. Dozens of other studies have also found the pill to be safe.
“Medication abortion offers significant benefits in terms of flexibility, privacy and accessibility,” the states’ court filing says. “Among other benefits, medication abortion promotes access to abortion as early as possible, when it is safest and least expensive.”
Joining Oregon in the filing are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania through its governor, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state, along with the District of Columbia.
In their call for Supreme Court intervention, Danco’s lawyers argue that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling created chaos for providers and patients.
“The panel’s ruling injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions,” the companies argued, leading, “providers, patients and pharmacies all to guess at what is allowed and what is not.”
Outlook unclear
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito Jr. issued the pause until Monday and asked the parties to submit briefs in the case so that the full court can decide what to do.
It’s unclear what will happen next.
In 2024, the Supreme Court declined to consider another case against mifepristone — but not on medical or ethical grounds. It said the group of anti-abortion doctors and medical associations behind the case did not have the legal standing — or right — to pursue litigation against mifepristone because they could not show they had been harmed by the medication.
A Supreme Court decision two years before — in a 6-3 decision — ended nearly 50 years of federal protection of abortion rights, throwing those decisions to the states. Since then, most conservative states have tightened restrictions. According to KFF, the policy organization formerly known as Kaiser Family Foundation, 13 states ban abortions while another 28 restrict when women can have one based on the gestation period.
Only nine states have no limits on the gestation period. They include Oregon, which also has no required waiting periods and mandates that insurance cover abortions. The state also pays for abortion for those without insurance and people who lack legal residency documents.
Oregon Health Authority data shows that abortions peaked in the state in 2023, following the Supreme Court ruling, rising from nearly 8,700 in 2022 to just over 10,000 in 2023. That dropped to nearly 9,900 abortions in 2024, the agency’s latest published data. The share of medication abortions mirror the U.S., accounting for nearly 64% in 2024.
The number of out-of-staters obtaining abortions in Oregon increased between 2023 and 2024, according to the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute. In 2023, 1,600 women from Washington state and Idaho traveled to Oregon for an abortion. They jumped to 1,960 in 2024, with the biggest increase coming from Idaho, where abortions are almost completely banned.
In the case now before the Supreme Court, Louisiana argues that by allowing mailed medications, the FDA has paved the way for women in Louisiana to obtain abortions even though they’re banned. Patients take mifepristone to induce an abortion, then a day or two later, take another pill, misoprostol, to empty the uterus.
Instead of trying to get the courts to ban mifepristone altogether, Louisiana is seeking a ban on mailing the drug so that patients would have to go back to receiving the medication in person. The case will not affect misoprostol, which is approved for uses other than abortion.
In general, pharmacies with non-resident licenses can mail medications to other states but patients must be in the same state as their provider during the telehealth appointment and when they take the medication.
Planned Parenthood, with 12 clinics open in Oregon, remains the state’s largest abortion provider. Christopher Coburn, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Oregon, the organization’s political arm, told The Lund Report that a ban on mailing mifepristone would harm vulnerable patients.
“Telehealth, including for abortion care, is an essential option for patients who live in underserved communities, especially people in remote or rural areas who already face barriers to accessing health care,” Coburn wrote in an email. “Limiting that option would make access barriers worse and further the goal of anti-abortion activists and lawmakers who want to make it harder for everyone, everywhere to get an abortion when and where they need one — even in states where abortions are legal.”
In the 2025 fiscal year, Planned Parenthood’s affiliates in the state — Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette and Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon — oversaw 7,100 medication abortions, more than 70% of the total.
He said the attacks on mifepristone by anti-abortion groups and certain courts are not based on science but are politically motivated, with the Fifth Circuit setting a disheartening precedent.
“This ruling is dangerous and disappointing, and the result of years of politically motivated attacks on mifepristone,” Coburn said.
He said the two Planned Parenthood affiliates will do all they can to maintain abortion access in Oregon.
“Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides on this case, abortion will remain legal and accessible in Oregon, including through telehealth,” Coburn maintained.
Oregon leaders have long supported abortion rights and Planned Parenthood as a prime provider of reproductive health care. Nearly 70% of its clients are lower income, and abortions only account for 10% of its services.
Last June, Congress passed a one-year law stripping Planned Parenthood nationwide of its Medicaid funding, which has led to clinic closures in some states. Oregon’s Legislature responded by approving $7.5 million for the organization in November and then followed that up in March with another $9 million.
