Mifepristone, Fifth Circuit, and the SCOTUS Stay

The Supreme Court *just* reinstated mail-order access to Mifepristone until at least May 11th.

 
Here's what happened this weekend: 

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had temporarily reinstated a medically unnecessary, nationwide in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, one of the two medications commonly used in medication abortion and miscarriage care. This decision blocks mifepristone from being dispensed by mail or through many telehealth-based models while the case continues, unless the Supreme Court intervenes.

Let us be clear: this is not about safety. Mifepristone has been used safely for decades. This is about control. It is about courts and politicians continuing to interfere with evidence-based medical care, bodily autonomy, and the lives of people who can become pregnant.

As of right now (the pace is swift!), nothing has changed.

At worst, if this decision should pass, North and South Carolinians' access landscape is still largely unchanged; if you have an appointment, keep it. If you are working with a clinic, abortion fund, practical support organization, or provider, stay in contact with them. In-clinic medication abortion care with mifepristone and misoprostol remains protected where providers are available to offer it under current law.  For Southerners, whether we win or lose this case, we remain unable to access telehealth for abortion services.  Misoprostol-only protocols, now and forever, remain a medically recognized, safe, and effective option for abortion care, especially in places where mifepristone is restricted or unavailable.

We see this attempt to curtail access as part of a larger strategy. These attacks are not only about one medication. They are part of a broader legal and political push toward fetal personhood: the dangerous idea that embryos and fetuses should be granted rights that can be used to override the autonomy, safety, privacy, and lives of pregnant people. That framework threatens abortion access, miscarriage care, contraception, IVF, gender-affirming care, and the basic right to make decisions about our own bodies and futures.

But abortion is older than every court that tries to contain it. Abortion has existed before every law being used to criminalize it. Abortion care has always lived in community, in nature, in medicine, in ancestral knowledge, in survival, and in collective resistance. No ban, no court, and no politician can erase the need for abortion or the people who will continue to help each other access care.

Carolina Abortion Fund will continue to fund abortions. We will continue to educate our communities. We will continue to support bodily autonomy, agency, and self-determination across the Carolinas. The more they try to control us, the deeper we practice resistance. 

Resources for the Coming Climate:  

https://mahotline.org/ - miscarriage and abortion support hotline run by volunteer clinicians

https://reprolegaldefensefund.org/ - for any legal questions or support around reproductive justice

https://www.ineedana.com/ - reliable source to find an abortion clinic

https://www.all-options.org/find-support/talkline/ - non-judgemental support for all avenues of reproductive healthcare

https://shoutyourabortion.com/ - great resources for abortion storytelling and cool merch

https://abortiononourownterms.org/ - uplifting the power we have in bodily autonomy

Abortion is still here. We are still here. And we will keep showing up.