The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Files in the U.S. Supreme Court in Opposition to Mifepristone Abortion-by-Mail

Tucson, Ariz. A momentous abortion issue is suddenly before the U.S. Supreme Court. Two makers of mifepristone, the drug that induces a chemical abortion, immediately  petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday to block a ruling issued the day before by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

On Monday, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) became the first to file an amicus brief in support of the Fifth Circuit decision, which requires in-person dispensing rather than abortion-by-mail. The AAPS brief argues that Informed consent is enhanced by in-person office visits with physicians, while allowing abortion pills to be taken without an in-person visit tends to result in people taking life-changing drugs without awareness of the risks and available alternatives.

“Abortion pills are obtained and distributed to teenagers who consume them without even a prescription,” AAPS observes in its brief. Based on the widely cited Guttmacher Institute, AAPS pointed out that “mifepristone-induced abortions rapidly increased to 65% of abortions by 2023,” and “this reported increase does not even include the chemical abortions from ‘community networks’ as facilitated by the FDA’s” abortion-by-mail policy.

Many chemical abortions occur “amid a misunderstanding about the reversibility of the decision after taking mifepristone,” AAPS points out in its brief.

“Federalism is undermined, even imperiled, by allowing a few unelected federal subagency employees to transform American culture in defiance of state laws,” AAPS states. AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly observes that “a victory by the abortion pill manufacturers in this case would be tantamount to reviving Roe v. Wade such that states could not enact laws limiting chemical abortions.”

Justice Sam Alito, who authored the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, issued a 7-day administrative stay that expires at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, May 11.

This case is captioned Danco Laboratories v. State of Louisiana (Sup. Ct. No. 25A1207), and a preliminary decision is expected from the Supreme Court as early as next week.

          Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943.

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, janeorientmd@gmail.com, or Andrew Schlafly, (908) 719-8608, aschlafly@aol.com