AG Brown files brief urging Supreme Court to stay restrictions on Mifepristone

Attorney General Nick Brown today joined a coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that would restrict access to mifepristone, a safe and effective abortion medication. This morning, the Supreme Court temporarily stayed the Fifth Circuit ruling, restoring access to mifepristone.

The Fifth Circuit ruling would reinstate a medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, which can be safely provided through telehealth. In the amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court, AG Brown and the coalition argued that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling is not supported by law or science, would create regulatory and administrative chaos nationwide, and would interfere with states’ ability to protect access to reproductive health care within their borders, particularly in rural and medically-underserved areas. They called on the court to stay the lower court’s order and prevent these restrictions from taking effect. 

“This ridiculous ruling cuts against science and further erodes reproductive rights nationwide, threatening access to medication abortion in states like Washington that still protect abortion rights. Decades of research has proven that mifepristone is exceptionally safe and effective. The arguments against medication abortions are as unserious as they are insidious in stripping women of necessary health care services. Washingtonians will be harmed by this ruling, but it does not change Washington’s robust protections for reproductive rights, nor does it dim our resolve to fight for their preservation.”

Mifepristone, when used in combination with misoprostol, is the standard medication used to terminate a pregnancy through 10 weeks. Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone in 2000, an estimated 7.5 million people in the United States have used the medication safely. Medication abortion now accounts for 63 percent of all abortions in the formal U.S. health care system, with approximately one in four abortions provided via telehealth. Studies have consistently found mifepristone to be safe and effective. 

In 2023, after extensive review, the FDA eliminated the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone as medically unnecessary. That decision followed years of evidence, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, showing that mifepristone could be safely provided without requiring patients to appear in person. The FDA’s action allowed providers to offer mifepristone through telehealth and enabled patients to obtain the medication through certified mail-order pharmacies and other approved channels, expanding access for patients who face significant barriers to in-person care.  

Brown and the coalition argue that reinstating the in-person dispensing requirement would curtail telehealth access to mifepristone, forcing patients to rely on more difficult alternatives or travel for in-person care. Telehealth has become an increasingly important way for patients in Washington to access abortion care, with the share of abortions provided through telemedicine growing from five percent in 2022 to 27 percent in 2025. 

The attorneys general also argue that the ruling would disrupt care in states like Washington, where abortion remains legal and protected. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, clinics in states that protect abortion access have faced increased demand from both in-state and out-of-state patients. By forcing more patients to seek in-person care, the Fifth Circuit’s ruling would place new strain on clinics and health care systems that are already stretched. 

Brown and the coalition assert that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling undermines states’ sovereign authority to protect and expand access to reproductive health care. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion and returned regulation of abortion to the states, many states took swift executive and legislative action to safeguard reproductive rights and expand access to medication abortion. The attorneys general argue that courts cannot leverage medically unnecessary federal drug regulations to override those state policy choices or impose unnecessary barriers to care in states where abortion is legal. 

AG Brown led today’s brief with the attorneys general of New York, California, and Massachusetts. It was also joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Governor of Pennsylvania. 

Read the brief.

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