One of the main methods of obtaining abortion medication for those living in states with bans is now blocked nationwide, after a federal appeals court decision issued Friday afternoon.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule from 2023 that allowed mifepristone, one of two drugs used to terminate a pregnancy before 10 weeks and to treat miscarriages, to be dispensed without an in-person visit with a health provider.

The US Supreme Court on Monday temporarily restored access to mifepristone, a medication commonly used for abortion and early miscarriage care, through the mail while the justices review a decision requiring it to be dispensed in person by a medical provider.

Justice Samuel Alito, who is part of the high court’s right-wing supermajority, oversees the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. He issued a one-week stay for the appellate court’s Friday dispensing decision, which critics had condemned as “sweeping and dangerous.”

A federal appeals court dealt a severe blow to abortion access Friday, temporarily reinstating a nationwide requirement that women obtain abortion pills in person, significantly curtailing mail-order access to medication abortion for millions of Americans.

The ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, written by Trump-appointed Judge Kyle Duncan, is a major victory for the anti-abortion movement. While the ruling does not ban Mifepristone outright, women can no longer obtain it through telehealth appointments or by mail while the case proceeds.

A bombshell new whistleblower book reveals that Trump administration officials tasked with dismantling USAID had no idea what the agency actually did, with one official admitting he assumed it only did abortions, and asked career health experts to dumb down their presentations to the level of a children's TV show.

Nicholas Enrich, then-USAID's acting assistant administrator for global health, recounted a stunning February 2025 meeting in his new book "Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID," to be published Tuesday, in which newly installed Trump officials sat down to learn about the agency they were already in the process of destroying.

Researcher Caitlin Gerdts planned to release a new study about abortion access for active-duty military service members, much like the one in 2019 that was published with input from 323 participants.

But over a six-month period in 2024, in a new legal environment for abortion access, the research team was only able to find three service members who agreed to participate, even though their identities would be kept secret. With that few people, a study couldn’t be completed, and the group published an analytical essay instead.

Black women living in states with abortion bans were more likely to have preterm babies, compared with what would be expected in the absence of those bans, according to a study published in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

A lack of timely prenatal care can increase the risk of preterm births. Because important development still occurs later in pregnancy, babies born too early, especially before 32 weeks, have higher rates of death and disability. Preterm birth can also contribute to breathing, hearing and vision problems, and other developmental delays.