Planned Parenthood in Maine will switch to a different medication abortion protocol for telehealth patients following a court stay that blocks the use of mifepristone.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay on Friday. Louisiana’s attorney general is challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that dropped a requirement that mifepristone only be dispensed in person.
The court action prohibits providers in any state from dispensing the commonly-used medication abortion drug through telehealth or mail-order pharmacies while the case is being considered.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England President and CEO Nicole Clegg says they will switch to misoprostol-only.
“We closely monitored this court case, and we identified a way to keep telehealth medication abortion access intact for our patients,” Clegg said in a written statement.
The two drugs are typically used together as the most effective method for medication abortion.
Clegg says the lawsuit is “another thinly veiled attempt by anti-abortion advocates to ban abortion nationwide; in whatever way they can.”
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
