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A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that mifepristone, one of two pills used in medication abortions, should not be prescribed past seven weeks of pregnancy or via telemedicine. However, a previous stay by the Supreme Court means this won't go into effect right away. The pills will remain on the market in states where abortion is legal and available by telemedicine and mail for the time being. (Simmons-Duffin and Webber, 8/16)

The showdown at the Supreme Court, which could affect how millions of people end their pregnancies, is likely to come just months before a presidential election in which Democrats plan to make abortion rights a pillar of their campaign. One of the judges on the three-judge panel, Judge James Ho, wanted to go even further than rolling back access to the drug. He agreed with the most extreme position of the challengers that the FDA’s original approval should be stripped altogether, a move that would take the drug off the market entirely. But Ho, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, was overruled by his two colleagues — also Republican appointees — who said it’s too late for anti-abortion groups to challenge the original agency approval declaring the drugs safe and effective more than two decades ago. (Ollstein, 8/16)

If the justices uphold the appeals court ruling, it could also pave the way for all sorts of challenges to the F.D.A.’s approval of medications. Legal experts said medical providers anywhere in the country might be enabled to challenge government policy that might affect a patient. Leaders of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have filed briefs saying that the case could undermine their businesses by destroying their ability to rely on a single national standard for their products. (Belluck and VanSickle, 8/16)

If the ruling is upheld, doctors could still prescribe the abortion pill, but with restrictions. Patients would no longer be able to obtain the medication through a telehealth visit, and it could not be sent by mail. Instead, patients would need to visit a doctor in person to be administered mifepristone, again to be administered misoprostol and a third time for follow-up. The drug would also be approved only for use in the first seven weeks of pregnancy, rather than 10 weeks. (Pierson, 8/16)

Colorado’s Medical Board on Thursday will attempt to decide something no other regulatory body in the country has: whether a controversial treatment to try to “reverse” the effects of an abortion pill is something doctors should be providing. The evidence for the practice is spotty. Federal authorities have not approved it. No clinical trials — the most rigorous type of research — have validated its safety or its efficacy in humans. As a result, the nation’s leading organization for OB-GYN doctors says that the idea of abortion reversal “is not supported by science.” (Ingold, 8/17)