WASHINGTON (AP) – The High Court on Tuesday ordered women to visit a doctor’s office, hospital or clinic in person to get an abortion pill during the COVID-19 pandemic, although similar rules for other drugs were suspended during the public health emergency .
Eight days before President Donald Trump left office, judges granted an appeal to the Trump administration to enforce a long-standing rule on obtaining the abortion pill, mifepristone. The pill does not need to be taken in the presence of medical professionals.
The court split 6-3, with the liberal judges in disagreement. The new administration may postpone the requirement in person after Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
A federal judge has suspended the rule since July due to the coronavirus in response to a lawsuit filed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang confirmed the suspension of the rule in December, saying the health risks to patients increased as COVID-19 cases skyrocketed.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of mifepristone in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, to terminate an early pregnancy or cause a miscarriage.
The administration suspended similar visits for other drugs, including opioids, in some cases, but refused to relax the rules for the abortion pill.
In October, the Supreme Court allowed women to continue to receive the abortion pill by mail, but postponed all substantive rulings. Judges Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would then have granted the administration’s request.
At the time, there were only eight judges in court, as Judge Amy Coney Barrett had been nominated but not yet confirmed. Barrett took the seat of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September.