WASHINGTON–Maternal health advocates and a Virginia state legislator warned that women’s health would suffer even in states that allow abortions if the Supreme Court fails to block a ban on mail deliveries of mifepristone, a drug used in abortions.
Jennifer McClellan, a representative for the state of Virginia and long-time advocate for reproductive rights, experienced a high-risk pregnancy and an emergency C-section 9 weeks before her due date. She said that she worried about the risks to individuals if they lose easy access to Mifepristone for abortions, miscarriages, or other reasons.
“I almost became the statistic of someone, a black woman, who was three times more likely to die of pregnancy or pregnancy-related complications, and many of those are because of miscarriages,” McClellan said during a webinar on Tuesday. “This is what is going to happen: women will die.”
An abortion advocacy group, Free & Just, held a webinar on Tuesday after the Supreme Court approved an emergency request from two Mifepristone manufacturers to continue the mailing of the abortion drug until Thursday, May 14. Mifepristone is a proven safe and effective drug to induce medical abortions.
On May 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that mifepristone must be picked up in person. For residents of Louisiana, where there is a strict ban on abortion, including cases for rape and incest, receiving Mifepristone in the mail remained the most effective form of terminating a pregnancy at home.
The state of Louisiana, which brought the case, argued that allowing the medication to be mailed to Louisiana residents contradicted the state’s ban on most abortions.
Sarah Zagorski, a spokesperson for Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group headquartered in Washington, said mifepristone has side effects that need further study, and banning remote access to the drug would protect women.
“It’s definitely a huge milestone. It’s an opportunity for the court to affirm the importance of the safety measures for women,” Zagorski said in an interview.
A 2026 study on miscarriages from the American Public Health Association states that where abortion is banned or has gestational limits showed that from 2016 to 2023, maternal or pregnancy-related mortality rates increased 9.9%, with additional evidence showing that Black women were 3.3 times more likely to die from similar complications than white women in these states.
Activists said the ability to get Mifepristone by mail is important for women across the country, even in states that allow abortions.
"Even in states where abortion is legal, as I said, this effectively ends access entirely for people in rural communities, survivors of domestic violence, and anyone who cannot take a day off of work or arrange childcare to get access to an abortion clinic," said Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion rights organization headquartered in Washington.
Doctor Kristin Lyerly, who works as an OB-GYN in Minnesota, said that despite practicing in a state that allows abortion, if her rural patients must pick up mifepristone from a pharmacy in person, they may have to travel an hour in each direction.
Lyerly said she sends her patients to telehealth to get prescriptions for mifepristone for more than abortions, and to treat miscarriages.. “It’s the same procedure, I send them to telehealth because they can’t access mifepristone in our rural community,” Lyerly said.
Mifepristone has multiple uses other than abortions, such as hyperglycemia or endometriosis. If the shipment ban becomes law, individuals who use mifepristone for these other medical purposes also would no longer be able to have the medication delivered. She compared the recent 5th Circuit ruling to the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“This is truly as impactful as Dobbs was for the entire country. In states like Louisiana and Mississippi and Tennessee because they just will not have access to fundamental healthcare not just for abortions, but also for managing miscarriages,” Lyerly said.
Jaylyn Preslicka is a reporter for Medill News Services.
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