FDA’s Abortion Pill in-Person Dispensing Requirement Barred

The federal Food and Drug Administration may not require in-person dispensing of a drug used to induce abortions for the duration of the Covid-19 emergency, as declared by the Health and Human Services Department, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland said Monday.

The requirement, which mandates that the drug mifepristone be distributed to patients only in a hospital, clinic, or medical office likely places an undue burden on a woman’s right to end a pregnancy before a fetus would be able to live outside the womb, Judge Theodore D. Chuang said.

Mifepristone is one of two drugs ...