Attorney General Ellison welcomes Supreme Court stay of nationwide injunction against mifepristone
Court issues stay shortly after AG Ellison and coalition files amicus brief in support of stay
Fifth Circuit’s nationwide injunction last Friday was not supported by law or science; mifepristone ban would disrupt abortion care in Minnesota, which has been constitutionally protected in Minnesota for 30 years
May 4, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today welcomed a stay by the U.S. Supreme Court this morning of the ruling last Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that would restrict access to mifepristone, a safe and effective abortion medication. Earlier this morning, AG Ellison joined a coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the ruling. If it had not been stayed, the Fifth Circuit ruling would require a medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, which can be safely provided through telehealth.
In an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition argued that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling is not supported by law or science, would create regulatory and administrative chaos nationwide, and would interfere with states’ ability to protect access to reproductive health care within their borders, particularly in rural and medically-underserved areas. They called on the Court to stay the lower court’s order and prevent these restrictions from taking effect, which the court subsequently granted.
“Abortion care is healthcare, period. I cannot let a highly politicized court from another part of the country impose restrictions on abortion care that are not supported by law or science on Minnesotans,” Attorney General Ellison said. “I welcome the temporary stay the court issued and strongly urge it be extended.”
Mifepristone, when used in combination with misoprostol, is the standard medication used to terminate a pregnancy through 10 weeks. Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone in 2000, an estimated 7.5 million people in the United States have used the medication safely. Medication abortion now accounts for 63 percent of all abortions in the formal U.S. health care system, with approximately one in four abortions provided via telehealth. Studies have consistently found mifepristone to be safe and effective.
In 2023, after extensive review, the FDA eliminated the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone as medically unnecessary. That decision followed years of evidence, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, showing that mifepristone could be safely provided without requiring patients to appear in person. The FDA’s action allowed providers to offer mifepristone through telehealth and enabled patients to obtain the medication through certified mail-order pharmacies and other approved channels, expanding access for patients who face significant barriers to in-person care.
Attorney General Ellison and the coalition argued that reinstating the in-person dispensing requirement would curtail telehealth access to mifepristone, forcing patients to rely on more difficult alternatives or travel for in-person care. Telehealth has become an increasingly important way for patients in Minnesota to access abortion care, with the share of abortions provided through telemedicine growing from five percent in 2022 to 27 percent in 2025.
Attorney General Ellison and the coalition also argued that the ruling would disrupt care in Minnesota, where abortion remains protected under the state’s constitution since a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision called Doe v. Gomez. Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, clinics in states that protect abortion access have faced increased demand from both in-state and out-of-state patients. By forcing more patients to seek in-person care, the Fifth Circuit’s ruling would place new strain on clinics and health care systems that are already stretched.
The attorneys general asserted that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling undermines states’ sovereign authority to protect and expand access to reproductive health care. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion and returned regulation of abortion to the states, many states took swift executive and legislative action to safeguard reproductive rights and expand access to medication abortion. The attorneys general argue that courts cannot leverage medically unnecessary federal drug regulations to override those state policy choices or impose unnecessary barriers to care in states where abortion is legal.
In February 2026, while the case was pending in the district court, Attorney General Ellison joined a .
Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing today’s brief, which was led by the attorneys general of New York, California, Massachusetts, and Washington, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Governor of Pennsylvania.
