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# House Democrats Seek Lift on Mifepristone Restriction
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/house-democrats-seek-lift-on-mifepristone-restriction/
- Published: 2021-02-09T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:46:07.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5148617

A group of Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are urging FDA to remove the in-person dispensing requirement for medical abortion drug mifepristone. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 split on ideological lines granted an FDA request to reinstate a federal requirement that women being prescribed mifepristone for a medical abortion in the early stages of pregnancy have to obtain the pill in person from a healthcare provider and sign a form. *SCOTUSblog* [reported](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwii4-KymJnuAhVQ0FkKHX-kDkIQxfQBCFEwBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scotusblog.com%2F2021%2F01%2Fjustices-grant-fda-request-to-block-mail-delivery-of-abortion-pills%2F&usg=AOvVaw03OPP4pGPwmxtfZOw2%5F3EM) that in 2020 a Maryland federal judge suspended the requirement because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The judge left the ruling in place after the high court last October told FDA to return to the lower court to seek narrower relief.

The case arose when the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists went to court in 2020 arguing that requiring patients to visit their healthcare providers in the middle of a pandemic violated the Constitution by creating a substantial obstacle to receiving an abortion. Federal district judge **Theodore Chuang** agreed with the argument and issued the 7/2020 order prohibiting FDA from enforcing the in-person requirement anywhere in the U.S. until the pandemic is over. After the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals declined the agency’s request to put Chuang’s ruling on hold pending its appeal, it went to the Supreme Court, which declined to resolve FDA’s request and told the agency to return to the lower court and ask Chuang to lift, modify, or freeze his order. Chuang denied the FDA request, noting that his order was not open-ended and applied only during the pandemic.

In a [2/9 letter to FDA](https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000177-8777-dccf-a777-ff772e010000&ref=fdaweb.com), the House Oversight Committee members wrote: “In light of the clear danger that the reinstated requirement poses to people seeking comprehensive reproductive health care at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, we urge you to immediately eliminate the medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone.”