Manufacturers of the abortion pill ask Supreme Court to restore access by mail
Two manufacturers of the widely used abortion pill mifepristone have urgently appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking to block an appellate court ruling that, just a day prior, halted mail-order access to the medication.
This development marks the most significant shift in US abortion policy since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Danco Laboratories, a maker of mifepristone, requested an emergency pause on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, arguing the ruling “injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions.” GenBioPro, which produces a generic version of the drug, submitted a similar request to the high court.
The New Orleans-based appeals court’s unanimous decision on Friday represented a substantial victory for abortion opponents.
The ruling mandates that mifepristone be distributed solely in person and at clinics, effectively overriding regulations established by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Mary Ziegler, an expert on abortion law and a professor at the University of California at Davis School of Law, commented, “We’re now going to see, I think in a way we haven’t before, what the nation will look like when abortion bans are actually in effect.”
The impact of this ruling extends beyond states with existing abortion bans. While the case progresses through the courts, the decision is in effect nationwide, affecting patients in all states, even those without abortion restrictions.
Josh Thorburn, owner of Eddie’s Pharmacy in Los Angeles, highlighted the challenge, “This is a huge access issue for patients that haven’t got providers close by, or providers close by who are willing to prescribe.”
Legal experts note there is little precedent for a federal court to overrule the scientific regulations of the FDA, and the long-term implications for abortion access remain uncertain.
Mifepristone, approved in 2000, has long been considered a safe and effective method for ending early pregnancies.
It is typically used in conjunction with misoprostol, a drug not impacted by the ruling but less effective on its own.
Surveys indicate that the majority of abortions in the US are medication-induced, with approximately one in four prescribed via telehealth.
Providers suggest that the availability of mifepristone through telehealth has been a factor in abortion numbers remaining stable since Roe was overturned in 2022, making abortion pills and their prescribers key targets for opponents.

The ruling has created uncertainty for providers and patients alike. Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, stated that providers are “in limbo” but could pivot to using only misoprostol.
She added, “It’s got a chilling effect on providers across the country, and it’s going to have a chilling effect on patients, who are already having a hard time navigating the law state by state, and what they can get and how they can get care.”
Some Democratic-led states have enacted “shield laws” to protect telehealth providers, which are now being tested in civil and criminal cases.
Dr. Angel Foster, a telehealth provider with The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Project, affirmed, “We will do everything in our power to continue providing care to people in all 50 states.”
This case could elevate abortion as a central issue in upcoming midterm elections. Ziegler noted, “This is going to be a pretty significant change in terms of how people experience abortion access, probably as significant as anything we’ve seen since Roe was overturned.”
Recent electoral results show a trend: since Roe was overturned, voters have sided with abortion-rights advocates in 14 out of 17 direct ballot questions.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, hailed the appellate ruling as a “victory for life.” However, some anti-abortion advocates expressed frustration that Trump did not take action to block the pill’s distribution during his administration.
The FDA, under Trump, approved another generic version of mifepristone last year, a move that displeased some of his allies. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, remarked, “It’s shameful that the Trump administration’s inaction has forced pro-life states to take their battle to the federal courts,” while also commending the appellate decision.
Sen. Reed on Trump’s Iran strategy: ‘I don’t believe the president has a plan’
Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Sunday he believes the U.S. is in a “much worse position” with Iran since the war started, and that he doesn’t believe President Donald Trump has a plan to achieve his stated objectives.
“We’re in, in many respects, a much worse position,” Reed told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “The regime in Tehran is probably more hostile and fanatical than the one that we replaced … We have not yet resolved the issue of nuclear material in Iran. So this has been a tactical demonstration of prowess, but has not achieved the strategic goal that the president announced, and he seems not to have a plan to achieve those goals.”
The U.S. war with Iran has now spanned 10 weeks, and while a ceasefire is ongoing, the two countries have been at a stalemate after peace talks failed April 12. The critical Strait of Hormuz remains closed, sending oil prices skyrocketing globally.
Sen. Jack Reed, ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on May 3, 2026.
ABC News
The Trump administration has consistently said that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was a primary objective for going to war. Iran has maintained that they are not seeking nuclear weapons.
Asked by Raddatz about remarks from Reed’s colleague Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speculating that there could be additional strikes on Iran, Reed said that it is possible, but that he does not know what the president might do next.
“I do have the impression from some of the briefings that I have received, as well as other sources, that an imminent military strike is very much on the table, which is deeply disturbing because it could well involve American sons and daughters in harm’s way and potential massive casualties,” Blumenthal said on CNN Thursday.
“Well, they are certainly positioned for strikes. That’s what a military force has to be,” Reed said. “I don’t believe the President has a plan. I think it’s impulsive. It’s day to day. It’s how [Trump] feels, and he’s not being given I think the support and the planning that is necessary to make judicious judgments.”
Reed sparred with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an Armed Services Committee hearing last week, accusing the secretary of “dangerously” exaggerating the military successes of the war.
“The problem with your statements, Mr. Secretary, is they are dangerously exaggerated,” Reed said in his opening statement at the hearing. “Iran’s hardline regime remains in place, it still retains stockpiles of enriched uranium, and its nuclear program remains viable.”
Hegseth was asked if the president would ask Congress for authorization to continue the war — under the War Powers Resolution, presidents must ask Congress for authorization to continue a military operation after 60 days.
That 60-day deadline passed on Friday, but Hegseth argued in the hearing that the clock paused once Trump declared a ceasefire. Trump sent a letter to Congress Friday affirming that argument, saying “hostilities that began on February 28th, 2026, have terminated.”
Reed disagreed with that assertion Sunday.
“The language of the statutes does not provide for timeouts, like in a football game,” Reed said. “There can be a 30-day extension to 90 days, but that has to be requested by the president. We have to be notified. No such notifications have come through. The president’s ignoring the law.”
Sting embarks on
When Sting comes back to his hometown these days, it’s not to the same place he left more than five decades ago. The city of Newcastle, tucked up in the northeast corner of England, now presents a tranquil vista where modern architecture spans calm waters. But for centuries, Newcastle was a hard-scrabble, noisy, industrial powerhouse. It built ships.
And Sting, a boy from a working-class family, was given some fatherly advice he didn’t want to hear: “He’d say, ‘Son, go to sea. See the world, make something of yourself.’ Of course, I disappointed him!”
CBS News
All Sting did was become one of the most successful songwriters and pop performers of his generation, starting with his 1970s band The Police, and through many variations since. His most popular songs – “Every Breath You Take,” “Roxanne,” “Message In A Bottle,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “Fields of Gold,” “Shape of My Heart” – have streamed in the billions.
Asked if he keeps score of awards won and albums sold, Sting replied, “The answer is, enough. I have had more than enough success and affirmation. I don’t actually need any more. It’s lovely, but it’s not something I particularly think about. I don’t think of myself as a celebrity. I don’t like to. I like to think of myself as a working musician with a story to tell” – a story about his hometown.
“I just wanted a bigger life than the one I was being offered,” he said, “and it was only later that I realized that where I’d been brought up was actually a gift.”
How so? “Because of these very profound symbols to wake up to every morning: A gigantic ship hanging over the street; an army of men walking to work; the ship being built, launched into the river, out to sea. Those are very powerful images for an artist. I wanted to honor where I came from, because what they gave me was a sense of identity, a work ethic. So, I wanted to repay that.”
Sting’s musical (which he’s been working on for more than a decade) is called “The Last Ship,” and it recounts the demise of Newcastle’s shipyards. Now he’s taking it on tour, with the advantage of added star power – namely, Sting, and his good friend, Mr. “Bombastic” himself, Shaggy.
“The Last Ship”
The reggae star told us he’s never done anything quite as bombastic as “The Last Ship”: “Not quite on this scale,” he said. “I’m still sitting here and I’m saying, what have I gotten myself into?“
Why Shaggy? Working together has paid off before, when he and Sting won a Grammy for best reggae album in 2019, for “44/876.”
“I immediately knew Shaggy was the perfect man for the job,” said Sting. “He has a great sense of mischief, a great sense of joy, but he’s also a natural actor.”
“He knows me better than me!” Shaggy said. “I was like, ‘I can’t really,’ and he was like, ‘No, you can do that.’ And then I’m doing it and I was like, I hate admitting that he was right!“
The show has already played to sold-out halls in Europe and Australia, and is set for a run at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. An earlier incarnation of “The Last Ship” played on Broadway in 2014. The show has had its book revised.
Asked why the project has meant to much to him, that he has stubbornly pursued it for more than a decade, Sting replied, “I’m tenacious. If I believe in something, I will stick at it. And I do not conflate commercial success with excellence or quality at all. I think this play, even though it’s set in the 1980s, has something to say to people now. All of us are in danger of losing our work to AI. All of us. “
Asked if he wants to be taken “seriously” as a theatre composer, as distinct from his pop career, he said, “I’m very grateful for the pop career, and it was a certain time in my life when I was of a certain age and looked a certain way and made a certain kind of music. But it can’t be my entire life. I don’t want to be just defined from how I was at the age of 25. I’m 74 now.”
Sting, born Gordon Sumner, was given his stage name because of the striped yellow-and-black top he used to wear that someone said made him look like a wasp. And there’s been plenty of buzz about his career ever since, including about the real meaning of his biggest hit, “Every Breath You Take.”
“Some people interpret that song as being a very romantic love song, or it’s about a stalker – this obsessive watching, I’ll be watching you,” said Sting. “I don’t contradict people in their individual interpretation of the song. I think it enriches the song. I think gives it its power. It’s about both things.
“Some people get married to that, so God bless them!”
Sting’s life has been about many things. Now it’s about coming home – spiritually at least – as when he came with our cameras to a Newcastle pub. “They have come to bring me home, to shoot some local color, which would be you,” he told the crowd. “So, please be as colorful as you are!”
CBS News
If ever there was a “local boy makes good” story, this is it. And everybody here seems to know the words to “Message In a Bottle.”
We asked Sting if he ever thinks of taking a vacation. “Explain that concept to me,” was his response.
But why is he still doing this? “Because I like to work,” he replied. “Could I retire? I’m not sure I could do it. I haven’t developed that skill to just sit and do nothing. Perhaps I’m afraid of it. I haven’t prepared myself for it. But while I’m still fit enough to do my work, I will continue. At some point, I hope I have the objectivity to say, OK, you’ve done enough. Go and sit on the farm.“
Could he do that? “I’m not sure!” he laughed.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Sting (Video)
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Story produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: Carol Ross.
See also:
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Mozart: The man and the legend
A new exhibition on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City, illuminates the man and his immortal works – from his first compositions created at age five, to personal objects, manuscripts and letters, to the instruments upon which he composed his immortal music. Jane Pauley reports.
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