The Brief

The Supreme Court on Monday gave itself more time to consider a national ban on telemedicine access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

Justice Samuel Alito extended an earlier order he issued by three more days, so rules for prescribing mifepristone online or through the mail remain in effect through Thursday at a minimum.

The case at issue

The tumult over the future of telemedicine access to mifipristone started on May 1 with a ruling from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling re-instituted prescribing rules from before the pandemic that required patients to receive mifepristone in person in a doctor's office or clinic.

The Food and Drug Administration determined that the rule was medically unnecessary in 2021. The state of Louisiana sued last fall, arguing that telemedicine access undermines the state's abortion ban.

What is telemedicine abortion?

The telemedicine abortion process starts with a patient connecting with a healthcare provider on the phone or online. If the patient is eligible, that provider can prescribe two medications — mifepristone and another pill called misoprostol. Patients can pick up the medicine at a local pharmacy, or providers can mail the drugs to a patient's home.

That access is a big part of the reason why the number of abortions nationally has actually increased since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. Now, most abortions in the U.S. use this combination of medications, and one quarter happen via telemedicine.

After the 5th Circuit ruling, some providers said they would continue offering telemedicine access to abortion medication using a different protocol that involves higher doses of misoprostol and no mifepristone.

Researchers say that method is just as safe and effective, but tends to cause more pain for patients and more side effects, like nausea and diarrhea. Misoprostol has other medical uses, such as treating gastric ulcers and hemorrhage, and has been on the market longer than mifepristone. It is likely to remain fully accessible, even if mifepristone is restricted.

Since the FDA's prescribing rules for medications apply to the whole country, a change to the rules about how mifepristone can be accessed has national impact. That means it affects states with constitutionally-protected access to abortion, states with criminal bans, like Louisiana, and all states in between.

States' rights

Nearly two dozen Democratic-led states submitted an amicus brief in this case, writing that the appeals court decision put the policy choices of states with bans above the choices of states "that have made the different but equally sovereign determinations to promote access to abortion care."

There are also stakes related to the power of FDA and other expert agencies to set rules. While the Trump administration's FDA did not respond to the Supreme Court's request for briefs, a group of former leaders of the agency, who served under mainly Democratic and some Republican presidents, wrote about this in an amicus brief.

They defended the FDA's process in approving the medication and modifying the rules for prescribing it, and say the appeals court decision "would upend FDA's gold-standard, science-based drug approval system."

Copyright 2026 NPR

For a decade, LAist has been making navigating elections in California and L.A. easier through our Voter Game Plan guides. More than 3 million people visited the Voter Game Plan during our coverage of the 2024 elections. That’s equivalent to more than half of the overall registered voters in L.A. County.

We’ve heard from so many people who tell us that Voter Game Plan has helped them make their most informed votes ever. You’ve told us that these helpful, plain-spoken and nonpartisan guides are essential in Southern California.

And each election cycle, we strive to find new ways to make them even better. Over the last few elections, we’ve added charts that let you follow the money in key races by tracking campaign finance. We’ve expanded to Orange County, Long Beach and Pasadena. We spun up our popular newsletter, “Make It Make Sense,” which keeps you informed on what goes on after the election. This year, we added a pre-game to the newsletter and brought you up to speed on recent big elections ahead of this primary election day.

What is Voter Game Plan+

Now we’re launching another new experiment. We call it Voter Game Plan+. This feature will offer you a new toolkit of features to enhance your voting research experience. Here's how it works:

• If you already support LAist’s work as a member, thank you. You’ll have full access to these new tools.
• If you haven’t yet taken the step of joining the LAist member ranks, we are asking for a small, one-time payment of $7 for these additional features through the Nov. 3 mid-term election.

All of our voter guides remain free for all to use, and you can still submit your questions to our reporters and we’ll get them answered.

Why ask for money? This nominal fee will help offset the cost of producing these specific guides and tools, as well as the overall Voter Game Plan, which takes the equivalent of at least two journalists working full-time for a year to produce every election cycle.

As part of VGP+, you will be able to match your interests and topical positions against 14 candidates in the L.A. mayoral race through an interactive quiz. And the California governor's race quiz launches later this week.

We’re also offering a way to follow and save your favorite candidates across all races. This tool will be useful if you want a printable list of choices to take to the ballot box, or if you just want to keep track of how you voted when the general election comes around in November. And there are more features to come.

Our ask to you

With VGP+, LAist continues our tradition of working hard to make elections and long ballots less intimidating and giving voters more context and support for making informed decisions.

This is not a paywall, and you are not under any obligation to purchase VGP+. But we are asking this: Has LAist’s Voter Game Plan saved you time and given you confidence at the ballot box? If the answer is yes, we’d be very grateful for your support.

A fire has broken out on an oil and gas platform about 6.6 miles offshore from Santa Barbara.

The fire was reported just after 7 a.m. on Monday. Onboard crew members were unable to contain it. The 26 workers were evacuated, and two minor injuries were reported.

Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara City and Ventura County firefighters, as well as the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard, are involved in efforts to contain the blaze.

There's no word on what started the fire.

This is a developing story.