A federal appeals court in New Orleans is weighing whether to tighten the rules doctors follow when prescribing mifepristone, the drug used in most medication abortions in the United States. The case, brought by Louisiana's attorney general, argues that women in banned states are getting around those bans by using telehealth prescriptions and mail-order pills from doctors in states that protect that kind of care. If Louisiana wins, the impact wouldn't stop at its border.

Amanda Allen, executive director of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, put it plainly: "They're asking to restore an in-person requirement for every person across the country to access this medication regardless of whether they live in a state with strong legal protection for abortion access."

That means a woman in New York, California, or Illinois, states where abortion remains fully legal, could lose the ability to get this medication by mail or telehealth, simply because a court in Louisiana sided with a lawsuit aimed at a handful of other states. The Food and Drug Administration's own scientists have repeatedly found mifepristone safe and effective. Prescribing decisions should stay with doctors and federal regulators, not get rewritten state by state through the courts.

The FDA is reviewing its rules right now and has the power to defend the current standard. Medical decisions this personal shouldn't hinge on where a lawsuit happens to be filed.

Sign the petition urging the FDA to keep mifepristone accessible by telehealth and mail, before one state's lawsuit limits health care access for millions of people nationwide.