A Louisiana case could upend telehealth abortion. What exactly is it?

Dr. William Richardson opens the telemedicine portal at his clinic, Choices Women's Center, through which he can see patients seeking an abortion, in his office at the clinic in Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. Anna Watts for NPR hide caption

TUCSON, Ariz. — Dr. William Richardson says his patients are pretty floored that telehealth is now an option for abortion.

"I think people are shell shocked," says Richardson, a board-certified OB-GYN in Tucson, Ariz. "'What do you mean? I can just get on my cell phone and get abortion pills? What? You know, that can't be possible.' People just don't get after all this time that that's possible."

It's actually been possible in much of the country for several years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration began allowing the abortion pill mifepristone to be prescribed through telehealth and sent to patients in the mail. The agency then made that rules-change official in 2023 .

In Arizona, although abortion is legal, mifepristone hasn't been available through telehealth because of state-level restrictions. That changed in February of this year, after a judge ruled in favor of Richardson in a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights clearing the way for telehealth access.

After 25 years of providing abortion in person in his Tucson clinic, Choices Women's Center, he launched telehealth services in May, and it's taken off. "I would say 95% of our patients want to use telemedicine in some form," he says. "Patients are loving it."

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He's very aware, though, that telehealth access could go away again. This week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans hears oral arguments in Louisiana v. FDA , which aims to end telehealth access to the abortion pill mifepristone for the whole country.