LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kentucky's Attorney General is asking the United States Supreme Court to weigh in on mail-order abortion pills.

AG Russell Coleman said in a news release Friday he joined 23 other states in a legal brief challenging this week's federal order that allowed the abortion drug mifepristone to be delivered by mail.

The order signed by Samuel Alito Monday temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Those rules had been in effect for several years until a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions last week.

The majority of abortions in the U.S. are obtained through medications, usually a combination of mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol. Their availability has blunted the impact of abortion bans that most Republican-led states have started enforcing since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed for state bans.

Louisiana sued to restrict access to mifepristone in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for this reason, asserting that its availability undermined the ban there.

Coleman and the 22 other state attorneys agree with that ruling, and argue that when the Biden Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed important safety requirements in 2023, allowing the abortion pills to be sent to states like Kentucky, it put the safety of women taking them at risk.

They argue that without medical supervision, the drugs can cause "dangerous side effects."

"Activist groups from New York and California have been flooding our Commonwealth with these deadly pills without proper medical supervision," Coleman said. "We’re asking the Supreme Court to recognize that Kentucky has the ability to protect the health and safety of our citizens."

Kentucky law prohibits the mailing or delivery of abortion-inducing drugs under House Bill 3, which was passed in 2022. In January, Coleman's office issued subpoenas to six gas stations in Christian, Logan and Simpson counties after advertisements for abortion pills were displayed. 

The Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on the case in the coming months.

Copyright 2026 WDRB Media. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.

Â