The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it will permanently lift a mandate requiring abortion pills to be picked up in-person, allowing delivery by mail instead, according to CNN. The medication – a combination of the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol – is used to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks.

“The FDA’s decision eliminating its unnecessary in-person requirement did not come a moment too soon,” ACLU attorney Julia Kaye said in a statement.

Easing abortion pill restrictions may help mitigate fallout from a potential Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade. However, many Republican-controlled states are already gearing up to fight the move, according to the Associated Press.

Medical associations originally raised the issue last year, requesting termination of the in-person pickup requirement on account of the pandemic.

“Covid just gave us this kind of natural experiment to demonstrate that no, in fact, there is no medically justifiable reason to require patients to come into a clinic and pick up a pill that they are going to turn around and take at home,” said Kristen Moore, director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project.

While cheering the FDA’s decision this week, abortion rights groups say much is left to be done about the restrictions that remain. For example, clinicians must still to register in advance with a manufacturer of the drug before they are able prescribe it.

Experts say that medical abortions now account for more than half the total number that occur in early pregnancy.