The availability of the abortion drug mifepristone in the United States has been severely restricted by an appeals court.
The abortion pill will only be available via in-person doctor appointments, and its usage will be restricted to the first seven weeks of pregnancy, down from the current 10 weeks, Reuters reported.
US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, issued his order suspending FDA clearance for the medicine last Friday; he is hearing a lawsuit by anti-abortion organizations trying to prohibit mifepristone. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, situated in New Orleans, has now placed part of that order on hold.
Despite Judge Catharina Haynes's partial dissent, Kacsmaryk's ruling will go into effect on Friday.
Due to FDA violations of federal standards, Judge Kacsmaryk ordered mifepristone to be removed from the market on April 8.
The Justice Department and a pharmaceutical company have requested an immediate restraining order against a Texas judge's recent ruling that limits access to the abortion pill mifepristone, according to the BBC. The ruling was made by a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump after a surge of state-by-state restrictions on abortion following the Supreme Court's removal of constitutional safeguards for abortion in 2020.
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Many legal experts think the US Supreme Court will take up the matter at some point.
Mifepristone is an abortion drug that was first licensed for use in terminating pregnancies up to seven weeks of gestation as part of a two-drug combination.
The Biden administration and pro-choice organizations have pushed for the distribution of abortion pills via the mail to increase access. However, anti-abortion organizations have launched a lawsuit demanding that the FDA reverse its policies extending the drug's usage and its federal clearance because the latter is being used to circumvent state limits on abortion, per Politico.
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