In an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito, the court asked both sides to weigh in by Tuesday over whether lower court rulings restricting the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug, mifepristone, should be allowed to take effect while the case works its way through federal courts.
The order suggests the court will decide that issue by late Wednesday.
A ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Wednesday would prevent the pill, used in the most common abortion method, from being mailed or prescribed without an in-person visit to a doctor. It also would withdraw the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone for use beyond the seventh week of pregnancy. The FDA says it’s safe through 10 weeks.
Still, the appeals court did not entirely withdraw FDA approval of mifepristone while the fight over it continues. The 5th circuit narrowed an April 7 ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, whose order would have blocked FDA approval of the pill. He gave the administration a week to appeal.
The Supreme Court justices are being asked at this point only to determine what parts of an April 7 ruling by Judge Kacsmaryk, as modified by an appellate ruling Wednesday, can be in force while the case continues.
The Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, the maker of the pill, asked the justices to intervene.
