The United State Supreme Court intervened on April 14, 2023, lifting temporarily the restrictions issued by a Texas District Court judge on the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) September 28, 2000, approval of mifepristone after the drug regulator moved the application seeking reversal.

In his order, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito asked the parties to file responses by April 18, 2022, while staying the restrictions  placed by the Texas district court, noted: “The April 7, 2023 order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, case No. 2:22-cv-223, is hereby administratively stayed until 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.”

It may be recalled the Texas judge had stayed the approval of mifepristone, a progesterone blocker used to stop early pregnancies, on April 7, 2023.

The Biden Administration had already announced that it will contest the stay in the US Supreme Court, stating that the lawsuit, and ruling, is another step in taking away basic freedoms from women and putting their health at risk and that it will not only affect women in Texas but would prevent women in every state from accessing the medication, regardless of whether abortion is legal.

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In its application, the Justice Department opposed the lower court orders n the ground the judgement countermands the FDA’s scientific judgment and would result in unleashing regulatory chaos by suspending the existing FDA-approved conditions of use for mifepristone.

Pointing out that the Fifth Circuit stayed the district court’s suspension of the FDA’s original approval of mifepristone but refused to stay the suspension of subsequent updates to the conditions on the drug’s use, which have governed the drug’s distribution for seven years and provided a safe and effective option for women who would otherwise have to undergo a surgical abortion, the Justice Department application argued, “If allowed to take effect, the lower courts' orders would upend the regulatory regime for mifepristone, with sweeping consequences for the pharmaceutical industry, women who need access to the drug, and FDA’s ability to implement its statutory authority.”

The lower courts' judgements could have “sweeping consequences for the pharmaceutical industry, women who need access to the drug, and the FDA's ability to implement its statutory authority,” the justice department said.

Several professional organisations, including the American Medical Association, criticised the Texas court's decision, claiming that it threatens access to a safe and effective treatment used by millions of people for over two decades.