In the wake of the lower appeals court reviewing the case of the access to abortion pill, the US Supreme Court has temporarily extended access to the popular abortion drug--Mifepristone--till Friday.
Earlier, questioning the safety of the drug, a Texas judge has suspended the approval for Mifepristone on April 7.
The pill was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over two decades ago in 2000.
While hearing the lawsuit by anti-abortion health professionals challenging the safety of the drug, a federal judge in Texas has issued a preliminary injunction revoking the FDA's approval for the drug.
The judge observed that FDA had rushed the approval and has not considered its side effects. While, several health organisations and the American Medical Association came to the forefront vouching for the drug and claiming that its safe and effective.
However, opposing the Texas ruling, a federal judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to make no change to the drug's availability and preserving its access to the drug in 17 US states.
With the contradicting rulings, the government approached the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. While hearing the appeals, the court had stayed the Texas order making mifepristone available with additional restrictions.
SC ruling
The manufacturers of the drug and the US justice department had approached the Supreme Court last week seeking its intervention to remove the restrictions from the pill.
On Friday, US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito of the 5th Circuit, ordered a temporary block on the restrictions until Wednesday evening, when it would issue a decision on whether to keep mifepristone on the market.
But on Wednesday, the court extended the deadline until Friday keeping the drug on the market.
If the SC sides with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals or no ruling issued by the end of Friday, the drug will continue to remain in the market. However restrictions would be imposed on its access also including the drug being taken in the presence of a physician and patients cannot receive the pill by post and that the window for use of the pill shortens from up to 10 weeks of pregnancy to seven.
According to the experts, the ruling would play a very crucial role as it places the other approved medicines in the US in a spot.
A conservative Christian legal advocacy group that filed the initial lawsuit against the FDA, has approached the SC asking it to let the restrictions on the drug into effect. Several Republican lawmakers are backing the request.
The republicans had said that the access to the drug "is a dangerous game with the health and safety of women and girls". Meanwhile the Democrats sought the SC to pause the Texas ruling and argued that it would restrict access to abortion nationwide.