Justice Department to appeal abortion pill restrictions to Supreme Court

The Justice Department on Thursday said it will ask the Supreme Court to pause a recent appeals court decision has limited access to mifepristone, a common abortion pill.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court ruled late Wednesday evening that patients could still access mifepristone, going against Texas U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's decision last week.

But the court also said the drug could not be distributed by mail and could only be prescribed to induce abortions in women who are at most seven weeks along in their pregnancy, not 10 as before.

"The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA to deny in part our request for a stay pending appeal," Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday. "We will be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care."

Kacsmaryk had ruled that the Food and Drug Administration rushed the approval process of mifepristone and violated federal standards by doing so.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.