The battle over the abortion bill continues Wednesday before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, generally considered the country's most conservative federal appeals court.
Arguments are scheduled to begin during the afternoon in New Orleans as the Biden administration attempts to reverse a decision that would take mifepristone off the market.
It could be months before the three-judge panel rules in the case.
Early last month, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended approval of mifepristone, one of the two drugs commonly used for medication abortions. The judge gave the Biden administration one week to appeal the decision.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then preserved access to mifepristone temporarily but reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be used and said it could not be dispensed by mail.
Two weeks later, the Supreme Court blocked new restrictions set by lower courts on the pill. The justices granted emergency requests by the Justice Department (DOJ) and the pill's manufacturer Danco Laboratories to put on hold Kacsmaryk's ruling.
The administration Wednesday will argue that mifepristone is safe, and that the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 2000 approval was valid.
The FDA, in a brief, is arguing that if left intact, Kacsmaryk's decision "would upend the status quo based on the court's deeply misguided assessment of mifepristone's safety," CBS News reported.
"The district court's order would thwart FDA's scientific judgment and profoundly harm women who rely on mifepristone as an alternative to more burdensome and invasive surgical abortions," DOJ lawyers told the 5th Circuit, CBS News reported.
"Those harms would be felt throughout the Nation because mifepristone has lawful uses in every State — even those with restrictive abortion laws."
Drug industry groups agreed.
"FDA's approval process is rigorous and thorough, and pharmaceutical companies invest billions of dollars in research and development to meet scientific standards. Under the court's reasoning, any healthcare provider could bring suit to challenge any drug approval at any time," lobbying group PhRMA said in a joint brief with other drug industry groups, The Hill reported.
The case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, was brought in November on behalf of a group of anti-abortion medical associations and physicians.
The plaintiffs argued the FDA was wrong when it approved mifepristone, which is widely used across the U.S. to end pregnancy in the first 10 weeks of gestation.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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