The Justice Department on Monday appealed a decision by a Texas court to stop approving the most common method of abortion in the U.S., calling the decision extraordinary and unprecedented.”

The request to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals was filed just days after conflicting court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone called into question access to the drug, which has been widely available for more than 20 years.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of Donald Trump, announced his decision Friday, but ruled that it would not take effect for seven days. The Biden administration said in its filing with the New Orleans-based appeals court that the Texas court’s extraordinary and unprecedented order should be stayed while it appeals.

If enacted, the court order would thwart the FDA’s scientific judgment and seriously harm women, especially those for whom mifepristone is a medical or practical necessity, the Justice Department wrote.

Kacsmaryk’s decision came almost at the same time that a separate federal judge in Washington state ordered U.S. authorities not to make changes that would limit access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats had filed a lawsuit.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of mifepristone in 2000.

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The whiplash of the conflicting decisions is likely to bring the issue to the Supreme Court at an accelerated pace.

To underline that confusion, the Justice Department separately asked federal court in Washington state on Monday for clarity.

The abortion drug has been widely used in the US since gaining FDA approval and there is essentially no precedent for a lone judge overturning that agency’s medical decisions. Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in the United States for medicated abortion, along with misoprostol, which is also used to treat other medical conditions.

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According to Jennifer Dalven, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Reproductive Freedom Reproductive Freedom Project, many providers will have to wait and see what legal documents are filed between now and Friday.

If the Texas court ruling goes into effect, some healthcare providers are willing to move to a misoprostol-only regimen, while others may move to surgical abortions only.

We don’t know exactly what will happen in the courts, Dalven said. What we do know is that considerable confusion and chaos will ensue as healthcare providers try to provide the best possible care to their patients.