The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Biden administration must maintain legal access in most of the country to an abortion pill that is part of the most common method of terminating early pregnancies.

In an unspoken injunction, the judges blocked rulings by a Texas judge and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that could have heavily restricted the use of the pills or removed them from the market entirely.

The vote was 7-2 with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. were in disagreement.

More than five million American women have used mifepristone since the Food and Drug Administration declared it safe and effective in 2000.

The decision sends the case back to lower courts with a signal that most judges believe this challenge of the abortion pill will ultimately fail.

The case represented the most significant abortion issue to reach the Supreme Court since last year’s 5-4 decision reversing Roe vs. Wade and destroyed the constitutional right to abortion.

Who switched?

Since Roe’s overthrow last year, Texas and a dozen other Republican-led states have essentially made abortion illegal, prohibiting doctors from performing surgeries or prescribing abortion pills.

A Texas judge’s ruling had threatened access to mifepristone in the rest of the country, where abortion remains legal.

OR Supreme Court Denies FDA Objection, Restricting Use of Abortion Pills A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by the Biden administration, letting part of a Texas judge’s ruling prohibit the use of an abortion pill that is part of the most common method of terminating early pregnancies. The vote was XXX. The decision allows sales of the pills to continue where they are currently legal, but blocks some 2016 Food and Drug Administration regulations that said patients only need one visit to a healthcare provider and can take mifepristone through 10 weeks of a pregnancy, up from seven weeks earlier. The FDA also allowed the pills to be sent by mail in 2016, and that regulation was also blocked by the Supreme Court. The decision largely upholds a New Orleans appeals court ruling that said the FDA failed to demonstrate the pills’ safety. 2016 changes. The judges were warned that introducing the restrictions would “cause chaos” because all mifepristone now on the market would be “misbranded” and could not be legally distributed. *****The court’s decision on abortion pills resembles an earlier conflict over Obamacare. Shortly after Judge Amy Coney Barrett joined the court, the judges faced a lawsuit in Texas that threatened to strike down the health law. The conservative challengers had won in a Texas federal judge and the 5th Circuit Court, but to the relief of the Liberals, the judges threw out the Texas lawsuit in a 7-2 decision, citing a lack of prestige. They similarly rejected a series of post-election challenges filed by supporters of the defeated President Trump, including one from Texas Atty. General Ken Paxton is contesting the electoral votes in four states that voted for Biden.

The threat to the abortion pills arose last fall in Amarillo, Texas. A group of anti-abortion advocates, including doctors, set up an office there and filed a lawsuit challenging the safety of mifepristone.

The abortion pill was widely used in Europe before the FDA approved its use in 2000. In combination with misopristol,

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The drugs cause cramping and bleeding, but serious complications are “extremely rare,” the agency said.

Based on its safety record, the FDA relaxed regulations for its use in 2016. Since then, patients only need to see a healthcare provider once and can take the medication for 10 weeks of a pregnancy, up from seven weeks before. Shortly after Biden became president, the FDA approved sending the pills by mail.

But as widely predicted, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ruled in favor of the anti-abortion activists and revoked the drug’s FDA approval.

The Justice Department immediately appealed to the 5th Circuit Court. While one appellate judge would have put Kacsmaryk’s entire decision on hold, two others agreed with part of the judge’s ruling and suspended FDA regulations from 2016 and beyond.

Biden’s attorney general, Elizabeth Prelogar, sent an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court urging the justices to block lower court rulings.

She said the abortion pills have been safe for more than 20 years and no federal judge has overturned the FDA’s ruling on a drug’s safety.