A Louisiana-based federal appeals court could decide as soon as Wednesday the availability of the nation’s most used medication abortion drug, as members of Congress from both parties weighed in on a lower court ruling that would stop the manufacture and distribution of the drug this Saturday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has until the end of the week to decide whether to halt the ruling from Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that would suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone.
The Biden administration asked for a ruling by Thursday so that it had time to ask the Supreme Court to intervene if needed, and the government filed its final brief in the emergency application Wednesday afternoon.
