US Supreme Court lifts abortion pill restrictions, for now: Top points

US Abortion Pill Case: The move came following Justice Department's emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to block the lower court rulings.

The US Supreme Court temporarily allowed access to a widely used abortion pill, cancelling lower court restrictions on the drug with an “administrative stay”, news agency AFP reported. The lower court rulings would have banned or limited access to the drug mifepristone.

US Abortion Pill Case: Abortion rights advocates rally outside the US Supreme Court. (AFP)

The move came following Justice Department's emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to block the lower court rulings. Here are top updates on this story:

1. With the order, the US Supreme Court now has time to decide what to do next with respect to the lower court rulings.
2. The stay gives the Justice Department and the anti-abortion groups seeking the ban until Tuesday to submit their briefs.
3. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The stakes of this fight could not be higher in the face of ongoing attacks on women's health.”
4. US President Joe Biden said that his administration “will continue to fight to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade.”
5. In the Supreme Court, the Justice Department argued that the lower court orders “will upend the status quo” on the abortion pill and “that disruptive result would profoundly harm women, the nation's healthcare system, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), and the public interest.”
6. The legal battle began after a federal judge in Texas ordered a nationwide ban on mifepristone saying that the drug was being used to “kill the unborn human.”
7. But the Justice Department argued that the ruling was based on a “deeply misguided assessment of mifepristone's safety.”
8. Danco Laboratories, manufacturer of mifepristone, had also asked the Supreme Court in a separate filing to stay the lower courts' rulings. "The result is an untenable limbo, for Danco, for providers, for women, and for health care systems all trying to navigate these uncharted waters," Danco said.
9. This comes as more than 12 US states have passed laws banning or restricting abortion.