<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The US Supreme Court on Friday temporarily preserved access to a widely used abortion pill, freezing rulings by lower courts that would have banned or severely restricted availability of the drug.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Two conservative justices disagreed with the decision in the most significant abortion case to reach the nine-member court since it overturned the constitutional right to the procedure 10 months ago.</div><div><br></div><div>In delivering a one-paragraph decision, the court did not comment on the merits of the case brought by anti-abortion groups seeking a ban on the abortion drug, mifepristone.</div><div><br></div><div>But their order means that mifepristone, which accounts for more than half of the abortions in the United States, will remain available while the case plays out in an appeals court.</div><div><br></div><div>The Justice Department of President Joe Biden had filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to block the lower court rulings that would have banned or restricted access to mifepristone.</div><div><br></div><div>The case stems from a ruling by a US District Court judge in Texas, in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of anti-abortion groups, that would have banned mifepristone, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000.</div><div><br></div><div>An appeals court blocked a ban on the abortion pill, but imposed tough restrictions on access, after which the baton was handed to the Supreme Court, where conservatives wield a 6-3 majority.</div><div><br></div><div>The Supreme Court decision effectively freezes the lower court rulings pending an appellate court hearing of an appeal from the Justice Department and mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories.</div><div><br></div><div>Arguments in the Louisiana-based US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals have been scheduled for May 17 and any ruling by the appellate court is likely to eventually reach the Supreme Court.</div><div>Reacting to the Supreme Court move, Biden said the lower court decisions "would have undermined FDA's medical judgment and put women's health at risk."</div><div><br></div><div>"Mifepristone remains available and approved for safe and effective use while we continue this fight in the courts," Biden said in a statement. "I will continue to fight politically-driven attacks on women's health." - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>