The US Department of Justice anticipated this Thursday that it will go to the Supreme Court to challenge the restrictions placed on an abortion pill widely used, in the context of an increasingly intense battle for reproductive rights in the country.

The measure of the president’s administration Joe Biden It arrived a few hours later a federal appellate court block mifepristone ban, but restrict access to the drug used for more than half of abortions in the United States.

We’re going to the Supreme Court “to protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care”said US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Speaking to reporters during Biden’s visit to Dublin, Ireland, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “We believe the law is on our side and we will win.”

What does the ruling limiting the use of mifepristone for abortion say?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, Louisiana, said Wednesday evening mifepristone it should stay available, but with conditions.

The ruling limits the access to the pill TO first seven weeks of pregnancyinstead of 10; requires in-person visits to get the drug, a requirement that was removed; and stop delivery of the drug by mail.

The 2-1 ruling came after a Texas judge, nominated by the former Republican president Donald Trumpon Friday it rescinded the approval of mifepristone by the US pharmaceutical agency, the FDA, two decades ago, thereby suspending its authorization across the country.

The two New Orleans judges who voted to tighten restrictions on access to the abortion pill, Kurt Engelhardt and Andrew Oldham, were also nominated by Trump. The third justice, Catharina Haynes, was nominated by former Republican President George W. Bush.

The lobby for and against abortion in the United States

He anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony described Wednesday’s ruling as a “victory.”

“The court recognized that the abortion pill is dangerous and reversed Biden’s reckless mail-in abortion scheme,” said Katie Daniel, a senior member of the panel. “We can’t wait for the Supreme Court to hear this case.”

But the decision was denounced by planned parenting, the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights and other groups trying to maintain access to abortion.

“We are furious that another court has chosen to do this endanger health and the future of millions of people,” said Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson.

Jennifer Dalven of the ACLU said that “unless the Supreme Court intervenes, this decision will prevent many people from getting abortion services and force them to become pregnant against their will.”

The background of the limits on abortion in the United States

The latest showdown on women’s reproductive freedom in the United States comes nearly a year after the Supreme Court, dominated by conservative judges, overturned the historic Roe v. Wade who had consecrated the Constitutional right to abortion for half a century.

THE mifepristone it is a component of a two-drug regimen that can be used in the United States during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The FDA estimates it 5.6 million Americans have used it to terminate pregnancies since it was approved in 2000.

Last week’s ruling by Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, also a Trump appointee, came after a coalition of anti-abortion groups sued to stop the nationwide distribution of mifepristone.

In his decision, Kacsmaryk adopted the language used by abortion opponents, referring to abortion providers as “abortionists” and stating that the drug was used to “kill the unborn human”.

Kacsmaryk said that taking mifepristone, in combination with another tablet, resulted in “thousands of adverse events experienced by women and girls,” including heavy bleeding and psychological trauma.

But the FDAthe scientists and the drug’s manufacturer say decades of experience have proved this the drug is safe and effective when used as directed.

Shortly after the Texas decision, a federal judge in Washington (west) state, Thomas Rice, nominated by Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, ruled on a different case – brought by different states where abortion is legal -, that mifepristone is “safe” and that the FDA should preserve its access in more than a dozen states.

Public opinion polls show a clear majority of Americans support safe abortion, even as conservative groups push to limit access to the procedure or ban it altogether.