Tonight, we want to begin right here in Washington where the Supreme Court has given itself until the end of the week to decide whether the abortion pill that has been used by millions of American women should remain available nationwide. Justice S.A has pushed the decision until midnight on Friday. At issue, a lower court ruling that rolled back the Food and Drug Administration’s twenty-three-year-old approval of Mifepristone. About hall of all abortions in the United States are medication abortions. The drug is also commonly prescribed by doctors to miscarriages. It is approved for use through 10 weeks of pregnancy. Friday’s decision will be the first major court action related to abortion since it overturned R.V.W in June of last year.

The justices were expected to announce by midnight tonight whether they were going to continue blocking these court rulings and keep this pill available nationwide. The court gave no explanation for why it’s decided now to push that back until Friday. In two brief orders, Justice S.A extended the deadline keeping the abortion pill Mifepristone available nationwide at least two more days. The B administration and a drug manufacturer have asked the justices to step in and set aside or block lower court rulings that would ban or greatly restrict the pill. The case is an effort by a conservative legal group in Texas to limit abortion nationwide, arguing the FDA didn’t properly approve Mifepristone more than twenty years ago. Federal Judge M.K, a T appointee sided with the challengers and revoked the FDA’s authorization. An appeals court said K went too far, but it kept some restrictions in place, saying Mifepristone could only be used for abortion up to seven weeks, despite FDA approval of ten weeks and requiring three visits to a doctor. The administration is arguing that one federal judge cannot set abortion policy nationwide. Now there are conservative legal principles at the heart of this case on standing that suggests the justices are going to continue to block these lower court rulings indefinitely.