The Biden administration says it will appeal a Texas-based federal judge's ruling halting access to an abortion pill while legal challenges proceed, and will press for continued access to the drug.
It's called mifepristone... and it had been given the green light for more than two decades.
But Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's Friday ruling would make sales of it illegal while a challenge against it plays out in the courts.
The judge left a week-long window for his ruling to take effect.
Vice President Kamala Harris said the pill's suspension goes against women's rights:
"...there is no question that the (U.S.) president (Joe Biden) and I are going to stand with the women of America and do everything we can to ensure that women have the ability to make decisions about their health care..."
Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen used for medication abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
The drugs account for more than half of all abortions in the country.
Anti-abortion groups sued the FDA last year... arguing the agency used an improper process, two-decades ago, to approve the drug.
Kacsmaryk - a conservative former Christian activist - hasn't ruled on the challenge itself - but has already found the lawsuit is likely to succeed.
Adding to the volatile legal landscape around abortion, a federal judge in Washington state on Friday issued a seemingly conflicting injunction that prevented federal regulators from altering access to the same abortion drug.
Legal experts say a conflict between the two rulings will have to be hashed out by higher courts.
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