Access to abortion pill in the balance as Texas judge hears mifepristone case

A decision overturning approval of the drug would apply nationwide, not only in the states that have banned or restricted abortion.

The alliance, which was also involved in the lawsuit that led the supreme court to overturn Roe v Wade, argues that pregnancy is not a disease and therefore mifepristone should not have been considered for accelerated approval.

Attorneys for the government said that adverse effects requiring medical intervention are exceedingly rare, and that the statute of limitations for challenging the approval of the drug had long run out.

Dozens of people were in line by 6am CT in order to enter the northern Texas court for the hearing, which was scheduled to begin at 9am.

This was the first hearing in the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v US Food and Drug Administration. Any decision would probably be appealed to the conservative US court of appeals for the 5th circuit, and possibly to the supreme court.

If Kacsmaryk overturns the FDA approval of mifepristone, it is unclear how access to the drug would be affected in the short term, and some legal experts argue that the agency would not be required to enforce the decision. Some abortion providers have said they would continue to prescribe misoprostol, the other drug used in the two-step protocol, which has been found to be effective on its own in ending pregnancies, although at a slightly lower rate than when used in conjunction with mifepristone.

The Associated Press contributed to this report