When it is anticipated to rule on harsh new court-ordered restrictions on the commonly used pill on Wednesday, the US Supreme Court will enter the bitter and emotive controversy around the abortion medication mifepristone.
It positions the conservative-leaning bench for its biggest reproductive rights intervention since a landmark decision that denied American women the right to an abortion 10 months ago.
Since then, pro-life organizations have turned their attention back to the need to outlaw mifepristone, which was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 and is currently used in more than half of all abortions in the United States.
Early this month, a federal judge’s ruling that the FDA approval of the medicine was defective and that it should be withdrawn was a result of those efforts.