NEW ORLEANS (NEWSnet/AP) — New restrictions on access to a drug used in the most common form of abortion in the U.S. would be imposed under a federal appeals court ruling issued Wednesday, but the Supreme Court will have the final say.

The ruling, by three judges on 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned, part of a lower court ruling that would have revoked U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of mifepristone. But it left intact part of the ruling that would end the availability of the drug by mail, allow it to be used through the seventh week of pregnancy, rather than the 10th, and require it to be administered in the presence of a physician.

Even those restrictions won’t take effect immediately, because the Supreme Court previously intervened to keep the drug available during the legal challenge.

FDA granted access to mifepristone in 2000. The panel's ruling would reverse changes FDA made in 2016 and 2021 to relax some conditions for the drug’s administration.

“In loosening mifepristone’s safety restrictions, FDA failed to address several important concerns about whether the drug would be safe for the women who use it,” Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote for a panel of three 5th Circuit judges.

She was joined by Judge Cory Wilson. Judge James Ho dissented, arguing to uphold a federal judge's ruling that would revoke the drug’s approval, which the FDA granted in 2000.

Mifepristone is one of two pills used in medication abortions. The other, misoprostol, also is used to treat other medical conditions. Health care providers have said they could switch to misoprostol if mifepristone is no longer available or is too difficult to obtain. Misoprostol is somewhat less effective in ending a pregnancy.

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