Justice Department to Seek Emergency Supreme Court Action on Abortion Ruling

The Justice Department said on Thursday that it would ask the Supreme Court to block a ruling by a federal appeals panel that limited the distribution and access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

In a case that has national implications for abortion access, the three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled late Wednesday night that mifepristone could remain available while the lawsuit, filed against the Food and Drug Administration by anti-abortion groups, proceeds through the courts.