On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump, heard arguments for a lawsuit to ban an abortion medication used widely in the U.S. for over two decades. The case was filed by a coalition of anti-abortion groups called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine to overturn the Food and Drug Administration's approval of pills used to terminate pregnancies, which account for more than half of abortions.

The plaintiffs requested a preliminary injunction to remove mifepristone, one pill in the two-drug regimen, off the market and the attorneys focused on the FDA's regulatory and approval process rather than abortion access. Attorney Erik Baptist, with the Alliance Defending Freedom, was unable to provide an example of a long-established drug being pulled off shelves and Justice Department lawyer Julie Straus Harris argued that removing the drug would be unprecedented.