(Washington) The future of the abortion pill in the United States will be decided before the Supreme Court: the Biden administration announced Thursday that it would seize the temple of law to challenge the restrictions on access to this tablet, decided a few hours earlier by a Court of Appeal.

Three visits to the doctor, an authorization limited to the first seven weeks of pregnancy, a ban on sending the pill by mail… A panel of three judges based in the conservative South imposed strict conditions Wednesday evening on the distribution of mifepristone .

With potentially immense consequences for access to abortion: combined with another pill, mifepristone, is used for more than half of abortions in the United States.

The government “will uphold the scientific judgment” of the US Drug Administration (FDA), which has authorized the abortion pill for more than 20 years, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

The origin of this legal saga: the decision last week of a judge, known for his ultra-conservative views, who had withdrawn his marketing authorization.

Despite the scientific consensus, it considered that mifepristone posed risks to the health of women and suspended its authorization for the entire United States.

He had planned a one-week delay before his decision would apply, to give the federal government time to appeal.

The administration of Democratic President Joe Biden had asked a New Orleans appeals court to intervene to block the “ extraordinary and unprecedented ” judgment of Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by Donald Trump, “ pending the substantive examination” of the file.

In its appeal, the government recalled that more than 5 million women have used mifepristone, combined with another tablet, since its authorization by the FDA in 2000. When it is taken correctly, serious side effects are extremely rare, pleaded- he.

But the decision of the appeals court did not agree with the Biden administration, since it considerably limited access to this pill.

The Supreme Court, dominated by conservatives since its reshuffle by Donald Trump, is therefore called upon to decide. It was this same institution that last June canceled the constitutional protection of abortion, provoking its ban in fifteen states.

The future of this cachet is therefore very uncertain.

At the same time, a coalition of Democratic states went to another court at the end of February to try to preserve this pill.

Less than an hour after Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision, one of his colleagues, Judge Thomas Rice, appointed by Barack Obama and sitting in the State of Washington, had deemed that mifepristone was “ safe and effective ” and had prohibited the FDA to withdraw its approval in the 17 appealing states.