SW News: Republican lawmakers and a coalition of pro-life advocates have urged the federal appeals court to uphold the injunction over the abortion pill, mifepristone, imposed by a Texas judge last week. This comes against the backdrop of the case that gained national attention since a contentious decision threatened a more than two-decade-old approval of the drug.

Opposing the abortion pill, a group of 69 Republican lawmakers led by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, and Representative August Pfluger affirmed that they are "committed to protecting women and girls from the harms of the abortion industry." They further stated that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated public policy interests in upholding patient welfare by approving the medicine in 2000.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Hippocratic Medicine has urged the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Louisiana to uphold the lower court's suspension of mifepristone. The plaintiffs claim that the FDA was negligent in considering all the hazards associated with the medicine, including issues necessitating hospitalizations and psychological trauma. Decrying that abortion will continue in the states that permit the medicine; the coalition urged the courts to allow banning the same.

The pro-lifers' calls for action came a day after the US Department of Justice pleaded with the appeals court to postpone US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's April 7 ruling nullifying the FDA's approval during the appeals process.

Texas Judge Kacsmaryk overthrew decades of federal and scientific approval of mifepristone and granted a seven-day stay for the medicine to terminate the pregnancy.

More than half of all abortions performed in the United States involve mifepristone, the first drug in a two-drug pharmaceutical abortion protocol. Following worries about access, several states have stockpiled mifepristone and misoprostol for future use.