AUSTIN, Texas (NEWSnet/AP) — A federal appeals court ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone can still be used for now but restored restrictions on the drug in a decision that the Justice Department said Thursday it would swiftly challenge at the Supreme Court.

The decision narrows an earlier ruling from a Texas judge to suspend the Food and Drug Administration's initial authorization of the drug in 2000, citing the statute of limitations. 

A divided three-judge panel still reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be taken and said it could not be dispensed by mail.

The ruling also halted changes made by the FDA, including extending the period of pregnancy when the drug can be used from seven weeks to 10. 

More than 5.6 million women in the U.S. had used the drug as of June 2022, according to the FDA. In that period, the agency received 4,200 reports of complications in women, or less than one tenth of 1% of women who took the drug.

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