He United States Department of Justice the court asked Monday appeals stay the judgment of a Texas federal judge deferring use of mifepristone, a pill with which more than half of the abortions in the country are performed.

“The extraordinary and unprecedented order of the District Court should be stayed pending appeal,” the department said in a lawsuit.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on Friday overturned the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone. “If enacted, the court’s ruling will frustrate FDA’s scientific judgment and cause serious harm to women,” the Justice Department said on appeal.

“This damage would be felt across the country as mifepristone is used legally in all states.”, he claimed. The Ministry of Justice asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to suspend Judge Kacsmaryk’s order pending a full appeal.

US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, promised that last week fight against the ruling that suspends the use of mifepristonewho called it “an unprecedented move to take away women’s basic freedoms and put their health at risk.”

“It is the next big step toward the national abortion ban that Republican elected representatives have pledged to make into law in the United States,” Biden said.

Shortly after the Texas court made its decision, a Washington state judge ruled in a separate case that access to mifepristone should be preserved.

District Judge Thomas Rice ruled that mifepristone is “safe and legal” and that the FDA must maintain its access to more than a dozen states.

To the Supreme Court

Dueling legal opinions, along with appeals, means the case will almost certainly end up in the Supreme Court. Last year, the conservative-dominated court struck down the landmark Roe v. Wade, which had enshrined a woman’s right to an abortion for half a century.

Judge Kacsmaryk’s order came after a coalition of anti-abortion groups sued to freeze mifepristone’s nationwide distribution.

In his statement, Kacsmaryk adopted the language used by abortion opponents, referring to providers of abortion services as “abortionists” and say the drug was used to “kill the unborn.”

The judge said the two-drug regimen resulted in “thousands of side effects for women and girls,” including heavy bleeding and psychological trauma. But the FDA, researchers and the drugmaker point out that decades of experience have shown that the drug is safe and effective when used as directed.

Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen that can be used in the United States during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The FDA estimates that 5.6 million Americans have used it to terminate pregnancies since its approval.