U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday disclosed they were considering whether or not the abortion pill, mifepristone, should still be sold in retail pharmacies, raising the overturned Roe v Wade matter that illegalised abortion over a year ago.

Many Americans had turned to mifepristone, one of a two-drug regimen, as an alternative to terminate pregnancies after the Court banned abortion in 2022.

But an anti-abortion group, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, brought the matter to court, challenging the availability of the drug given the ban. The group contends that when the FDA approved the medication more than 20 years ago and created regulations pertaining to its sale, it did not take safety concerns into account.

The case was first filed in Amarillo, Texas, where federal judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, an abortion antagonist, asked the FDA to suspend the approval of mifepristone and recall it from the market.

However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had a slightly different opinion, acknowledging that it was already too late to recall the drug but that the FDA should limit access to it.

The anti-abortion group are asking the court to review the recent FDA policies that have expanded access to the pill which allowed mifepristone to be prescribed online and not necessarily a licensed doctor, mailed to patients and purchased over-the-counter.