The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed unlikely to broadly restrict access to medication abortion in the court's biggest abortion-related case since overturning Roe v. Wade two years ago.
The big picture: The justices heard oral arguments in a Texas case challenging mifepristone — one of the drugs used in medication-induced abortions, which account for about two-thirds of all abortions, writes Axios' Sam Baker.
It wasn't clear from those arguments exactly how the court is likely to rule, but multiple conservative justices took issue with parts of the case against mifepristone.
Two conservatives would need to join with the court's three liberals to uphold the FDA's rules on mifepristone.
Catch up quick: The suit was filed by a group of doctors who object to abortion.
They're suing the FDA, challenging two specific sets of regulatory decisions that made the drug easier to access.
What they're saying: The federal government argued that these doctors didn't have the legal standing to bring this case.
They don't prescribe mifepristone, and they don't take it. So they haven't suffered any real injury from the FDA's regulatory decisions, solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar argued.
The doctors say the injury is the time spent in the emergency room treating women who have taken mifepristone.
Driving the news: Several conservative justices either picked up on standing concerns or expressed skepticism about overturning the FDA's decisions.
"This case seems like a prime example of turning what could be a small lawsuit into a nationwide legislative assembly," Justice Neil Gorsuch said.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that re-enforcing the physicians' individual rights not to participate in providing an abortion might be enough to resolve this dispute.