WASHINGTON - A United States federal appeals court ruled late on Wednesday to keep an abortion pill temporarily available, but under tighter regulation, while a lawsuit over its approval proceeds.

A panel of three judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled 2-1 to keep mifepristone available under tighter rules.

These rules include a requirement for in-person doctors’ appointments to receive the drug.

Under the new order, access to mifepristone will require three visits to doctors during the prescription period, and will be limited to the first seven weeks of pregnancy, down from 10 weeks.

Mifepristone was approved by the Food and Drug Administration more than two decades ago and is used in more than half the abortions carried out annually in the US.

However, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former president Donald Trump, overturned the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug last Friday.

That ruling was paused for a week to allow an appeal, with Wednesday’s judgment allowing the pause to continue past Friday.

The two circuit court judges who voted to tighten restrictions, Mr Kurt Engelhardt and Mr Andrew Oldham, were both appointed by Trump.

The third, Ms Catharina Haynes, is an appointee of former president George W. Bush.

The latest US stand-off over women’s reproductive rights comes almost a year after the conservative-dominated Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe versus Wade ruling that had enshrined a woman’s right to abortion for half a century. AFP