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Setting up another major ruling on reproductive rights set to come in a presidential election year, on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a request by President Joe Biden’s administration to preserve broad access to the abortion pill.

The justices will decide on the administration’s appeal of an August decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that would restrict the delivery and distribution of mifepristone, as well as ban telemedicine prescriptions and shipments by mail of the drug. It also agreed to hear an appeal by the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories.

Pending the outcome of the appeal at the Supreme Court in a challenge to the pill brought in Texas by anti-abortion groups and doctors, the 5th Circuit’s decision is currently on hold.

The justices are expected to hear arguments in the coming months and issue a decision by the end of June in the middle of the presidential race.

Mifepristone accounts for more than half of all U.S. abortions when taken with another drug called misoprostol.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which awarded mifepristone regulatory approval in 2000, said the drug was safe and effective, with adverse effects on them exceedingly rare.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said the administration will continue to defend women’s access to reproductive healthcare, stating, “No woman should be unable to access the health care that she needs. This should not happen in America, period.”

In its filing to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department said the 5th Circuit’s restrictions would have “damaging consequences for women seeking lawful abortions and a healthcare system that relies on the availability of the drug under the current conditions of use.”

In response, Erin Hawley, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious rights group representing the plaintiffs, urged the court to uphold the 5th Circuit’s decision.

“The FDA has harmed the health of women and undermined the rule of law by illegally removing every meaningful safeguard from the chemical abortion drug regimen,” she said.

In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which had legalized abortion around the country.