The US Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a rule requiring women to visit a hospital or a clinic to receive a drug used for medication-induced abortion.

The top court split 6-3, with the liberal justices in dissent, granting the Trump administration's appeal to lift a lower court's order that allowed the pill to be mailed or delivered during the coronavirus pandemic.

What is the dispute about?

The case concerns a longstanding Food and Drug Administration requirement that the drug mifepristone, one of the two pills used to end an early pregnancy, be dispensed in-person by a certified prescriber.

Medication abortions are approved through the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

In July, a federal judge suspended the requirement of in-person visits for the duration of the pandemic.

US District Judge Theodore Chuang found that due to the health risks posed by COVID-19, in-person requirements "place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a medication abortion" and likely violate their constitutional rights.

The order came in response to a lawsuit against the FDA from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups.

Chuang's order pointed out that similar rules for other drugs, including opioids, have been suspended, but the administration refused to relax the requirement for getting the abortion pill.

What did the justices say?

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three dissenting judges, took issue with the disparity on Tuesday.

"This country's laws have long singled out abortions for more onerous treatment than other medical procedures," she wrote.

The FDA's rule imposes an "unjustifiable, irrational, and undue burden on women seeking an abortion during the current pandemic."

Chief Justice John Roberts, however, said the dispute was not generally about the right to abortion but instead the court's deference to the government's decision related to the pandemic.

In October, the Supreme Court allowed women to continue getting the abortion pill by mail but deferred any substantive ruling.

Two conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said at the time that they would have granted the Trump administration's request.

adi/aw (AP, Reuters)