The Biden administration on Monday afternoon asked an appeals court to put on hold a ruling that could rescind the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling from Friday, which found the FDA violated federal standards when it first approved mifepristone 23 years ago, until the administration can bring its appeal of his decision in full.

“Rather than preserving the status quo, as preliminary relief is meant to do, the district court upended decades of reliance by blocking FDA’s approval of mifepristone and depriving patients of access to this safe and effective treatment, based on the court’s own misguided assessment of the drug’s safety,” DOJ wrote in court filings.

Kacsmaryk’s ruling gave the administration a weeklong window before it went into effect. The administration is asking the 5th Circuit to extend that pause, and to do so by Thursday at noon, “to enable the government to seek relief in the Supreme Court if necessary.”

“The district court’s extraordinary and unprecedented order should be stayed pending appeal. Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge FDA’s approval of a drug they neither take nor prescribe; their challenge to FDA actions dating back to 2000 is manifestly untimely; and they have provided no basis for second-guessing FDA’s scientific judgment. Those defects foreclose plaintiffs’ claims, and the court flouted fundamental principles of Article III and administrative law in holding otherwise,” the Justice Department wrote.