WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday tackles whether to maintain widely available access to the abortion pill mifepristone as it weighs a high-stakes challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s drug approval process.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, hears oral arguments on the Biden administration’s appeal of lower court rulings that restricted access to the pill, including its availability by mail.

Mifepristone is used as part of a two-drug FDA-approved regimen for the majority of abortions nationwide.

The case is a major test for the conservative-majority court, which in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established a woman’s constitutional right to end her pregnancy.

A group of anti-abortion doctors represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, is leading the legal challenge, claiming that the FDA failed to adequately evaluate the drug’s safety risks.

The FDA has the backing of the pharmaceutical industry, which has warned that any second-guessing of the approval process by untrained federal judges could cause chaos and deter innovation.

Danco, which makes the brand version of the pill, Mifeprex, is arguing alongside the FDA in the oral argument.

The oral argument comes almost a year after Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a sweeping ruling that completely invalidated the FDA’s approval of the pill, leading to panic among abortion rights activists that it would be banned altogether.

The Supreme Court last April put that ruling on hold, meaning the pill remains widely available for now.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August then narrowed Kacsmaryk’s decision on appeal, but left in place his ruling finding that the FDA’s move to lift restrictions starting in 2016 was unlawful.