Hold onto your hats, folks, because the battle for abortion access in the U.S. just got even wilder. In an absolute rollercoaster of events on Friday, a far-right federal judge in Texas hit the brakes on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, an abortion pill used by hundreds of thousands of people each year. But before you could say “reproductive rights,” another federal judge swooped in with an opposing order to keep the FDA’s wheels in motion.

The saga began when Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a notorious ultra-conservative appointee of former President Trump, put the kibosh on mifepristone’s approval after anti-abortion groups petitioned him to do so. He tossed a seven-day ticking time bomb at the Biden administration, giving them a week to appeal his ruling before it actually takes effect.

Not one to be outdone, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice issued a counter-injunction that effectively told the FDA, “Nuh-uh, you can’t yank that drug just yet.” As you can imagine, this double whammy of conflicting orders had everyone from legal experts to reproductive rights advocates scratching their heads in confusion.

Now, you might think that Kacsmaryk’s ruling was just another speed bump in the long and winding road of abortion access in the U.S., but advocates are warning of the disastrous consequences it could have. Kacsmaryk’s decision casts doubt on the FDA’s 2000 determination that mifepristone, which is part of a two-pill procedure used to terminate pregnancies, is safe to use. Since then, millions in the U.S. have relied on this pill for safe and effective abortion care.

“It’s hard to overstate the impact of today’s callous decision to ban one of the most important and common methods of abortion care,” said Dr. Daniel Grossman, the director of the research group Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health. “We need expanded access to abortion care, not court rulings based in junk science.”

It’s worth noting that Kacsmaryk isn’t just any judge—he’s become something of a poster child for anti-abortion activists, with a track record of controversial statements on transgender and gay people. His ruling could be part of a wider effort to restrict access to the abortion pill even in states where abortion remains legal.

So what’s next? It’s hard to say, as the situation remains a tangled web of legal orders and appeals. But one thing’s for sure: this fight for reproductive rights is far from over, and the stakes have never been higher.