India, April 11 -- The hard right is challenging FDA's authority to regulate drugswith its lawsuit to ban America's most used abortion pill

The fuss is over a pill-an abortion pill that has been used safely for nearly a quarter-century, but has now become a political, medical, legal and regulatory hot potato. It's an intense legal battle with profound ramifications. Not only is it leading to more vociferous protests and campaigns in a society deeply divided on the matter, but it is undermining the very basis of regulation by an independent federal agency in the US.

The case that is roiling the US is a suit by a group of doctors who are seeking to curtail the availability of the nation's most used abortion drug, mifepristone. Approved in...