WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Supreme Court on Monday issued a temporary order pausing a ruling by a federal court that blocked distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone by mail nationwide.

The interim order, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, reinstates for now the Biden Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) rule that allows mifepristone to be prescribed and dispensed without an in-person visit.

The order expires on May 11 and comes after emergency appeals by two manufacturers of mifepristone.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Biden FDA policy in a major ruling on Friday. The appeals court sided with Louisiana, which is challenging the rule on the grounds that it undermines the state’s pro-life laws and forces it to spend Medicaid funding on emergency care for women injured by the drug.

The Supreme Court’s order on Monday, an “administrative stay,” does not necessarily indicate how the court may eventually rule.

The order came from Alito, a conservative who authored the court’s 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, because he oversees emergency matters arising from the Fifth Circuit.

Alito gave Louisiana until Thursday to respond to the abortion pill makers’ filings.

The FDA’s rule, which the Biden administration issued after the reversal of Roe, has massively increased the use of abortion pills, undermining state pro-life laws, increasing abortion rates, and causing serious harm to women, according to data.

Abortionists and abortion drug networks have mailed tens of thousands of pills into pro-life states under the Biden policy, often enabled by “shield laws” in Democrat states that protect illegal abortion pill distributors from out-of-state law enforcement.

Around two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. are currently estimated to be committed using pills.

This story is developing…