The U.S. Supreme Court is intervening in a contentious case centered on remote prescription and mail-order delivery of the abortion drug. On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, author of the landmark ruling overturning both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, signed an administrative stay temporarily halting an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that blocked the abortion drug mifepristone from being shipped via mail.

The appellate court issued its order late last week in response to a lawsuit filed by Louisiana against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to block the drug from being mailed. In its order, the appellate court stated that Louisiana was likely to succeed on the merits of its case against the FDA.

The Supreme Court’s Monday order halts the lower court’s order from taking effect until May 11 while the court considers a full request for a stay pending appeal. Both Louisiana and the FDA have been ordered to respond to the emergency appeal, filed by mifepristone manufacturer GenBioPro, by Thursday.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state legislator, said in a statement, “This is a temporary order from the U.S. Supreme Court while it considers the many serious legal issues before the court involving the dangerous abortion drug trafficking enabled by President Biden’s FDA. This is an urgent matter of life and death for both mothers and their unborn children.” He continued, “Family Research Council fully supports the state of Louisiana as it goes before the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the federal government to respect the Court-recognized authority of states to protect the dignity of every person, including the unborn.”

When mifepristone was first approved for use by the FDA in 2000, the federal government implemented numerous rules governing the drug’s use, including requiring in-person medical exams prior to prescription, in-person prescribing and dispensing of the drug, and mandatory follow-up appointments with a physician to treat any adverse side effects. Since then, both Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden weakened the FDA’s regulations, first decreasing the number of in-person physician appointments prior to prescribing the drug and eliminating the required follow-up appointments. Eventually, in 2023, the Biden administration allowed for the drug to be prescribed remotely and shipped through the mail. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center, mifepristone use has spiked, now accounting for at least 65% of abortions in the U.S., including in pro-life states.

While a number of Republican-led states have passed laws protecting unborn children, blue states have enacted “shield” laws to prevent prosecution of blue-state abortionists for violating the pro-life laws of other states by mailing the abortion drug across state lines. In October, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) filed a lawsuit against the FDA seeking to have the agency’s regulations governing mifepristone reinstated. Mifepristone manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro quickly intervened to defend market access to their drugs. Judge David Joseph of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled last month to stay the entire case while the FDA purportedly conducts its promised review of mifepristone, prompting Louisiana to appeal the decision, although he noted that Louisiana stands to suffer “irreparable harm” should the abortion drug continue to go largely unregulated and that Louisiana has demonstrated that it will likely succeed on the merits of its arguments.

A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit overruled Joseph on Friday, issuing the injunction halting the remote prescribing and dispensing of the abortion drug. Following its administrative stay Monday, the Supreme Court is expected to review briefs this week and will likely issue a ruling on the matter by or shortly after the May 11 expiration of the administrative stay.