The US Supreme Court has issued an administrative stay on a fast-moving case involving the use of the abortion drug mifepristone. Justice Samuel Alito signed the order, which temporarily keeps federal rules in place while the court considers the issues raised by a court challenge. The court will decide what parts of a U.S. District Judge's ruling can be enforced in the short term, and the order will expire on Wednesday. The Biden administration and the maker of the pill, Danco Laboratories, asked the court to intervene, and a lawyer for anti-abortion doctors and medical organizations urged the justices to allow the appeals court-ordered changes to take effect by next week.

The legal challenge, filed last year, alleges that the FDA's approval of mifepristone was flawed because the agency did not adequately review safety risks. The latest ruling represents a stark challenge to the FDA's authority overseeing how prescription drugs are used in the U.S. The FDA initially limited the use of mifepristone to up to seven weeks of pregnancy, required three in-person office visits, and a reporting system for any serious consequences of the drug. The use of medication abortion increased significantly after the FDA's 2016 rule expansion, accounting for 53% of all abortions in 2020.

The case marks a new battle over abortion less than a year after conservative justices reversed Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright. The Biden administration and the maker of the pill want a more lasting order that would keep the current rules in place as long as the legal fight over mifepristone continues. If the appeals court's action stands, mifepristone could only be dispensed under the FDA's initial terms for now.