WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has maintained women's access to a popular abortion pill for now, holding off until at least Thursday while deliberating on whether to enforce limits on mifepristone.

Justice Samuel Alito issued an order on Monday that lets women obtain the pill from pharmacies or by mail without requiring an in-person doctor's appointment. The ruling blocks restrictions set by a federal appeals court from going into effect temporarily.

This marks the court's most recent foray into abortion issues, coming four years after its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for more than a dozen states to impose near-total bans on the procedure.

The dispute arises from a lawsuit by Louisiana challenging the Food and Drug Administration's guidelines for prescribing mifepristone. The state argues the rules weaken its abortion ban and raises concerns about the drug's safety, even though FDA experts have repeatedly confirmed its safety and effectiveness since its approval in 2000.

Lower courts determined Louisiana had a strong chance of success, and a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided to pause mail-order and telehealth options for the drug during the litigation.

Mifepristone is typically paired with misoprostol for medication abortions, which made up nearly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions in 2023, the latest year with complete data.

The current conflict echoes a case from three years earlier, when anti-abortion doctors sued to curb access to mifepristone shortly after Roe's reversal.

The Supreme Court then stayed the 5th Circuit's decision, despite dissents from Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas. In 2024, the justices unanimously dismissed the suit, finding the plaintiffs lacked legal standing.

Mainstream medical organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and Democratic lawmakers have urged the court to avoid curtailing access. Drug makers warned that a win for abortion opponents could disrupt the entire approval process for medications.

The FDA has progressively relaxed initial limits on mifepristone, expanding who can prescribe it, how it is distributed, and which adverse events require reporting.

Even with these findings, opponents of abortion have contested the pill's safety for over 25 years through repeated petitions and lawsuits, accusing the FDA of ignoring risks in violation of federal law.

President Donald Trump's administration has stayed notably silent in the Supreme Court proceedings, opting not to submit a brief on the matter despite the involvement of federal regulations.

The case places Trump's Republican administration in a bind. Trump courts backing from anti-abortion advocates yet faces election results and surveys indicating broad public support for abortion rights.

Both factions interpreted the administration's quiet stance as tacit support for the appeals court decision. Alito, who monitors emergency appeals from Louisiana, also wrote the 2022 ruling that ended constitutional protections for abortion and shifted authority to the states.