ALSO SEE: Women Have Been Having Safe Medication Abortions Without Mifepristone for Decades

The court order, in a lawsuit by the state of Louisiana, pauses a Food and Drug Administration regulation that greatly expanded access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

A federal appeals court issued a ruling on Friday temporarily halting the ability of abortion providers to prescribe pills using telemedicine and send them to patients by mail, blocking what has become a major avenue for women seeking abortions in recent years.

The order comes in a case in which the state of Louisiana is suing the Food and Drug Administration, seeking to sharply curtail access to the abortion pill mifepristone. In the order, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted Louisiana’s request for a temporary stay of the F.D.A.’s decision several years ago to remove a requirement that patients see a medical provider in person before the pills could be prescribed.

The court order, citing Louisiana’s claims that making pills available by mail has allowed patients there to access the medication despite the state’s near-total abortion ban, said that “Louisiana has shown that it is irreparably harmed without a stay.”

In April, a Federal District Court in Louisiana had declined to pause the availability of pills by mail, instead saying that the proceedings should be delayed until the F.D.A. completes a safety review of mifepristone that is underway and is expected to take until late this year.

On Friday night, Danco Laboratories, a mifepristone manufacturer and defendant in the lawsuit, filed a motion asking the Fifth Circuit to stay its ruling for a week for time “to seek relief in the United States Supreme Court.” The motion asked the court to rule on that request by 9 p.m. Central time “because the panel’s order threatens Danco with immediate harm.” If a weeklong stay is not issued, the company said it will file an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court.

It was unclear Friday night whether the Trump administration would seek a similar stay or appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Administration officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.