Today’s order halted both the Texas District decision and the procedural appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

For now, the abortion pill mifepristone will remain widely available, but it has a court date of May 17th for oral arguments.

Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington called the ruling a “half step in the right direction.” Washington is among the states stockpiling mifepristone — an estimated four-year-supply. “This dubious challenge to the availability of a safe medication never should have gone as far as it has, and it must be rejected entirely,” he said Friday.

Rachel King, interim president and chief executive of BIO, a trade group representing biotechnology companies, said the decision was important for preserving access to approved medicines. “However, we must redouble our efforts to preserve and protect the F.D.A.’s long-standing role as the authority in determining the safety and efficacy of medicines,” she said in a statement, adding, “The courts do not have the expertise or medical training to make these types of complex scientific determinations.”