A religious order in the US has won a temporary injunction against a new requirement that it provide insurance cover for abortifacient and contraceptive pills, which are in direct contravention of Catholic teaching.

The injunction against the Obama Administration mandate was granted by Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor.

The Little Sisters of the Poor, who have provided hospice care for the elderly and terminally ill for 175 years, said they were “grateful for the decision of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor granting us a temporary injunction protecting us from the HHS contraceptive mandate”.

‘HHS’ stands for ‘Health and Human Services’.

On the last day of 2013, just hours before the mandate was to take effect for religious non-profit groups, Justice Sotomayor issued an emergency stay temporarily blocking the regulation’s enforcement against the religious sisters.

Several religious groups have filed court cases against the mandate on the grounds that it infringes freedom of religion. The final fate of the Sisters and other religious groups will now depend on the outcome of those cases.

“We hope and pray that we will receive a favorable outcome in order to continue to serve the elderly of all faiths with the same community support and religious freedom that we have always appreciated,” the Sisters added.

The Obama Administration responded by attempting to lift Justice Sotomayor’s stay, arguing that arguing that the Sisters have no legal or factual basis for their objections to the health care law’s rule requiring many insurers to cover the cost of contraceptives and abortifacients.

Justice Sotomayor will now consider the arguments in the case and decide whether to lift the ban or leave it in place, and whether the Supreme Court should hear the case before lower courts issue a judgment.

Justice Sotomayor’s stay applies to the Little Sisters as well as more than 200 religious groups insured by the Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust. It protects these groups from the demands of the mandate.

Employers who fail to comply with the mandate face crippling penalties.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court also ordered a halt to same-sex marriages in state of Utah, as it suspended a federal district judge’s decision to overrule a referendum from 2004 that overwhelmingly defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The order puts a stop to the issuance of new marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples in Utah while the state appeals to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

The appeals court is expected to rule this year, which probably means the losing side won’t get a final decision from the Supreme Court before 2015.