US supreme court temporarily restores access to mail-order abortion pills

Order signed by Samuel Alito blocks ruling that prevented providers from prescribing mifepristone through the mail

The US supreme court has temporarily reinstated nationwide access to mifepristone, blocking a ruling that threatened to upend accessibility of an abortion pill involved in nearly two-thirds of pregnancy terminations across the country.

On Monday, justice Samuel Alito signed an order pausing a fifth US circuit court of appeals ruling that had imposed new limits on the drug. That decision, issued on Friday, called on preventing abortion providers from prescribing mifepristone through the mail.