Supreme Court Restores Access to Abortion Pill by Mail

— Temporary order will remain in effect for a week so court can more fully consider the issue by Associated Press May 4, 2026 • 1 min read The Supreme Court on Monday restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone, blocking a ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortion is provided across the nation. The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Those rules had been in effect for several years until a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions last week. Manufacturers of mifepristone filed emergency appeals asking the Supreme Court to step in. The majority of abortions in the U.S. are obtained through medications, usually a combination of mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol. Their availability has blunted the impact of abortion bans that most Republican-led states have started enforcing since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed for state bans. Louisiana sued to restrict access to mifepristone, asserting that its availability undermined the ban there. Some Democratic-led states have laws that seek to give legal protection