WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily restored mail-order access to the controversial abortion pill mifepristone, blocking a lower court’s order restricting the prescription of the drug via telemedicine and mail.

Justice Samuel Alito paused the order by the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals until May 11.
The New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit ordered the Food and Drug Administration May 1 to require doctors to prescribe mifepristone in person.

Mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen given to women to terminate a pregnancy, was approved by the FDA in 2000 and access to it has expanded over recent years.

Alito’s move will give the Supreme Court more time to weigh an emergency petition against the Fifth Circuit’s order filed by two drug manufacturers.