Health News Roundup: Supreme Court preserves broad access to abortion pill; 'It totally backfired': The pitfalls of Alzheimer's genetic testing and more

Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide. Supreme Court preserves broad access to abortion pill The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked new restrictions set by lower courts on a widely used abortion pill, a decision welcomed by President Joe Biden as his administration defends broad access to the drug in the latest fierce legal battle over reproductive rights in the United States.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

'It totally backfired': The pitfalls of Alzheimer's genetic testing

Wendy Nelson watched her mother slowly die of Alzheimer's disease, unable to move or swallow at the end. "All her pleasures of life were gone," Nelson said. Grief-stricken, terrified of facing the same death, Nelson ordered 23andMe DNA test kits for Christmas 2020 for herself and three adult daughters.

U.S. abortion providers relieved but wary as Supreme Court preserves pill access

Abortion rights supporters expressed relief on Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court preserved access to a widely used abortion pill but warned of a long fight ahead as a legal challenge to the medication continues. The move by the court to halt new restrictions on the drug set by lower courts was welcome news less than a year after its conservative majority upended U.S. abortion access by overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide.

Supreme Court preserves broad access to abortion pill

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked new restrictions set by lower courts on a widely used abortion pill, a decision welcomed by President Joe Biden as his administration defends broad access to the drug in the latest fierce legal battle over reproductive rights in the United States. The justices, in a brief order, granted emergency requests by the Justice Department and the pill's manufacturer Danco Laboratories to put on hold an April 7 preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas. The judge's order would have greatly limited the availability of mifepristone while litigation proceeds in a challenge by anti-abortion groups to the pill's federal regulatory approval.

(With inputs from agencies.)