Abortion by prescription now rivals surgery for U.S. women

Mon Oct 31, 2016 | 4:19pm EDT
Reuters

By Jilian Mincer | NEW YORK

American women are ending pregnancies with medication almost as often as with surgery, marking a turning point for abortion in the United States, data reviewed by Reuters shows.

The watershed comes amid an overall decline in abortion, a choice that remains politically charged in the United States, sparking a fiery exchange in the final debate between presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

When the two medications used to induce abortion won U.S. approval 16 years ago, the method was expected to quickly overtake the surgical option, as it has in much of Europe. But U.S. abortion opponents persuaded lawmakers in many states to put restrictions on their use.

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Source: Reuters

31.10.2016

U.S.: Today Marks the 16th Anniversary of the Abortion Pill and International Safe Abortion Day

09/29/2016 05:20 pm ET
Melissa S. Grant, carafem, Vice President

The significance of September 28th for women’s reproductive rights is huge. It marks not only the 16th anniversary of the abortion pill in the U.S. but also International Safe Abortion Day. Coincidence?

The 28th day of September was declared an international day of action for the decriminalization of abortion in 1990 by the women’s health movement and has been recognized annually ever since. Launched in Latin America and the Caribbean, regional activists have been organizing in support of safe abortion on this date for the past 26 years.

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Source: Huffington Post

28.09.2016

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International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion

International Safe Abortion Day

U.S.: We Need Abortion Laws Based on Science

Graphic: Kelly Blair

By USHMA D. UPADHYAY
AUG. 30, 2016, New York Times

San Francisco — Sixteen years ago next month, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first “abortion pill,” and today medication abortion accounts for about a quarter of all nonhospital abortions in the United States. Not only is it safe and effective, but for women who live in the 89 percent of American counties that lack even a single abortion provider, it is often the only feasible option.

Not surprisingly, state legislatures bent on eliminating abortion access have targeted medication abortion, passing several new laws with the stated intention of safeguarding women’s health and safety. But in a research paper I co-wrote on Tuesday in the online journal PLOS Medicine, my colleagues and I found that such laws are not just covers for restricting abortion access — they can actually harm women’s health.

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Source: New York Times

30.08.2016