Updates

Earlier today, WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS launched the report Towards universal access, the fourth report tracking progress made towards achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by the end of 2010.  Significant strides have been made in the past year, particularly among the low and middle income countries:

• 15 countries provided more than 80% of HIV-positive pregnant women with the services and medicines needed to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission;
• 14 countries provided HIV treatment to more than 80% of HIV-positive children ;
• Eight countries have achieved universal access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) for adults.

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Today is the ten-year anniversary of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s approval of the use of the abortion drug mifepristone, also known as RU-486 or the "abortion pill", in combination with the second drug, misoprostol. Marketed as Mifeprix, this alternative to surgical abortion for terminating early pregnancies has seen a substantial increase in use in the past decade, allowing many women a choice between medication or a surgical procedure when seeking an early abortion. While the number of medication abortions and providers offering them increased, the total number of abortions performed in the U.S. declined. However, the expectation that abortion access would improve, especially in rural areas, was not realized, according to a Guttmacher Institute report released last year.

Click here for more information:
Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States
The incidence of abortion in the United States
The effect of mifepristone on abortion access