Mexico's Supreme Court upheld the capital's abortion law, setting a precedent for the rest of the country that could inspire other Latin American cities. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The Senate voted, 53-41, to repeal the government's "Mexico City Policy," which bars American aid to any group overseas that performs or promotes abortions, even with its own money.   See vote   See story from Christian Post 

The Senate voted to continue a Bush administration policy of denying U.S. aid to the U.N. Population Fund because it tolerates China's use of coerced abortions and sterilizations to limit population growth.  See vote

The House voted  to allow U.S. donations of contraceptives to groups overseas that provide or advocate abortions. The vote made an exception to the government's "Mexico City Policy," which since 1984 has sought to ban all forms of U.S. aid to global family-planning organizations that provide or advocate abortions.  See vote

In a major ruling dealing with abortion rights in America, the US Supreme Court has upheld a federal law banning certain late-term abortions.  In a 5-to-4 decision, the high court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The move comes nearly seven years after the Supreme Court declared a similar Nebraska law unconstitutional because it lacked an exception to protect a woman's health.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

The divisive issue of abortion is likely to be a major point of debate in next year's U.S. presidential election, thanks to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court.   See story from Voice of America  

The Mexico City legislature voted to legalise abortion, after several weeks of heated debate in which conservative groups and the Catholic Church traded insults with pro-choice activists and threatened them with excommunication.  Mexico City has now joined Cuba and Guyana as the only places in Latin America where abortion is legal.  See story from Altlerfinos Latin America

The recent election results were disappointing to anti-abortion activists. Oregon and California voters defeated measures that would have required parents to be notified before a girl under 18 could get an abortion, and South Dakotans by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent -- rejected a new state law that would have banned all abortions except to save a pregnant woman's life. See story from Richmond Times Dispatch

Recently appointed Judges Roberts and Alito may tip the balance to uphold a ban on so-called partial-birth option as the court begins to review two cases involving this issue. See story from Christian Science Monitor

A new study concerning illegal abortions across the world suggests as many as 68,000 women die annually from having one. The study, conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute and published in the British medical journal Lancet, says millions of women are hospitalized from illegal abortions. See story from Lifenews.com

About half of all U.S. women having abortions in 2002 had already had a prior abortion, according to Repeat Abortion in the United States, released today by the Guttmacher Institute. See story from Emaxhealth.com

Recently appointed Judges Roberts and Alito may tip the balance to uphold a ban on so-called partial-birth option as the court begin sto review two cases involving this issue. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The House passed a bill that would make it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion to evade a law in her home state that requires parental notification and approval of planned abortions. See vote

Promoting the use of emergency contraception has not decreased the number of pregnancies or abortions, a family planning expert has announced. Anna Glasier, director of the Lothian primary care NHS trust in Edinburgh, said several studies, including one she directed, have shown that easy access to emergency contraception has failed to have an impact, the Guardian Unlimited reported. In fact pregnancy and abortion rates continue to rise in the UK, which has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Europe. See story from Lifesite.net

This month, Chile began to combat the problem of high teen-pregnancy rates by distributing free morning-after pills to girls as young as 14 years old.  Government support of emergency contraception is not unusual in Latin America or in Europe. Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the over-the-counter sale of morning-after pills (known as Plan B), for women over 18. Girls age 17 and under must have a doctor's note.   But the Chilean government, by giving away the pills to such young girls, is igniting a storm of opposition from critics who say it undermines parents and is tantamount to abortion.   See story from Christian Science Monitor

If Roe v. Wade were overturned, there would be a distinct split between states which essentially prohibit abortions and those which would permit abortion upon demand. See story from USA Today

Overall, the rate of unintended pregnancy - 49 percent of all pregnancies - has remained stable in the United States. But when broken down by income, disparities emerge: In 2001, US women living below the federal poverty line were four times as likely to have an unplanned pregnancy, five times as likely to have an unplanned birth, and more than three times as likely to have an abortion as women with income at least double the poverty line ($9,800). And these disparities are growing. In 1994, poor women were three times as likely as higher-income women to have an unplanned pregnancy. See story from Christian Science Monitor

South Dakota has become the first state to begin the process of testing Roe v. Wade under the new Supreme Court by enacting legislation that would ban all abortions unless it was necessary to save the woman's life. See story from Associated Press

Behind the ever-boiling battle over abortion in America sits a quieter but still central issue: access to contraception. And the news there may be surprising. In a report released Tuesday, the New York-based Guttmacher Institute ranked all 50 states in their efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy and found a diverse collection of states at the top. California ranked first and New York ranked fifth, a result that may seem predictable, given both states' liberal orientations toward social issues. But between them in the highest rankings sit three conservative states - Alaska, South Carolina, and Alabama. The reason, says the report's author, is that these states are acutely aware of the relationship between unintended pregnancy and dependence on welfare, and they see the economic and social benefit in helping women avoid unintended pregnancy. In turn, that helps women avoid the abortion question altogether. See story from Christian Science Monitor

In a surprising compromise move supported by all nine justices, the Supreme Court avoided ruling on the merits of upholding or striking down a New Hampshire law that requires a teen to inform a parent before obtaining an abortion. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Banned by Indian law for more than a decade, the practice of prenatal selection and selective abortion remains a common practice in India, claiming up to half a million female children each year, according to a recent study by the British medical journal, The Lancet. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The new Supreme Court's views on abortion may soon be examined by a case testing New Hampshire's parental consent law. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Latin America holds some of the world's most stringent abortion laws, yet it still has the developing world's highest rate of abortions - a rate that is far higher even than in Western Europe, where abortion is widely and legally available. Increasingly, however, women's rights groups are mounting challenges in courts and on the streets to liberalize laws that in some countries ban abortion under any circumstances. See story from New York Times

More than 25 million Americans have had abortions since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton in 1973. Often kept secret, even from close friends or family members, the experience cuts across all income levels, religions, races, lifestyles, political parties and marital circumstances. Though abortion rates have been falling since 1990, to their lowest level since the mid- 1970's, abortion remains one of the most common surgical procedures for women in America. More than one in five pregnancies end in abortion. While public conversation about abortion is dominated by advocates with all-or-nothing positions - treating the fetus as a complete person, with full rights, or as a nonentity, with none - most patients at the clinic, like most Americans, found themselves on rockier ground, weighing religious, ethical, practical, sentimental and financial imperatives that were often in conflict. See story from New York Times

For more than a year, federal drug officials have insisted that their repeated delays in deciding whether to approve over-the-counter sales of a morning-after contraceptive have nothing to do with abortion politics. Among veterans of the battles over drug approvals here, it is hard to find anyone who believes them. See story from New York Times

The Catholic Church has produced a new document for bishops across the world to examine that says Catholics who support legalized abortion should refrain from taking communion because they are out of step with church teachings. The Vatican said pro-abortion Catholics are not taking their faith seriously and those who take communion and support abortion are behaving in a scandalous manner. See story from Life News

Efforts at the state level to curb abortions are intensifying, adding to the nation's culture wars. From well-known attempts to require parental notification for teenagers to newer drives to recognize the "personhood" of a fetus, abortion foes are trying for gains in state legislatures even as both sides spar over the reproductive-rights positions of federal court nominees. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Italian voters effectively gave their seal of approval to a law that gives embryos the status of "full human beings." See story from Christian Science Monitor

Senate Democrats, saying they are seeking common ground in the nation's divisive abortion debate, offered a pregnancy prevention measure in the Senate but it was defeated. Republicans objected to the measure because it would not fund "abstinence only" programs. See vote

More instances are cropping up of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for oral contraceptives and the morning-after pill. Several states are taking legislative action in response. See story from Christian Science Monitor

A new book by two Western scholars warns that the widespread practice of sex-selective abortion - despite being outlawed years ago in India and China - could add to societal instability and violent crime, possibly pushing governments to take drastic, antidemocratic steps. See story from Christian Science Monitor

A federal judge in San Francisco struck down the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, ruling that the law jeopardizes other legal forms of abortion and threatens the health of women who end their pregnancies. See story from Washington Post

In the 2004 campaign, gay marriage has dominated headlines as the hot new wedge issue. But an old standby, abortion, is never far from the news, as the highly motivated combatants on both sides of the debate renew their battle in Congress and the courts. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The Senate voted to make it a separate crime to harm a fetus during commission of a violent federal crime, a victory for those seeking to expand the legal rights of the unborn. See story from Washington Post See vote

The House has passed legislation for the third time giving a fetus separate victim's rights in the event of an attack on a pregnant woman. See vote

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