The U.S. teen birth rate declined 9 percent between 2009 and 2010 to a record low of 34 births per 1,000 teens aged 15-19. This marks the third straight year in which birth rates declined for this age group, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and...

Myths and facts presented out of context are all too common in the U.S. abortion debate. Misinformation extends to even the most basic questions: Who are the women who obtain abortions? Why do they decide to end a pregnancy? What are their life circumstances?

The Guttmacher Institute has long...

Fewer people worldwide are getting infected with HIV than 10 years ago, and those who have already contracted the virus are living longer, according to a new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The report attributes this encouraging news to prevention efforts that are...

This year International Women's Day coincides with the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a historic pledge to make the recognition and fulfillment of women's rights a global priority. The declaration makes clear that reproductive health is critical to the well-being of women...

On February 24, the Spanish senate approved a new law on sexual and reproductive health, which relaxes restrictions on women's access to abortion. The law allows abortion under any circumstances at up to 14 weeks' gestation and declares the procedure a woman's right. It also permits abortion at up to...

As the United States celebrates Black History Month, one enduring challenge we face as a nation is the persistent health disparities between black and white Americans. The area of sexual and reproductive health, in particular, is riddled with inequities, including differences in contraceptive failure rates, unintended pregnancy and abortion among...

Following the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, relief agencies, multilateral institutions and governments are increasingly shifting their focus from emergency response to longer term relief, rebuilding and development efforts. Given the scale of the disaster, many thousands of Haitians will likely be forced to live in camps...

On July 13, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a measure that establishes--among other restrictions on access to sexual and reproductive health services--an in-person counseling requirement and a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can obtain an abortion. Proponents of the new law claim that it helps inform women's...

World Population Day, observed on July 11, serves as an urgent reminder that, even amidst a global recession and tight budgets, governments around the world must boost investments in global health -- especially the health of mothers.

Efforts to date have fallen far short of our stated objectives: The...

President Obama is visiting Ghana on July 10 and 11 to highlight that country's success in promoting good governance and the positive effects a democratic government has had on Ghanaians' health and lives. Ghana, the President asserts, is a model for other countries in the region to emulate.

An important new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation documents persistent disparities between white women and women of color on a broad range of health indicators, including rates of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, AIDS and cancer. The report also documents widespread disparities in access to health insurance...

The Guttmacher Institute joins the reproductive health community in expressing our shock and sadness at the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas physician who dedicated his life to providing abortion care to women in need--including later-term abortions to women in the most difficult of circumstances. Dr. Tiller did so...

When the Dominican Republic's National Assembly voted in April 2009 to amend its constitution to include a right to life beginning at conception, the country continued a troubling trend among Latin American jurisdictions toward virtually eliminating women's recourse to safe abortion care. Under Dominican law, doctors who perform abortions --...

On May 7, President Obama sent Congress his proposed 2010 budget recommendations. For programs and policies relating to sexual and reproductive health at home and abroad, the proposed budget contains some good news, some bad news and some news that is only okay. The most welcome development is the abolition...

It's long overdue, but U.S. policy on women's health keeps moving in the right direction. On April 22, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will allow 17-year-olds to purchase the emergency contraceptive method Plan B (also known as the "morning-after pill") without a prescription.

The FDA's...

On Friday, April 3, at the conclusion of the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, the international community pledged to ramp up efforts to improve women's health and reduce poverty in the developing world. And for the first time in eight years, the United States...

On March 12 lawmakers in Puebla, Mexico, voted to amend the state's constitution to recognize a "right to life" that begins at conception. Puebla is not the first Mexican state to adopt such a provision--Colima, Baja California, Sonora, and Morelos have all recently passed similar legislation. The trend among Mexican...

On Monday, March 23, a U.S. District Court found that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bowed to political pressure from the Bush administration in its 2006 decision to limit access to emergency contraception without prescription to women aged 18 and older. The court ordered the FDA to expand...

After a seven-year hiatus from contributing to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United States is in the process of making approximately $50 million in funding available to the organization.

In his first week in office, President Obama announced his intention to work with Congress to restore...