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- Suriname ex-dictator and fugitive Desi Bouterse dead at 79
- 35 feared dead as Azerbaijani jet crashes in Kazakhstan
- Pope calls for 'arms to be silenced' in Christmas appeal
- Syria authorities say torched 1 million captagon pills
- Pope calls for 'arms to be silenced' across world
- 32 survivors as Azerbaijani jet crashes in Kazakhstan
- Pakistan air strikes kill 46 in Afghanistan, Kabul says
- Liverpool host Foxes, Arsenal prepare for life without Saka
- Japan FM raises 'serious concerns' over China military buildup
- Pope's sombre message in Christmas under shadow of war
- Zelensky condemns Russian 'inhumane' Christmas attack on energy grid
- Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force
- Pope kicks off Christmas under shadow of war
- Catholics hold muted Christmas mass in Indonesia's Sharia stronghold
- Japan's top diplomat in China to address 'challenges'
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- As India's Bollywood shifts, stars and snappers click
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
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- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
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- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
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- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
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America's biggest pharmacy chains announce abortion pill rollout
America's two biggest pharmacy chains said Friday they will begin dispensing prescription abortion pills in a limited number of states where it's legal.
The move greatly broadens availability of mifepristone, even as a legal case over whether the drug was properly approved two decades ago now rests before the Supreme Court.
A CVS spokesperson told AFP: "We'll begin filling prescriptions for the medication in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the weeks ahead and will expand to additional states, where allowed by law, on a rolling basis."
Walgreens "expects to begin dispensing within a week" in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois, the company said on its website.
"But in the interests of pharmacist and patient safety, we will not disclose the number of sites per state nor identify the pharmacies that are dispensing," it added.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized pharmacies to carry mifepristone in January 2023, with Friday's announcements the result of a long certification process.
Mifepristone was initially restricted to use at in-person locations, but was broadened to include mail-delivery during the Covid pandemic.
It works to block a pregnancy and is authorized for use through ten weeks of gestation, while a second drug, misoprostol, provokes bleeding to empty the uterus and was already widely available in pharmacies.
- Election battleground -
The news was hailed by President Joe Biden, who has made protecting reproductive rights a key part of his re-election campaign against the likely Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Trump tipped the balance of the Supreme Court during his own presidency and paved the way for reversal of the national right to abortion.
"With major retail pharmacy chains newly certified to dispense medication abortion, many women will soon have the option to pick up their prescription at a local, certified pharmacy -- just as they would for any other medication," Biden said in a statement.
"The stakes could not be higher for women across America. In the face of relentless attacks on reproductive freedom by Republican elected officials, Vice President Harris and I will continue to fight to ensure that women can get the health care they need."
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life, a major anti-abortion group, slammed the move, while the Expanding Medication Abortion Access (EMAA) Project called for other major retailers to quickly follow suit.
- Improves access for women -
The US Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion in 2022, allowing each state to pass its own laws governing the procedure.
Twenty-one states have since banned or moved to restrict abortions to limits tighter than before Roe v Wade, the case law that previously upheld the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.
Abortion pills remain illegal in states where the procedure is prohibited. But women who decide to travel to a state where abortion is legal may now find a pharmacy much closer than an abortion clinic.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 26 in a case brought by anti-abortion groups to restrict access to mifepristone, first approved in the year 2000 and used by more than 5.6 million Americans since.
Abortions administered as pills sent in the mail are just as safe and effective as those provided in person, a study published in Nature Medicine found in February.
It looked at data from more than 6,000 abortions using pills supplied by online clinics in 20 states between April 2021 and January 2022, finding there were no "serious adverse events" in 99.8 percent of these medical abortions and no follow-up care was needed in 98 percent of cases.
Polls repeatedly show a clear majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion, even as conservative groups push to limit the procedure -- or ban it outright.
M.Thompson--AMWN