Today in History: September 28, US government approves abortion pill RU-486

Today is Monday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2026. There are 94 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 28, 2000, capping a 12-year political battle, the U.S. government approved use of the abortion pill RU-486.

Also on this date:

In 1781, American forces in the Revolutionary War, backed by a French fleet, began their successful siege of Yorktown, Virginia.

In 1924, three U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, completing the first round-the-world trip by air in 175 days.

In 1928, Scottish medical researcher Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first broadly effective antibiotic.

In 1941, Ted Williams became the last Major League Baseball player to hit over .400 for a season, batting .406 for the Boston Red Sox.

In 1962, a federal appeals court found Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett in civil contempt for blocking the admission of James Meredith, a Black student, to the University of Mississippi.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord at the White House calling for an end to Israel’s military occupation of West Bank cities and expanding the responsibilities of the Palestinian Authority.

In 2016, Hurricane Matthew formed near the Windward Islands and went on to kill over 1,000 people in Haiti, elsewhere in the Caribbean and the southeastern U.S.

In 2020, the worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic reached 1 million, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.

In 2022, Category 4 Hurricane Ian barreled ashore in southwestern Florida and then bisected the center of the state, causing more than 100 fatalities and billions of dollars in damage.