When I started writing this column back in February the across the United States, many states were reevaluating their legislation around reproductive health. We’re nearing the end of the year and yet issues surrounding reproductive health are continuing to pop up. Access to abortion, distribution of Plan B, and issues around birth control are still coming up across they country.

In New Jersey, students at Ramapo College are petitioning around the access to Plan B on their campus. They believe there should be less restrictions on how it is accessed to ensure students are able to gain access to the pill within the recommended 72 hours. Our friends at Jezebel then took a look at how easy it is to access Plan B on different college campuses. Read More »

Dear decision makers of the world, let women make their own decisions about their bodies, okay?

A new report from the United Nations says this, just in a lot more words. The UN Special Rapporteur on Health, Anand Grover, informed member states that states should be providing safe and legal abortion for all of their women, and that not doing so is messing with women’s rights.

His views are highly unpopular (surprise, surprise) within the UN. Many officials are going as far as to say Grover was overstepping his mandate as special rapporteur. In case you didn’t know what the heck a special rapporteur does, I’m here to inform you. They are appointed through the United Nations but operate independently to address human rights problems globally. They do research, write reports and make suggestions on how countries can improve their human rights. Read More »

The Catholic Church has a longstanding reputation of opposing homosexuality, contraception and abortion. Though Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his views that condoms are making the spread of AIDS worse, during his visit to Madrid, he gave priests permission to lift excommunication for women who confess to having an abortion.

Say what? So while I am not Catholic, I’ll save you the Googling and explain the sitch to you as best I can. Under normal circumstances only certain priests are allowed to lift excommunication (aka getting kicked out of the church) for women who have had abortions. From last Tuesday to Sunday, 200 booths were set up in the Madrid park as part of World Youth Day 2011 events. For a full six-days women who have undergone abortions, as well as men who have pressured women to have abortions, were being forgiven. Read More »

Abortion is everywhere in the news right now. (I mean, isn’t it always?) Politicians are talking about it. Chelsea Handler is talking about it. That’s right, you read correctly–Chelsea Handler. The comedienne recently revealed to the New York Times that she had an abortion when she was 16. “Because that’s what I should have done,” Handler said, after she fired shots at MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” for “rewarding” teen moms.

So why aren’t we talking about it? I mean let’s face it, we all know a girl or two who’s been faced with the decision to have an abortion while in college. In fact, women in their 20s account for more than half of abortions induced in the U.S. More than half, that’s a lot! Abortion is real and it’s happening, especially among us college-aged girls. Yet today it seems more taboo than ever. So who’s to blame for all the hush hush?

I’ll gladly be the first to point my finger at close-minded politicians like North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx, who has obviously let her zeal for anti-choice conservatism stand in the way of sound reasoning. Madame Foxx (who will be 68 this year, #JustSaying) recently proposed legislation to the House that would amend a bill, restricting federal funds for doctors-in-training from being used to train these doctors how to perform abortion procedures. Plainly speaking, this Foxx lady thinks physicians shouldn’t even be taught how to perform abortions. Is it me or is there something incredibly wrong with this? Read More »

For everyone who’s ever had a pregnancy scare, there’s nothing, well, scarier. As soon as you’re a day  late..it’s over. The panic starts to rush in and you can’t stop thinking about it; in the shower, while you’re getting ready, through class.  As soon as 3pm hits you rush to CVS and buy the first pregnancy test you see.

You get home, pee on the stick, and three magical minutes later, you find the result.

Well, unless you sign up to receive a free at home pregnancy test from onefreepregnancytest.com , then you also receive a nice little (actually really long) letter from your potentially unborn child.

I wish I was kidding.

It seems that one pro-life group has taken to offering free at-home pregnancy tests as a means to spread their pro-life message. Except, until now, no one really knew that’s what was happening. Girls just thought they were saving some money; not that they were about to receive a letter from the unborn child they may or may not be having, pleading with them to let him or her live.

I understand that pro-choice vs. pro-life is a huge debate, and one which people get quite passionate about, but this just seems to take things a bit too far.

Read the letter then tell us what you think.

Researchers from Florida State University released a study on what makes men monogamous. According to the study, relationship status determines how attractive men find women during different stages of their menstrual cycle. Guys that are single find women most attractive at the peak of ovulation – also known as the best time to get preggers. Alternatively, committed guys find women less attractive when they are more fertile. So for guys in a relationship, finding a woman less attractive at the peak of fertility is seen as reducing the temptation.

Need another reason not to go down on a guy? US scientists said there is strong evidence linking cancer and oral sex. In the US tobacco use has been outranked by HPV as the leading cause of oral cancer. The study shows that oral sex is still sex, and the more partners you have the higher the risk of getting any STI. The real message in this? Protection is key no matter what type of sex you’re having.

Read More »

Abortion and reproductive health have been in the news in a big way this past week:

The House in Arizona passed a bill to ban abortions performed on the basis of race or sex. This means women would have to justify the reason they want to have an abortion. This is especially problematic because a selective body could try and target a women’s race as the reason she wants an abortion rather than the fact that maybe she can’t afford to support a child at that stage in her life.

On Capitol Hill, Republican Congressman Pence is leading an attack against Planned Parenthood. He’s calling for the removal of funding for Title X, the national family planning program. Title X allows women to access birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing and Planned Parenthood health centers. One in five American women makes at least one visit to Planned Parenthood during their lifetime, so this will affect women both at the moment and in the future. The reasoning behind the bill? To cut funding to an organization that provides abortion. It is already illegal to use government money to fund abortions, meaning this bill is really just cutting down on the center’s ability to dole out information on safe-sex, test people for STDs and help women (including college women!) get affordable birth control. Read More »

Photo courtesy of Jezebel.com

Is it still pro-life when the legislation isn’t actually supporting life?

That’s what our friends over at Feministing are asking as they discuss a proposed law in South Dakota that would expand the definition of  ”justifiable murder” to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus. Who would that include exactly, you ask?  That might be the doctor willing to perform the abortion or maybe even the woman that wants to have the abortion, herself.

Does anyone else find that just the slightest bit contradictory? It’s one thing to oppose abortion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It’s something else entirely to legalize and justify the killing of a man or woman willing to perform an abortion. It’s extreme, irrational and just a little bit absurd.

As of now the bill has passed out of a committee with a nine to three vote and is expected to face a floor vote soon.

Click here to read all about what  Feministing is calling “anti-choice legislation taken to it’s extreme,” then share your thoughts/feelings/concerns below.

In the past decade, MTV has evolved from a network that aired mostly vapid shows that relate vaguely to music to one that tackles some of the most serious issues facing today’s youth. Often the focus of these programs are controversial in nature: we’ve seen specials on polyamory, cross-dressing, and body dysmorphic disorder. One of the networks most popular shows deals with teenage pregnancy.

But all of these topics seem tame and simple in comparison to the one they plan on looking at next. Recently we learned that MTV plans on airing a show that deals with teen abortion.

I for one have to applaud MTV for choosing to go ahead with a project that will inevitably elicit a lot of criticism. It’s important for teenagers to be faced with the reality of the situation: that people get abortions every day – in fact, 35% of women have an abortion at some point, but this issue is rarely discussed on television.

The special will be called No Easy Choice, which is telling. The assumption seems to be that women who choose to have abortions are quick to jump to that decision, but in reality, this choice is almost always a difficult and intensely painful one. This shows gives MTV a chance to show real girls what it’s really like. On the one hand, it may reach people who deem abortion as cruel and wrong (to our readers who are pro-life: I’m not suggesting that you should change your own beliefs, just that the show may present the issue in a way that makes you see others who choose to have abortions in a different way.) On the other hand, MTV has tremendous power to teach pro-choice women an important lesson: that even though abortion is an option, it is a tremendously difficult one, and that it is so important to be careful and safe. Read More »

Got a health question? Don’t trust those “Doctors” at the University Health Center? Are you scared of Web M.D. because it always tells you you’re gonna die? Ask a real doctor, like our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin. She’s here every Thursday to answer whatever you throw at her – even the aftermath of HPV– so ask away. Leave your question in the comments or send it over to us. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: Will taking Plan B multiple times affect the ability to get pregnant later down the road? My boyfriend and I are talking about having a baby sometime in the future but I have taken Plan B more than once in the past… Have my chances of becoming pregnant been reduced?

A: Don’t worry, sweetie. You’ll be just fine. Thank God for Plan B.  While multiple pregnancy terminations may have some fertility implications (mostly because of scar tissue on the cervix or in the uterus), Plan B does not abort a pregnancy in the same way something like mifepristone (RU-486) does.

Plan B consists simply of high doses of progesterone, a hormone your body naturally makes every time you ovulate.  Progesterone floats around your body regularly, and when you get pregnant, progesterone levels go WAY up. So it’s not like you’re taking some chemotherapy drug that might hurt your system. Read More »