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Contraception in the News

CONTRACEPTION, POLITICS
Gabrielle Vaughn | Venus Blogs Editor at Large
Photo: Glamor.com

Three million patients go to Planned Parenthood 750 centers every year, and now, the organization has announced that every one of them will be able to get the exact same care services wherever they are. So if you go to school in Florida but live in Massachusetts, for example, you’ll be able to get the exact same types of birth control in both places.

Glamor says: Good News About Birth Control (and Other Services!) From Planned Parenthood

And in the Health segment of the New York Times, SABRINA TAVERNISE shares:
Use of Morning-After Pill Is Rising, Report Says

The use of morning-after pills by American women has more than doubled in recent years, driven largely by rising rates of use among women in their early 20s, according to new federal data released Thursday.

Read More

I hadn’t considered that women become slutty as a result of the Morning-After Pill, so this argument is a new one for me.
In Mother Jones, Revealed: Morning-After Pill Not Making Women Slutty


And of course, some tweets.

Read more

UN: Birth Control A Universal Right

CONTRACEPTION, MEDIA
Gabrielle Vaughn | VenusBlogs Editor at Large

From the article, United Nations Declares Access To Contraception A ‘Universal Human Right’, Amanda Peterson Beadle writes:

For the first time, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) explicitly described family planning as a “universal human right.” In its annual report, the organization said that improved access to contraception and other methods of family planning could greatly improve the lives of women around the world:

“Family planning has a positive multiplier effect on development,” Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the fund, said in a written statement. “Not only does the ability for a couple to choose when and how many children to have help lift nations out of poverty, but it is also one of the most effective means of empowering women. Women who use contraception are generally healthier, better educated, more empowered in their households and communities and more economically productive. Women’s increased labor-force participation boosts nations’ economies.”

The report effectively declares that legal, cultural and financial barriers to accessing contraception and other family planning measures are an infringement of women’s rights.

Although the report is non-binding and does not itself affect international law, the UNFPA noted that spending an additional $4.1 billion on family planning funding could save $11.3 billion each year on health care for new mothers and infants in poor countries. During his failed campaign for president, Mitt Romney promised to pull U.S. funding U.N. Population Fund, and Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) introduced a bill in 2011 to prevent the U.S. from funding the global body.

Since August, employer-provided insurance plans in the U.S. have been required to include contraception coverage at no additional cost. Despite an accommodation for religious organizations, several far-right conservative and religious groups have been fighting against the Obamacare contraception provision because they say it infringes on their religious liberty. But several studies in addition to the UN’s report have documented the positive benefits of providing women with affordable access to contraceptive services.

For more information on birth control and you, please click HERE.

Morning-After Pill Hits NYC Schools

CONTRACEPTION, HEALTH
Adrian Lamb | VB Blogger

In an attempt to bring down the number of unwanted teenage pregnancies, NYC schools have been handing out morning-after pills to students — without parental knowledge or consent.

The Department of Education is giving morning-after pills and other birth-control drugs to students at 13 high schools, The Post has learned.

School nurse offices stocked with the contraceptives can dispense “Plan B” emergency contraception and other oral or injectable birth control to girls without telling their parents — unless parents opt out after getting a school informational letter about the new program.

CATCH — Connecting Adolescents To Comprehensive Health — is part of a citywide attack against the epidemic of teen pregnancy, which spurs many girls — most of them poor — to drop out of school.

The NYC Department of Health records:

TEEN PREGNANCY COMPLICATIONS

7,000 girls under age 17 got pregnant last year citywide

90% of those pregnancies were unplanned

64% were aborted

2,200 became moms by age 17. About 70 percent drop out of school.

What do you think? Is this a good idea or is the system being too presumptive?

For more, read “NYC schools give out morning-after pills to students — without telling parents” on the New York Post’s website.

When Worlds Collide – Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood

POLITICS, HEALTH
Dori Hartley | VenusBlogs Managing Editor


What a mess.

I don’t want to be the one to say “I told you so,” but I have known for a very long time that Susan G. Komen’s foundation isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I know because I am a breast cancer survivor who reached out to this “great leader” and what I got was, in a word, “ignored.” Nothing. No help, no guidance, no free wig, no helpful tips, no nothing.

So now everybody over there is abandoning ship because, well, it’s sinking fast. What happened?

Read the article: Susan G. Komen Founder Nancy Brinker, Other Leaders Step Down

I’d say the founder flounders and the pink stinks.

Time to Bring in the Thought Police

The latest scientific findings indicate that The Morning After Pill is not so much an ‘abortion pill’ as it is an ovulation delay method. This new and scientifcally supported idea is going to make it difficult for the hard boiled religious conservatives and politicians to shriek out a Holy Tirade against the pill — simply because, in truth, it’s not an abortion method.

There is no embryo to be destroyed because by delaying ovulation, sperm have nothing to fertilize — there is no egg. And without a fertilized egg, there can be no embryo, which means that a human being cannot be created, hence none can be destroyed.

So, what’s the beef going to be about now? Maybe the zealots will find a way to condemn women for even thinking about delaying ovulation? Maybe that will be the new sin against God?

Is it time to bring in the Thought Police?

For more reading on this subject, have a look at this article in The New York Times.

None Shall Pass

HEALTH, SEX
Gabrielle Vaughn | VenusBlogs Editor at Large


I distinctly remember a scene in the movie, “Grease” where the gang is singing and tossing around a box of Saran Wrap — a seriously wacky reference to what guys were using for contraception in the 1950s. Could you just imagine — wrapping your dingaling up in plastic wrap in an attempt to create a makeshift condom? While I’m not getting ‘sexy’ from this, I’m definitely getting ‘kinky’ — though I’m not sure ‘kink’ was what they were going for.

Did people really do this — use plastic wrap as birth control? Yes. Was it effective, comfortable and reliable? No way. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the origin of the question, “Who knocked you up?” is directly related to the use of this flimsy version of contraception. Read more