Topic: contraception

Reproductive Rights Roundup: Abortion Myth Debunked, Ultrasound Bill Signed And More

Reproductive Rights Roundup: Abortion Myth Debunked, Ultrasound Bill Signed And More

The birth control and abortion-related media frenzy continued this week, as an ultrasound bill was signed into law in Virginia, Rush Limbaugh continued his blab blab blabbing about sluts, Michele Bachmann warned women that free contraception was a slippery slope toward the U.S. becoming communist China, and state legislatures across the U.S. continued trying to get all up in our reproductive business. Like I wrote last week: It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on where in terms of all these abortion and contraception battles; what you should be concerned about and what’s just plain silly; what’s likely to make an impact. So once again, I’m rounding up the week’s reproductive rights news—good, bad and weird—for you here. Read it and weep, ladies. Or get mad. Or write a rap song about it, like Amber Tamblyn did. More »

Reproductive Rights Roundup: Good, Bad And Weird In This Week’s Birth Control, Abortion Battles

Reproductive Rights Roundup: Good, Bad And Weird In This Week's Birth Control, Abortion Battles

So … much … reproductive health … news. Every fourth headline these days seems to be about personhood, ultrasounds or birth control. But while this most recent strain of the culture wars has, thus far, been mostly disheartening for advocates of contraception and reproductive rights, we’re starting to see a little more push-back. Here’s a quick guide to the good, bad and weird birth control and abortion battles taking place across the U.S. this week. I’ll let you decide which goes in which category. More »

Foster Friess Says Aspirin-As-Birth Control Comment Was A Joke; Not Even His Wife Found It Funny

Foster Friess Says Aspirin-As-Birth Control Comment Was A Joke; Not Even His Wife Found It Funny

Foster Friess, the Santorum-supporter who’s now known best for suggesting that “gals” stick aspirin between their knees as birth control, wants everyone to know that he was just making a “silly” joke. Har, har. Andrea Mitchell‘s awkward silence following his statement was a pretty good barometer for his humor, but Friess admits that not even his own wife, Lynn Friess, found it funny. And Santorum was equally unimpressed. More »

HHS Birth Control Mandate Is Not Like Requiring Vegan Stores To Sell Beef

HHS Birth Control Mandate Is Not Like Requiring Vegan Stores To Sell Beef

Today in my google news feed, I came across an item saying the Obama administration had mandated that all food stores selling refrigerated goods must sell beef, even if the store otherwise only sold vegetarian or vegan foods. What could possibly be the rationale behind that?, I wondered, clicking through to the “story”—which turned out to be a satire intended to demonstrate the unfairness of the administration’s mandate that all health insurance plans cover birth control. But requiring health insurance plans to cover birth control pills is nothing like requiring vegan stores* to sell beef, for two very simple reasons. More »

Plan B Saved My Life – Or At Least My Sanity

Plan B Saved My Life – Or At Least My Sanity

For those who don’t know, the emergency contraception – two pills you take with water – came very close to being offered in drugstores without a prescription thanks to the FDA’s approval. It was pretty much a done deal, actually, until Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overturned the ruling, claiming that girls under 17 won’t understand how to use it properly (because, you know, swallowing pills is complicated business). That means that if you’re under 17 and, say, your condom broke – well, you’re out of luck.

This all brings me back to the time I took the morning-after pill (not sure if was called Plan B back then, but it was the same deal). More »

Sex (Re)Ed: How Effective Is Your Birth Control Method?

Sex (Re)Ed: How Effective Is Your Birth Control Method?

Between pills, patches, rings, diaphragms, condoms, and the rhythm method, picking a method of contraception can seem like an insurmountable task–especially since not all forms of birth control are created equally. Some contain hormones that make it much harder for pregnancy to occur, while others protect against HIV and other STIs–and none are foolproof. How effective are any kinds of birth control? Let’s compare. More »

Better Birth Control: A Doctor’s View on IUDs

Better Birth Control: A Doctor's View on IUDs

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has officially endorsed intrauterine devices (IUDs) as contraceptives for healthy women and teens (regardless of if they’ve given birth before). In honor of that, we want to get a little more informed about this lesser-known form of birth control, so we’ll be posting about IUDs and contraception options all week here at Blisstree. Today, I talk with Manhattan-based doctor Margaret Kearns-Stanley about IUD insertion, side effects, hormones and more. More »

Better Birth Control: ‘I Used The Mirena IUD For 5 Years, And It Was Awesome’

Better Birth Control: 'I Used The Mirena IUD For 5 Years, And It Was Awesome'

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has officially endorsed intrauterine devices (IUDs) as contraceptives for healthy women and teens (regardless of if they’ve given birth before or not). In honor of that, we want to get a little more informed about the lesser-known form of birth control, so we’ll be posting about IUDs and contraception options all week here at Blisstree. Today, I talk with Valerie Whitney, a musician and blogger living in Brooklyn, New York, who has used both the hormonal (the Mirena) and copper (the ParaGard) IUDs. More »

IUDs are OK, Say OB-GYNs

IUDs are OK, Say OB-GYNs

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has officially endorsed intrauterine devices (IUDs) as contraceptives for healthy women and teens.

For many years, IUDs have remained only marginally popular among women in the U.S., in part because the IUD—which is just a plastic device laced with copper or hormones—was thought to increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, which can lead to infertility. The old recommendations, last updated in 2005, only endorsed IUDs for women who had already given birth and were at a low risk for sexually transmitted diseases. More »

Male Birth Control: Not Just for Sissies and Pansies Anymore

Male Birth Control: Not Just for Sissies and Pansies Anymore

At a recent lecture at the British Sociological Association, Dr. Susan Walker, Senior Lecturer in Sexual Health at Anglia Ruskin University, revealed that only 50% of people surveyed in her recent study said they would use the male version of the birth control pill. I get why women would be hesitant to leave their contraception in the hands of their mate, but the more surprising bit of info had to do with men thinking that taking a pill would make them feel less “like a man.” Here’s something that should make men feel less manly: accidentally knocking a chick up because they couldn’t be bothered to think in advance about sex. More »

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