Author Archive
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
This article by Belle Taylor-McGee was originally posted on rhrealitycheck.org. In it, Ms. Taylor-McGee takes an in depth look at why access to EC is vital to improving reproductive health for women in the United States.
Don’t expect any confetti and balloons or in-depth media analysis greeting the first anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision to grant over-the-counter (OTC) status to Plan B emergency contraception. Nor should you expect the FDA to issue any formal statement about the historic anniversary. Certainly, this is not due to a lack of material. After all, Plan B is by far one of the most studied and written-about products in FDA history - with volumes of scientific and medical data about its use and effectiveness.
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1 Comment • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
Originally posted on the Opinion page of The Daily Texan Online explores the possibility of birth control pills for men and how that my impact reproductive responsibility in our society.
Men are the new women - well, sort of. The role men play in society is changing just as much as that of their female counterparts. In the social aspect, women are joining the workforce, and men are becoming more prominent in the home (thus, the creation of the “stay-at-home dad”).
In science, men have become more visible too. With DNA testing for paternity, finding the father of a baby is a swab away in most cases. Amid national debates about abortion and women’s fertility choices, we tend to forget the other half of the situation: men.
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No Comments • Posted in: Birth Control
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
Recently the Tides Foundation released this brief about expanding the reproductive justice movement. Click here to read their entire brief
Introduction: Envisioning Reproductive JusticeDuring the 19th and 20th centuries, the women’s movement in the U.S. made tremendous gains. We have a great deal to celebrate, and consequently a great deal to defend. As if in backwards motion, the 21st century is proving to be more politically treacherous, particularly in the area of reproductive justice. Since 1995, states have passed nearly 400 measures blocking access to essential reproductive health services. Although we still have Roe, the right to have an abortion has been systematically eroded, state by state, and is now in more peril than at any time since its passage. Increasingly, women across the U.S. lack access to basic reproductive health services and are struggling daily with a host of reproductive injustices that the traditional reproductive rights movement has yet to include in its advocacy efforts.
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No Comments • Posted in: Action
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy has long worked to help teens, parents, educators, advocates and others to advance models for preventing teen pregnancy within their communities. In this fact sheet they explain what makes Sex Ed programs most effective.
Sex Ed programs should be effective. Download PDF
No Comments • Posted in: Sex Ed
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
In this space, we want to feature stories about how access has improved. This article written by Rachel Benson Gold for the Alan Guttmacher Institute demonstrates strides we have made using Title X funding and Medicaid Family Planning Waivers to improve reproductive health access at the street level.
Family Planning Waivers promote access through Medicaid
Send us your success stories! Email them to submit@belowthewaist.org and we’ll post them here.
No Comments • Posted in: Policy
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
No Comments • Posted in: Abstinence
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
Are you worried about what happens when you go to the pharmacy to get your birth control? Rachel Hart from the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project posted this update on the situation in Washington state in the Reproductive Freedom Project blog. You can check it out the original and more by following this link Rachel Hart, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project in Reproductive Rights at 3:25 PM.
Most people don’t think twice when they visit their local pharmacy to fill a prescription. A doctor writes a prescription and a pharmacy dispenses it, right? Well, more and more people are discovering that the answer is often not quite that simple.
Back in 2005, the Washington State Board of Pharmacy began to hear reports of pharmacies and pharmacists denying patients access to prescriptions — usually contraceptives — because of moral, ethical, or religious objections. State regulations were silent on the issue and so the Board took on the lengthy task of developing rules.
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No Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
November 8th, 2007 • Contributed by Below The Waist
Recent debates seem to indicate that abortion rights aren’t the only ones that may be at risk. Check out this article posted to the Huffington Post by Christina Page for more on how birth control could be at risk:
The Quiet Campaign Against Birth Control
At National Right to Life’s conference this year, Mitt Romney set out to convince anti-abortion leaders he was their candidate. At the podium, he rattled off his qualifications. To a layman’s ears, it sounded pretty standard for abortion politics. He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. He supports teaching only abstinence to teens.
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1 Comment • Posted in: Birth Control
