Here’s more from the author of ‘Plan C for Conscience,’ since that post garnered so much attention here and elsewhere. Here’s her take on the reactions her previous article received. Be sure not to miss the last few paragraphs. They’re key.
by Cristina Alarcon
Pharmacists dispense advice to a colleague who will not sell the morning after pill.
I recently wrote an article expressing my delight that Washington State pharmacists will no longer be forced to dispense products or provide services they find morally objectionable. My elation at the Washington victory was quickly numbed, however, when an edited version ran as a “Point of View” on the Canadian Healthcare Network website. It is one thing for the public to oppose our freedom of conscience, quite another for pharmacists to be shooting themselves in the foot. Read more…
by Carolyn Moynihan
The contraceptive pill could make women better gossips but no better at reading maps, if research carried out in Austria is anything to go by.
The first ever study of the effect of the pill on women’s brains found that it increased areas linked with memory and conversation skills — parts of the brain already better developed in women than in men, the Daily Mail reports. However, the contraceptive appeared to have little effect on areas more dominant in men, including those associated with spatial skills such as map reading. Read more…
I think this is fair. People who want the pill can simply go to a different pharmacy. Big deal. This reminds me a little of the counseling student issue. Surely they could have worked something out there, too. But perhaps I’m naive about people’s open-mindedness going both ways.
by Cristina Alarcon
One American state has thought better of its policy to browbeat pharmacists into selling the morning after pill. Read more…
Recently (Saturday, June 10th) there was an awesome webcast called Ending Abortion. It’s well worth checking out.
You can download any (or all) of the ten hour-long sessions as an MP3 to your computer or ipod and listen to each at your leisure.
Dr J has already written a blog article on this subject. We’ve also podcasted her Issues, Etc interview on the topic, and it’s available here.
It’s always interesting to me how we’re moving to extensively regulate what kids eat in schools, the subjects they can take, the games they play at recess, the equipment they wear when riding a bike or playing sports, and the messages they receive about cigarettes and drugs. Yet when it comes to sex, the experts say to give them a condom and let them figure it out. Why the inconsistency?
Provincetown and Kiddie Condoms
Wowsers. Well, I guess it’s about time it happened…or is happening. It will be interesting to see how this affects men and society. Though I wonder how many men would really be willing to use it.
by Carolyn Moynihan
Why has there never been a male contraceptive pill? Probably because, knowing that women have stronger reasons to carry this burden, nobody was trying very hard. But now, 50 years after women started risking their health and happiness by swallowing synthetic hormones on a regular basis, Israeli scientists have announced that a male pill is in sight. Read more…
by Carolyn Moynihan
Women are losers in the modern sexual relationships market. What will it take for them to break out of this dilemma?
Mother’s Day in the United States (and some other countries) had an ironic twist to it this year: the powers that be chose to observe May 9 as the fiftieth anniversary of the public debut of the contraceptive pill, the twentieth century’s chief weapon against motherhood as a serious vocation. Read more…
Sixties sex symbol Raquel Welch has blamed the contraceptive pill for the breakdown of sexual morality.
Welch believes the use of oral contraception, which became available in the 60s, has encouraged promiscuity and young people no longer care about the institute of marriage, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Read more…
I don’t know what Raquel’s faith is, but she sure has a very good understanding of the [Catholic] Church’s teaching against contraception
Once hailed as the female sex symbol Playboy deemed the “Most Desired Woman” of the 1970s, actress Raquel Welch has now taken a more critical look at the contraceptive revolution during which she shot to stardom. In a recent column for CNN, Welch rejoices in the experience of pregnancy, and laments the havoc that the free-sex ethos has wreaked on marriage and family life. Read more…
The thought of kids having kids is really disturbing to me. I had my first child when I was 25, and I can say, it’s serious business. I can’t imagine doing it while trying to go to high school or even college. And who is really going to be raising these children anyhow? My guess is, the grandmothers. Let’s do a survey of how mothers of pregnant teens feel about teen pregnancy.
The picture a 13-year-old boy sitting next to his baby, which accompanied an article on this topic a while back, still burns in my memory. It was such a heart-wrenching sight. The thirteen-year-old looked so tiny. Plus his face spoke volumes of “What have I gotten myself into?” This dad is still asking to have his pb and j cut into triangles and for rides to the library. I wouldn’t let a 13-year-old boy babysit my toddlers. Babies deserve more. Read more…
Categories: Babies, Birth Control, Chastity, Condomism, Hook-up, Pregnancy, Sex Education, Single Parents, Teenagers, abstinence Tags: abstinence, babies, birth control, condoms, contraception, sex, teen pregnancy, Teenagers
by R.J. Snell
The fiftieth anniversary of oral contraceptives is a reminder of all the things the Pill lets us forget.
The Pill turns 50 this month. Such a significant anniversary prompted cover stories, histories, celebratory remembrances, and calls for expanded access. None of this attention is surprising: the Pill was and continues to be an enormous source of social change in demographics, sexual activity, social mores, divorce, gender roles, and the economy. What is surprising is how mixed some of these assessments have been. Read more…
Very thorough, well-researched article. Answers questions I’ve been wondering such as, Are some “contraceptives” actually “abortifacient”?
by William E. May, Ph. D., Senior Fellow
Andrew Koppelman and others say “It certainly does!”
Andrew Koppelman, John Paul Stevens Professor of Law at Northwestern University, and others claim that contraception definitely prevents abortion. This April (2010) Koppelman posted a commentary, “How the Religious Right Promotes Abortion,” [1] that was immediately attacked byspokespersons of the “Religious Right” (e.g., Michael New of the Witherspoon Institute). Koppelman judges it to be “astoundingly stupid and tragic” to argue over this. Continuing, he said, “One of the rare areas of common ground between opponents and supporters of abortion rights is that neither side thinks that unintended pregnancy is a good thing. Read more…
Here’s another good one to commemorate the anniversary of The Pill.
By Daniel J. Flynn
Fifty years ago this June, the Food and Drug Administration granted approval to the birth-control pill. Because the FDA had announced on May 9, 1960, that it intended to approve the drug, and because May 9 conveniently fell on Mother’s Day this year, The Pill’s celebrants seized on Mother’s Day to mark The Pill’s anniversary. In contrast to the perfect timing that links a drug to prevent motherhood with a holiday celebrating it is the bad timing that witnesses The Pill’s 50th anniversary coinciding with a study whose findings suggest birth-control pills have worked better in theory than in practice. Read more…
For those of you who are too young to remember: Racquel Welch was a serious sex symbol in the seventies. Anyhow, here is her take on the anniversary of The Pill. I have to love her for her graciousness to her ex-husband:
On the upside, by the early 60’s The Pill had made it easier for a woman to choose to delay having children until after she established herself in a career. Nonetheless, for young women of childbearing age (I was one of them) there was a need for some careful soul searching — and consideration about the long-range effects of oral contraceptives — before addressing this very personal decision. It was a decision I too would have to face when I discovered I was pregnant at age 19. Read more…
(CNN) — It was 50 years ago that the U.S. FDA approved the birth control pill, an anniversary the agency is celebrating this Sunday, which (coincidentally?) happens to be Mother’s Day. Here are a range of opinions CNN.com gathered on the significance of The Pill’s introduction, and the cultural ripples it set in motion.
Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a founding editor of Ms. Magazine, a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus, and the author of nine books, most recently the novel, Three Daughters. Read more…
by Stuart Koehl
May 9, the fiftieth anniversary of the birth control pill’s approval, is being celebrated in the mainstream media by both feminists and environmentalists enamored of zero population growth. The pill is often considered the root cause of the sexual revolution, with some opining that, but for the pill, much of the sexual anarchy of the last forty years might have been avoided. But is this true, or did the pill merely accelerate moral and sexual trends already present in society? Read more…
Great article made even better by the fact that it features our very own Dr. Jennifer Morse!
By Cheryl Wetzstein
It has been hailed as one of the greatest public health breakthroughs of the 20th century. It enjoys overwhelming approval in public opinion polls. But the ripple effects of the pill – approved for general use 50 years ago this weekend by the U.S. government – are still a hot topic of debate. Read more…
Loading ...
