Reproductive Rights Blog

Things you should know - science

Not like you haven't heard it before (especially if you were hanging out with me this weekend) but vasectomies are totally safe.  And because this is my blog, I'll tell you my opinion on vasectomies: I'm all for them.  No one really wants me to go into it, but here's a quick rundown, from my perspective.  Heterosexual women have menstrual cycles, and all that brings.  They also bear the brunt of contraception, from what I gather.  Further, they are the ones carrying and birthing children, often breastfeeding them.  I don't feel it's an outrageous request for men involved with these women to consider vasectomies as fairly painless and totally reversible procedure.  The article talks about how men are squeamish about their boy parts, a concern for which I have little sympathy.  Somehow testicles became sacred, while women's fallopian tubes, uterii & etc became medically available.  It's a procedure that Jamaican men, for example, do not use.  You've heard it before.

Speaking of uteri, you may know my obsession with this from my previous posts, but the Picture of the Day from DCist a few days ago was a woman carrying three fetuses in her two uterii.  Awesome!

Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, hasn't been cleared for use in women 27 to 45.

Generic Yasmin available; Planned Parenthood going upscale, and that little Romanian girl finally got her abortion.

New way to freeze unfertilized eggs is better than the old way, in that eggs are more usable with this new method.  And scientists are saying they will be able to create sperm and eggs from stem cells in the next two decades.

And the animal story: coating birds' eggs with vegetable oil to keep them from hatching is a new method of population control in New York.

News you should know

 It's going to take me a long time to catch up, but here's some cool stuff I've been saving:

Really, the first good pictures and view of ovulation.

Also, you know how I've been talking about HPV and other cancers, besides cervical, for like, a billion years now?  My sister sent me an e-mail today saying that my theory re: anal cancer might be right. (I told her that, um, it's not a theory, it's just not common knowledge)  She sent me an article from an Australian paper on oral cancer and HPV.  Again, it's not news, but whatever.  The Canadian government is now thinking about vaccinating men against HPV too. 

Speaking of HPV, y'all know that I have ties to Qiagen, which makes the only HPV test on the market in the US.  Anyway, Qiagen is appealing a patent loss which would allow another company to make an HPV test.

Should we talk more about patents?  Barr won a patent suit against Bayer for Yasmin.  Since this happened months ago, you probably already have a generic pack of Yasmin in your hands if you want one.  Bayer stock fell after the news. 

I'm really not going to talk about FDA preemption here, but I do want to let you all know what's going on in the courts.  Here's the quick and dirty version of the recent Supreme Court case: This guy had a balloon angioplasty, and depending upon which case you read, his doctor either did or did not inflate the balloon properly.  In any case, the thing blew up in his heart, almost killing him (but didn't).  He sued the manufacturer of the balloon catheter, and in February the Supreme Court ruled that federal FDA law didn't allow for state tort suits, which is how you sue someone when crap like this happens.  There is a Supreme Court case coming up testing the same law, but with respect to drugs, not devices.  The reason I'm telling you this is that it's J&J's defense for suits regarding Ortho-Evra, the patch.  Plus, it's one of the things I've been geeking out about lately.

Have you or anyone you know had a hard time paying for an abortion?  A clinic in Iowa wants to know.

We don't have a lot of deaths from abortion anymore, thanks, largely, due to legal abortions and antibiotics.  Occasionally, we do, and it's just tragic.  Of course, there's more here than just a teenager dies of abortion.  She had a legal abortion and bled to death waiting for a transfusion, and, it sounds like it was also an incomplete abortion.  Plus, she didn't want to have an abortion, but her boyfriend (and maybe his family) wanted her to. 

Okay, I'm going to have to sort through a whole lot of stuff, and figure out how to use this upgraded software. 

Love,
C

IVF, Multiple Births and Preemies

Even though we don't really know what causes miscarriage or how to avoid it, we are learning more and more about reproduction, pregnancy and childbirth all the time.  For example, that whole thing about women's spines being different than men's, necessary for carrying a fetus.

We've also been able to use science to go around some natural barriers (or use science to create barriers!) regarding pregnancy.  IVF is a great example of that - egg and sperm are fertilized outside of the body, and embryos are implanted in a woman's uterus.  What normally happens is that a few embryos are introduced, in the hopes that at least one will take.  This can be used if there's a problem with fertilization due to either issues with the woman or man's body.  We're seeing an increase in multiple births because of IVF and other fertility treatments.

There are also many who will do pre-implantation genetic diagnosis on the resultant embryos to screen for genetic diseases.  If the diseases are mitochondrial, it appears there is a new way to do IVF that involves two women's DNA, and one man's.  Mitochondrial DNA is matrilineal, like the Y-chromosome is patrilineal: one can trace a man's genetic line through his Y-chromosome, and woman's through her mitochondrial DNA.

So after IVF, any embryos not used are frozen or thrown out (or adopted, but that's another story) rather than being used for research.  At least that's the case for federally funded research in the U.S.  With private funds, and in other countries, embryos may not only be researched, but hybrids are developed.  Legislators in the U.K. are currently considering allowing human-animal hybrid embryos to be...built?  (There are other good points in the article - scroll down to the bullets in the middle.) 

Anyway, yesterday the news was full of stories about how prematurely born babies have health problems throughout childhood, and may also have preemies themselves.  What the articles mostly focus on is the risk of death throughout childhood - higher for males than females - but not any other particular issues.  Do these children, and adults, have more lung problems?  Lower cognitive function?  Lag in fine motor skill development?   You know what else I'd be really curious to know - what's the overall lifetime earnings of these folks?  I'm seeing small references to educational problems, so I'm curious about what that toll is, quantifiably.

Multiple births are not only dangerous for the woman, but can also be very dangerous for the babies.

Selective reduction (or selective abortion) is one way to lessen the number of developing fetuses.  This, of course, raises some people's ire, and Italy has tried to address the issue through legislation.New ways to perform IVF that don't result in multiples can be incredibly helpful. 

IVF also makes for some wacky developing law - when is a person pregnant?  Who's a dad?  Who's a mom?  Can a person be forced to implant an embryo or be estopped from such action?  One women in the E.U. is arguing that she was protected by pregnancy laws when her embryos were developing in the clinic, but were not implanted. 

Infertility, dangerous pregnancies, sick children, moral and legal ambiguity - fun times.

 

News Round Up (Catching Up Post, Feb 15)

Sorry it's been so long folks.  It's been kind of hectic here, and without internet access at home, and work being busy, well, unfortunately, the blogging kind of falls by the wayside.  But, OMG, there is so much going on.  I'm sure you know most of it, but let's go over it in any case.

Pop Culture:
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - an award winning film - was reviewed by the NYT recently.  It was a critic's choice film.  And, you know, it won the Palm D'Or a while ago.  There's still a lot of discussion about Knocked Up/Juno where unplanned pregnancy seems to be something that, well, all works out in the end.  Laura Sessions Stepp, who I know many of you don't really like (article topics include hook-up culture and gray rape) wrote an article in the Post pointing out the dangers of being a teen mom. 

Maria and I talk about this all the time, because I'm not so keen on the idea of teenagers having kids, and she thinks we need a more supportive community for helping pregnant teens.   I don't think it's a great idea, in part because teen pregnancy is the number one indicator of future poverty.  This, of course, gets us into teen sex, about which the NYT published an article in January.  The article focuses on the emotional impact of sex on teen girls, as well as pregnancy.  Good read.  Oh, and I'm not getting into this right now, but there was a big to-do over these Denver girls who want maternity leave from high school.

Love:
So there was that big TIME Magazine section on love, and it was Valentine's Day yesterday (I got my sweetie these) and so love is in the air.  Researchers have shown that people in love don't really check out other potential mates, but they do check out potential rivals.  Sadly, sometimes love doesn't work out.  When the engagement gets called off there is a developing field of law in who gets what damages, as well as some etiquette on who gets the ring.

Birth Control:
There is a new label on the birth control patch.  Women who use Ortho-Evra, the patch, are at increased risk of blood clots.  The risk is still pretty small, but it's much higher than for women using the pill.  Talk to your doctor. 

Slate has an article on the health effects of the pill (news: it lowers the risk of ovarian cancer).

Barr, a maker of generic birth control pills, has filed a patent infringement suit against other pharmaceutical companies over oral contraceptives.

Ireland lowered the condom tax.  A 12-pack of condoms costs about E13; they cost about $12 here in the States.  I get the impression from the BBC article, by the way, that in some places condoms are free under the country's medical plan. 

Washington State has tabled a bill that would require pharmacists to dispense Plan B, or the Morning After Pill.  Issues related to conscience clauses loom large in this debate, and it appears that the legislature is going to pitch this over to the court system first.  South Dakota, on the other hand, is trying to make sure that pharmacy refusal clauses don't allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control pills.

Maker of the Today Sponge files for bankruptcy.

Politics:
Kate Michelman endorsed Barack Obama; a black male feminist compares Hillary to Barack; Clinton announces an agenda for repro health care on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  NOW attacks Obama's abortion record, while conservatives say he's the most "pro-abortion candidate ever."

Sexually Transmitted Infections (Including HPV):
There's a journal article on expedited partner therapy, which is when the partner of someone who's positive for an STD gets a prescription/treatment for the STD without clinical assessment (e.g. your boyfriend gets treated for chlamydia if you test positive, without testing him.)  I can't access the article, but the intro says that the CDC recommends EPT, which may raise some legal concerns.  I would love to see a copy of the article if anyone has it.

Older folks aren't that aware of STDs, and using protection.  Relatedly, sex continues to be both important and an important bonding mechanism as people age.  Oh, and USA Today reports that women over 55 are enjoying active sex lives far more than their predecessors ever did.

New Pap test - the SoftPAP - approved by the FDA.  This test apparently decreases the number of false negatives given by using the traditional (or ThinPrep?) Pap test.  Currently it is recommended that women get a Pap test and an HPV test. 

A new study shows that 1/3 of women with one sexual partner contract HPV in a year.  So I'm just remembering these numbers offhand, but I recall that over 26 million American women have HPV, and only 10,000 cases of cervical cancer are reported per year.  Further, only 3,000 women die of cervical cancer.  So this mechanism of HPV infection --> cancer is not at all a one-to-one ratio.  Anyway, I guess my point is that HPV is really common, and cervical cancer isn't.  And while this isn't news to readers, who well know that HPV causes more than just cervical cancer, somehow it's news again that HPV causes oral cancers.

STDs common in Australian Aborigines.  The article kind of reminds me of "The Tipping Point" chapter on STDs in as it states that when a population has >10% infection rate it's worth treating everyone with antibiotics to fight infections. 

Look for another entry on Tuesday.

In the meantime, your animal story is about the 9 year old pregnant elephant.

News Round Up (Jan. 25) Roe v. Wade Day Edition

This week was not only MLK Day, but Roe v. Wade Day.  Additionally, I lost another family member to cancer.  In any case, there was a lot you should have read about:

Roe v. Wade Day/Abortion:
Frances Kissling (formerly of CFFC) and Kate Michelman (formerly of NARAL) wrote an op-ed in the LA Times about abortion, and, really, the shift in perception around abortion.  They say that one thing the pro-choice folks need to engage in is a discussion about the "challenges" of the movement, including the judgment of women for getting pregnant in the first place.

Saletan says that pro-choicers need to message abortion with the goal of zero, same as teen pregnancy.

We've already discussed that the abortion rate is dropping, there's a rise in the use of RU-486 for medical abortions.

A new movie, "Silent Choices" is about abortion and African Americans.  Good article, go read it.

Pictures from the "March for Life" in DC.

Reproducing:
Related to the LA Times op-ed, a study out about Indiana shows that about 80% of black babies are born to unwed mothers.  Single mothers have lower levels of education and higher rates of poverty than married mothers, although that doesn't necessarily include those older single moms.

Italy has ruled that it is now legal to do pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos.  The ruling, applicable only to the Rome area, will be reviewed by a higher court.  Also, don't forget, that in Italy only 3 embryos can be implanted at a time. 

This type of diagnosis, however, is not foolproof.

Gender/Work:
We're learning that ancient Mayan sacrifices were of young boys, not girls.

Slate had a great series on economics and gender and all of that lovely Gary-Becker-type-stuff.  Included were articles on why Divorce is Good for Women and the Economics of Marriage.   The articles are actually excerpts from a new book that's now on my wishlist.  In Japan, the introduction of divorce means that men have to treat their wives with more respect.

So while feminism opened up options for a lot of women, there was an ensuing backlash against feminism, and now there's this embrace of everything under the sun as feminism.  Want to walk around with a dog collar being led by your boyfriend?  Who's to say that's not feminist?  Stripping?  Feminist.  Housewife?  Totally feminist (not by all).   I'm not about to make any statements about it right now, but it certainly seems to be a trend that the idea of "choice" whether related to feminism or abortion, is in the eye of the beholder.  I mean, is one's choice really off bounds for social comment?

Science:
The Pill has an extended effect on preventing ovarian cancer, the number one cause of gynecologic cancer deaths in the United States.  Apparently, this is leading folks in the U.K. to renew a call to make the Pill available over-the-counter.  Additionally, caffeine decreases the risk of ovarian cancer, while alcohol and tobacco use play no role in it.

As always, there's way more to blog about, but I have to get moving.  Have a great weekend!

And the animal story: Pigeons in Paris

News Round Up (Nov. 25)

So I'm watching the post-Thanksgiving morning news shows, debating with myself whether or not it would be a good thing if Roe fell, as many Presidential candidates hope for. On one hand, Roe being overturned would certainly be bad for access to abortion. On the other hand, if voters continuously choose to elect anti-choice legislators, why should they be immune from the consequences of those bad choices. Were Roe to fall, voters as well as legislators would have to walk the walk. Right now, for example, there's a man in Ohio that continuously gets re-elected, and his only issue is abortion. The people of Ohio are insulated by his election in part by the other Ohio legislators, but also, to a large extent, by the federal judiciary, upon whom we too greatly rely on for the protection of our rights. It's probably a little Old Testament of me, but I'm wondering if actually giving these anti-choicers more leeway won't actually mean that people eventually vote against them, once they have to deal with the consequences of the vote...

Anyway, the news:

U.S.
Denver, due to its high teen pregnancy rate, is considering making birth control available in high schools.
The Guardian explores the seeming change in Hollywood's depiction of abortion. A sociologist who writes for the Huffington Post, Lisa Wade, said that "It is as if all decisions to have an abortion are fraught with internal conflict, and then follow all women around like a dark cloud until the day they die." This is something we've discussed on this blog repeatedly: abortion isn't always a hard decision, and it's not always the wrong decision, and we don't have a lot of room in our discussion to admit that abortion can be easy, happy and/or freeing.
No surprise to most of us, but a good article on the strategy of the anti-choice movement that involves expanding the definition of "personhood". A good example is the Texas feticide law, which was upheld in a recent court decision regarding the killing of a women and her 4 - 6 week old fetus. On a more insidious note, Colorado is considering adding a provision regarding life beginning at conception that would make abortion illegal.
There's been a lot more coverage of the Crowley/Obama solution to the line in the Deficit Reduction Act that has raised the cost of birth control on college campuses. Make sure your legislator supports these efforts through ChoiceUSA or Planned Parenthood.

Parental Rights
In Kansas, a gay man agreed to donate sperm to a friend for artificial insemination. She filed papers to terminate his parental rights, which is appears is the default for Kansas sperm donors. He is fighting, and wants to be involved with the children and pay child support.
In the UK, a woman has received court permission to keep her pregnancy a secret from the man who impregnated her, as it was a one-night stand. The court ruled that she alone has the decision-making power regarding the adoption she seeks.

Foreign:
Regardless of the fact that abortion is legal in the UK, there is nonetheless a black market for herbal abortifacients. Speaking of, a website is selling what I think is RU-486 to Irish women; the drug is, as are abortion procedures, illegal.
RHRealityCheck has a whole section on one of our topics of conversaion, sex selective abortions.
I wish I had a better news source, but it appears that Sweden will allow foreign women to get abortions, up to 18 weeks gestation.

Science:
I hope you all have heard, by now, that scientists have created embryonic stem cells through adult cells. I wonder what will happen to the legal status of those cells, especially if they are pluripotent and could become a fetus...or maybe I just need someone to explain this all to me. In any case, it looks like scientists will no longer need embryos to do research on embryonic stem cells!
Totally useless news: sleep helps new moms lose baby weight. New moms would love to get more sleep anyway, but thanks for the information.
Apparently Chinese doctors have come up with a new form of male birth control that blocks sperm from travelling to the penis. It is totally reversible, and only takes 10 minutes. On a similar note, it looks like there's a new FDA-approved device that is a permanent method of female birth control. The device is inserted into a woman's fallopian tubes, and within three months the tubes are completely blocked.

There's a whole lot more out there right now, so I'll post again shortly.

News Round Up (Oct. 26)

It's Cleaning-Out-My-Inbox time, in anticipation of the weekend, and possible crab fest, and being a Cara & Karen Cloud on all things festive.  DC Feminist Happy Hour planning in the works for an end of the year bash.

In the news:

Schoolgirls in Britain will get the HPV Vaccine.  While the vaccine has great results in clinical trials, we still don't really know how long it works.

J&J settles lawsuit over Ortho-Evra (The Patch) death.  Massachusetts is looking at wider clinic buffer zones while Oakland is thinking about instituting them in the first place.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer runs an absolutely amazing column on abortion in the UK (originally in The Independent)   It covers the idea that women "deserve" going through an abortion for "irresponsible behavior", the fact that the delay in access to abortion by anti-choice, misogynistic lawmakers contributes to later-term abortions, and the need for better information and access to contraception.  Joan Smith is my crush of the week.  Month, maybe.

Some weird news out of Florida: a surrogate mother has been told by the courts that she can keep the baby.  This is unusual, because it's my understanding that the intentional parents are usually the legal parents (e.g. those who intended to be the parent, regardless of the biological materials used) although there's no national policy.  Anyway, very interesting, and each state handles the issue differently.

Condom testers wanted.  Sex lessons part of health lessons for miners in Australia.  The influence of the Catholic Church's ban on condoms is helping HIV spread in Latin America.  South Africa is recalling million s of condoms.

Take Action on Title X Family Planning and Ovarian Cancer research. 

News Round Up (Oct 18)

Cancer News:
The National Breast Cancer Coalition, which has worked hard to get federal funds for breast cancer research, has launched a site with video and text from Presidential candidates regarding their intended role in fighting breast cancer.  The group also recently released a survey on breast cancer awareness.  I'm shocked at how little people know about this common and detectable disease.  For something like ovarian cancer, I'm not surprised (although I'm not happy) at how little people know.  Illinois has expanded its breast an cervical cancer screening program, funded through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program.  People should really know about this, because what use is knowledge of the symptoms of breast or cervical cancer, without a way to actually treat it?

A subset of cancer news: HPV
Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required some health insurance plans to cover the HPV vaccine.  Via RHRealityCheck, Denmark and the UK recommend that all girls get the HPV vaccine.  Did we already discuss this?  The HPV test is more useful at finding cancer than a Pap test - at least the version of the Pap test researchers used, which is not the same one used in the US.  (Again, I'll note that my boyfriend works for the company that has the only FDA approved HPV test in the United States, as a full disclaimer).

Domestic:
Speaking of Illinois, apparently the pharmacy refusal clause issue has reached a settlement.  The Post reports "Trained technicians or store owners would contact a pharmacist at another location, then follow his or her directions for dispensing the morning-after pill."

Birth control at middle school?  There are very few 11 to 13 year olds having sex, but those that do are hopefully making informed choices, and need access to safe and effective contraceptives.  But wow, 13...does that sound young to anyone, or am I getting old?   

India:
Two Indian news stories, a country for which I have a special place in my heart.  First, unwanted sex common among married women in India.  Second, GE says it is willing to do more to reduce the use of ultrasound machines for determining a fetus' sex.  It is illegal to use an ultrasound for that purpose in India due to the high rate of sex-selective abortions.  Nonetheless, it is possible to get around this law, as is the case with most laws.  Especially in developing countries.  I did a fair amount of work on rule of law stuff, especially as it relates to human rights in developing countries, which is why I am eternally amused by the man from Ghana who wanted me to ignore Ohio's 24 waiting period for abortion, and give his wife an abortion that day, promising me that he wouldn't tell anyone.  Anyway, another story on India is the lack of affordable sanitary pads for menstruation.

Foreign:
Illegal abortions in South Africa are common.  Abortion law in the UK may be changing, lowering the 24 week legal limit.

Fertility:
Low birth weight babies born in the NYC area around 9/11 due to stress.  New birth control, for women, of course, and years away.  Egg freezing not the number one choice, as the odds aren't fabulous that the egg will survive.  Embryos and sperm, as we've discussed, fare much better.  Chinese herbs useful for menstrual pain.  Kroger offers some Pills for $4.

Men:
Chlamydia damages male fertility as well as female fertility.  Gene linked to male infertility discovered.

Feminism:
Feminists have better relationships; the feminist movement is about...blogging?

And the animal article: Geese on birth control.   

News Round Up (Sep. 21)

Happy Autumnal Equinox and Yom Kippur everyone.

Let's start off with the PP clinic in Aurora, IL (Chicago suburb) that's getting so much attention.  PP has a blog they've started with correspondents on the ground and a YouTube page.  At this time, the clinic will remain closed.  What happened is that PP didn't use its own name when applying for the building permit.   So now this is really about occupancy and building permits, but has, of course, turned into a huge abortion debate with the antis protesting and counter-protests and all kinds of nonsense.  PP has a petition and a ribbon campaign and whatnot, but this is going to happen all over: until we stop depending upon the courts to protect our rights, they will be eliminated.  Vote pro-choice (Democrat or Republican).  Or, run for office.

Another big issue is the potential repeal of the Global Gag Rule.  So here's what happened.  A million years before blogs ever existed, President Reagan signed the Mexico City Policy, which restricted US federal funds to foreign Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).  These NGOs, in order to receive US federal funds, could neither perform nor refer patients for abortions.  The first thing President Clinton did when he came into office was to repeal the Executive Order, and it was one of the first things President Bush did when he took office.  Anyway, there's been a lot of back and forth since then, including this summer.  Senator Boxer attached a provision that would basically repeal the GGR to an appropriations bill.  The bill hasn't yet gone to conference, and it's unlikely the President will sign, but that's how it stands.

Other news:
Lisa wants you to know that the NYT is reporting that NY refused ab-only funds.  Thanks, Lisa!  This is good news, because ab-only education --> STIs.

The HPV vaccine is more effective (works against more strains of HPV) than previously thought.  Also, you know that HPV causes cancers other than just cervical?  The link between HPV and head and neck cancers is also documented (so now we have cervical, anal, throat, oral, head, neck and vulvar cancers caused by HPV).  Catholic parents in Windsor, Canada, will be allowed to opt their daughters out of getting the HPV vaccine (they're being provided for free to girls in Grade 8).  Speaking of cancer, alcohol consumption in older women is linked to endometrial cancer.

Slovakia did not alter its conscience clause, which it had considered removing altogether.

Stem cells that make sperm can make other kinds of cells.  Baby needs a new pair of knees!  Actually, what this does is further endorse the idea that embryonic stem cells are not necessary for scientific research.  Which is good, because the US doesn't really have a whole lot of those.

The NYT and IHT have front page stories on FGM in Egypt. Funny - I did a whole project on FGM in Egypt while I was in graduate school.  My friends were horrified by just the line drawings of what it is.  As well we all should be. 

This is really part of my whole wrongful birth thing, but a lesbian couple in Australia is suing a doctor who gave them twins, rather than a single child.  I really will write more about wrongful birth and wrongful life one of these days. 

An alarmist article on tattoos and epidurals; I would mostly ignore this, but thought I should post it regardless.  I mean, really, is there anything a pregnant woman can do these days?  And I'm not getting back into the whole women should always think of themselves as pre-pregnant thing from earlier this week, because I just calmed down from it.

Arizona won't have a "Choose Life" license plate.

And that's all I have for now.  Not even a good animal story.  Have a great weekend.

News Round Up (Sep 14)

I'm moving this weekend!  It's chaos around here, and doing this news round up helps me clean out my inbox.  Which, you know, probably shouldn't be my first priority, but other cleaning involves getting up, and buying boxes and whatnot.  And I'm not moving until...tomorrow...Anyway, here goes:

Babies:
Now, I know we talked a while ago about this Russian day of procreation, and it's been all over the news this week!  Slate has a nice round up on what countries are doing with regards to procreation and population - what kind of economic or other policies can a government implement to encourage or discourage procreations?  The Beeb covered this a few months ago, which you may have read about on this blog.

In the U.S., high Latino birth rates are the main component of Latino population growth (rather than immigration).  "Nationally, Johnson calculates, there are seven Latino births for every death, compared with 1.3 white births for every death."

Gender:
The Post has a compelling piece about gender in South Asia.  This closely mirrors the recent Slate piece on how television is helping to empower women in rural India.  The Post story is about a girl in Bangladesh who is being pressured to get married at age 13.  She is the star of a TV show in which her character is urged to either drop out of school and work, or drop out of school and marry.  Gender issues in South Asia are incredibly complicated, and sex-selective abortions are rampant.  So rampant, in fact, that India banned the use of prenatal ultrasound for sex identification.  There are still lots of ads for that service, as anyone who's driven down a street in New Delhi can tell you.

A new report was released on sex trafficking (which does not just involve girls and women, but predominantly so) and how wide spread it is in the West.  Including the United States.  The full report is 172 pages of pdf goodness.

Gender discrimination suit alleges, among other things, that women were denied promotions and better accounts because they refused to take part in such "business activities" as visiting strip clubs.

And I know we just talked about this whole stay at home husband/gender roles thing, but here it is again, in New York Magazine.  "Well into feminism’s second generation, there are finally a significant number of women reaching parity with the men in their fields—not to mention surpassing them—and winning the salary, bonuses, and perks that signify their arrival...In 2001, for example, wives earned more than their spouses in almost a third of married households where the wife worked. Yet this proud professional achievement often seems to have unhappy consequences at home...Indeed, there’s little evidence to show that as women acquire financial muscle, relations between the sexes have evolved successfully to accommodate the new balance of power. Neither the newly liberated alpha women nor their shell-shocked beta spouses seem comfortable with the role reversal."  Just read the article

Science:
A clinic in the UK is offering half-price IVF if the women will donate half of their eggs for research.  Contraception (for less than 8 years) cuts cancer risk - we already knew that hormonal contraceptives protected against ovarian cancer.  South Africa recalls faulty condoms.  Ovary removal tied to dementia.

Law:
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled this week that a doctor has no duty to tell an abortion patient that the fetus/embryo is a person.  If you read this story you'll see why terminology is so important (am I a broken record, or what?)  A nurse referred to "the baby" when the embryo was only 6 weeks.  Dictionaries define baby as birth to one year, although many refer to "the baby" when having an abortion.  It's a hard concept to grasp, I'll grant you that, but one that I think should be made clear.  In my old clinic we decided to use whatever terminology the woman was most comfortable with, and using the word "baby" always made me uncomfortable.  Regardless, informed consent is an important part of medical care, and I'm not sure the doctor's assertion that the fetus was "just blood" was an accurate statement either.  In any case, the plaintiff alleged that the doctor failed to inform her that the fetus was a human being with whom she had an existing relationship (why the doctor would be the one to tell her about her relationships is beyond me) and the court sided with the doctor.  This biased counseling thing is fairly widespread, and getting worse.

Pregnancy:
Low levels of Vitamin D tied to a higher risk of pre-eclampsia.  Smoking raises risk of miscarriage. 

And the animal story: Salmon spawn trout in genetic experiment.  As a picky grammar note, young fish are not called "babies."  I know it's a complicated point, that not everything has to be anthropomorphized, but let's try?