Birth Control Promoted in Afghanistan...

In a country with the world’s second highest maternal mortality rate, health professionals are partnering with religious leaders to distribute condoms and promote spacing births. Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest fertility rates, averaging more than six babies per woman. The maternal...

Thank you abortion providers!...

On March 10, 1993, an anti-choice extremist murdered Dr. David Gunn outside of his workplace. In honor of him, Dr. George Tiller, and the others who lost their lives because they performed abortions, we pay tribute to abortion providers today, on the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers....

The (Gender) Politics of Pee...

Via Canadian Pacific @ Flickr. Gentle readers, this morning we’re going to set aside our delicate sensibilities* for a serious conversation. It’s time to discuss the practical and sociological problems of urinating while female. Practically speaking, we don’t have a user-friendly spout...

Hymenology 101: A Guest Post by Commente...

Via Julie Danielle @ Flickr. I’m a pediatrician who specializes in taking care of kids who have been abused, so I have had to learn all about the ins and outs, as they say, of hymens. I think the idea of virginity is useful on a personal level, but I hate how it’s considered a measure of the value...

Ms. M on Living With Chronic Illness, a ...

Invisible chronic illness is one of the things made me a feminist. My whole life I have been sensitive to and advocated for parity for women in medical research and drug trials. Seeing how certain diseases are treated seriously, and others are treated as “all in women’s heads” –...

An Endangered What Now?...

Anti-abortion groups Georgia Right to Life and the Radiance Foundation have partnered to erect 65 billboards like this one across Georgia, and plan to put up 15 more. The billboard features a black baby’s face and copy that reads “Black children are an endangered species.” Their website...

Sober Child in the City, by Commenter MK...

Being a sober alcoholic in New York City is something like being in a foreign country where everyone loves a sport you can’t even play. Or being a diabetic in a sugar factory. Or being lactose intolerant on a dairy farm. I totally had forewarning that it was going to get out of hand – I have...

Abortion Politics in Australia...

Via Proggie @ Flickr. This guest-post comes from Australian harpy Mackey. It was written in the spirit of the cross-border conversations that happen at the Pursuit of Harpyness, and the sharing of experiences. In Australia, there is no federal case like Roe v Wade that establishes legalised abortion....

In memoriam: Haitian women’s right...

A survey of Haitian women and girls conducted by women’s rights organization Kay Fanm revealed that approximately 72 percent had been raped and at least 40 percent were victims of domestic violence. Haitian lawyer and actress Magalie Marcelin founded Kay Famn, which provides legal, health, literacy...

Today is Blog for Choice Day!...

Do it. Via blogforchoice.com Today, January 22, is the 37th Anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion and has subsequently saved the lives of countless women. This week has been a remarkably craptacular one for progressive politics, so I wanted to end the week with some...

HRC Live Online Today...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech marking the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development’s in Cairo, Egypt, and renewing her (and the US’s) commitment to women and children is TODAY.  Under the aegis of the United Nations, the...

World AIDS Day...

Today is the twenty-first annual observation of World AIDS Day.  I have a tendency to forget about it, even though a family friend close to my own age is HIV-positive.  Thanks to meds, he is thriving. Women, in part because they suffer from HIV and AIDS at higher rates, in part because they are less...