Archive for February, 2008
Monday, February 25th, 2008
With the help of modern science and the latest technology, more and more contraceptive methods are fast becoming available to the public. Although many campaigns are being launched left and right to widen the public awareness on the subject of birth control and help explain how the different contraceptive devices and products work, these often overlook the history of birth control. How did birth control come about?
Back in the day, there were no scientific explanations to prove how birth control worked and people just improvised and went with whatever seemed to work. The oldest methods of contraception (not including abstinence from sex) are the withdrawal method, certain barrier methods, and herbal methods.
The withdrawal method, also known as the coitus interruptus, involves withdrawal of the penis from the vagina before a man reaches his orgasm. It probably predates any other contraceptive method. Experts said that once the connection between a man’s emission of semen into the vagina and conception was suspected or established, men have started practicing it. Different religions have their own views on the subject of withdrawal. According to the book of Genesis, Onan incurred the wrath of God by pilling his seed on the ground in opposition to the custom to impregnate his sister-in-law. Ancient Chinese and Indian beliefs indicated that coitus reservatus, or withdrawing the man’s penis without ejaculating, helps retain a man’s virility as they believed that ejaculating releases the yan, the essence of masculinity. They believe that this method isn’t regarded as the most reliable method of contraception as some men lose control and forget to full out when it’s time.
Barrier methods were designed to stop sperm from reaching a fertile egg by means of caps and spermicides. Early Egyptian women have historic records of using a vaginal suppository made up of a concoction of substances that were said to kill sperm. Asian women were said to have used oiled paper as cervical caps, while European women used beeswax. The first condom came about sometime in the 17th century. It was first made of animal intestine. Although the first condom is not as effective as the modern latex condoms, it was used both as a means of birth control and as protection from syphillis, which was then greatly feared as there were still no known cure for the disease.
Throughout the course of history, a lot of different abortifacients have been used by many women. These are natural or synthetic substances that may induce an abortion. A certain 2nd century Greek gynecologist named Soranus suggested women to drink water that blacksmiths use to cool metal. Some women drank solutions mixed with mercury, arsenic, or other toxic materials for the purpose of preventing pregnancy. It works by poisoning the woman’s body so that it will not be conducive to support pregnancy.
The herbal method was said to have been used by ancient tribes to control population. The herbs tansy and pennyroyal were said to have worked the same way as the above-mentioned abortive chemicals, poisoning a woman enough to prevent her body from conceiving, but not enough to kill her. But aside from being abortive, some herbs were used as preventive measures for pregnancy. The hibiscus rosa-sinensis may have antiestrogenic properties that change the hormone levels of women. Papaya seeds were said to have been used as a male contraceptive.
The modern day intra-uterine device (IUD) was said to have come from a folktale about Arab traders who inserted small stones into their camels’ uterus to prevent pregnancy. However, the first IUD that covered the vagina and the uterus was first marketed in the early 1900s. Then finally, the first modern IUD was created in 1909.
Times have changed, and so have birth control methods. They have been enhanced and improved to further accommodate the people who intent to use them. People who have become more and more liberal as culture and society have evolved.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, church, contraceptive, doctor, drugs, education, free prescription, health, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, parenthood, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, remedies, sex, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
On one of my email lists, we’ve gotten into a discussion about various types of birth control. Although it’s not strictly about pregnancy, labor, or birth, most women after having a child will want some information about how to wait before having another child; some women don’t–”the more the merrier” philosophy. To each her own.
You may already know all of this; but in case you don’t, here you go:
When I was growing up, I knew that Catholics didn’t approve of birth control, but I was fuzzy on why. I figured it was because they thought that large families were mandated by the Bible or something. But when I was a pharmacy tech, I finally understood why they stood against birth control pills. I read a pharmacy magazine that contained a “Continuing Education” article on birth control pills. This was not too long after “mini pills” were released, so most of the information was on the typical standard-dose birth control pills. I learned that most birth control pills have a primary function of preventing ovulation (some–perhaps all–also will thicken the cervical mucus, making it more difficult for sperm to get to the egg, thus preventing conception); but that they have a secondary function of preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, should conception occur. This is why there is a difference between “birth control” and “contraception.” The actual, logical meaning of the term “contraception” is that it is a something that keeps conception from occurring. “Birth control” means that a birth does not take place, whether through contraception or abortion.
Many women are opposed to abortion on moral/religious/spiritual grounds, or would never consider having an abortion themselves even if they found themselves unexpectedly pregnant. Many women consider life to start at conception. Logically, therefore, deliberately preventing that fertilized egg–a conception–from implanting in the uterus would be a form of abortion–the prevention of a life from being born that otherwise would be born. (One pro-abortion woman on this list pointed out that it is known that some fertilized eggs naturally do not implant. That is true, but it does not change the argument nor alter the force of the argument.) If you are one of these women who consider keeping a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus to be a form of abortion; and that abortion is taking an innocent life, then you may wish to continue reading further about the specific forms of birth control.
The main form of birth control, obviously, is “The Pill.” Actually, there are dozens of pills, and now there are “mini-pills.” These “mini pills” do not have the primary function of preventing ovulation, but will increase the cervical mucus viscosity; however, their main function is to keep the lining of the uterus too thin for the fertilized egg to implant. Taking synthetic hormones may cause other problems for the woman; and most of these hormones are not broken down to the body, and are instead excreted through the urine….into our water supply….which has who-knows-what effect on our population now. Water supplies have been tested and found that our drinking water does contain measurable quantities of hormones from birth control pills. Hormones in these pills are also in other forms (patches and rings), but the effect is the same. Shots such as Depo-Provera and implants such as Norplant will act in the same way, because the medication functions in the same way.
There are also IUDs. Mirena has a hormone that it releases; but otherwise it has the same function as other IUDs–pregnancy prevention through keeping the uterus irritated so that it can’t accept a fertilized egg. The hormone in Mirena may possibly prevent ovulation (although the website says this is not the way it works in most cases), or it may keep the uterus lining too thin to accept a fertilized egg, or it may prevent the sperm from getting to the egg. Since you don’t know which particular function worked this month, you may have allowed a conception while preventing a birth. If you believe that life begins at conception, and that keeping a conceived baby from being born is abortion, then you need to re-examine your method of birth control, to make sure that it aligns with your beliefs.
Of course, there are true “contraceptive” devices and methods–things that keep the sperm and egg from uniting, so that conception does not occur. The most common and familiar would be the condom. There are also spermicides of various sorts. Diaphragms are also an option. Methods of preventing pregnancy include “natural family planning”–basically, avoiding sex (or using a condom or other prevention) when you are most likely to be fertile. The least sophisticated of these is the “calendar” or “rhythm” method–since most women are fairly regular, noting what is most likely your fertile days (about 5 days before ovulation and for 24 hours afterwards) and being abstinent on those days. However, there can always be things that speed up or delay ovulation, so this method is fairly unreliable. There are other methods that take several factors into account, thus greatly improving the reliability and consistency of periodic abstinence (you can look up “natural family planning” online and find a lot of resources about true contraception. One method that I had not heard of until this discussion on my email list is the following which sounds most interesting: NaProTechnology. The woman who mentioned it is a practitioner of this method, and says that it takes your cycle one day at a time, so it can be used with irregular cycles, if a woman is coming off of birth control, perimenopause, etc.
No method is fool-proof. Hormones are convenient, but may technically cause abortions, and may cause problems with your future health (the risk of blood clots, especially if you smoke, is increased; and there is a possible increase in some types of cancers). Barrier methods (condoms, diaphragms, spermicides) don’t have the down-side of hormonal problems, but are inconvenient (and you may be allergic to the spermicide or latex). Periodic abstinence requires extra vigilance and awareness of your cycle–which is not always a bad thing! Actually, I think the more knowledge you have about your own body, the better. Just as with anything else, there are benefits and risks–trade-offs–when doing anything, and you should fully research everything before you agree to anything.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, church, condom, contraceptive, doctor, drugs, education, free prescription, girls, headaches, health, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, parenthood, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, remedies, sex, sexual, symptoms, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
“It’s difficult to really be abstinent until marriage because it’s a lot of different things pulling at you when you’re a teenager.”
No, that’s not Jamie Lynn Spears talking. That’s 16-year-old Kristen Brown, speaking earlier this month to a CBS News reporter in search of a typical teen. Yes, the cultural minefield of abstinence education is back in the news, thanks not only to Miss Spears but to the latest report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, the nation’s teen birth rate rose in 2006 for the first time since 1991. Among girls 15 to 19, the rate went from 40.5 births per 1,000 females in 2005 to 41.9 births a year later. It wasn’t completely unexpected — the decline in the teen birth rate had been slowing for a while — but the reversal, obviously, was an unwelcome development.
Unwelcome, that is, to everyone but the “just give teens contraception” lobby. These folks were quick to tout the CDC report as proof that teaching teens to refrain from sex is a waste of time.
“Congress should … immediately stop funding for dangerous abstinence-only programs that deny young people information about how to prevent pregnancy, protect their health and make responsible decisions,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “It’s time to put money toward real solutions that will help prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among teenagers.”
Her so-called “solutions”? Birth-control pills. Condoms. Diaphragms. All of which send an unmistakable message to teens: “You have no self-control, and we don’t expect you to. We know you’re going to ‘do it,’ so just make sure you’re ‘safe’ when you do.”
Never mind helping teens learn the skills they need to say “no.” Forget the guys who may be willing to avoid sex — they’ll have no excuse when the “cool” kids tease them. And the girls who would like help saying “no” when their boyfriends pressure them? Sorry, they’re on their own. Some “solutions”!
It’s ironic, too, to see the condom crowd jump on the uptick in the teen birth rate to bad-mouth abstinence education. After all, they had their way for years before true abstinence programs became widespread, and the teen birth rate kept climbing. By their logic, doesn’t this prove that “comprehensive sex ed” doesn’t work?
In fact, plenty of reliable studies demonstrate that abstinence education does work. Check out familyfacts.org and search for “abstinence.” One study, published in the journal Adolescent and Family Health and based on data from National Vital Statistics Records, the National Survey of Family Growth, and the Alan Guttmacher Institute (formerly the research arm of Planned Parenthood and no friend of abstinence education), notes that:
“The factors most strongly related to the decline in teen pregnancies and teen births from 1991 to 1995 were an increase in abstinence and a decline in the percentage of teens who were married. Increased abstinence among teens accounted for most of the reduction in births and for 67 percent of the reduction in out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies.”
I could cite other studies that reached similar conclusions, but you get the idea. The notion that abstinence education has been proven false is utter nonsense. Sadly, though, it’s a message that’s catching on in certain quarters. New Mexico recently became the 15th state to reject abstinence-only funding from the federal government.
This despite the fact that surveys show parents overwhelmingly support abstinence education. “Over 90 percent of parents, at a minimum, want teens to be taught to abstain from sexual activity until they have at least finished high school,” one study from The Heritage Foundation notes. Almost as many, 84 percent, go further, preferring that teens be taught to abstain “until a couple is married or close to marriage.”
Parents aren’t alone: “Teens themselves also favor abstinence education: Over 90 percent agree that teens should be taught to abstain from sex until they have at least finished high school,” the Heritage study says. Of course, we should be teaching the whole truth – that sex outside of marriage (regardless of age) is always unhealthy, risky and morally wrong.
And what about the teens caught in the middle of this debate? “I think they’re the victims of a huge lobbying effort on behalf of the contraception education proponents, who truly do not want abstinence education to exist,” says Elayne Bennett, president of the Best Friends Foundation.
That’s why it’s so important for parents to make their voices heard. Don’t allow the condom crowd to push abstinence education aside. Our kids need us to speak up. “So many people have had sex and had sexual experiences, so you sort of feel left out,” says Kristen Brown, the girl I began by quoting. It’s time to help her and her friends understand that abstinence is not only perfectly normal. For the sake of their health and happiness, it’s essential.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, contraceptive, doctor, drugs, free prescription, girls, health, medication, medicine, meds, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, parenthood, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, progestin, sex, sexual, symptoms, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Monday, February 18th, 2008
With many women still searching for the perfect birth control method, a systematic review analyzes a host of studies comparing the contraceptive skin patch or vaginal ring to the pill. Although perfection remains elusive and choices are equally effective, the review authors were able to pinpoint some preferences.
“Basically, all of these methods were similar in preventing pregnancy,” said lead investigator Laureen Lopez, Ph.D., research associate at Family Health International in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added warning data to the drug label for the contraceptive skin patch, advising users that the women using the patch have a greater risk of blood clots than pill users. The study prompting the FDA action was not part of the review.
For the review, the researchers looked at 11 randomized controlled trials — three comparing the patch to the pill, and eight comparing the ring to the pill — comprising more than 6,000 women.
Women using the patch were more likely to use the medication as prescribed than those on the pill were. However, patch users experienced more side effects and were more likely to abandon their method eventually than pill users were.
Ring users generally had fewer serious side effects than pill users, but had more vaginal irritation and discharge. Despite this, vaginal ring users tended to stick with their approach longer than the pill group.
The patch is a small adhesive square that dispenses hormones and which a woman must replace every week for three weeks, and then leave off for a week. The Ortho Evra contraceptive patch is the only patch approved for use to date.
The NuvaRing, which Organon manufactures, releases hormones into the vaginal cavity. A woman inserts the ring, a flexible piece of plastic tubing, where it remains for three weeks; she then removes it for one week. Many consider the ring and patch easier to use than birth control pills because women do not have to attend to them every day.
Compared with pill users, patch users had more bleeding breakthroughs, breast discomfort, painful periods, and nausea and vomiting. Rings users, on the other hand, had more vaginal irritation and discharge. Of the two, patch users tended to discontinue the method more readily.
The contraceptive review updates one done in the past, for which only two studies of the patch versus the pill were available. The ring data are new. For all methods, several studies had women drop out, which can limit the value of the results according to the researchers.
“Women who used the ring had fewer bleeding problems than those on the pill, but they did have irritation,” Lopez said. “But discontinuation was similar for the ring and the pill in most of the studies.”
Clinicians have seen the ring increase in popularity, Lopez added.
Mitchell Creinin, M.D., professor and director of gynecological specialties at the University of Pittsburgh, is familiar with all of the review studies. “It all comes back to compliance.” Creinin said. “Once a week versus once a day, twice as much hormone entering the body (with the patch), or half as much (with the ring).”
Creinin, who was not involved with the review, said it is important to understand the people who would enter these studies: “These studies were done primarily when only the pill was available. Women who were unhappy with their present method of birth control were the ones likely to enter them.” He noted that the results differ among studies between European and American women. “North American women tend to have more complaints and are less compliant,” he said.
Overall, Creinin said, women are happy with their birth control because they are not getting pregnant.
Lopez said that women have to consider many issues when choosing a method of birth control. Ease of use, side effects and life situation are each important. For a contraceptive to be effective, the woman must be willing and able to follow the prescribed regimen.
“Women are finally beginning to understand that taking a pill every day is difficult.” Creinin said. He is working on an upcoming study comparing the ring to the patch.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, contraceptive, drugs, education, free prescription, health, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, parenthood, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, sex, sexual, symptoms, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
A controversial topic such as birth control may seem like a modern issue, but it’s not. Contraceptives have been used in one form or another for thousands of years throughout human history and even prehistory. In fact, family planning has always been widely practiced, even in societies dominated by social, political, or religious codes that require people to the fruitful and multiply. The history of birth control can be traced back many centuries. In fact, women all over the world have been using birth control method even before there were any modern medical contraceptive innovations or procedures. However, many of these pre-modern methods were not always as safe or effective as those available today.
Centuries ago, Chinese women drank lead and mercury to control fertility, which often resulted in sterility or death. During the Middle Ages in Europe, magicians advised women to wear the testicles of a weasel on their thighs or hang its amputated foot from around their necks. Other amulets of the time were wreaths of herbs, desiccated cat livers or shards of bones from cats (but only the pure black ones), flax lint tied in a cloth and soaked in menstrual blood, or the anus of a hare. It was also believed that a woman could avoid pregnancy by walking three times around the spot where a pregnant wolf had urinated.
In 1850 B.C., the earliest known contraceptive device for women was the pessary. Pessaries are objects or concoctions inserted into the vagina to block or kill sperm. By 1850 B.C., Egyptians used pessaries made of crocodile dung, honey, and sodium carbonate. Crocodile dung is alkaline.
The condom was invented in Egypt around 3000 B.C. Ancient drawings clearly depict men wearing condoms, sometimes made of material that may have been animal hide. It’s not clear what they were made of or whether they were used for sex or ceremonial dress. The oldest known condoms which dated to about 1640 were found in Dudley Castle near Birmingham, England. They were made of fish and animal intestines. Condoms in those days were used to prevent sexually transmitted diseases rather than for contraception.
Charles Goodyear patents vulcanization of rubber in 1844. Soon, rubber condoms are mass produced. Unlike modern condoms that are made to be used once and thrown away, early condoms were washed, anointed with petroleum jelly, and put away in special wooden boxes for later reuse.
On 1906, Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical harvester, is diagnosed with schizophrenia. His wife, Katherine, dreads passing on the mental illness to future children. Later, she forms a partnership with birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. She funds contraception research with her sizeable fortune.
And the result was the development of the birth control pill. The first birth control pills which were introduced more than 40 years ago, contained high levels of estrogen and progestin.
A major achievement in the history of medical science was the introduction of birth control pills. It was an answer for women who faced problems during abortions. During the 1960s, the Searle drug company receives FDA approval for Enovid, the first birth control pill. The Pill revolutionizes contraception. It’s 100% effective but has terrible side effects, including life-threatening blood clots.
Today, it is well known that the condom is the only effective barrier to HIV and to many, but not all other sexually transmitted diseases or STDs. Despite this, neither condoms nor other forms of contraception are used consistently by those who most need them.
Women today have many more choices to make with birth control than they did in the centuries ago, when abstinence, withdrawal, and condoms made of linen cloth or animal intestines were the only known options. With all of the reliable and more hygienic modern contraception methods out there today, finding the one that’s right for her lifestyle and health history can be a bit confusing.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, church, condom, contraceptive, doctor, drugs, education, free prescription, health, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, parenthood, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, remedies, sex, sexual, teen-agers, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
LAST MONTH, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that teen pregnancy rates had risen for the first time in 14 years. One week after this announcement, 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears–star of the Nickolodeon hit Zoey 101 and sister of singer Britney Spears–announced that she was three months pregnant.
The right-wing family values brigade was quick to portray Spears’ high-profile pregnancy as evidence of a “culture of permissiveness” that was fueling high rates of teen sex, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. The airwaves immediately filled with commentators concerned that impressionable “tweeners” would think it was cool to get pregnant.
Dr. Miriam Grossman, of the pro-family-values Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, commented, “No one should be surprised. This incident with Jamie Lynn should be looked at as a logical consequence of the type of education and guidance that we give to young people these days–that sexuality is part of their lives at any age.”
In fact, Spears’ statement that she was “absolutely shocked” she could have become pregnant should tell us much more about the manufactured ignorance about sex and birth control that is being forced on American teenagers.
CULTURAL CONSERVATIVES responded to the CDC report by arguing that U.S. society has become too accepting of teenage sexuality. “Like casual drug use in the ’60s, America’s current culture has accepted casual and ‘protected’ sex as the norm,” Dr. Gary Rose, chief executive of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health told the Moonie-owned Washington Times. “There is a critical need for behavior modification–risk avoidance, not mere risk reduction–if these trends are to reverse.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. The rise in teen pregnancy rates is much more likely the result of an unprecedented expansion of abstinence-only programs in schools.
Abstinence-only education was first written into the 1996 welfare reform bill signed into law by Bill Clinton. The law includes an extremely restrictive eight-point definition stipulating, among other things, that teenagers must be taught that abstinence is the only acceptable behavior outside of marriage at any age and premarital sex can have harmful physical and psychological consequences, and that birth control can only be mentioned in relation to its failure rates.
When George Bush took office, he dramatically expanded funding for abstinence-only education, funneling hundreds of millions of dollars not only to states but to faith-based community organizations led by the Christian Right. Abstinence-only education got $176 million in funding for fiscal year 2007; such programs have received over $1 billion in funding since their inception.
The impact on teenagers has been devastating. With their complete lack of medical or scientific basis as well as a willful ignorance of teenage sexuality, these programs are aimed at scaring and bullying teens into abstinence.
A congressional report commissioned by Rep. Henry Waxman reviewed 13 curriculum materials used in states across the country and found the following examples of false and misleading information:
- Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.
- Touching a person’s genitals can result in pregnancy; mutual masturbation can cause pregnancy.
- HIV can be transmitted by tears and sweat, and 50 percent of gay teens have AIDS.
- A pregnancy occurs one out of every seven times that couples use condoms.
- A 43-day-old fetus is a “thinking person.”
- Five to ten percent of women will never again be pregnant after having a legal abortion.
- Suicide is a consequence of premarital sex.
The consequences of this misinformation has been very real.
Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation claimed that most young women who became pregnant were properly educated about contraception, and just wanted to have babies. In reality, the statistics show that just over 50 percent of sexually active males and 60 percent of sexually active females had received any education in birth control methods before they first had sex.
Abstinence-only education programs in schools are reinforced by a whole network of Christian family values advocates. Many of their activities seem to seek a return to an era before the women’s liberation movement–an era when women were seen as property.
For example, one focus for abstinence proponents has been “purity balls.” At these balls, daughters pledge to maintain their virginity until marriage, while fathers promise to protect their “purity.” The girl then gives her father a ring or cross as a symbol of their virtue, which he is supposed to give to her husband on her wedding day.
NUMEROUS STUDIES show that abstinence-only education is ineffective and sometimes harmful.
When teen pregnancy rates were still declining, advocates of abstinence-only programs tried to claim credit. But a Columbia University and Guttmacher Institute study found that 86 percent of the decline was attributable to increased use and effectiveness of birth control, while only 14 percent could be attributed to teens delaying sex. A separate congressionally mandated study found that teens in abstinence-only programs were just as likely to have sex, initiated sex at the same age, and had a similar number of sexual partners.
Of the one in six teenage girls who took a chastity pledge, 88 percent broke their vow before marriage, many within a few years. And girls who had taken chastity pledges were less likely to use condoms, and less likely to seek testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.
The abstinence-only approach is rooted in a denial of the reality of teenage sexuality. By the age of 19, 70 percent of teenagers have become sexually active. Refusing to face this reality means that teenagers, especially young women, are ill-equipped to take responsibility for their own sexual choices and reproductive health.
In Europe, teenagers become sexually active in equal numbers as in the U.S., but contraception and comprehensive sexual education are widely provided. In addition, there is little societal pressure to remain abstinent. This goes a long way to explaining why the teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. is dramatically higher.
The rise of abstinence-only education is part and parcel of a right-wing family values backlash that has attempted to roll back reproductive health choices for women.
When teenage girls do become pregnant, they are faced with severe restrictions on their access to abortion. Thirty-four states have parental consent or notification laws. Between 2001 and 2005, more than $30 million in federal funds was given to “pregnancy crisis centers”–anti-abortion clinics that provide misleading information about abortion. In 23 states, state-mandated pre-abortion counseling exaggerates the physical and mental health risks of abortion–for example, asserting a link between abortion and breast cancer, or claiming that women who have abortions may have suicidal thoughts.
This attack on abortion has been accompanied by a cultural backlash as well. Abortion is almost never portrayed on television or in film as a viable choice. Three recent movies center on women who decide to carry unintended pregnancies to term–including a teenager who gives the baby up for adoption. Those who raise abortion as an option are portrayed as callous and indifferent.
The right wing would have us believe that the recent rise in teen pregnancy rates is the result of an overly permissive society and proves the need for more focus on abstinence. In reality, it is just one more sign of the damage being done to teenagers and women in the name of family values.
Fourteen states have already refused federal funding for abstinence-only education, and 82 percent of Americans support comprehensive sex education. It’s well past time to reverse the backlash.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in Britney Spears, HIV, abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, condom, contraceptive, doctor, drugs, education, free prescription, health, masturbation, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, parenthood, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, sex, sexual, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2008
A bill filed in the South Dakota Legislature seeks to protect people’s right to get birth control pills and other contraceptives.
SB164 says South Dakota residents have the freedom to obtain and use safe and effective methods of contraception without government interference.
A state law now allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense medication if they believe it would cause an abortion or be used in suicide. The bill filed Tuesday says pharmacists cannot use that abortion law to refuse to dispense birth control.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, contraceptive, doctor, drugs, education, free prescription, medication, medicine, meds, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
The United States is in the throes of a baby boomlet, which eventually could help the baby boomers and their children.
In 2006 there were 4.3 million births, the largest number of children born in one year since 1961, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
More importantly, the fertility rate — the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — is back up to 2.1, the rate required for the population to replenish itself.
In 20 years, if these kids can get good-paying jobs, their contributions to Social Security may help guarantee retirement benefits to their parents and grandparents by keeping the system from slipping into insolvency.
The Social Security system depends on those who work supporting those who have retired. As long as the work force is large enough, there’s no problem, but in the past several decades the ratio between the number of workers and the number of retirees has been shrinking.
In 1945, the year the baby boom began — not to be confused with the boomlet — the ratio between workers and Social Security recipients was 42-to-1.
Today, as baby boomers begin to retire, there are only three workers supporting each retiree. Some experts believe that by 2030, the ratio will fall to 2-to-1.
But that may not happen if the current boomlet continues, although experts have said it is far from clear as to whether the trend will continue.
“We have to wait and see,” said Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “For now, I would call it a noticeable blip.”
The nation’s fertility rate hit 3.8 in 1957 during the postwar baby boom, but then dropped off dramatically in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly as a result of the birth control pill and more women pursuing careers outside the home, according to population experts.
The rate dropped to a low of 1.7 in 1976 and has been slowly rising ever since.
S. Philip Morgan, a leading fertility researcher at Duke University, said there are several contributing factors to the rising fertility rate, including a decreased use of contraceptives, limited access to abortion in some states and a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week economy that provides mothers with opportunities to return to the work force.
Immigrants who came to the United States seeking a better life also have contributed to the boomlet.
A study done by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that the fertility rate among Mexican-born women in the United States is 3.2, but the overall rate in Mexico is 2.4.
One of the interesting things about the boomlet is that it runs counter to the trends in other industrialized countries.
“Americans like children,” Nan Marie Astone, associate professor of population, family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University, told The Associated Press. “We are the only people who respond to prosperity by saying, ‘Let’s have another kid.’ ”
Although environmentalists may decry the increased number of people making demands on the Earth’s limited resources, demographers and sociologists view the rising fertility rate in a much more positive light.
For them it’s important that a society can produce enough young people to replace and support elderly workers.
For the retirees it’s also important: It will ensure those Social Security checks arrive each month.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, contraceptive, doctor, drugs, education, free prescription, girls, health, insurance, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, remedies, sex, sexual, symptoms, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Friday, February 8th, 2008
I’m finally coming to terms with the notion that I’m aging. Like, getting older. Like, I had to see my gynecologist about perimenopause, because I was having some difficulties. The doctor ended up prescribing the Pill. And I said to him, “You know, I’m not going to be getting any of the ancillary benefits out of this thing. I’m not fertile.”
And he said, “There are so many benefits to the Pill, if it wasn’t birth control, everyone would take it.” (He probably didn’t mean everyone. He probably didn’t mean men. Or children. Or, I dunno, pregnant women.)
I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and then Blog for Choice day came around, and it all tied together.
Why does the Pill being birth control prevent it from being used more widely for other things? Okay, in some cases, it’s because someone is trying to get pregnant, but I’m sure that’s not what my doctor meant. It seems to me that it’s because there’s a stigma on birth control.
You would think that anti-abortion activists would be interested in doing the one thing that is statistically proven to reduce the number of abortions: Prevent unwanted pregnancy. And in doing the one thing that prevents unwanted pregnancy: Provide access to birth control and accurate information about preventing pregnancy. But in fact, anti-abortion activists repeatedly oppose these things. They spread misinformation about birth control, claim that Plan B is an abortifacient rather than birth control, promote abstinence-only education which has been repeatedly proven to be a failure, refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and in other ways prevent access to it…in fact, go out of their way to promote unwanted pregnancies, thereby ensuring the demand for abortion cannot decrease.
This is because these activists are not anti-abortion. They are anti-choice. And the choice they are against is sex. Specifically, women choosing to be sexual. They are anti-female-sexual-choice.
I don’t think the anti-choice movement can ever show its hand in a more horrifying way than in its opposition to the HPV vaccine. Folks, they’re against preventing cancer. Think of that the next time you hear the phrase “pro-life.” Because, you know, the only way to get HPV is to have sex, and we musn’t prevent people from dying of sex!
Anti-choice-to-have-sex. Anti-female-choice-to-have-sex.
Slut shaming. Abstinence-only “education.” Lying about Plan B. Anti-abortion propaganda. It all ties together. It’s all about preventing women from choosing sex.
The Pill can help regulate perimenopausal changes. It can help with menorrhagia and dysfunctional uterine bleeding. It can help clear up adolescent acne. But access to the Pill for these things is problematic because the pill allows women to choose sex.
Beware the word “consequences” in this context. They want to say that the pill allows “sex without consequences,” but what they mean is “sex without punishment.” They want abortion to be inaccessible and HPV vaccines to be off the table, because unwanted pregnancy and cancer are just desserts for sluts who choose to get laid.
It’s so important to remember this. It’s so important to remember that only pro-choice candidates are actually interested in doing things that prevent abortion: Provide real access to preventing unwanted pregnancy through education and birth control.
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, acne, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, contraceptive, drugs, education, estrogen, free prescription, girls, health, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, remedies, sex, sexual, symptoms, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Here are the list of common birth control methods for those people who don’t have plans of having a child at the moment.
* Bilateral Tubal Ligation - fallopian tubes are cut to prevent the egg from meeting sperm. Effectiveness is from 99 to 99.5%
Pros: almost a permanent method of birth control.
Cons: there is discomfort and pain after surgery the surgical procedure. There is a danger that the cut tubes becomes connected again according to doctors our cells have a certain magnetism so it is possible that the cut tubes can reconnect naturally. This may result in ectopic pregnancy.
* Cervical Cap - it is smaller than a diaphragm, it is also made of rubber. It works to block the sperm from entering the uterus. It is also good for everyone and it has 94% effectiveness when used with spermicide.
Pros: Safe. Helps prevent some STD’s
Cons: Has to be inserted before sex. May cause toxic shock syndrome if left inside body for more than 48hours. Prolonged used may cause foul odor or discharge.
* Contraceptive Patch - this patch is placed on the arm or abdomen to prevent ovulation. Use this is you don’t like to take pills. The patch needs to be changed every week. It has 99% effectiveness.
Pros: You can do regular activities while wearing this.
Cons: It is not good for women who smokes, those with history of blood clots, stroke and heart problems. It may also cause skin rashes.
* Diaphragm - is a dome-shaped rubber disk with a flexible rim that covers the cervix. It prevents the sperm from entering the uterus. It is a good method for everyone and it has a 94% effectiveness when used with spermicide.
Pros: Safe. Helps prevent some STDs.
Cons: Has to be fitted by a doctor. Has to be inserted before sex. May cause toxic shock syndrome if left inside body for more than 24hours.
* Injectable - it is administered via intramascular injection on the arm or buttocks, a dose is good for three months to prevent ovulation. It has about 99.6% effectiveness.
Pros: Convenient
Cons: If you decide to get pregnant it may take a while for you to get pregnant.
* Oral contraceptives or pills - contain both estrogen and progestin. It stops ovulation and thickens the cervical mucus so sperm has a harder time to get through. Effectiveness: 99.6 percent Advisable for women who don’t mind taking pills everyday.
Pros: Easily available in major drugstore. Once you are ready to get pregnant you can just stop using it, and you may already become pregnant as soon as the next cycle.
Cons: Negative effects of pill are you can have headaches and you can gain weight. Pills do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). It is important to have a regular visit to your OB-Gyne to see how your body responds to it.
* Progestin-only contraceptives or mini-pill – it thickens cervical mucus to make it difficult for sperm to get through. It stops ovulation in about half of menstrual cycles. It has a 98% effectiveness. Advisable for women who are breastfeeding.
Pros: It will not affect milk supply. Easily available.
Cons: Regular visit to you OB-gyne check-ups is recommended to see how body responds to it.
* Vasectomy - is a small cut made in the scrotum to cut tubes that carry sperm from the testicles, this will leave the man’s semen free of sperm. This is ideal for men who doesn’t plan to have child anymore. Effectiveness of this method is 99 to 99.5%.
Cons: Pain after operation
buy cheap ortho tricyclen birth control free prescription pills
FedEx overnight shipping free prescription online pharmacy
Posted in abortion, abstinence, advantages, alesse, babies, birth control, contraceptive, drugs, education, free prescription, health, medication, medicine, meds, methods, mircette, ortho evra, ortho tricyclen, patches, pharmacy, pills, pregnancy, prevent, remedies, sex, side effects, teen-agers, treatment, triphasil, virginity, women, yasmin | No Comments »