Friday Entertainment Edition: Two Great Videos on EC

Enjoy two super short and funny videos from Planned Parenthood Federation of America (17 and 30 seconds, respectively). They're the first in a series of their pill character promoting Emergency Contraception. For more information, check out their Pill Patrol.

Happy Friday!

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Global Women Celebrate International Women’s Day!

March 8^th is International Women's Day and in honor of this occasion, I'd like to draw your attention to a great lineup of blog posts and videos at the U.N. Foundation's The People Speak (TPS). TPS asked prominent women from around the world to talk about a woman whom they admire. Featured below are two women's answers: a blog post from Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and a video of Eveline Herfkens of the U.N. Millennium Campaign.

What Woman Has Inspired You?

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah: "Maha Abdel Waham"

Last year in Jordan, many remarkable women and girls from all corners of the world gathered together to launch the Global Action Women's Network for Children - a new initiative to tackle some of humanity's oldest tragedies. Chief among them are the needless deaths of millions of mothers and babies every year...and the wasted potential of tens of millions of girls who are kept out of school.

Office of Women’s Health Loses Funding

I couldn't believe it when I read the news in The Washington Post. I mean, I shouldn't be surprised, but it still seems outrageous—even for this administration. Of course, this is the same administration who demonstrated that "W Stands for Women" by eliminating the White House Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach (where I am almost embarrassed to admit that I interned, shortly after the scandal with that other White House intern) in its first day of office (which was also my birthday, by the way). Not that I hold a grudge ... ok, back to the point.

According to insiders, the Office of Women's Health has had a quarter of its operating budget taken away by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And apparently they've already allocated or used what's left—so essentially they have no money to run programs and would have to halt operations for the rest of the year.

Documentary Film: The Motherhood Manifesto

According to The New York Times, "Mom's Mad. And She's Organized." Yesterday's article is about MomsRising.org, a motherhood advocacy organization that made a documentary film about motherhood in America (watch the preview below). The organization is raising consciousness about pay, equity and work-family balance—framing them as economic and family issues "which resonate for a younger generation of women" (who apparently think feminism is a bad word).

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Merck Suspends Lobbying for HPV Vaccine

Yesterday Merck & Co, the makers of the Gardasil vaccine, announced they were suspending their campaign to get state legislatures to make the HPV vaccine mandatory for girls entering the sixth grade. Though the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer has been seen by many as a significant medical advance, there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding mandatory vaccination.

McCain Would Overturn Roe v. Wade

In an appeal to the Republican Party's conservative base, John McCain said that he does not support the law that legalized abortion and that it should be overturned. This contradicts his statements on the campaign trail in 1999 when he took a softer stance, saying that he "would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force x number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."

While in South Carolina, he also attended an abstinence-only rally for students, sponsored by a crisis pregnancy center (whose website compares the link between abortion & breast cancer with the link between smoking & cancer—a new twist on an old myth).

According to a recent poll, McCain is out of sync with over 60% of Americans who would not like to see Roe v. Wade overturned.

Celebrate National Condom Week: February 14-21, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day! In celebration of National Condom Week, which starts today, enjoy some condom-related news:

Lauren Sisson from CHANGE discusses female condoms, the only female-controlled prevention method against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Check out the blog on SaveRoe.com about New York City's brand of free condoms in colors that represent the different subway lines.

Increase your peers' access to condoms -- register to become a Safesite through the Great American Condom Campaign!

Reproductive Health in the Media

Jennifer Pozner from WIMN's Voices discusses reproductive health in the media in her multimedia presentation called "Reproductive Wrongs: Exposing Media Misinformation About Abortion, Family Planning and Clinic Violence."

Media coverage of reproductive justice issues informs what the public believes is true about family planning, sex education, low-income women's access to health care, anti-abortion legislation, clinic violence and more. Yet all too often, our most influential media outlets play political football with these issues, reporting their impact on politicians' position in opinion polls, rather than on the women and girls whose lives they most affect.

Sounds intriguing and spot on. Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near Easton, Massachusetts -- but if you are, check it out on February 12^th and let me know what you think.

On a related note, the television show Veronica Mars drew a lot of attention this week for an episode that referred to RU-486 (mifepristone) as "the morning-after pill" in the episode summary (which has since been changed) and title (which has not).

In Honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

February 7^th is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). African Americans are still disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Though they make up 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 50% of the new HIV/AIDS diagnoses (according to the Centers for Disease Control and the 2000 Census). In 2002, HIV/AIDS was the number one cause of death for African American women aged 25-34 years.

Introducing RH Glossary!

Today we have a new and exciting tool for you: RH Glossary. You may have noticed certain words on the blog linking to a "coming soon" page -- now those words link to definitions. Glossary words are underlined with orange dots and provide definitions of common sexual and reproductive health terms, such as "family planning." These definitions are intended to help people who are just learning the issue to become more familiar with this topic.