Unintended pregnancies are even more common among women in the Navy than they are in the general population and they can be even more disruptive to their lives and careers. The Navy is spending January addressing this issue through its peer-mentoring group, Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions (CSADD).
Instead of only emphasizing that couples should use contraception consistently and correctly, we have to figure out how to help them clarify their feelings about pregnancy, even if those feelings are messy and complicated.
In this week's sexual health roundup: researchers create an online model of a simple STD epidemic to see why and when people protect themselves; lawmakers in Colorado propose strengthening that's state's sex education law; and a sex toy manufacturer loses its bid for trademark rights.
Each year the anniversary of Roe brings the reminder that people of color are disproportionately impacted by the current state of abortion access, but often missing from the public dialogue about Roe and abortion.
Native American women don't have access to emergency contraception despite repeated requests by women's groups to the Indian Health Service. Everyone from the IHS to the Department of the Interior to Senators to the White House is involved in the decision, but no one appears to be taking responsiblity. How much longer do Native women have to wait?
The invisibility of trans communities is real. So are unthinking insults. By treating the latter as intentional, we do nothing to inform and educate about the first.
It's no big surprised that a majority of the under-30 set doesn't know the name Roe v Wade. After all, they grew up in an era where the debate about reproductive rights was about more than legal abortion, but also contraception and sex education.
Unintended pregnancies, especially teen pregnancies, are a large contributor to the many other challenges that plague the families in Mississippi, such as high rates of maternal and child mortality, a broader health crisis, and skyrocketing poverty levels.
What does a future without Roe v. Wade look like? In a lot of ways, it looks like Texas, where those who are in the least ideal financial and socio-economic position to provide for an unplanned-for child are the ones for whom abortion--and contraception--is hardest to access.
