In 2007, 12,280 women in the United States were told they had cervical cancer, and 4,021 died from the disease. Here’s the thing: cervical cancer is almost completely preventable. This means that, given consistent and correct care, you will likely never be one of those 4,000 women who die of this preventable and treatable disease.
Mexico has thirty-two states if you include Mexico City’s federal district, and until the spring of 2007, when Mexico City legalized it during the first twelve weeks of gestation, abortion was illegal in all of them. It was rarely prosecuted, though, and there were also legal exemptions.
As we celebrate the nearing anniversary of Roe v. Wade and President Obama's repeal of the global gag rule another matter deserves our attention: the Helms Amendment is still alive and well. The president has it within his power to lessen the toll on women. Will he do so?
I know for a fact that I will be doubling my order of Thin Mints this year in support of a national organization that welcomes, supports, and empowers all girls.
Military servicewomen fight for our country and our rights yet are denied access to basic reproductive health care. They face shockingly high rates of sexual assault and rape, yet are denied access to legal services. We urge policymakers in 2012 to put politics aside and support the women serving our country through policies that put their needs and wellbeing first, as they do ours.
Men have an important role to play in preventing the spread of HPV. It is too common for women (particularly women of color) to have barriers to screening services or accessing this vaccine. This makes it even more important for men to seek the vaccine and to encourage the women in their lives (particularly the ones they are having sex with) to also be vaccinated.
The newly released sexuality education standards set a minimum for school-based sexuality education. Yet even these leave out essential terms, information, and values. Because so many schools are still so far from adopting even minimal standards, I increasingly feel technology and social media will replace schools as the major source of sexuality education for children and young people.
Today, Personhood Kansas announced via press release that it has pre-filed a Personhood bill in the Kansas legislature. We can expect to see that bill officially filed next week.
