Last week, Michigan lawmakers introduced legislation that, if passed in the current lame-duck session, would allow pregnant women to claim fetuses of at least 12 weeks as dependents for income tax purposes. Sponsors claim that House Bills 5684 and 5685, which could translate to a $160 dollar savings for expectant parents. “Money saved there could [...]
The 2012 election may be over, but Planned Parenthood continues to fight for federal funding in several states across the country. On Wednesday, the Health Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives voted to advance House Bill 298, which would strip $1.7 million in federal funding from Planned Parenthood. In essence, the bill would place [...]
At a candidates’ debate last night, U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana expressed his belief that life begins at conception and that the only case in which he’d approve of a pregnant woman having an abortion was if her life was in danger. Then he added this: Life is that gift from God, and [...]
Originally published, in a longer version, by RH Reality Check. New CDC birth data out last Wednesday confirm that the U.S. birthrate dropped one percent to reach an all-time low in 2011, extending the downward trend begun with the recession in 2008. Put down your knee-jerk fears about smaller population, though: This drop is a [...]
The debate in several states over women’s reproductive rights and care has implications for the care women will receive under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA provides preventive care, including contraceptive and reproductive services, with no copays. However, several states are attempting to defund Planned Parenthood and otherwise reduce support for [...]
This title is, admittedly, at least partially tongue in cheek. It refers to an old Jewish joke from my childhood, where any topic, no matter how seemingly unrelated, always came back to this question. But on a more serious note, the centrality of the abortion issue in this presidential election season has led me to [...]
When “Sluts Vote” becomes a popular political slogan, you know something is odd in American politics. It’s the vagina, stupid. Like many recent elections, 2012 is shaping up to be a Year of the Woman, but with a twist. Thanks to the fanciful physiology of Missouri senate candidate Todd Akin and mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds, as [...]
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), a current U.S. Senate candidate, raised America’s consciousness last week when he revealed that there are people out there who believe that 1) there is such a thing as “legitimate rape” and 2) women cannot get pregnant from “legitimate rape” because their reproductive systems go on some sort of anti-rape lockdown. [...]
Today, August 1, the Affordable Care Act enacts eight preventive health care services for women’s health and well-being that will be available under all insurance plans–without copays or deductibles. Women leaders in Washington, D.C., have been heralding the passage and subsequent enactment of the ACA as a major advancement for American women—possibly the most [...]
Abington Memorial Hospital is a major medical center on the eastern side of Montgomery County, Penn. With more than 60 OB/GYNs on staff, the hospital delivers more than 5,000 babies a year. The obstetricians and gynecologists at Abington also provide abortions, though doctors performed less than 100 of those in each of the last two [...]
