Believe it or not, having an abortion can be safer than childbirth. I know that for even the most pro-choice of us all that statement can seem pretty incredible, but a recent study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology grounds the assertion in reality.

Forget what will.i.am and other neanderthals like him have to say about a woman who comes equipped with her own condoms– it’s 2012 and the smart, sassy, sexy women out there know that having our own protection on deck is one of the many ways we control of our health and lives. The conversation is no longer whether you should have condoms, but rather which kind and where do you keep them? I was pondering the latter question as moved into a new apartment and unpacked the old zippered pouch I …

From the “Ask a Lady” column at The Hairpin I bring you Acquaintansex:
Q. I have a few questions for you! Well actually just one question: “Am I going to be able to get laid after college?”
I just graduated and moved to a new city. I only know coworkers, and LOL that is it. I have like two friends who are products of mutual friends from elsewhere and I am slowly meeting some others but … I like to have casual sex with acquaintances, although not really more than like five times max and actually …

I need a late pass. I was supposed to write this post on March 10, joining a number of bloggers and the Red Pump Project in observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. I must admit that my procrastination along with a weeklong stay in Austin, TX for South by Southwest pushed back the publish date of this post. Nevertheless, here I am with my 2011 NWGHAAD post. Better late than never.
This is the third year I’m joining up with the Red Pump Project to write about …

I recently shared this Marie Claire (UK) article about women waiting longer to give birth and it sparked a few questions that got me to thinking even more.
‘The rising numbers of women conceiving for the first time in their 30s or 40s follows a trend we have seen over the past decade, although the number conceiving over 40 is still relatively small,’ says Elizabeth Duff, a senior policy adviser at the National Childbirth Trust.
ONS [Office of National Statistics] figures show that in 1990, 229,400 pregnancies occurred in women over 30, with …

I wasn’t compelled to write anything about the No Wedding, No Womb shenanigans but I’ve seen two posts today about marriage, children and Black folks that made me want to share my own point of view. One piece from Clutch Mag focuses on the “single mother syndrome” in the Black community. You can read the piece for yourself but a few assertions therein stuck out for me: (1) More black children are born to unwed mothers because of poverty and lack of access to competitive job market; (2) If women …

Christine O’Donnell opposes comprehensive, evidence-based sex ed. She’s unclear about whether separation of church and state is a cornerstone of the first amendment. She believes in cross-bred mice with human brains. She believes that victims of rape or incest should be forced to carry their attacker’s child to term. She’s also, unfortunately, not a witch. There are SO many reasons to dislike Christine O’Donnell and many more reasons not to vote her into the United States Senate. I find all of Sarah Palin’s “Mama Grizzly” endorsements to be ridiculous but …

This post has two parts: (1) an update on ella™ and (2) barriers to access for men.
Last Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it was approving the sale and use of ulipristal acetate (UPA), a new form of emergency contraception (EC) to be sold under the name ella™.  Already available to and used by women in Europe, UPA has been determined to prevent pregnancy up to 5 days after unprotected intercourse. Emergency contraception has been available in the US, most popularly under the name Plan B. …

So Forever 21 has a new maternity line, Love 21 Maternity, set to arrive in select stores. Maternity clothes don’t usually generate much buzz beyond the mommy set but since Forever 21’s target demographic is young women and teens, the initial reaction from many is shock and judgment. Not to mention the fact that 3 out of the 5 select locations chosen for Love 21’s debut (Arizona, California, and Texas) happen to overlap with the states with the highest percentages of teen pregnancy according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen …

Rozonda Thomas, known to most of us as TLC’s Chilli, has a show on VH1 in which she lets us in on a lot of her most intimate and personal thoughts. See, Chilli’s trying to find a man – a soul mate – and she’s tossed her hat into the reality television ring to do it. According to the show’s site, “‘What Chilli Wants’ features ‘Chilli’ from pop supergroup TLC, as she has decides to take the reins of her romantic situation and launch an all out search for the love …