Dawna Cornelissen's blog

Since issues and concerns that are important to unmarried women are often marginalized by legislators, it is no surprise that Congress recessed last month without fixing the birth control crisis.

College students all over the country are rallying, protesting, chanting and writing petitions to get Congress to reinstate affordable birth control at university health centers.

Ensuring access to affordable birth control on college campuses isn't just about preventing pregnancy, it's also about understanding women's autonomy.

Dawna Cornelissen interviews the President of the Texas Equal Access Fund about the obstacles faced by pregnant women in North Texas.

In 2004, Texas ranked number four in the nation in the number of HIV/AIDS cases. Black people represent the fastest growing population living with HIV/AIDS in Texas, with young women close behind.

As women become more at risk for HIV, microbicides represent a promising technology that would allow women to initiate protection from sexually transmitted infections, as well as prevent pregnancy.

Dawna Cornelissen investigates access to abortion in Northern Florida, only to discover that her home county has no abortion provider—just a crisis pregnancy center.

Dawna reflects on a series of events that caught her off guard: a panel discussion on various faith's perspectives on reproductive rights, the Supreme Court decision, and an awards ceremony recognizing her pro-choice student group.

It is unfortunate that in the year 2007 feminism still gathers negative media attention with such ease. For the last few weeks the blogosphere has been buzzing with fervor about a study claiming that feminism is bad for people's health. The topic has gone viral, ranging from conservative blogs such as rightthinkinggirl to liberal blogs such as feministe. All you have to do is search for "feminism is bad for your health" and up pops 11,200 results.

The fact that this topic has garnered so much attention, including kudos from Rush Limbaugh, worries me deeply. It is reminiscent of the late nineteenth century theory that education was bad for women's health, which attempted to keep women out of higher education. Fortunately this theory was dispelled, as the one about feminism hopefully will be. As absurd as it sounded, I decided to go to the source and see if there's any merit to the claim that feminism is bad for people's health.

The biggest debate in Texas right now is over Governor Rick Perry's executive order mandating all girls entering the sixth grade to be immunized with the recently approved human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine starting in September 2008. The order, signed on February 2, has sparked all sorts of controversy: the conservatives are furious, the liberals are speechless, and the independents are suspicious. Personally, I have mixed feelings about Perry's decision as well. At first, I was elated that Perry, a conservative Republican, was able to see past the absurd argument that the vaccine would increase sexual promiscuity. But, almost as soon as Perry's order was signed, it turned out to be too good to be true.

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