President Obama has a unique opportunity to establish one important fact: abortion is as legal and legitimate of a medical operation as any, and the government needs to do what it can to help women have safe access to it.
From surrogacy and egg donation to inducing labor, the economic crisis is driving women to do things with their bodies that they otherwise would not do.
Roman Catholic bishops throughout the United States are planning a postcard campaign days after the inauguration as part of an attempt to block the Freedom of Choice Act. One Minnesota priest is breaking rank, and getting flack.
Just as all women benefit from legal affirmation of their right to choose abortion, so do all terminally ill Americans benefit when they are free to make affirmative choices about how their lives will end.
In most Muslim-majority countries, abortion is generally prohibited with exceptions made where the health of the mother is at risk, but doctors often aren't aware of the legal exceptions.
Pakistani specialists say fistula can be prevented by stopping early marriages, delaying the age of first pregnancy and by timely access to good emergency obstetric care -- but education is also key.
While acknowledging the "cultural context" in which many students live, Jamaican Minister of Education Andrew Holness has refused to supply students with condoms in the schools.
Steven Mosher attacks UNFPA and Cristina Page, again. The facts speak for themselves and demonstrate just how desperate the fringe of the far-right is getting.
During this Holy Season for every faith, many are up in arms over a prayer Rick Warren will offer, some planning to disrupt it, which will only cede the moral authority progressives now have.
Health care providers already strain to serve women while respecting workers' rights under existing laws. Now Secretary Leavitt has put even more obstacles between patients and the health care they need.
While the Global Gag Rule was designed to reduce abortion, there's no evidence that it has. And the policy's domino effect has had negative effects on people's lives in ways that have nothing to do with abortion.
Finally, the economic downturn delivers a silver lining for America's women: legislators in Utah, who are gung-ho about an abortion ban, aren't going to pursue one in this legislative session because of the cost associated with defending the ban in court.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta Obama's pick for surgeon general; teen birth rate increases in 26 states; Focus on the Family opposes Daschle confirmation; maternity leave healthier for mothers, babies; University of Wisconsin clinic plans to offer second-trimester abortions; Rick Warren's Uganda connections.
Confirmation hearings for Eric Holder, nominated to be Attorney General in the Obama Administration, were originally planned on a fast-track. Women's rights and civil rights leaders are calling on the Senate for swift confirmation.
But Republicans leaders say "not so fast."
