The women's health community's own debate about the HPV vaccine has long been overshadowed by Merck's aggressive marketing and lobbying efforts. In the midst of new critiques of Gardasil, now is a good time for women's health advocates to reflect on what has happened, examine what remains unknown and recommit to providing the best in education and prevention. Click the pic!

Given the United States' teen pregnancy rate, the fact that a teenage daughter of a candidate for national office is pregnant shouldn't come as a surprise. What should stop us in our tracks is the fact that both candidates on the Republican ticket still back abstinence-only programs.

Also see: States Bail on Ab-Only, W. Smith

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• McCain Plays to the Middle, Fails to Deliver, E. Douglas
• Open Letter to Governor Palin on Women's Rights, L. Paltrow
• Video: Hiding Sarah Palin's Extreme Right Wing Base, S. Swenson
• Palin Makes Religious Right "Forget" Stance on Teen Pregnancy, A. Newman
• Protesters Plague Pro-Life Party at RNC, A. Birkey

The Democratic National Convention is underway in Denver to ratify the new Democratic platform and to select Barack Obama as its official nominee for President. Click here to see our extensive coverage from Denver.

• Culture Peace, S. Swenson
• DNC Protesters Use Bullhorns to Spread Hate, W. Norris
• The Audacity of Reforming Health Care, K. Steiger

After intense criticism, HHS has removed an explicit redefinition of contraception as abortion from proposed regulations but in so doing, the agency may have created a much larger problem. Click the pic to see our extensive coverage of the proposed regulations.

• Turning Backs on Patients, E. Douglas
• An Open Letter to Secretary Leavitt, M.J. Gallagher
• Leavitt Misrepresents to Justify Proposal, R. Walden
• HHS Regulation Could Still Block Access to Contraception, J. Arons
• Roundup: Final Draft of HHS Regs Dangerously Broad, B. Swenson
• In Clash of Consciences, We Must Protect Patients, C. Veazy

 

• Abortion: If Life Begins at Conception, What About Contraception? S. Swenson
• Sexuality Politics No Trump Card for Younger Evangelicals, A. Clark
• Don't Leave Sex Out of Saddleback, D. Haffner

A strange netherworld of extremes exists in today's anti-abortion movement. Nowhere is that more evident than in Colorado's proposed Amendment 48, a controversial mandate that seeks to confer constitutional rights to fertilized human eggs.

Part 1: Colorado Personhood Law Backer Linked to Militant Anti-Abortion Groups

Part 2: Fanning the Radical Anti-Abortion Flames in Colorado

The American Pregnancy Association, an organization that presents itself as an unbiased medical resource for women seeking to sustain their pregnancies, in fact acts as a funnel for crisis pregnancy centers. Click the pic!

There are many reasons a woman might need the morning after pill, emergency contraception, Plan B. But for a drug that's over-the-counter, EC can be surprisingly hard to obtain. After encouraging teen girls to use EC when necessary, Midwest Teen Sex Show host Nikol Hasler decided to see just how accessible it is. The answer: not very.

Twenty-five thousand participants from around the world, including world leaders and activists, gather this week at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Reports from our bloggers and advocates below. Click the pic!

• UN Rapporteur on Right to Health Meets with SRH Groups at IAC, M. de Bruyn
• New Frontiers in HIV Prevention Sciences, A. Grebe
• Vaccines and Microbicides: The Long Road to Success, C. Feuer
• Multi-Level Barriers to Effective HIV and TB Treatment for IDUs, A. Weddle
• Where Are All the Young Black People at IAC?, H. Fecadu
• Sex Work, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights: From Criminalization to Protection, K. Castagnaro
• Focusing on US HIV Epidemic at IAC, W. Smith
• Bringing Reproductive Health Providers to the Fight Against AIDS, H. Boonstra and B. Fredrick
• When You Think of Botswana and HIV/AIDS, Think of the Women, G. Sedio