idontdanceiboogie

If you are a female patient in a Catholic hospital your health does not matter. Your life does not matter. Neither does the medical standard of care. Also, your needs, wishes, desires, and your family are irrelevant. (via)   Jessica Mann is 33. Her doctor suggested that due to the risk from an inoperable tumor in her brain, she should take pains to prevent future pregnancies after the birth of this baby, who is due next month. Mann decided to have a tubal ligation while under anesthesia during the upcoming birth. Her hospital, however — Genesys Regional Medical Center — has refused to allow the procedure to take place on its premises. “I was surprised and upset,” said Mann. “And there was anger at the fact that they can disregard medical issues for their religious beliefs.” As a pregnant patient in a Catholic hospital you are just a uterine container at the mercy of Catholic Bishops .   Catholic hospitals are taking up a growing portion of the U.S. market share as prov...

(KREM.com via AP)  PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — A pre-dawn blaze that heavily damaged a Planned Parenthood clinic was arson, fire investigators in Washington state determined Friday.  Pullman Fire Department investigator Chris Wehrung also said a task force involving local agencies was investigating with the help of federal agencies. He declined to release other details.   ...  The fire started around 3:30 a.m. in the college town of Pullman and may keep the clinic closed for a month or more, Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Tanya Riordan told The Spokesman-Review (http://bit.ly/1PQDFNr).  The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are involved in the investigation because of the history of anti-abortion activists targeting health care providers offering abortion services, FBI Special Agent Frank Harrill said.

You can still buy Plan B One-Step , the 1 pill emergency contraceptive brand, on Amazon. The current price is $46.90 and this might be the reason why: It is normal for prices to vary from store to store, but such a steep drop in price raises red flags, especially since the wholesale acquisition cost (the cost for wholesalers to purchase the product from the manufacturer, Teva Women’s Health) is estimated to be $32.50 for Plan B One-Step. Wholesalers then sell the product for an estimated $39.00. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that any Amazon.com vendor would be able to acquire Plan B One-Step wholesale and sell it for $16 without taking a substantial financial hit.

The AP reports on a story about a scientist who falsified AIDS vaccine research data . Can you spot the glaring mistake? Hint, above and below: The human papillomavirus (HPV) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are not one and the same. Which is why Gardasil , a quadrivalent HPV vaccine, has nothing to do with HIV and should not be used to illustrate an article about the HIV vaccine.

 Privacy and a very good price. If you're sexually active, buy it in advance and keep it handy! ( via )

Here's your chance to take a free contraception course from the University of California, San Francisco:

Building is One57 , on 57th Street close to 7th Ave, across the street from Carnegie Hall.

The iPill emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) is now replaced with the Uni Pill brand on Amazon. The other available one-pill dose ECP brands are Next Choice One Dose and Plan B One-Step . (Note the difference between Next Choice -- two-pill brand -- and Next Choice One Dose -- one-pill brand.) So, update, make sure you have a dose handy if you're sexually active and aren't planning a pregnancy, and spread the word about emergency contraception.

You would think an article on female voters would be an appropriate place not to infantilize women. Clearly, you'd be wrong:

Terry Tang/AP Here's a great idea : It's pink. It's fuzzy. It's a knitted cervix. A group of enthusiastic knitters who want to send a message about better access to birth control: "Hands off my uterus: Here - have a knitted one of your own." Arizona lawmakers received the unusual gifts at a crucial time -- lawmakers will vote on whether employers can choose not to cover their workers' birth control due to their religious or moral objections.

What does it say about the current state of woman's reproductive healthcare when Doonesbury isn't so much satire as it is a factual depiction?

Labor and Deliverance is the new home for Observations of a Too Busy Ob/Gyn.

Via Pharyngula (how does he find the time?), a new Ob/Gyn blog from Dr. Jen Gunter .

Remember the good old days when politicians merely drafted legislation to make it legal to assassinate Ob/Gyns , and when even the domestic terrorists at Operation Rescue were trying to distance themselves from people who assassinate Ob/Gyns ? Well, I'm happy to report we've come a long way, baby! We now have government officials calling for the public hanging of Ob/Gyns. Behold, North Carolina Rep. Larry Pittman and his action plan to hang citizens just because they are engaged in legal activities: "We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner," Pittman wrote in the email. "If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as we...

From one of the alleged main objectives for the war in Afghanistan to a cumbersome pet rock weighing down our country's mighty rucksack: The Bush Administration "Three years ago, women were viciously oppressed and forbidden to work outside the home, and even denied what little medical treatment was available. Today, women are going to school, and their rights are protected in Afghanistan's constitution." President Bush's remarks in a press conference with President Karzai of Afghanistan The Rose Garden, Washington, D.C. June 15, 2004 "Under the Taliban, women were oppressed, their potential was ignored. Under President Karzai's leadership, that has changed dramatically. A number of innovative programs designed in collaboration with the Afghan government are increasing the role of women in the private sector." President Bush's remarks in a press conference with President Karzai of Afghanistan The Rose Garden, Washington, D.C. June 15, 2004 "I...

The Iranian justice system version: The punishment for being an accessory to murder: 10 years in prison. The punishment for adultery: Death by stoning...or maybe hanging.

The ultra-Orthodox version: JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up pledges to curb Jewish zealotry in Israel on Sunday after an 8-year-old girl complained of being menaced by ultra-Orthodox men who deemed her dress immodest. ... The statement appeared to have been prompted by an expose on Israel's top-rated weekend news about intra-Jewish friction in Beit Shemesh, a town of about 87,000 people near Jerusalem. Naama Margolese, 8, told Channel Two television she was terrified of walking to her moderate Orthodox school because of passersby who want her "to dress like a Haredi" - the Hebrew term for the ascetic, black-coated Jews who are in "awe" of God. "I'm afraid I might get hurt or something," the girl said. Margolese's mother Hadassa, an American immigrant who wore a headscarf and skirt in deference to religious Jewish tradition, said the sidewalk abuse could include spitting, curses like "whores" and ...

The story of Sam Schmid , a 21-year-old who awakened from a coma after he was nearly taken off life support, is inspirational. The reporting of the story, on the other hand, is abysmal. Do a search on "21-year-old emerges from coma" and, between Poised to Donate Organs , Readied to Donate Organs , and doctors were preparing to turn him into spare parts , you'd think this story is about a patient jumping off the table moments before his organs were harvested. Alternatively, if you look at the fact that Mr. Schmid was never considered a potential donor and his family was never approached about organ donation it's hard to miss the story of incompetent reporters who misrepresent crucial facts in a misguided attempt to fabricate lame, sensationalistic narratives : PHOENIX (AP) — It will be a special Christmas for the family of a 21-year-old University of Arizona student who was nearly taken off life support before awaking from a coma. Sam Schmid was walking and speaking...