TresSugar

More Teens Getting Pregnant; Who They Are May Surprise You

TresSugar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0800

We often hear media stories about teenagers from poor and single-parent homes getting pregnant.

Research conducted for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, however, concludes that only 28 percent of people who reported giving birth or fathering children as teens lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty line, and only 30 percent said they were living with a single parent.

Although teens from poor families headed by single mothers are disproportionately likely to become teen mothers, "teen pregnancy is not limited to a particular racial group or socio-economic status or a particular family structure," says Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign.

In other words, parents and schools need to be vigilant about teaching teens either to abstain from sex or to have safe sex - even upper-middle-class teens. After 15 years of a decline in teen pregnancy, the number of teens giving birth has gone up in the last couple years. The reason? More sex and less contraception, says Albert, especially because teen boys are less concerned about contracting HIV.

Sponges, Chastity Belts and Douches, Oh My!

TresSugar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0800

From the early-Egyptian contraceptive sponge to the horrifying Lysol douche of the Great Depression - man and womankind has been trying to find ways to keep from getting preggers for quite a while. Check out some of these devices below and go to Newsweek if you're interested in learning more about the history of birth control.

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Condoms vs. the Pill: Which Do You Prefer?

TresSugar — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0700

When it comes to preferred methods of contraception among women, condoms have now caught up to the contraceptive pill in the UK. According to a new survey, condoms and the pill are equally popular among women, and those who said they preferred condoms cited its ability to protect against STDs. Of course I'm sure many cautious women use both methods, and with all the other contraception options out there, maybe you use neither! But if you had to choose between the condom and the pill, which do you prefer?

70,000 Women a Year Die From Unsafe Abortions

TresSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

After three years of research, the New York-based Guttmacher Institute has concluded that although contraceptive use has lowered the number of abortions worldwide, unsafe abortions still account for a staggering 70,000 deaths a year, particularly in the developing world. More than half the deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with the lowest rates of contraceptive use and the highest rates of unintended pregnancies.

"In much of the developing world," said the Institute's president Sharon Camp, "abortion remains highly restricted, and unsafe abortion is common and continues to damage women's health and threaten their survival."

The report calls for easing developing nations' abortion laws, citing that laws banning or restricting abortion don't keep it from happening, they just make abortion unsafe and either self-induced or performed by unskilled people in any unhygienic conditions.

The Guttmacher Institute's recommendations: expand access to family planning and modern contraceptives and to legal and safe abortion, and improve the coverage and quality of post-abortion care.

Their recommendations have been criticized by Deirdre McQuade, a policy director for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-life Activities who also castigates priests or nuns who make referrals to family planning services, which she says veers from church policy. "We need to be much more creative in assisting women with supportive services," she said, "so they don't need to resort to the unnatural act of abortion."

Many Blessings: Christian Sect Believes Its Kids Will Fix the US

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

It's not uncommon to say children are a blessing, but Quiverfull (the name of a small movement among Christian Evangelicals) families take the belief very, very seriously. So much that they eschew all forms of birth control, even natural methods, and 10-children families have become the norm. Is it so there's enough love to go around? Partially. But more disconcertingly, it's because they believe the answer to America's "moral decay" is a return to pre-industrial revolution times when contraception was incompatible with Christianity, patriarchy reigned, children attended homeschools, and families were self-sufficient. And they - or their children - plan to lead the movement.

Despite a wide concern that Christianity is dying in the United States and Europe, Rev. James McDonald, the pastor at an Illinois church filled with Quiverfull families, is not worried about his numbers. "In denomination after denomination their children are leaving in mass exodus," McDonald said, "and this is a major, major problem, especially when most families only have two or three children."

"Only" two or three children? Is McDonald saying that, while other Christian denominations decline, they will rise? Are Quiverfull families trying another kind of "family planning"? Find out after the jump.

Yaz and Yasmine: Are These Birth Control Pills Safe?

TresSugar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:00 -0700

Anne Marie Eakins, a 34-year-old history teacher in Grafton, OH, developed blood clots in both lungs in 2007 and even lost partial use of her right lung. The cause, as she sees it? The newish oral contraceptive Yaz, the top-selling birth control pill in the US, which she switched to after a decade of using different kinds of birth control pills without incurring health problems. She is now suing the makers, Bayer HealthCare pharmaceuticals.

Like 74 other plaintiffs against the makers of Yaz and its sister pill, Yasmine, which was introduced a few years before, Eakins decided to make the switch in part because of the added benefits touted in multimillion dollar ads that ran on television. Yaz, which contains even less estrogen than low-estrogen Yasmine, is advertised as a product that could reduce acne and severe PMS, in addition to preventing pregnancy. How do Yaz and Yasmine differ from other birth control pills? To find out, read more.

Although both Yaz and Yasmine come with the standard warning that the hormones in birth control pills (estrogen plus progestin) can increase the risk of stroke and blood clots in a woman's legs or lungs, lawyers representing the plaintiffs and regulatory agencies claim that Bayer's ads overstate the products' effectiveness and don't adequately warn of possibly higher risks of clots unique to Yaz and Yasmine.

They say Bayer doesn't take into account research that indicated that a hormone unique to the products (drospirenone) increases the likelihood of clots compared to birth control that has the standard levonorgestrel hormone. (Lawyers claim Bayer relied on its research findings in Germany that concluded there is the same risk, over Dutch and Danish research that had the opposite conclusion.) Other criticisms are equally troubling: that the manufacturing plants in Germany responsible for the hormones in Yaz and Yasmine differ in quality control from what is required for US products; that studies conducted were performed with an ethnically homogeneous group, not taking into account blood-clot risk factors in a more ethnically variable US market; and finally, that Yaz and Yasmine are marketed for conditions like PMS, for which the drug is not approved.

I considered switching to these kinds of birth control pills because of the claim that they prevented severe PMS. Do you believe the marketing for products like Yaz and Yasmine or do you do your research before you buy?

Want to Save the Planet? Use Contraception

TresSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Society's focus on green technology is a waste of time, according to the London School of Economics. What we really need to do to prevent climate change is to boost access to contraception.

Economists claim that family planning is the cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions. Every $7 spent on improving access to contraception would reduce carbon emissions by more than a ton, which is a great return. Conversely, you need to spend $30 on green technologies to see the same reduction.

The analysis focused on fulfilling current contraception needs that go unmet. If people who want access to services like the birth control pill got it, unintended births would be reduced by 72 percent, and thus future carbon emissions would be reduced. Fewer people, less carbon.

The London School of Economics isn't the first to point out that reducing the number of children you have is a powerful way to cut back your total environmental impact. Earlier this year, an environmental adviser for the UK controversially called on the government to provide better access to contraception and abortion as a crucial piece of its anti-global-warming policy.

Do you think getting contraception to people who want and need it should be the focus of climate change policy?

Hump Day: I Don't Like Hormonal Birth Control, So Now What?

TresSugar — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Welcome to Hump Day,TrèsSugar's sex advice column. Are you confused about sex? Do you have trouble having an orgasm? Is there something you'd like to try but you're worried it's too weird? Send your questions to TrèsSugar, and our friend Dr. Charlie Glickman from Good Vibrations will offer his sound advice!

Today's Question:

“I went to my OBGYN to ask about non-hormonal birth control. (The Pill basically ruined my sex drive.) She pushed the Pill and the Nuva Ring, and said that condoms have a 15 percent failure rate. I don’t like that she was pushing hormonal birth control. Is it possible for hormonal birth control to lower your desire, and if I don’t want to use it, what’s my best, and safest, bet?”

To hear Dr. Glickman's advice, read more

Unfortunately, yes, birth control pills can lower libido. There are at least a couple of reasons for that. First, the Pill inhibits the production of androgens by your ovaries, including testosterone. While ovaries don’t produce as much testosterone as testicles do, it’s still an important part of women’s sexual arousal. The Pill also seems to increase the production of sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG). SHBG binds to testosterone, which further reduces the amount of it that you have available. On top of that, an article published in the 2006 Journal of Sexual Medicine found that some of these changes may last for quite a while after you stop taking the Pill. Some women report that the NuvaRing has similar effects, although others don’t have any change in their libidos and others actually have an increase in sex drive.

15 percent is a bit higher than many estimates for condom failure rates, but part of why it’s hard to pin down more precisely is that many of the reasons for condoms not working is user error. Here are some tips on reducing the odds of that happening. And since each brand of condom is a bit different, this page has lots of advice for finding the right one for you.

Even though condoms aren’t 100 percent effective at preventing pregnancy, they go a long way towards lowering your risk for sexually transmitted infections. But if your focus is on contraception rather than STI prevention, there are some other options. Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are a lot more effective and safer than is popularly believed. They are currently available with or without hormones, although it’s worth noting that the level of hormones that end up in your system is a lot lower than what you get from the Pill and the non-hormonal IUDs can cause heavier menstrual bleeding or cramps.

Unfortunately, most of the more effective forms of contraception either include some form of hormones or are irreversible. The only other way to avoid pregnancy is to keep sperm from coming into contact with the ovum. Obviously, condoms do that, but if you want other options, you might want to check out cervical caps which have about a 10 percent failure rate if you’ve never given birth vaginally and a 25 percent failure rate if you have. (You can reduce that with a spermicide.) You could also check out the vaginal contraceptive film, a strip of spermicide that you insert into the vagina where it melts and provides up to three hours of protection. It also turns out that withdrawal is more effective than was previously thought, with an 18 percent pregnancy rate. Since these other approaches are clearly less effective than implants, the Pill or other hormonal methods, a lot of people use more than one. Condoms plus cervical caps or condoms plus withdrawal improves your odds a lot.

I’d really like to see some other forms of birth control that don’t mess with women’s hormones; so many women report having all sorts of side effects. There are some gel products being developed that will (hopefully) be effective as both contraception and STI preventatives and at least some of them are working their way through clinical trials. So eventually, there will be something better for you but in the meantime, I hope this helps.

More Indian Women Casually Using Emergency Contraception

TresSugar — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:15:43 -0700

Widespread access to family planning medication can come with some negative side effects. Gynecologists in India are reporting a sharp rise in medical complications, such as excessive bleeding or incomplete abortions, due to women's casual use of over the counter emergency contraception and abortion pills. Doctors say that women commonly look up the dosages on the Internet and then buy the pills themselves, never consulting a doctor. . . until something goes wrong.

Based on anecdotal evidence from doctors and patients, women appear to be increasingly relying on these medications as their first line of contraception. One woman told the Times of India that women turn to the morning after pill because "when you’re with your boyfriend, you don’t want to use condoms." Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned daily birth control pill?

While it's important for women to have access to emergency contraception or the abortion pill, it seems like there are plenty of medical reason to avoid using it as the main form of birth control.

Source: Flickr User gregor_y

Italy OKs Abortion Pill, Vatican to Excommunicate Doctors

TresSugar — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:51:13 -0700

Over the objections of the Vatican, Italy recently approved the use of RU486, commonly known as the abortion pill.

The pill, which can only be taken up to the seventh week of pregnancy, will not be sold in Italian pharmacies - only doctors will be allowed to administer it. The Vatican has made its opposition clear, promising that any doctor who does administer it will be excommunicated (along with the women who take it). According to the Italian health ministry, 70 percent of Italian doctors refuse to carry out abortions in the predominately Catholic country.

Unlike the morning after pill (Plan B), which prevents a pregnancy that hasn't happened yet, RU-486 causes the termination of an existing pregnancy. Italian law permits surgical abortion "on demand" within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and until the 24th week if the fetus has genetic defects or if the mother's health is in danger. Now women will have legal access to a chemically induced abortion as an alternative to the surgical procedure.