Newsletter

By Emily Galpern

By Courtney Chappell

Abortion, teenage pregnancy, and comprehensive sexuality education are the primary topics that guide the national dialogue about reproductive rights in America. Yet, the intersection of reproductive rights and other critical factors that influence sexual health is often missing from the debate. Many of these issues – including immigration, health care, welfare reform, and environmental justice -- intimately impact the reproductive and sexual health of women, including women of color like Asian Pacific Americans.

By Jiayan Chen

It was one of those topics that rarely makes its way into daily conversation. The three other NWHN interns and I had just finished watching a video on microbicides, the topical contraceptives being developed as a woman-controlled form of protection against HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy. Talking about the video, we found ourselves discussing contraceptive use and wondering why, if condoms are so effective in preventing HIV and pregnancy, don’t more women use them?

Worried about your bone density? Anti-osteoporosis drugs makers hope you are. Osteoporosis is represented as a deadly disease, a silent killer that affects millions of women who go about their daily lives, unaware that their bones are dwindling to kindling. A 1995 book for consumers states, ‘If osteoporosis gets bad enough, a woman who has it could suffer a broken arm lifting a casserole out of the oven or reaching back to zip up her dress. She could break her foot stepping put of bed or a rib upon sneezing.’(1)

The reproductive health and rights movement is facing some tough times: family planning funding is sidetracked into programs promoting abstinence until marriage; Supreme Court justices who oppose abortion are appointed; the FDA's ability to approve new contraceptives is hampered; and funding for programs young women rely on for reproductive health care is slashed.

By Amy Allina

by Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D.

Remember shell games? Three shells are shown to an audience and a prize hidden under one of them; then the shells are moved around quickly, and the audience is challenged to say which shell conceals the prize. It's a tough game to win, as the shells look alike and are moved quickly.

By Katherine Beagle

I call myself a feminist. I am preparing to graduate with a B.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of California, Riverside (UCR). I believe that a woman’s value should not be measured in terms of her attractiveness, sexuality, or reproductive capabilities. Nonetheless, I have wanted breast implants since I was a sophomore in college. I have simultaneously fought for women’s equality and desired breast augmentation.