Items by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up, 12/20

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  Assorted things I’ve been reading this week: Via NPR, Ban Lifted On Federal Funding For Needle Exchange. Applications are open to be a Spring semester site for the Great American Condom Campaign. Applications close January 3rd. I would love it if somebody near me got a site and wanted to [...]
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  Posted: December 20, 2009, 12:42pm EST
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Health Reform, ART, and Home Birth

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog, I have posts on the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia’s resource manual on home birth, and more research on assisted reproduction technology and the risks for congenital anomalies. Christine pointed to a Kaiser Family Foundation webcast/discussion of what healthcare reform might mean [...]
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  Posted: December 16, 2009, 6:28pm EST
  by Rachel

• Changes of Note for 2010 MeSH

  —Women's Health News

  New descriptors interest in the 2010 MeSH. And by “of interest” I mean either “useful” or just “huh, that’s interesting” (like “beekeeping“) For the medical librarians primarily, everybody else may want to move along for this post… New descriptors: Alcoholics Animal Assisted Therapy Behind the Counter Drugs Binge-Eating Disorder Blogging: “Using an internet based personal [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 8:05am EST
  by Rachel

• The Over-Explainer: A Bit About My MeSH-Themed Piece in the LSW Zine

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 6
  I had a piece in the most recent edition of the Library Society of the World[1] zine[2] which addressed a particular MeSH term I found problematic. This post will probably take far too many words to express what I want to get across about that piece and the social issues [...]
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  Posted: December 14, 2009, 7:49am EST
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up, 12/13

  —Women's Health News

  The DVD for “A Walk to Beautiful,” fistula documentary I’ve written about here in the past, is on sale through the 24th. @vuglobalhealth has a bunch of tweets from a lecture on women and reproductive health in resource-limited settings from UCSF’s Dr. Purnima Madhivanan. One key line from a piece in [...]
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  Posted: December 13, 2009, 1:49pm EST
  by Rachel

• Domestic Violence Resources

  —Women's Health News

  Please note – as many violence support websites do – that Internet history can be difficult to completely clear if activities on a home computer may be monitored by an abuser. In some cases using an alternate machine, such as at a public library, may be preferable/necessary. Each of the [...]
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  Posted: December 12, 2009, 10:46am EST
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Commenting Open on Healthy People 2020 Objectives

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog, I explain a bit about what the national Healthy People 2020 Objectives are, list a few that I think will be of interest to readers here and there, and talk about how to submit your comment on them (public comments are being accepted through the [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 7:58am EST
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up – 12/6/09

  —Women's Health News

  A hearing (see link for testimony downloads) was held on the controversial new breast cancer screening recommendations. Testimony from Diana B. Petitti [PDF], Chair of the Task Force that released the recs, is of particular interest to read. She explains the process of developing a recommendation, notes that the recommendations [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 12:33pm EST
  by Rachel

• A Profile of Vanderbilt’s Nurse-Midwives, Their Practice and Role in Medical Education

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 4
  I believe I have mentioned Vanderbilt’s Nurse-Midwives previously; the current issue of Vanderbilt Magazine has an excellent profile of their practice; I learned some things about their work despite being already somewhat familiar with them and Vanderbilt being my larger workplace. I was already aware that, in addition to the [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 9:50am EST
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Cervical Cancer Scrreening Guidelines, Stupak

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  This week at Our Bodies Our Blog, I posted a bit about ACOG’s new cervical cancer screening guidelines, and linked to a bunch of organizations with information about the Stupak amendment in the health reform legislation related to yesterday’s day of action – there is a link to the Twitter [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 8:08am EST
  by Rachel

• An Appeal from Our Bodies Ourselves

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog today, Christine and I have an appeal to blog readers to give if able to our fundraising campaign. While I know finances have been especially tight for many, many people, this means that times have been hard for many organizations as well (and no doubt [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 5:09pm EST
  by Rachel

• World AIDS Day Tues Dec 1 – Free HIV Testing in Nashville

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  Tuesday, December 1 is World AIDS Day. To mark the day in Nashville, Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee is offering free HIV screening at their D.B. Todd Blvd location. Details here. An event is also being held at The Belcourt, described as “a multimedia journey through HIV/AIDS.” Posted in [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 9:51am EST
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Prempro Lawsuits, Cosmetic Surgery, & the Fabulous Judy Norsigian

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog today, I have a bit about the outcomes of some recent lawsuits related to Prempro (estrogen+progestin HRT) and breast cancer. Earlier this week, I pointed to a recent issue of the journal “Clinical Risk” which is focused on cosmetic surgery risks and regulations. Christine has [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:05pm EST
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up – 11/22

  —Women's Health News

  Assorted things of interest from the previous week. It’s not nearly as controversial as the USPSTF’s breast cancer screening recommendations, but ACOG released a new practice bulletin on cervical cancer screening. The New York Times has coverage of the change, which is basically that women can wait until up to 21 [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 10:40am EST
  by Rachel

• More Writing On and Coverage of the Mammography Controversy

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 5
  I’ve been reading a lot and paying attention to other media this week on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s recommendations on breast cancer screening. The following are some pieces that I thought were well-done and/or raised interesting points: Three posts by Orac of Respectful Insolence at ScienceBlogs - 1) Really rethinking [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 5:34pm EST
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: CDC Reverses HPV Vaccine Requirement for Immigration

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  At Our Bodies Our Blog this week, I cover the CDC’s new vaccination criteria for U.S. immigration, which removed HPV and zoster (chicken pox) from the required vaccines. I also have a bit about why the HPV vaccine requirement was problematic, links to previous related posts, and links to organizations [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 8:10am EST
  by Rachel

• Direct Link to the Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations That Have Been in the News

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Screening for Breast Cancer Release Date: November 2009 The following bullet points are copy/pasted from the page, but more explanation of the recommendations and how “strong” they each are is available in the supporting documents. Summary of Recommendations The USPSTF recommends against routine screening mammography in women aged 40 [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:53am EST
  by Rachel

• Judy from OBOS in Nashville, on Liberadio(!)

  —Women's Health News

  As I mention in today’s post at Our Bodies Our Blog, OBOS co-founder and Executive Director Judy Norsigian was in Nashville, and was featured today on local political talk radio show Liberadio(!). More about her trip and a link to the show archive are in the post. Thanks to the [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 6:19pm EST
  by Rachel

• Sunday News Round-Up – 11/15

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Lots of good stuff at Our Bodies Our Blog as usual, including a new post from OBOS intern Meg Young on Reebok’s ridiculous new sneaker ad. The FDA is looking into caffeinated alcoholic beverages and considering whether they are safe and/or legal (via NPR). On Stupak, NPR has a good [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 9:45am EST
  by Rachel

• Things I Have: Geographic Tongue

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  The New England Journal of Medicine has posted a new “Images in Clinical Medicine” image, and this time it’s geographic tongue (and it’s freely available without a subscription to the journal). And that happens to be something I experience, so I thought I’d link to the info. Basically, some of [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 5:29pm EST
  by Rachel

• Reminder: OBOS House Party This Weekend

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m looking forward to seeing Judy Norsigian, executive director and co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves, in Nashville this weekend. If you are interested in attending the fundraising house party and meeting Judy while she’s here, let me know. Judy is also on the [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:17am EST
  by Rachel

• MedLib’s Round Blog Carnival: On Finding Credible Health Information Online

  —Women's Health News

  The most recent edition of the MedLib’s Round Blog Carnival has been posted at Highlight Health. The carnival focuses on medical librarianship and medical information – this edition may be of wide interest as it focuses on ways of finding reliable health information online. I have a piece from here [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 8:06am EST
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Midwives in Virginia, Chronic Pain After Breast Cancer Surgery

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog, I have a post on research into the chronic pain experienced by some women for years after breast cancer surgery. I also have a bit about a currently open public comment period for a rule in Virginia that would apply to certified professional midwives in [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 7:55am EST
  by Rachel

• More on the Stupak Amendment

  —Women's Health News

  The Stupak amendment to the health reform legislation passed by the House yesterday prohibits federal funds for abortion services in the public option. It also prohibits individuals who receive affordability credits from purchasing a plan that provides elective abortions. However, it allows individuals, both who receive affordability credits and who do [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 6:58pm EST
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up, 11/8

  —Women's Health News

  Christine has a post at Our Bodies Our Blog about the passage of the health reform legislation last night. She notes As I watched Democrats congratulate themselves, it was difficult to feel celebratory. Passage of the Stupak amendment — which bars a government-run insurance plan from offering abortion *and* prohibits women [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 11:44am EST
  by Rachel

• Our Bodies Ourselves House Party Featuring Judy Norsigian in Nashville This Month

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  Judy Norsigian, executive director and co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves, will be in Nashville later this month. During her visit, there will be a fundraising house party for OBOS graciously hosted in the home a couple of Nashville folks at 4 pm on Sunday, November 15. Attendees are asked to [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 6:10pm EST
  by Rachel

• Kroger Also Needs to Unlock the Condoms

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 10
  In the past year or so, I’ve seen a lot of effort toward convincing pharmacy/retail chain CVS to “unlock the condoms.” The argument is that, when these stores lock up the condoms in a special case, it creates barriers to access and gets in the way of people acting responsibly. [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 12:34pm EST
  by Rachel

• The Annual Poke & Prod – Helping Along the Medical Students

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 4
  Yesterday I went for my pelvic exam, which I often talk a little bit about here just because a) it’s obviously theme-related, and b) I figure the more open discussion, the better. I saw my provider in the workplace’s fancy new off-campus clinic, and had the chance to use the [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 12:24pm EST
  by Rachel

• Sunday News Round-Up, Monday Style – 11/2/09

  —Women's Health News

  For at least part of the past weekend, I was busy attending the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association’s annual conference in Memphis, TN, so the round-up is a bit delayed. A few things that caught my eye over the past week: Meharry Medical College in Nashville got a big [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 6:58pm EST
  by Rachel

• Women’s Health Week at Vanderbilt – Day 3, Tennessee Women’s Health

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Yesterday I was able to attend another presentation as part of Vanderbilt’s Women’s Health Week, featuring Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice and Dr. Gloria Richard-David of Meharry Medical College and Dr. Katherine Harmann of Vanderbilt who conducted a panel discussion on the state of women’s health in Tennessee. They centered the [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 9:46am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: ePatients, Cancer Screening, Health Care

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog, I have recent posts on ePatients and participatory medicine, and on revisiting breast cancer screening guidelines. C also has something on U.S. healthcare myths and facts and health reform. Posted in Access, Rights, & Choice, Boobs, Cancer, Government, News Round-Ups [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 7:24am EDT
  by Rachel

• Kudos on the Annual Women’s Health Week Service Day

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  So often in topics of women’s health and reproductive rights the things I’m compelled to write about are the negatives, the bad news, the absolute outrages. Today I want to take a moment to give kudos to some individuals who are taking actions to make a difference. I mentioned in [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 6:35pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Women’s Health Week at Vanderbilt – Day One: Women on Waves

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  October 25-31 is Women’s Health Week at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and a series of lectures have been planned to raise awareness on a variety of women’s health topics. Today I had the pleasure of attending the lecture by Diana Whitten, filmmaker, whose current project is a film called “Vessel” which [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 6:41pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up, 10/25

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  I’m biased, of course, but there’s lots of good stuff at Our Bodies Our Blog (as usual!), including a guest piece from OBOS intern Meg Young on sex education and the UU program on the topic, Our Whole Lives. Order your free 2010 women’s health calendar (in English or Spanish) [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 10:42am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: The Risks of Egg Donation

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog today I have a bit about a California law requiring disclosure of potential health risks to women interested in being egg donors, an egg donation book for younger readers (sounds weird, I know), and a couple more related resources. Posted in Access, Rights, & Choice, [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 6:24pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Update on Privacy-Threatening Oklahoma Abortion Law

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Recently, I and many others wrote about an Oklahoma abortion law that could potentially seriously compromise the privacy (and safety) of women seeking abortions in that state. At issue is the law’s requirement that that each individual form be posted to a publicly available website. While traditionally identifying information would [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 6:21pm EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Sexual Healing

  —Women's Health News

  In yesterday’s post at Our Bodies Our Blog, I point to an article in The Nation on the medicalization of sex, and some additional books and documentaries worth checking out on the topics of hysteria, vibrators, and physicians’ historical approach to women’s sexuality. Posted in Sex & Sex Education, Women's' [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 8:51am EDT
  by Rachel

• NYTimes Highlights Pregnant Woman’s Swine Flu Ordeal

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  Today’s New York Times has a piece profiling what one 27-year-old woman went through when she contracted H1N1 (swine) flu while pregnant. While her case is not going to be representative of how all people will get sick if they contract the flu (pregnant women, for example, are considered to [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 8:07am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up, 10/18

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  Blog for Choice on the decline in the number of abortion providers in Massachusetts. At D’Alliance, the blog of the Drug Policy Alliance Network, commentary on a recent Marie Claire article on successful women who smoke pot, “Stiletto Stoners.” Earlier this month, Guttmacher released a report on the costs of unsafe [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2009, 9:32am EDT
  by Rachel

• H1N1 Flu Vaccines Available in Tennessee

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Nashville residents may have seen the news elsewhere – the Metro Public Health Department is offering the H1N1 FluMist vaccine to the general public after ordering almost 5,000 doses and having plenty left over after low uptake from healthcare providers (the intended audience for the vaccine). Vaccines are free at [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 8:38am EDT
  by Rachel

• Shameless Self Promotion: Best of Nashville 2009

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  Thanks to B for including me among this year’s Best of Nashville: Politics and Media mentions: Best Local Women’s Health Blog: Women’s Health News Okay, Rachel Walden may have the only local women’s health blog, but we shouldn’t hold the lack of competition against her… Ha! Scroll down this page for the [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 7:59am EDT
  by Rachel

• Repeat After Me: “Vulva”

  —Women's Health News

  Kat Coble has a nice post on the proper terminology for women’s genital anatomy, and why you’re not likely to ever or often see a photo snapped of a celebrity’s “vagina.” I was going to save it for the weekly round-up, but it’s just too delightful, beginning with her intro, [...]
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  Posted: October 14, 2009, 8:08am EDT
  by Rachel

• New Feminist Disability Blog Launched

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 5
  A new blog, FWD/Forward, has recently launched at http://disabledfeminists.com/. It is described thusly: FWD/Forward is a group blog written by feminists with disabilities. It is a place to discuss disability issues and the intersection between feminism and disability rights activism. The content here ranges from basic information which is designed to [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 6:17pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Newsflash: Having Sex w/ an Unconscious Drunk Person *is* Rape

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  I was watching To the Contrary on PBS this morning, and one of the topics was the FBI-reported decrease in rape. One of the panelists essentially attributed this decline in reported rapes to college women being slutty drunks who just give it up, and said, as best I can recall [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 1:19pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Update: Coverage of the Health Care Speech at Our Bodies Our Blog

  —Women's Health News

  Christine has commentary and resources here, and you’re welcome to leave your reaction to the speech and the plan in the comments. Posted in Events & Observances, Government [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 6:51am EDT
  by Rachel

• Obama’s Speech on Health Care

  —Women's Health News

  Here’s the text of the speech from the Press Office, and video of the speech and the Republican response from C-SPAN. Posted in Events & Observances, Government [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 8:03am EDT
  by Rachel

• Hi, I’m Still Here

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  There was no Sunday Weekly Round-Up this week because I was out of town with no internet access, visiting with my parents in east Tennessee. I have to say, damn, I forgot how much prettier it is out there than here in Nashville (middle Tennessee). If anybody is familiar with [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 8:18pm EDT
  by Rachel

• New Evidence Report on Treatment of Overactive Bladder in Women

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  AHRQ has posted a new evidence report, Treatment for Overactive Bladder in Women. For these reports, a team of folks reviews and evaluates the quality of the existing evidence on a topic, and looks at how that evidence addresses some key questions – in this case on prevalence and incidence [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 9:21am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: ACOG’s Home Birth Survey

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog, I have a post on ACOG’s recently posted survey on the “extent of the problem” of home birth transfers, criticisms of their approach/method vs. their stated goals, and the response from home birth advocates. There’s a pretty lively comment thread going, if you care to [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 9:04am EDT
  by Rachel

• The Grossest Thing I’ve Read in Ages

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 7
  In Tonsils, a Problem the Size of a Pea – in the New York Times You all must suspect by now that I have a strong stomach and a high tolerance for things others might find gross or upsetting. For something to make me temporarily stop reading mid-way through, that’s something. [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 7:42pm EDT
  by Rachel

• A Blast from the Past: Menstrual Health and Politics, and a Reading List

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 5
  Dear readers, I’ve been working on getting my home books more organized this weekend (a big task), and stumbled across an item I thought had vanished somewhere along the way – the course pack from an ExCo course I took at Oberlin called “Menstrual Health and Politics,” which I’ve mentioned [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 8:02am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up, 8/30/09

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 4
  Lots of stuff at Our Bodies Our Blog, as usual. Emily Douglas is leaving RH Reality Check for The Nation. If you’ve appreciated her work at RHRC, go wish her a fond farewell. Rachel Maddow interviewed Dr. LeRoy Carhart, an abortion provider in Nebraska whose clinic is being protested by [...]
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  Posted: August 30, 2009, 11:14am EDT
  by Rachel

• Two Hard Things to Read – Hurricane Katrina, and Coerced Adoption

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  Shotgun Adoption, by Kathryn Joyce, in The Nation. On pressure to relinquish babies for adoption by “crisis pregnancy centers.” Honestly, when I read “The Girls Who Went Away,” I was shocked and horrified but assumed that general kind of tactic was Something That Happened a Long Time Ago. Based on [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2009, 9:12am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Kennedy, Pregnancy Loss & Infertility, and Gardasil

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Yesterday at Our Bodies Our Blog, Christine wrote about the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy, and OBOS Executive Director Judy Norsigian shared her thoughts on the man (both with an emphasis on healthcare). Christine also alerted us to nine stories on infertility and pregnancy loss from readers of Mrs. Spock [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 9:19am EDT
  by Rachel

• Tennessee: Hearing Proposed Rule That Could Restrict Practice of Nurse Midwives, Nurse Anesthetists

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 4
  A hearing is went on yesterday afternoon on a proposed rule on tamper-resistant prescriptions, but there has apparently been a push for a language change in the proposed rule that could effectively keep nurse midwives and nurse anesthetists from doing their jobs, as it would exclude them from having the [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 8:36am EDT
  by Rachel

• Some Tidbits from the 2009 Tennessee Women’s Health Report

  —Women's Health News

  The 2009 Tennessee Women’s Health Report Card [PDF] (mentioned earlier with disclaimer here) is a snapshot of the health status of some women in the state. Some things that stood out to me were the various health disparities apparent in the results. Black women have much higher rates (as in, [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 9:06am EDT
  by Rachel

• Update: OPA Family Planning Database

  —Women's Health News

  In a recent post, I linked to the Family Planning Database from the Office of Population Affairs, which allows users to search for Title-X funded family planning providers in their area, and noted that I had a little trouble with a search for “Nashville.” I reported the error, and have [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 6:15pm EDT
  by Rachel

• 2009 Tennessee Women’s Health Report Card Now Available

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  The 2009 Tennessee Women’s Health Report Card [PDF] is now available for download from the website of Women’s Health Research at Vanderbilt.* It was produced as a collaboration among Women’s Health Research at Vanderbilt, the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, the Tennessee Department of Health, Meharry Medical College, [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 10:33am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up, 8/23/09

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 7
  Lots of stuff at Our Bodies Our Blog as usual. One I didn’t get around to linking last week is a piece about how Washington State is attempting to reduce c-sections by equalizing Medicaid reimbursements for vaginal birth vs. (non-emergency) c-section. The New York Times Magazine has a special issue [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2009, 11:33am EDT
  by Rachel

• Goverment Health Sources on Twitter, Including Women’s Health

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  A number of federal U.S. government health agencies now have accounts on Twitter, including the following that are specific to women’s or reproductive health: Office on Women’s Health: @womenshealth Office of Population Affairs: @OPA1 Office on Women’s Health: Girls health: @girlshealth You don’t get a lot of interaction from these accounts, mostly tweets of [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2009, 9:58am EDT
  by Rachel

• For People Coming from Alternet: The Genital Cosmetic Surgery Post

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 4
  If you happen to be coming here from Rebecca Chalker’s The ‘Perfect’ Porn Vulva: More Women Demanding Cosmetic Genital Surgery piece on Alternet, here’s the specific post here that she refers to: Vaginal “Rejuvenation” Not Safe or Necessary (with links to several past pieces on the topic). Chalker has a [...]
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  Posted: August 20, 2009, 9:59am EDT
  by Rachel

• New York to End Shackling of Pregnant Women in Labor

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  New York Governor David Paterson appeared in response to recent protests to pledge to sign legislation that would prevent the shackling of pregnant women during labor and delivery. See this post from Emily at RH Reality Check, and the New York ACLU for more, and National Advocates for Pregnant Women [...]
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  Posted: August 19, 2009, 6:41pm EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising, and a Double Double-Dose

  —Women's Health News

  At Our Bodies Our Blog, I have a bit on pharmaceutical advertising and recent NY Times pieces on the topic, and Christine has Double Dose parts one and two, covering everything from Hillary Clinton on women’s rights to Mad Men. Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Drugs, Global Issues, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups [...]
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  Posted: August 19, 2009, 8:07am EDT
  by Rachel

• On Expensive Yogurt :)

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 7
  Yesterday’s strip from the Sheldon comic is a pretty funny take on “scientific” yogurt, with bonus mention of the ghostwriting of scientific articles. Hat tip to Siobhan for sending it to me; she’s a fellow medical librarian who is always sharing great and more serious links via Bringing Health Information [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 9:45am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  Comments are working again at OBOS – we had some technical difficulties this week, but have new posts up on Wyeth Pharmaceutical’s ghostwriting of papers on hormone replacement therapy (to gloss over the risks), with the Colbert Report’s take and continued featuring of a copy of OBOS as part of [...]
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  Posted: August 16, 2009, 12:20pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Global Health e-Learning Center Provides Online Public Health Education

  —Women's Health News

  The Global Health e-Learning Center “developed by the USAID Bureau of Global Health is a response to repeated requests from field staff for access to technical public health information.” Although intended for these public health workers, the e-Learning Center is freely accessible online for anyone who completes a short registration [...]
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  Posted: August 15, 2009, 9:56am EDT
  by Rachel

• Feel Good Friday – Willie Nelson and Snoop

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Something made me think of the time I went to FarmAid…which made me think of Willie…which led to this! Bonus track: I don’t like to embed music videos captured off the television – but if YouTube hasn’t yanked it, I don’t feel bad about sharing the link. I haven’t heard [...]
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  Posted: August 14, 2009, 3:08pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Improving the Findability of Evidence & Literature on Doulas

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 7
  Over the course of looking for some citations to share with MomTFH, I noticed that the indexing for the concept of a “doula” is kind of all over the place in PubMed (the big, main medical literature database) at present. There is no specific MeSH term to be used in [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 9:22am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Infection Rates for Vaginal Birth vs. Cesarean, and Healthcare Reform Drama

  —Women's Health News

  Yesterday at Our Bodies Our Blog, I wrote about a new Danish registry study of postpartum infection rates for women by whether they had a vaginal birth or c-section delivery. Also at OBOB, Christine posted Political Diagnosis: Hijacking Healthcare Reform, with lots of commentary and links to coverage and debunking [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 8:08am EDT
  by Rachel

• Maddow on Embrace of Scott Roeder by Extreme Anti-Abortion Activists

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Rachel Maddow last night spoke about militant pro-violence anti-abortionists who have been visiting Scott Roeder, killer of abortion provider Dr. Tiller, in jail. My OBOS Blog Partner Christine also apparently caught the segment, but she was still awake at midnight to post about it, while I had already turned into [...]
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  Posted: August 11, 2009, 8:11am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 6
  Please forgive any typos I miss – I’m down a “g” key on this laptop thanks to a cat+coffee incident. Esquire profiles abortion provider Dr. Warren Hern, [hat tip to the Daily Women's Health Policy Report] An excerpt: And some treat him with contempt and disgust, usually the ones who have been [...]
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  Posted: August 09, 2009, 10:35am EDT
  by Rachel

• Women’s Health Bodies and Everybody’s Discrimination News

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  Nashville, TN’s Metro Councilman Michael Craddock had the following to say in response to the planned opening of the first strip club in the state to have male dancers. “I’m sick to my stomach – I’m just absolutely sick. It’s different for a man to show himself than a woman. [...]
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  Posted: August 08, 2009, 8:37am EDT
  by Rachel

• Feel Good Friday – I Kissed a Girl

  —Women's Health News

  No, not *that* one, but the Jill Sobule song, accompanied by Melissa Ferrick. Apparently there has been some attention to the matching song titles used by Sobule and, more recently, Katy Perry. Sobule made some tongue-in-cheek comments about it to The Rumpus, and folks like Rolling Stone took it seriously. [...]
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  Posted: August 07, 2009, 9:24am EDT
  by Rachel

• Reminder: The Louisville Free Public Library Needs Your Help

  —Women's Health News

  I want to keep this highlighted for folks reading through feed readers and the like – as Steve mentions, “I’m also nervous that the ‘buzz’ around this will dissipate quickly, and contributions will slow to a trickle.” I’m sending my check to help mitigate the LFPL flooding disaster today. If [...]
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  Posted: August 06, 2009, 9:01am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up – More Links Than You Can Handle

  —Women's Health News

  From some recent event or conference, and via @kgs, “Information is how librarians express love.” Check out the links to information below and consider yourself loved, because there is lots and lots of good stuff this week. I’m going to refer you to Our Bodies Our Blog, of course. We’ll [...]
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  Posted: August 02, 2009, 3:15pm EDT
  by Rachel

• On the Economy and Reproductive Health Choices

  —Women's Health News

  My most recent piece for the National Women’s Health Network newsletter, Women’s Health Activist, is now available, and covers issues of the economy, access to care and coverage, and how worries about family planning and affordability are nothing new to many families. An excerpt: Worries about the affordability of health care [...]
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  Posted: August 01, 2009, 6:23pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Feel Good Friday – Creep

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Yeah, it’s Radiohead’s Creep (which I love), except it’s performed by Amanda Palmer. On a ukulele. Posted in Events & Observances [...]
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  Posted: July 31, 2009, 9:14am EDT
  by Rachel

• Swine Flu Vaccine Priorities from the CDC

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met this week to discuss which groups should receive the H1N1 swine flu vaccine when it becomes available if there is not enough for everyone. The groups prioritized to receive the vaccine first/if there is limited supply are: Pregnant women Household contacts and caregivers for [...]
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  Posted: July 31, 2009, 8:50am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Town Hall on Health Reform

  —Women's Health News

  Yesterday, Obama did a town hall meeting on health care reform – links to video and a transcript are up at Our Bodies Our Blog, along with a bit about the apparent controversy over older adults and end of life care counseling, and a Rachel Maddow segment on interpretations of [...]
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  Posted: July 29, 2009, 6:10pm EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Pregnant Women and Swine Flu

  —Women's Health News

  Yesterday at Our Bodies Our Blog, I posted about confusing media reports and advice for pregnant women regarding precautions they should take to prevent infection with H1N1 swine flu, and how unrealistic that advice is for many women. Posted in Infectious Diseases, Pregnancy [...]
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  Posted: July 29, 2009, 9:07am EDT
  by Rachel

• Government Women’s Health Site Acknowledges That Women of Different Sizes Can Be Healthy

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  There is so much insistence that thin=healthy, not thin=unhealthy encountered online and real life that this body image page from Womenshealth.gov (The National Women’s Health Information Center) sort of surprised me by acknowledging: We all want to look our best, but a healthy body is not always linked to appearance. In [...]
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  Posted: July 28, 2009, 10:27am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up

  —Women's Health News

  Lots of stuff at Our Bodies Our Blog worth reading. I’m not biased at all. Renee at Womanist Musings also has a bunch of links to posts worth checking out. One of them I particularly liked was this one on kids and gendered language. This website from the Cancer Financial [...]
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  Posted: July 26, 2009, 3:16pm EDT
  by Rachel

• “A Walk to Beautiful” Available on DVD

  —Women's Health News

  Last year, I posted about the shortened version of the film, “A Walk to Beautiful,” which appeared as part of the NOVA program on PBS. The full feature-length version with filmmaker commentaries and two new short films is now available on DVD, and can be ordered online via walktobeautiful.com. The [...]
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  Posted: July 26, 2009, 1:04pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Feel Good Friday – Rage Against the Machine

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Selection inspired by this in conjunction with the libraries mention in the lyrics. Posted in Events & Observances [...]
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  Posted: July 24, 2009, 9:40am EDT
  by Rachel

• Speaking of Health Care…

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  Today I got a call on my workplace phone harassing me about a healthcare bill that I can’t afford to pay right this minute for care that was delivered by my (larger) workplace but wasn’t completely covered by my workplace health insurance that I’ll be able to pay when my workplace issues me my [...]
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  Posted: July 23, 2009, 7:27pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Inarticulate Thoughts on Health Care Reform

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 5
  First, my rambling thoughts on health care reform in general, without a lot of polish or editing or critique of specifics of the existing proposed bill. Suffice it to say that having seen my parents struggle to find affordable health insurance after my dad’s workplace shut down (and having pre-existing [...]
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  Posted: July 23, 2009, 7:18pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Scenes from a Mom

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  So, I was talking on the phone to my mom (who lives about 4 hours away) last night, after neglecting to call for about two weeks and so was getting a bit of a guilt trip about that. What follows is a rough approximation of a transcription: Mom: I used to [...]
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  Posted: July 22, 2009, 8:03am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Hormone Therapy and Ovarian Cancer Risk

  —Women's Health News

  Yesterday at Our Bodies Our Blog, I wrote about a new study in the current issue of JAMA that adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that hormone therapy may increase the risk of ovarian cancer. Co-blogger Christine’s recent posts: -Quick Hit: The Colbert Report and Single Payer Health Reform -Political Diagnosis: [...]
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  Posted: July 22, 2009, 7:54am EDT
  by Rachel

• College Kids With Misinformation – The Emergency Contraception Edition

  —Women's Health News

  Like about whether emergency contraception is the same is abortion. A new issue of JOGNN includes results from a survey of college students on the topic – female college students at Adelphi University* were surveyed in 2007 about their knowledge, perceptions, and use of emergency contraception as well as past [...]
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  Posted: July 21, 2009, 8:12am EDT
  by Rachel

• Apparently I Like to State the Obvious

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  As most of you may know, I’m one of two bloggers for Our Bodies Our Blog. One of the nice things about writing for them is that I have an editor, who provides excellent suggestions that improve the clarity and interest of the posts. I, on the other hand, keep [...]
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  Posted: July 21, 2009, 7:52am EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up

  —Women's Health News

  Get off your phone while driving: “Studies say that drivers using phones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers, and the likelihood that they will crash is equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level, the point at which drivers are [...]
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  Posted: July 19, 2009, 11:37am EDT
  by Rachel

• Feel Good Friday – Harry and the Potters

  —Women's Health News

  Of course you’re getting wizard rock this week. The sound quality isn’t the best, but the below is a performance of Harry and the Potters at the Carnegie Library* of Pittsburgh. The song is “The Foil,” by Harry and the Potters. *Which is awesome – I visited the main branch on [...]
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  Posted: July 17, 2009, 9:33am EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Evaluating Medical News Coverage

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 3
  At Our Bodies Our Blog today, I have a post on Resources for Evaluating Health News, including links to resources that grade and critique medical journalism. There’s also a bit about conflicts of interest in medical journalism education (i.e., drug companies sponsoring “education” of journalists about treatments they make money [...]
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  Posted: July 15, 2009, 6:31pm EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Sorting Out Plan B Availability

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  There have been new approvals for generic, one-pill, and OTC access for 17-year-olds related to Plan B that – to me, at least – make figuring out what is available to who (whom? I never get that right) kind of confusing. For example, there’s a new generic version, but women [...]
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  Posted: July 15, 2009, 8:19am EDT
  by Rachel

• Old Folks Gettin’ It On (And Avoiding HIV)

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 10
  RH Reality Check has a heart-stopping headline on a sensitive topic: How Are Your Orgasms, Mom? … Whew, have you recovered yet? I’m just being a little silly because the idea of older adults – even our parents – having sex is an idea that most of us would probably rather avoid. Hey, [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2009, 10:06pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Nerds Love C-SPAN

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 1
  And I am one of those nerds. You can watch a ton of coverage related to Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings on the site. In the “Highlights,” you can hear Patrick Leahy regulate in response to an outburst – apparently one of those involved in the outburst was “Jane Roe” (Norma [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2009, 9:50pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Weekly News Round-Up

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 4
  Go get sucked down a blog rabbithole with all of the “pit to distress” posts of late, on obstetric providers who allegedly push pitocin on laboring women in an attempt to make the fetus “prove” itself – by coming out vaginally or forcing a c-section for fetal distress. Start with [...]
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  Posted: July 12, 2009, 10:42am EDT
  by Rachel

• Feel Good Friday – Ani Difranco at Bonnaroo

  —Women's Health News

  From Bonnaroo, just down the road from me, just a few weeks ago, Ani D does Manhole. Couple o’ f-bombs at the start. Posted in Events & Observances [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2009, 12:44pm EDT
  by Rachel

• Tweet of the Week

  —Women's Health News

  Number of comments: 2
  That’s: “Ladies, calling a gal fat to insult her is old and busted. You’re better off hurting my feelings by telling me I kern too tightly,” via @theogeo Posted in Body Image & Eating Disorders, Funny, Miscellaneous [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2009, 6:33pm EDT
  by Rachel

• At Our Bodies Our Blog: Female Condoms, Electronic Fetal Monitoring, and Art Action

  —Women's Health News

  From Our Bodies Our Blog: Female Condom to be Reintroduced in Uganda, United States ACOG Issues New Practice Bulletin on Continuous Electronic Fetal Monitoring And Christine has this cool one on subverting the magazine rack: One Easy Way to Be Beautiful (Just the Way You Are) Posted in Access, Rights, & Choice, Birth, Contraception, [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2009, 10:55am EDT
  by Rachel