Posts Tagged: contraception
Dear Incoming Freshman, Please Add Condoms to Your List of School Supplies
“Americans are having less sex” says CNN news article, but the spread and severity of sexually transmitted diseases and infections (STDs and STIs) are on the rise. New York magazine surveyed over 700 students and to their findings, only 41 percent of women and 49 percent of men reported being sexually active. You might assume that because of TV shows like “Skins” and “Shameless” college is a literal hotbed of sexual activity. Not so. In fact, in the same survey about 39 percent of students identified as virgins. So to assume that more and more young people are having less sex may not be far fetched. While sex is seemingly on a decline, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced this summer that over 70 countries have identified a strain of… Read more »
No Teen Pregnancy: #ThxBirthControl?
November 16th was “Thanks, Birth Control” Day and as such, reproductive justice organizations flooded their timelines with tweet after tweet of birth control users everywhere pledging their undying love for what every knows and loves as — birth control. And, although the day was a ray of positivity after a week of what many saw as despair, I still feel strange about the entire thing. “Thanks, Birth Control” Day, known online as #ThxBirthControl, was started by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. When this information came to my attention, I felt an instant irony. As the product of an unplanned teenage pregnancy, there are many reasons in my life to “thank birth control” and yet, here I stood the exact opposite of everything the day hoped to… Read more »
My journey as a Catholic Reproductive Justice activist
I’m what you would call a cradle Catholic. I was baptized as a baby and I have been Catholic since. I go to Mass, read my Bible and say the rosary. I went to Catholic school from the time I was three years old until I was 14. I am also a reproductive justice activist. It is no secret the Catholic Church has always been very openly against abortion and, in a lot of cases, contraception. I don’t really know if there was ever a time where I decided and openly said that was incorrect and I was going to go against the teachings of the Church, I think it has always been a part of me. Deep down, I always knew it was wrong to deny abortion and birth… Read more »
The Uncomfortable Truth About TV Sex
There are a long list of things that are wrong with TV sex scenes. From the overall heteronormative approach most shows take, to the complete erasure of foreplay, all the way to that weird type of scene used to signify that “the deed is done” where both people fall back on the bed as if they had just both somehow been in an upright position facing the camera. (Seriously, can somebody please show me a position where that scene makes sense? Is this a common enough move that it’s acceptable for nearly every sex scene to end this way?) But alas, there are greater problems than the position in which nearly all TV love-makers end up. I’d argue that in a majority of TV shows that I’ve watched, there is an… Read more »
Let’s Shout About Birth Control!
Today, the Supreme Court will hear the oral arguments in Zubik v. Burwell, yet another case involving reproductive health. The case is comprised of seven lawsuits, with religiously-affiliated nonprofits arguing against the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell. This issue has already made its way through appellate courts, with eight ruling in favor of the government and one ruling in favor of employers. This case is another challenge to the Affordable Care Act—“the fourth time in four years that the justices have taken up a challenge to the law.” Specifically, this deals with the ACA’s guarantee that birth control, among other preventative health measures, will be covered by insurance at no additional cost. This includes all birth control measures, not just the pill; IUDs… Read more »
President Obama Just Took a Big Step for Sex Education
Bless you, Barack Obama. This week, President Obama sent the U.S. Senate his proposed budget for fiscal year 2017, and he made a huge step for reproductive justice. Obama’s proposed budget cuts funding for abstinence-only sex education programs. Currently, this education is being funded by a $10 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. It is safe to say this grant has been a complete waste of time and has set sex education back decades. Up to this point, abstinence-only sex education has been encouraged and utilized in schools because of the funding it was receiving; this is obviously problematic. Students have been missing out on sex education that is actually informative because school districts want more money. This means young people have been inadequately informed about… Read more »
Strive for Honor? Texas Tech receives terrible sexual health rating
There are a lot of things that make me really proud to be a student at Texas Tech. The campus, traditions, sporting events and overall environment of the university make me proud to be a Red Raider. But recently, I was disappointed to find out that the university I am so proud of failed the annual Trojan sexual health report card. Texas Tech was ranked 134 out of 140, this is a huge step back from 2014 when Tech was ranked 112. Many factors could contribute to this embarrassing ranking; the report might even be excluding Texas Tech’s new RISE office on campus. RISE stands for Risk Intervention and Safety Education and it has made a huge impact on the university. As a center for condom distribution, sexual health facts, and… Read more »
Birth Control’s Journey Through The U.S. Court System
Since today is “Thanks, Birth Control” day, I wanted to take a moment to bring up some of the most influential U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) Cases related to birth control and reproductive healthcare! The first case in our timeline that I’d like to discuss is Griswold v. Connecticut, a USSC case in 1965. This case came about because Connecticut legislation had tried to outlaw contraception which included pressing charges against doctors who distributed birth control. Once this case went to the Supreme Court, the court struck down the states prohibition on the prescription, sale, and use of contraceptives. However, this case was primarily directed towards to married couples. This lead to Eisenstadt v. Baird in 1972. The Supreme Court decided in this case to overturn a Massachusetts law limiting the… Read more »
