…that the Pill was developed in no small part by a Catholic?

Read Malcolm Gladwell, here:

Today, the Pill is still often sold in dial packs and taken in twenty-eight-day cycles. It remains, in other words, a drug shaped by the dictates of the Catholic Church–by John Rock’s desire to make this new method of birth control seem as natural as possible. This was John Rock’s error. He was consumed by the idea of the natural. But what he thought was natural wasn’t so natural after all, and the Pill he ushered into the world turned out to be something other than what he thought it was. In John Rock’s mind the dictates of religion and the principles of science got mixed up, and only now are we beginning to untangle them.

A book by misogynists? By women-hating, anti-science cretins?

No. A book by feminist Barbara Seaman, who wanted to draw attention to the negatives of the Pill. Because she favoured–wait for it–full information for women. Because she knew that women died in the testing of the Pill and instead of discontinuing trials, they pushed on. Because she knew the history of the development of the Pill, which had little to do with women’s empowerment (read Malcolm Gladwell’s essay on this if you can get your hands on it, fascinating stuff).

Information is power. And if three Ottawa doctors have more information than the rest and the chutzpah to withstand attacks in explaining their views, then more power to them.

I will likely be discussing this on Monday morning on AM1310 News in Ottawa. Yet to be confirmed. They’d like someone from Planned Parenthood and/or the Radical Handmaids on. I would like that too.

“This” is a story about how three Ottawa family docs, one of whom I know personally, do not prescribe the birth control pill. They tell their patients this up front, in a letter. The Ottawa Citizen article linked to above strongly implies this is anti-woman and anti-science. But is it?

Here’s some stuff I’ve written:

About the Pill and cancer

About the Pill and other side effects

About the Pill and hypocrisy in Pink Ribbon campaigns

Finally, when we did a “roundtable” about the Pill with the PWPL team, here’s what we got. This included non-religious folks and people of different faiths.

Those are my views, passionately and publicly held, on the Pill. My points that I would like to see addressed are that a) the Pill has negative health repercussions that women are not told b) big Pharma has a vested interest in ensuring we are not told said negative effects and c) there are other, more female friendly ways of doing birth control, again, that we are not told.

I believe there ought to be a lot of common ground with those who are concerned about women’s rights being eroded here. Let the discussion begin.

I look up to Stephanie Gray. If you watch this talk she gave recently in DC, you will too.

Stephanie is tireless, tireless, tireless. I recall once telling her this here whole abortion problem is getting me down. I got a talking to, in a good way, along the lines of bucking up. She’s been doing this for years and she simply gets better at it. When she debates, the only response her opponents have is to leave, whimpering, with their tails between their legs.

It is very, very good to witness someone doing their God-given calling.

I forwarded this talk to someone who said this: “She is in a class with the best speakers I have ever heard, Churchill, Reagan, Billy Graham included. Makes you feel there is hope after all.”

It does make you feel that there could be hope after all.

You’ll recall Wendy Davis. She became a pro-choice superstar in Texas when she filibustered a bill to stop abortions after 20 weeks. Twenty weeks. These are the abortions that are only done in terribly terrible difficult, extenuating circumstances, or, according to the pro-choice Guttmacher, for 70 percent of them, when you don’t realize you’re pregnant.

She painted herself as a woman who had lived a hard life, a single mom–very compelling. Really feeds into the idea that pro-choicers actually support choice. (Which is easier than publicly supporting dismemberment.)

Turns out the reality is different:

That came back to bite her Jan. 20, when the Morning News found Davis had “blurred” key facts of her biography. Among them: She only spent a few months in a mobile home, after separating from her first husband, and she was 21, not 19, when they divorced. The report also said that her second husband, Jeff Davis, cashed in his 401(k) to help fund her education and cared for her children while she was in law school. He told the Morning News it was “ironic” that Davis left him the day after he paid off her Harvard loan in 2003. Also thrown into the mix were revelations that initial divorce filings including an allegation of infidelity (although the final decree did not) and that Davis had ceded custody of her daughter after the divorce.

As most of you know, last week a blogger came out condemning stay-at-home moms. The blog post was fairly widely circulated. Here’s a snippet:

Having kids and getting married are considered life milestones. We have baby showers and wedding parties as if it’s a huge accomplishment and cause for celebration to be able to get knocked up or find someone to walk down the aisle with. These aren’t accomplishments, they are actually super easy tasks, literally anyone can do them. They are the most common thing, ever, in the history of the world. They are, by definition, average. And here’s the thing, why on earth are we settling for average?

First up is Andrea Mrozek on Michael Coren. She also addresses the abortion issue and what we can perhaps expect from the Conservative party and the NDP.

(Clearly Andrea should wear the colour plum more often. Stunning. And she said some very interesting stuff too, of course.)

I also thought Matt Walsh made some interesting points in his response.

And what is this argument about, really? Is it better to have a job or take care of your family full time? Is that the controversy? What a twisted point of view we have in this culture. This is what happens when you buy into the notion that mankind, and especially womankind, achieved emancipation through industrialization. The Industrial Age and the advent of consumerism gave birth to the modern idea of a “job,” and the pinnacle of freedom and self fulfillment is to have one of them.

Or so we’re told. Ironically, this is a traditionally left-wing point of view, but hating capitalism is also a traditionally left-wing point of view. The free market is evil, they say, but the ultimate expression of female liberation is to participate in it.

What a dizzying philosophy these people profess.

A good post from National Campus Life Network to better acquaint you with the Morgentaler decision. We mourn this anniversary today.

Women. Babies. Marches for Life.

And long conference calls.

Hilarious video.

The lovely Véronique, her husband Paul, and all the rest! What a cool family. And what an honour to know such a cool family. I remember when Véronique contacted me shortly after this blog started. We met for coffee and the rest is history.

Lila Rose really has a gift for being relentless and on-the-ball in live television debates.

I like this one because she is making an excellent point (related to my last post) about women’s health that actually stumps her opponents.

Why are women not being told about alternatives to hormonal contraceptives that significantly harm their bodies?  Why is Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-choice America, not informing women about the lawsuits against the manufacturers of Yasmin and the alarming side effects of this contraceptive?  Ms. Hogue doesn’t really have an answer.
As of March 2012, approximately 12,000 lawsuits have been brought against Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the manufacturer of Yasmin, Yaz, Beyaz and Safyral, alleging an increased risk of blood clots (deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE)) and gallbladder problems, just to name a few of the health concerns.

If you have the time to see this video, it’s worth it.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdPIgsGmDcU]