February 10, 2012
By Steve Reinberg and E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporters
FRIDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) — Facing a firestorm of criticism from Catholic leaders, the Obama administration on Friday said it will adjust its health care guideline mandating that religious employers provide women with access to birth control.
In a shift from current policy, the White House is now saying that these employers will not have to extend free access to birth control, but that insurance companies will be made directly responsible for doing so.
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December 8, 2011
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 7 (HealthDay News) — The emergency contraceptive called Plan B will not be made available without a prescription to young women under the age of 17, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday.
The surprise move came the same day that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was expected make the controversial drug available to all females without a prescription. Read More
September 13, 2011
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By Matt McMillen
TUESDAY, September 13, 2011 (Health.com) — Intrauterine devices (IUDs) prevent unwanted pregnancies, and as an added benefit they may also help protect against cervical cancer, according to a new study in the Lancet Oncology, a British medical journal.
Women who use IUDs are roughly half as likely to develop cervical cancer as women who have never used one, the study found. Nor does IUD use appear to increase the risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, a known cause of cervical cancer. Read More
July 19, 2011
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) — Women in the United States could have their birth control covered by insurance companies, free of co-pays, if provisions of a new report are enacted as part of last year’s landmark health-reform law.
That is one of eight recommendations in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that looks to expand preventive services for women under the 2010 law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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April 21, 2011
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, April 21 (HealthDay News) — Newer forms of birth control pills may carry a higher risk of serious blood clots than earlier oral contraceptives.
Women taking the “fourth generation” pills containing drospirenone, a new type of progestogen hormone, had double to triple the risk of blood clots compared to women taking levonorgestrel-containing pills, according to two studies published online April 22 in BMJ.
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April 20, 2011
WEDNESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) — The risk of gallbladder disease is similar for women taking either newer or older types of birth control pills, a new study finds.
Recently, there have been concerns about a possible link between a fourth-generation progestin called drospirenone (marketed as Yaz or Yasmin in North America) and gallbladder disease, even though there are no published clinical studies on such an association.
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September 10, 2010
FRIDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) — Young women are more likely to use birth control if their partners are in favor of it, new study findings suggest.
In fact, women were more than twice as likely to use an effective method of birth control consistently if their male sex partner was “very” in favor of birth control, the researchers found.
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August 16, 2010
MONDAY, Aug. 16 (HealthDay News) — The ella emergency contraceptive has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It’s been available in Europe for more than a year under the brand name ellaOne.
To be taken within five days of contraceptive failure or unprotected intercourse, the drug is not meant to be used as a routine contraceptive, the FDA said in news release. Among a class of drugs called progesterone agonists/antagonists, it’s intended to inhibit or delay ovulation.
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June 2, 2010
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) — For half a century, women have had access to birth control pills. Men? Still waiting.
To date, no one has come up with an equivalent product for men, a male “pill” that would safely block or dramatically reduce sperm production.
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May 7, 2010
FRIDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) — Untold millions of women have taken it at some point in their lives, Loretta Lynn wrote a song about it, people have been arrested for it and it’s still one of the most common prescription drugs in the world.
And it’s simply known as “the Pill.” Read More
