Last Abortion Clinic in Kentucky in Court Fight to Stay Open
[post_date] A federal court case that got underway this week will determine whether or not the last remaining abortion clinic in the state of Kentucky will be forced to close. The EMW Women’s Surgical Center has been under threat of closure since March, when state regulators planned to revoke the clinic’s license, stating that the […]
New Research Highlights the Need for Improved Herpes Diagnostics
A paper published ahead of print in Sexually Transmitted Diseases finds that commercial blood tests commonly used to diagnose herpes simplex virus (HSV) are frequently not reliable, especially in those with “low positive” results.
Clinical Trials for Cervical Cancer
Clinical Trials for Cervical Cancer For patients with cervical cancer, standard treatment may include surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. Before a treatment regimen can become standard, it must go through a clinical trial. Clinical trials test if a potential treatment is safe and effective in humans. Clinical trials go through a series of phases, starting with […]
CDC Reports More than Half of Female Homicides Linked to Intimate Partner Violence
[post_date] More than half of all homicides of women in the U.S. are related to intimate partner violence, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). IPV-related deaths included those involving homicides where the victim was an intimate partner—such as a current or former spouse or girlfriend—of the suspect, […]
Federal Funding for Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs Abruptly Cut
[post_date] Earlier this month, 81 organizations that currently receive funding from Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) were notified by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) this funding would end June 30, 2018. The notice came as a surprise, as these programs were awarded five-year grants in 2015—totaling $213.6 million—with an original end date of […]
New Poll Shows Majority Support ACA Birth Control Benefit
[post_date] A majority of Americans (68 percent) support the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement that employers to cover the full cost of prescription birth control as part of their health insurance plans, according to a June 2017 poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation. This support extends across political party lines, with 81 percent of democrats, […]
The Rising Threat of Untreatable Gonorrhea
[post_date] Antibiotic resistance has made gonorrhea infections much harder to treat, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a July press release, citing new research with data from 77 countries. “The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to […]
A New Gender Option in Oregon
[post_date] As of July 1, Oregon residents will have three options for gender on state-issued IDs and driver’s licenses: M, F or X. The X offers an option for individuals who identify as non-binary, neither exclusively male or female. The decision by the state’s Transportation Commission makes Oregon the first state in the country to […]
Support for Same-Sex Marriage on the Rise
[post_date] In a 2001 poll by the Pew Research Center—a nonpartisan organization that conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, and other empirical social science research—Americans opposed same-sex marriage by a margin of 57% to 35%. Polling in 2017 shows a significant change in those numbers, with 62% expressing support for same-sex marriage versus 32% opposed. […]
Update on Teen Sexual Behavior & Contraception Use
The number of teens who have had sex remained stable in recent years while the rate of contraception use has increased, according to a report released in June from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use Among Teenagers in the United States, 2011-2015. Using in-person interviews with males and females […]