Ruth Institute Blog

Contraceptives didn’t solve all of women’s problems. In fact, they created whole series of new ones.

by Jennifer Roback Morse

This article was first published at Mercatornet.com on December 3, 2014.

I am in the process of writing a book which argues that the Sexual Revolution has been a rich person’s hobby horse from the beginning. The rich and powerful like the idea of separating sex from child-bearing. While this idea is sometimes wrapped up in a disguise of helping woman and the poor, the fact remains that the rich and powerful pioneered and implemented these ideas, quite often at the expense of women and the poor. Read more…

From The Maximus Group

Every year the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) designates an entire week to advancing Catholics’ knowledge about Natural Family Planning; NFP Awareness Week is July 22-28, and this year’s theme is “Faithfully Yours.” NFP awareness week always coincides with the anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae (July 25). Read more…

by Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

Since the introduction of oral contraceptives in the early 1960′s, use of The Pill, as it is generally known, has soared to approximately 7 in 10 women of childbearing age.    Among young women ages 18-24, use of oral contraceptives is especially high, reaching two-thirds in 2008. Read more…

by Dr. Rebecca Peck

Pennsylvania State Rep. Babette Josephs, a Philadelphia Democrat, recently attacked her pro-life women colleagues in the state legislature for supporting a bill that would allow women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before an abortion, calling them “men with breasts.” But who are the real “men with breasts,” Dr. Rebecca Peck asks. Read more…

by Anne Morse

This article was first published February 22, 2012, at Mercatornet.com.

Should women suffering from anorexia take pills to suppress hunger? Should women suffering from fertility take pills to suppress babies?

I am anorexic. I don’t want to be emaciated; I want to be healthy. But eating makes me really uncomfortable, anxious, and even nauseous. I eat because I have to. I eat to survive. So I’ve come up with a novel idea to have my cake and eat it, too. Read more…

While adolescents are not as sexually active as we are led to believe, older Americans are more active than you might think.  From the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel:

Across the nation, and especially in communities that attract a lot of older Americans, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active — if not always healthy — sex life. Read more…

by Laurie Heap M.D.

Recent research is pointing to the fact that the pill could increase a woman’s risk of heart attack and stroke long after discontinuation.

During the late 1960s when it came to light that the pill was causing blood clots leading to heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and death, Congress enacted laws requiring patient packet inserts for all drugs to ensure patients were informed about the risks that accompany medications. Ironically, each decade has revealed a new risk for the pill (like breast and cervical cancer), but in spite of the informed consent laws, many clinicians and most women are the last to know what is being published and debated in the medical literature. This decade is no different.