Amie Newman

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, not as much as they could.

I'm only the messenger.

To start with: just what are we talking about? Foreign aid from the United States encompasses funding the government provides to developing countries; everything from disaster relief (when the U.S. government contributes...

This post originally appeared on RH Reality Check

Is it willful ignorance? A lack of education? Or some sort of untouchable mysticism that surrounds that which we all share and though rarely speak of?

I'm talking about childbirth and the endless misunderstandings and misinformation that go along with...

Good news from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), on VBACs (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). New guidelines were released by the organization marking a significant change in their recommendations regarding VBACs:

"Attempting a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) is a safe and appropriate choice for most women who...

Susan Dominus' article in the New York Times this weekend, "Campaigning for Common Ground in the Abortion Debate," does not open on a high note. The very first sentence, "What if groups that demanded reproductive options for women actually offered them?" shows a stunning lack of understanding about...

This post originally appears on RH Reality Check, an award-winning, progressive publication covering global reproductive and sexual health news and information.

The results of a study released this month in the journal Pediatrics suggest the U.S. could save $13 billion dollars and over 900 newborn...

Anti-choice legislators in Oklahoma are experts on at least two things: waste and distraction. After repeatedly introducing laws - and having them overturned by the courts for being unconsitutional - that do nothing more than force government intrusion into the professional lives of physicians and the personal lives of women...

This article contains a correction made at 7:58 a.m. Tuesday, February 17th, 2010 to clarify the law applied to the arrest of Christine Taylor. An earlier version did not specify the statute applied in this case.

When anti-choice advocates dream up and manage to pass...

UPDATE: January 13th, 9:28 am: Uganda's newspaper New Vision reports that Museveni has made concerns about the foreign policy and foreign assistance impact known to members of his party. See the story here.

It's being reported that, at the urging of U.S. government...

Childbirth educator and documentary filmmaker Vicki Elson likes to say, aside from the typical hospital birth, there are essentially three kinds of births on television:

"One type is a pioneer woman or early Native American just pushing her baby out, no problem. Another type is an accidental birth on...

Originally published on RH Reality Check

Are there "good" reasons for inducing labor through medical intervention? It's a loaded question for which different providers may give you different answers. Even amongst like-minded communities of midwives - CPMs or CNMS, or more traditional medical providers like ob-gyns,...

Updated as of 6:15pm EST, 11/3/09

Last week, Abby Johnson, the director of a Texas Planned Parenthood health center that provides abortions, among its other services including birth control, annual exams and sexually transmitted infection prevention and treatment, resigned citing a "conversion" that caused her to see...

Originally posted on RH Reality Check.

Is the fact that women experience discrimination in regards to health insurance coverage even debatable at this point? It is critical that health reform discussions address the health issues that disproportionately affect women in this country. Whether we're discussing a...

Originally posted on RH Reality Check

"The Perils of Home Births" screams the title of the segment at the bottom of the screen in a Today Show attempt to cover the realities of homebirth in the United States.

"Is avoiding the clinical nature of...

This post originally appeared on RH Reality Check

This week (August 1 - 7) is World Breastfeeding Week and August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. With that in mind, it seems like a good time to look at the ways in which feminism and breastfeeding...

Dr. Leroy Carhart, a physician who provides abortions for women in need and who for many years provided later term abortions in his home state of Nebraska, will temporarily take over Dr. Tiller's medical practice in Kansas.

Dr. Carhart, still a practicing provider, is most well known for his...

This post originally appeared on RH Reality Check - news, information and analysis for reproductive health.

I had my son when I was thirty years old, ten years ago, and as green as one can be when it came to any and all things parenting related. While pregnant, I...

Originally posted on RH Reality Check

According to the LA Times, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has accepted President-Elect Obama's offer to become the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. Daschle is currently a fellow with the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank. It...

Originally posted on RH Reality Check - Information, commentary and community for reproductive health.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America with the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights sent a letter today to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs criticizing them for failing "to...

Written by Amie Newman for RH Reality Check - News, commentary and information for reproductive health and women's rights.

It was the exchange that reproductive and sexual health advocates had been waiting for.

Finally, a discussion about women's health. This isn't "special interest" we're talking about. It's a...

Americans have recently learned that during the 1990s, Wasilla, Alaska, then under the mayoralty of Sarah Palin, charged victims of sexual assault for the rape kits used for evidence collection.

Attacks from progressives have been swift and harsh. There is good reason to hunt down the facts about the...