One year ago this week, a Congressional committee held a hearing about whether women need access to birth control -- and called panels that did not include any women speaking in favor of it. The Committee Chairman, Representative Darrell Issa, refused to hear testimony from a Georgetown Law student named...

Birth control was illegal 97 years ago, when Margaret Sanger and her sister, Ethel, opened a clinic in a tiny storefront in Brooklyn -- the first Planned Parenthood health center. For 10 cents apiece, women could get information about family planning. From the very first day, women lined up down...

An alarming set of bills is about to move to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's desk as soon as today. Pushed through by lame-duck legislators who are about to leave office, these bills would make Michigan one of the most regressive states in the nation on women's health.

If...

Like the vast majority of Americans, I want Congress to come to a deal that will avoid the budget conundrum known as the "fiscal cliff." I want Congress to resolve this because I know what's at stake for women.

Make no mistake: access to health care for millions of...

By now news of Savita Halappanavar's senseless death has traveled around the world, drawing attention to Ireland's near-total ban on abortion and the horrific consequences of such policies. This is not a stand-alone case. Every 90 seconds a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, totaling...

Having been a mom for 25 years, one thing I've learned is that parenting is as much a practice of repetition as it is of love. If we want to help our kids to make healthy decisions, we have to be clear about our values and about the information we...

I'm from Texas, where women have had to fight for everything we've got.

When my great-grandmother was a girl, the only folks under Texas law who couldn't vote were "idiots, imbeciles, the insane... and women."

But just two generations later, her granddaughter -- my mom, Ann Richards -- was...

As we ride out another month of attacks on women's health care, let's take a moment to mark an important milestone. It was two years ago this week that President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a significant step in fixing the country's broken health system.

ACA...

The news this week that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, after years of pressure from political groups, will end its support of lifesaving breast cancer screening at Planned Parenthood health centers comes as a blow to women across America. It is a tremendous disappointment to all of...

On the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, women are watching, and they are angry at what they see.

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed every woman's right to make her own medical decisions without government interference. At the time, the Supreme...

Women won in Washington this week. The Obama administration's decision to protect the birth control coverage benefit that is part of health care reform will have a real and direct impact on millions of Americans--who will now have insurance that covers birth control without deductibles or co-pays. This will save...

In a country where nearly half of all pregnancies are unplanned, effective birth control isn't just a convenience -- it's an urgent health need that too many women are still unable to meet. We've seen some promising signs of progress recently, including a government decision to require new health plans...

Co-authored with Eli Pariser

This week, blogs erupted with news that Siri had a "blind spot" when it comes to women's health. Ask Siri, Apple's latest app, a voice-activated personal assistant, where to get an abortion or where to find emergency contraception, and it typically replies, "Sorry, I...

There's not a lot we agree on in this country. And yet, there is one topic around which there is practically universal agreement: the right of women to access birth control.

That's right -- 99% of women in the U.S. who have been sexually active have used birth control. It's...

Today, all eyes are on Mississippi as the state's "personhood" amendment is put before the voters. And by the time the polls close tonight, let's hope common sense will prevail.

This dangerous measure is an example of government gone too far. If passed, the amendment would...

Republican leaders in Congress just don't get it. At a time when Americans want government focused on jobs and helping families weather the toughest economy in recent memory, they have submitted a budget that guts the nation's birth control funding and eliminates access to cancer screenings for millions of women....

I used to think of Roe v Wade as the turning point in the struggle for women's rights and health. By recognizing reproductive rights as constitutional rights, the 1973 Supreme Court decision promised women in the United States would never return to the days of back-alley health care. And we...

A young woman named Gabby -- a fellow Texan -- wrote to me from her home in Austin to tell me that she recently had to choose between paying for her birth control and getting her car repaired. Actually, for Gabby, there was no choice at all. Without the car,...

Chances are you've never heard of Estelle Griswold. But she radically changed the lives of women in America. Forty-six years ago today, her courage secured a basic right that many of us take for granted today: the right to use birth control to plan and time our pregnancies and to...

Governor Mitch Daniels' recent decision to pass on a presidential run should serve as a warning to all Republican leaders.

Governor Daniels said that his wife and daughters had "veto power" over the decision. But that verbal nod to both family and women was starkly at odds with the anti-women,...