A recent press release details some of the lengths that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is willing to go to preserve its near-monopoly over maternity care in the United States. In an effort to deter growing numbers of women from seeking out-of-hospital maternity care, ACOG urged...

I was a university student living in Montreal during the Montreal Massacre on December 6, 1989. In a classroom at the Ecole Polytechnique of the Universite de Montreal, Marc Lepine separated the men from the women and, claiming that he was "fighting feminism," shot all 9 women in the class...

Everyone loves to be angry with Wall Street and the mortgage lenders for causing a big financial mess. That's understandable, and I have certainly had my share to say about high bonuses on Wall Street. But I am struck by the sheer idiocy of some comments from defenders of the...

Yet another ruling is providing legal support for the false belief that obstetricians are infallible and stripping pregnant women of basic civil rights that are then accorded to other individuals. In the case, New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services v. V.M. and B.G., the New Jersey appellate court...

The bankers are cozying up to the regulators, and what good could come of it? Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase rake in record profits and get off the taxpayer dole. It seems good that taxpayers aren't bankrolling them anymore, but now they aren't accountable either. The only way to make...

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) -- more commonly referred to as "welfare reform" -- radically changed federal policies for assisting needy individuals and families throughout the United States. Most media coverage in the years immediately following its implementation hailed welfare reform as a success based...

On the June 24 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, Dick Morris said that "right now the government is telling people, cut back on cesarean sections, go through natural childbirth. It's a lower cost." Aside from the simple fact that this is false, there's a lot wrong with this picture, given...

On June 15, the New York Times described how Obama is open to reining in medical suits by trying to reduce malpractice suits. There are some fundamental issues that need to be on the table when thinking about this issue -- the most important being that the "standard of...

A Dec. 1 New York Times article, "Top Ranks of Women on Wall Street are Shrinking" tells tales of political infighting and the subprime mortgage crisis as catalysts for the ouster of Zoe Cruz from a high executive position at Morgan Stanley. Since she was Wall Street's best bet...

On Friday's episode of Real Time, Bill Maher introduced one of his "new rules," "Lactate Intolerant," in which he argues against breastfeeding in public. As he explained, he doesn't want women showing their tits in public unless they are appropriately packaged for heterosexual male consumption. (Revealing what he thinks...

A recent Washington Post article describes a movement toward "freebirth," or unassisted home birth. It says, "Some experts worry that vulnerable or gullible women will be misled into thinking that giving birth alone at home is a viable, even reasonable, alternative. These mothers, they maintain, may not understand that...

Every time I drive by a billboard for United Healthcare that says, "Frustration, being surgically removed," I wonder if they're being sarcastic. My employer pays through the nose to cover my family with United Healthcare, and it's considered one of the more comprehensive plans. But they still work really hard...

On May 27, I gave birth to my second son. He was born in a large bathtub at a birth center, where I had the assistance of a doula and a certified nurse midwife (CNM). I gave birth without drugs or an epidural. Fewer women give birth this way, or...

A new report from the American Association of University Women confirms what many gender equity scholars have demonstrated for decades: while women are more highly educated than men, they enter different majors in university and different jobs after graduation, there is a gender gap in negotiation, and women face...

Why are women willing to fight against legal protections for women in the workplace? A majority of women are in the workforce, and there is solid evidence that women face systematic discrimination. But there are always those who insist that women's disadvantages are all about choice. In "A Bargain...