Co-authored by Farah Diaz-Tello

Why is it, we wonder, that when it comes to decisions regarding women and pregnancy, science is so often ignored? A case going to the New Jersey Supreme Court involving child neglect charges against a woman who allegedly used cocaine while she was pregnant directly raises...

This article was originally published by RH RealityCheck.

In December of 2010, Bei Bei Shuai, a 34-year-old pregnant woman living in Indiana, attempted to end her own life. She did so in one of the slowest and most painful ways possible: she consumed rat poison. With help...

Dear Sarah Palin,

I am writing today about how you are responding to and how you will respond to the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the murders of six other people.

By way of introduction and background, I am a cousin of Congresswoman Giffords. I am also an...

Next week, people in Colorado will be voting on Amendment 62, a ballot measure sponsored by PersonhoodUSA. This organization seeks to establish the "pre-born," including eggs, embryos and fetuses, as separate "legal persons with protection under the law."
This organization claims that its goal is to end the...

On Thursday, a Utah legislator withdrew a bill that would allow sentences of up to life in prison for a woman who experiences a miscarriage or stillbirth as a result of her "reckless" behavior. This move has been attributed to a "firestorm" of opposition. Almost immediately, however, Utah...

Lynn M. Paltrow and Farah Diaz-Tello

While our country stands at a deadlock over legislation to ensure that millions of uninsured people have health care coverage, we can at least feel confident that some state legislators are hard at work, making it more difficult for women to access health care...

According to PersonhoodUSA, one of the reasons Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided is that the Court did not have available to it the "well-known facts of fetal development." To explain, PersonhoodUSA is an organization...

NAPW's video "How Personhood USA & The Bills They Support Will Hurt ALL Pregnant Women" and an earlier version that both appeared on the Huffingtonpost.com are attracting the attention of anti-abortion organizations who advance Personhood Measures across the country. These measures would grant "unborn"...

In the aftermath of Dr. George Tiller's murder many people have asked whether anti-abortion rhetoric constitutes "hate speech" or an "incitement to terrorism." This rhetoric includes language describing abortion as a form of violence, as torture, an attack on innocent life, executing a child, killing, baby-killing, murder, child murder, mass...

On May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller was murdered. When I think of Dr. Tiller and his clinic I think of compassion. What Dr. Tiller and his staff did each and every day was to give women their dignity.

Barely two weeks ago, when President Obama gave the commencement...

More than 55 leading Catholic Bishops, all members of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, are speaking out against the University of Notre Dame's decision to host and honor President Barak Obama at their commencement ceremony on the 17th. Much of their ire is due to President Obama's support...

More than 55 leading Catholic Bishops, all members of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, are speaking out against the University of Notre Dame's decision to host and honor President Barak Obama at their commencement ceremony on the 17th. Much of their ire is due to President Obama's support...

Last year Idaho passed a law making it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. This year, legislators in twelve states, including Missouri, have passed or are considering bills that they claim would enhance informed consent measures for pregnant women seeking abortions and...

I have to thank Andrea Lafferty, of the Traditional Values Coalition for her response to a piece I wrote opposing Personhood USA's efforts to give full constitutional rights to the unborn from the moment of fertilization. In her commentary she hopes to discredit my organization,

PersonhoodUSA apparently sees itself as the new, hipper, more effective incarnation of the anti-abortion movement. PersonhoodUSA hopes that by establishing the "pre-born, as legal persons with protection under the law" it will end the "injustice of abortion." Its attempt to do this last November through a "personhood" ballot measure in...

National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) Video Urges Colorado and South Dakota Residents to Vote No on 48 and 11.

Anti-Abortion Measures Can Hurt All Women.

As the abortion issue takes center stage and we count down to Election Day, NAPW has produced a video about the proposed measures in...

Dear Governor Sarah Palin:

Many Americans agree with your position regarding abortion -- they do this as a matter of faith, ethics, personal experience and sometimes politics. We are just wondering though, if you have thought about what would happen if you succeeded in getting your position -- that fetuses...

With the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade just past, many fear that it will be the last. US Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito, for example has stated that he believes that Roe, the 1973 decision recognizing a woman's fundamental right to choose to have an abortion, has no foundation...