Why is it that Rick Santorum doesn't seem to grasp that the most effective way to reduce the number of abortions is to provide couples with the means to understand their fertility and to prevent unwanted pregnancies?

Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are not running for dog catcher. The dogs of the world will little note nor long remember who wins the presidency of the United States, let alone the GOP nomination. I am more interested to know what this election means for... people.

Time has proven that little else makes a woman as resilient, less vulnerable and mightier in the face of adversity -- be they political attacks or environmental changes -- than control over her reproductive destiny.

The war on contraception is not new. What is new is that the consequences are finally becoming visible to women who vote.

By making contraception only about women's health, we're telling voters contraception decisions are not about parents, not about men, and not about families.

Consistency, it is said, is the mark of a true champion. Utter lack of consistency, therefore, must indicate something else entirely. I'll be kind and call it: nincompoopery. When it comes to public health policy, we are a pack of utter nincompoops.

Is it because of the Biblical command, "Go forth and multiply," or does he have other reasons for making childbearing the central plank of his campaign? The voters of America deserve an answer to that question.

If legislatures were requiring colorectal exams for no good medical reason, banning Viagra, outlawing condoms and vasectomies, you better believe that men would be doing more than waiting for a Gallup pollster to ring them up.

When people think of a cultural conservative like me, especially one who's Roman Catholic, they tend to think about abortion, but that's only part of the story.

Contraception saves lives, prevents unplanned pregnancies, improves outcomes for children and reduces the number of abortions. As an adoption attorney, I know firsthand how difficult and how private these choices are for women.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Senate has overwhelmingly approved an anti-abortion "personhood" bill that declares life begins at conception. The vote...

Santorum represents a strain in American politics that believes preventing unintended and unwanted pregnancies is both a moral wrong and a social ill: women who engage in sexual intercourse -- voluntarily or not -- should have children by chance, not by choice.

At the end of the day, each woman has to be able to make these health-related decisions for herself. It is not her employer, but her own sense of morality and the counsel of her doctor that must guide her choices.

It's time for the women and men who fought so hard to establish reproductive rights in the first place to shake off their complacence: their hard-fought gains are in jeopardy. It's also time for young adults, who have taken their reproductive rights for granted, to take a stand.

In 2011, Congress' cup runneth over with attempts to limit or restrict completely women's health and rights, both at home and abroad. In 2012, there is a presidency at stake -- so what does that mean for women's health and rights in the coming year?