January 21, 2010, St. Petersburg Times

So many Florida girls are getting pregnant, the state ranks sixth in the nation for teen pregnancy.

That might not be the case, says an expert in field, if more young people were taught about contraception.

"While the adults are arguing about abstinence, our teenagers are getting pregnant," says Dr. Carol Cassell, an author, researcher and social scientist who will be in the Tampa Bay area next week to speak at fundraisers for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida.

From 1996 to 2004, Cassell ran the teen pregnancy research program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She then went to the University of New Mexico to run the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a three-year, CDC-funded study of junior and senior high school students. She now is writing a book, Beyond Knocked Up: The Personal Dilemmas and the Price We All Pay for Unplanned and Unwanted Pregnancies.

In her work, Cassell draws on her 30 years of researching, writing and speaking on the topic — and her own experience as the mother of six children.

"I know kids, I've researched their behavior for years," she says. "If we don't teach about contraception, we have unintended pregnancy."

by Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America
and Timothy E. Wirth the President of the United Nations Foundation
Posted January 8, 2010 on Huffington Post

Over the past year, the United States has done much to reestablish its standing in the world. Today Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made another monumental stride forward by announcing our nation's renewed commitment to ensuring that women worldwide have access to safe and effective reproductive health care.

We agree with Secretary Clinton: The status quo is unacceptable.

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. This is a great time to educate yourself and the women you know about the importance of cancer screening.

Cervical Cancer is the only cancer known to be exclusively caused by a common virus, the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Nearly 4,000 women in America die of cervical cancer every year. An estimated 11,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States during 2010. Recent research indicates that high-risk HPVs also cause some cases of cancers of the mouth, head and neck in men and women.

December 30, 2009, Gainesville Sun

When Congress does return to finish the great health care debate, ideology, not finances may turn out to be the deal killer.

The House version includes a ban on federal funding for insurance plans that provide abortion coverage. The Senate's more “liberal” version would allow federal subsidies for such plans, but only if the plans collect separate premiums for abortion coverage and keep the premium dollars separate from federal funds.