Birth Control

Birth control pills are known to be nearly 100 percent effective when taken properly, but a recall of the drugs could send a shudder through women of childbearing age. A manufacturing mix-up by Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, led to some packets being distributed with the pills out of order. That means a patient could have unknowingly skipped a dose and raised her risk of an accidental pregnancy. Pfizer has recalled about 1 million packets of Lo/Ovral-28 and its generic equivalent, but the company estimates that only about 30 packets were flawed.

NEW YORK - Roman Catholic dioceses, schools, and other groups sued the Obama administration Monday in eight states and the District of Columbia over a federal mandate that most employers provide workers free birth control as part of their health insurance. The 12 federal lawsuits represent the largest push against the mandate since President Obama announced the policy in January. Among the 43 groups suing are the University of Notre Dame, the Archdioceses of Washington and New York, the Michigan Catholic Conference, and the Catholic University of America.

ITHACA, N.Y. - Samuel Leonard, a Cornell University professor whose pioneering work in reproductive endocrinology in the 1930s led to development of the birth control pill, died Nov. 12 at his home, just four days before his 102d birthday. Dr. Leonard was credited with the idea of using estrogen as a contraceptive. He prevented pregnancy in rats with the female sex hormone in a 1931 study, three decades before human birth control pills hit the market. That same year, he wrote a paper that reported that the ovaries and testes were regulated by two pituitary gonadotropic hormones:...

Birth control that you must take every single day? A more goof-proof option that costs a lot upfront but then works for several years? Or something in between? A woman's choice may come down to her wallet: The price of birth control varies dramatically. Just the pill has a huge range, from $9 a month for generics to $90 a month for some of the newest brands, plus a yearly doctor's visit for the prescription. Want a once-a-month option? The patch or ring could run you $55 monthly.

Birth control that you must take every single day? A more goof-proof option that costs a lot upfront but then works for several years? Or something in between? A woman's choice may come down to her wallet: The price of birth control varies dramatically. Just the pill has a huge range, from $9 a month for generics to $90 a month for some of the newest brands, plus a yearly doctor's visit for the prescription. Want a once-a-month option? The patch or ring could run you $55 monthly.

ATLANTA — Almost all US teens have had formal sex education, but only about two-thirds have been taught about birth control methods, according to a government report released yesterday. Many teens apparently are not absorbing lessons on birth control. Other recent data show that after years of decline, the teen birth rate rose from 2005 to 2007. It dipped again in 2008, to about 10 percent of all births. The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on face-to-face interviews with nearly 2,800 teenagers in their...

CHICAGO — A world without “the pill’’ is unimaginable to many young women who now use it to treat acne, skip periods, improve mood, and, of course, prevent pregnancy. They might be surprised to learn that US officials announcing approval of the world’s first oral contraceptive were uncomfortable. “Our own ideas of morality had nothing to do with the case,’’ said John Harvey of the Food and Drug Administration in 1960. The pill was safe, in other words. Don’t blame us if you think it’s wicked.

MADISON, Wis. -- A state agency is accusing a pharmacist of blocking a woman's attempts to refill her birth control prescription because of his religious beliefs. The Department of Regulation and Licensing's complaint against Neil Noesen stemmed from his refusal to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy after he refused to fill it himself. The complaint was filed Friday with the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board over the 2002 incident at a Kmart pharmacy in Menomonie.

SEATTLE -- Step right up to the pharmacy counter, answer 23 questions, and walk out with birth control pills. That's all it takes for women enrolled in a study that is believed to be the first effort in the nation to offer hormonal contraceptives at drugstores without a doctor's prescription. The University of Washington project aims to find out whether women and pharmacists are comfortable with drugstore delivery of birth control pills, patches, and vaginal rings. That doesn't mean women should stop going to the doctor for annual checkups.

Massachusetts Republicans Mitt Romney and Scott Brown have a history of supporting each other throughout their political careers. But with each facing a tough election, neither the presidential candidate nor the U.S. senator is playing up that history, perhaps with good reason. Brown, trying to win re-election in one of the most Democratic states, spends much of his time promoting his bipartisan bona fides and describing himself as a "Scott Brown Republican" rather than a conservative or liberal Republican.

CONCORD, N.H. - Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Maggie Hassan and Democratic legislative leaders urged defeat Tuesday of a House bill that would allow employers with religious objections to exclude contraceptive coverage from their health plans. "Women should have freedom to make their own health care decisions," Hassan, a former state senator from Exeter, said at a State House press conference. "The Legislature wants to give that power to employers. We should not go back to the days where women were paying up to $1,000 more a year out of pocket for basic health care.

Alexandra Mangione went to Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school and now attends Boston College. "I go to church. I believe in God," says Mangione, a 20-year-old sophomore at the Catholic college. She also believes in birth control. "The reality is that young Catholic women are absolutely sexually active, and they are on contraceptives," says Mangione. Birth control should be covered by health insurance, she says, because women who are denied it are "forced to have an abortion, or they raise a child that they can't support or they put a baby up for adoption.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has defeated a Republican effort to roll back President Barack Obama's policy on contraception insurance coverage. The measure sponsored by Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican, was defeated 51-48. The measure, an amendment to a pending transportation bill, would have allowed employers and insurers to opt out of portions of the president's health care law they found morally objectionable. That would have included the law's requirement that insurers cover the costs of birth control.

WASHINGTON - The Senate killed a Republican effort yesterday to let employers and health insurance companies deny coverage for contraceptives and other items they object to on religious or moral grounds. The vote was 51-48. In effect, the Senate upheld President Obama's birth control policy, which guarantees that women have access to insurance coverage for contraceptives at no charge, through an employer's health plan or directly from an insurance company. Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said the vote showed "the Senate will not allow women's health care...

Ray Flynn, the former Democratic mayor of Boston, is applauding Republican US Senator Scott Brown for supporting a "conscience exemption" from President Barack Obama's policy on birth control coverage. "I find it outrageous that anyone in a position of public trust would trample on the conscience of people of religious beliefs," Flynn, a former Ambassador to the Vatican, said in a letter to Brown today. Flynn praised Brown's "steadfast leadership" and said, "I intend to tell anyone who will listen how you stood tall in protecting the human and civil rights...

NEW YORK - Drug maker Glenmark Generics said yesterday it is recalling seven lots of birth control pills because in some packages, the pills were in the wrong order. The company, which is based in India, did not say how many pills or packages are being recalled. Glenmark said the pills were distributed between Sept. 21 and Dec. 30. The ingredients of the pills are norgestimate and ethinyl estradiol. In some packages, blisters of pills were rotated so they were not in the proper sequence.

PORTLAND, Maine - The head of Maine's Roman Catholic diocese is expressing shock at the Portland School Committee's decision to make prescription contraceptives available to middle school students without parental permission. Bishop Richard J. Malone said the decision will inevitably lead to more sexual experimentation among younger children. It also sends a message that the government should replace parents in certain parts of a child's life, even without the parents' knowledge, he said.

WASHINGTON - The Senate killed a Republican effort yesterday to let employers and health insurance companies deny coverage for contraceptives and other items they object to on religious or moral grounds. The vote was 51-48. In effect, the Senate upheld President Obama's birth control policy, which guarantees that women have access to insurance coverage for contraceptives at no charge, through an employer's health plan or directly from an insurance company. Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said the vote showed "the Senate will not allow women's health care...

When he was running to fill the office left vacant by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Republican Scott Brown famously declared: "It's not the Kennedy seat. And it's not the Democrats' seat. It's the people's seat. " Yet as he seeks to win a full six-year term, the freshman Massachusetts senator has been quick to invoke the legacy of the late "liberal lion" - never more vigorously than during the fight in Washington over whether to exempt religiously affiliated institutions from mandated birth control coverage.