Levonorgestrel-releasing implant, sold under the brand name Jadelle among others, are devices that release levonorgestrel for birth control. It is one of the most effective forms of birth control with a one-year failure rate around 0.05%. The device is placed under the skin and lasts for up to five years. It may be used by women who have a history of pelvic inflammatory disease and therefore cannot use an intrauterine device. Following removal fertility quickly returns.
Our Bodies, Ourselves is a book about women's health and sexuality produced by the nonprofit organization Our Bodies Ourselves. First published in 1970, it contains information related to many aspects of women's health and sexuality, including: sexual health, sexual orientation, gender identity, birth control, abortion, pregnancy and childbirth, violence and abuse, and menopause. The most recent edition of the book was published in 2011. The book was revolutionary in that it encouraged women to celebrate their sexuality, including chapters on reproductive rights, lesbian sexuality, and sexual independence. The move towards women's active engagement with their actual sexual desires was contradicting the popular gendered myth of “women as docile, and passive,” and “men as active and aggressive” in a sexual relationship.
Reproductive health, sexual health, or sexual and reproductive health (SRH) denotes the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual well-being during all stages of their life.
Barbara Seaman was an American author, activist, and journalist, and a principal founder of the women's health feminism movement.
The National Women's Health Network (NWHN) is a non-profit women's health advocacy organization located in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1975 by Barbara Seaman, Alice Wolfson, Belita Cowan, Mary Howell, and Phyllis Chesler. The stated mission of the organization is to give women a greater voice within the healthcare system. The NWHN researches and lobbies federal agencies on such issues as AIDS, reproductive rights, breast cancer, older women's health, and new contraceptive technologies. The Women's Health Voice, the NWHN's health information program, provides independent research on a variety of women's health topics.
Reproductive justice is "the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities," according to SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the first organization founded to build a reproductive justice movement. In 1997, 16 women-of-color-led organizations representing four communities of color – Native American, Latin American, African American, and Asian American – launched the nonprofit SisterSong to build a national reproductive justice movement. Additional organizations began to form or reorganize themselves as reproductive justice organizations starting in the early 2000s.
Jerilynn C. Prior is a Canadian endocrinologist and medical doctor specializing in menstrual cycles and the effects of hormones on women's health. She has been called a leader in understanding and treating perimenopause and menopause. She was born in the USA and moved to Canada in 1976, and has taken citizenship there.
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is a method or device used to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only became available in the 20th century. Planning, making available, and using birth control is called family planning. Some cultures limit or discourage access to birth control because they consider it to be morally, religiously, or politically undesirable.
Abortion in Venezuela is currently illegal except in some specific cases outlined in the Venezuelan Constitution, and the country has one of Latin America's most restrictive laws.
Anne MacGregor is a New Zealand-born British medical researcher and clinician based in London. She is a leading researcher in the field of hormonal effects on migraine.
The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, also known as the Reproductive Health Law or RH Law, and officially designated as Republic Act No. 10354, is a Philippine law that provided universal access to methods on contraception, fertility control, sexual education, and maternal care in the Philippines.
A contraceptive mandate is a government regulation or law that requires health insurers, or employers that provide their employees with health insurance, to cover some contraceptive costs in their health insurance plans.
War on women is a slogan in United States politics used to describe certain Republican Party policies and legislation as a wide-scale effort to restrict women's rights, especially reproductive rights. Prominent Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer, as well as feminists, have used the phrase to criticize proponents of these laws as trying to force their social views on women through legislation. The slogan has been used to describe Republican policies in areas such as access to reproductive health services, particularly birth control and abortion services; the definition of rape for the purpose of the public funding of abortion; the prosecution of criminal violence against women; and workplace discrimination against women.
Wulf H. Utian is a physician, reproductive endocrinologist, clinical researcher, and academic women's health department administrator. He is best known for first recognizing menopause as a potential health-related issue. He is the co-founder of the International Menopause Society and founder of the North American Menopause Society. Previously he has worked as a medical department Director at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, the University Hospitals of Cleveland, and academic chairman of the department of Reproductive Biology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He is currently the Arthur H. Bill Professor Emeritus of Reproductive Biology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, a consultant in women's health, and Scientific Director Emeritus of Rapid Medical Research Inc.
Sandra Welner (1958–2001) was an American physician, inventor, and advocate for disabled women's healthcare.
Sybil Shainwald is an American attorney specializing in women's health law and an activist for women's health reform. She has represented thousands of women and their children in individual and class action suits against manufacturers of harmful drugs, devices, and procedures. Shainwald is former chair of the National Women's Health Network, co-founder of Health Action International and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.
Sylvia B. Seaman was an active participant in the women's suffrage movement and worked tirelessly to see the change that she wanted in the United States. In 1995 Seaman died of breast cancer, however, her legacy lies within her novels, and efforts to increase public awareness of breast cancer and women's health.
Loretta J. Ross is an African American academic, feminist, and activist who advocates for reproductive justice, especially among women of color. As an activist, Ross has written on reproductive justice activism and the history of African American women.
The women's health movementin the United States refers to the aspect of the American feminist movement that works to improve all aspects of women's healthcare. It began during the second wave of feminism as a sub-movement of the women's liberation movement. WHM activism involves increasing women's knowledge and control of their own bodies on a variety of subjects, such as fertility control and home remedies, as well as challenging traditional doctor-patient relationships, the medicalization of childbirth, misogyny in the health care system, and ensuring drug safety.
Dr. Elizabeth Connell was an American doctor and proponent of women's reproductive health.
