…And then she said something that turned the “individual health care mandate” opponents’ argument on its head: “I’m already forced to buy health care – but it’s in the emergency room. It’s almost bankrupting me. Do these guys think that’s my choice?”…

…Whether your child has sex at 12 or waits until 30, this vaccine can help prevent him or her from getting cancer or causing cancer in someone else. That’s pretty great, if you think about it. Imagine if there were a vaccine against breast cancer — you’d want your child to get that, right?…

…A kidney chain provides an innovative solution. Each chain begins when a Good Samaritan steps forward to donate a kidney, expecting nothing in return. For example, say the Good Samaritan donates a kidney to a patient we’ll call John. John’s wife, Mary, would have donated a kidney to her husband, but her kidney doesn’t match. So instead of donating to John, Mary “pays it forward” by donating to a second patient, Bill. Bill’s sister is willing to donate, but she doesn’t match Bill. So she instead gives her kidney to a third patient, who she does match….

…There’s some indication that co-pays serve as a barrier to using birth control. A 2011 report for the Institute of Medicine prepared by the Guttmacher Institute reveals that “average copayments in employer-sponsored insurance plans have increased considerably over the past decade to $49 in 2010 for ‘non-preferred’ brand-name drugs and $28 for brand-name drugs.” Meanwhile, “one 2009 study of low and middle-income sexually active women” showed that roughly 13% of them “said they saved money through inconsistent use of birth control.” This is why a 2007 National Business Group guide for employers calling for “coverage of the full range of contraceptive methods and sterilization services, recommends zero cost-sharing … to avoid real or perceived financial barriers, and to increase utilization.”

The Guttmacher report observes that “couples using no method of contraception” run a whopping “85% chance of an unintended pregnancy within 12 months.” Insurers that waive co-pays also avoid shelling out for complications that often accompany unplanned pregnancies, including high-risk situations such as births of successive children that are not properly spaced out, a woman who does not know she is pregnant and drinks during those crucial first months, and pre-teen girls having children….

…ingestion of cannabis via alternative methods such as edibles, liquid tinctures, or via vaporization — a process whereby the plant’s cannabinoids are heated to the point of vaporization but below the point of combustion — virtually eliminates consumers’ exposure to such unwanted risk factors and has been determined to be a ‘safe and effective’ method of ingestion in clinical trial settings….

…I’ve heard from many who are outraged at the very notion that sex for pleasure is an insurable event, and that all of us in various risk pools should subsidize it. But family planning, to use the euphemism, is also associated with lower rates of maternal and infant mortality, improved health in childhood and an overall reduction in medical costs….

A majority of Catholics support including birth control in health care plans and back the decision by the Obama administration that requires most employers to include such coverage, according to a new survey released Tuesday.

Their views are in contrast to leaders in the Catholic Church, who are vigorously opposing a rule by the U.S. government that says most employers must include contraception coverage in their health care plans.

Despite the opposition of Catholic leaders, Catholics are actually more likely than non-Catholics to support including contraception in health plans…

…the same day Komen pulled the money from Planned Parenthood because Stearns thought they were spending federal funds on abortions, the Journal of the America Medical Association published a damning study that almost half of women receiving second surgeries after lumpectomies didn’t need the procedure. Painful, disfiguring, unnecessary surgery. At least three of the four sites studied in the JAMA report — the University of Vermont, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and the Marshfield Clinic — has a relationship with the Komen Foundation. Kaiser Permanente is a “corporate campaign partner,” the University of Vermont received a research grant, the Central Wisconsin Komen affiliate sponsors programs at the Marshfield Clinic. Maybe Komen should concentrate their granting criteria on whether the recipients are actually helping cancer patients.

…But Komen can no longer claim the mantle of a respected organization. First, Komen last year hired Karen Handel, a former Georgia anti-choice gubernatorial candidate and Sarah Palin acolyte who promised as part of her platform to defund Planned Parenthood and other vital health services. Handel, who lost her race but is said to have future political ambitions, is now Senior Vice President for Policy at Komen. She was originally endorsed in her race by and received money from current GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney, with whom some sources suggest she remains closely allied. Romney, in turn, has suddently become more anti-choice than thou and has promised a federal personhood amendment as well as to defund Planned Parenthood.

Second, sitting on Komen’s Advocacy Alliance Board is Jane Abraham, the General Chairman of the virulently anti-choice and anti-science Susan B. Anthony List and of its Political Action Committee. Among other involvements, Abraham helps direct the Nuturing Network, a global network of crisis pregnancy centers, organizations widely known for spreading ideology, misinformation and lies to women facing unintended pregnancy and to use both intimidation and coercion in the course of doing so. Also on the board of Nuturing Network is Maureen Scalia, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, no hero to women’s rights and health.

That Komen—an organization ostensibly dedicated to scientific exploration of cures for breast cancer—has invited on its advocacy board women so closely allied with organizations that so blatantly ignore science and medicine and spread outright lies to other women about their health and welfare speaks volumes about Komen’s ethical principles as an organization.

While anti-choicers including those on Komen’s board are spreading lies, Komen’s steps will ensure that more women who might have been screened will now lack access to early detection and treatment and may die from breast cancer. This is in keeping with a general and patently insane approach of the anti-choice movement: Decry abortion, for example, but limit funding for contraceptive education and supplies which can prevent the unintended pregnancies that lead to abortion. Decry the plight of minority women, but make their access to care increasingly limited. Cry for the “babies,” but defund pre- and post-natal care, nutritional support, and other forms of life and health care for infants and mothers….

…Our results underscore the importance of antiretroviral therapy, and, possibly, treatment of co-infections, to reduce plasma HIV-1 viral load in HIV-1 infected partners, and condom promotion, male circumcision, and treatment of symptomatic sexually-transmitted infections for HIV-1 uninfected partners as potential interventions to reduce HIV-1 transmission….