Meet Rep. Bob Dold, the Republican trying to save Planned Parenthood. The Illinois politician wants to keep taxpayer dollars trickling to the women’s health organization the GOP loves to hate. He’s introduced a bill that would prevent agencies and governments from denying it family-planning dollars just because it offers abortion services. 

Who is this guy, and will lawmakers approve his bill? 

Two students at the University of Washington noticed their female friends kept losing their smartphones while out on the town.

One patent and a $4,000 Kickstarter later, they bring us the JoeyBra. The push-up bra has a pouch on each side, allowing women to go without purses or pockets.

“Do you hear your armpit ringing? I believe that Taste is calling.” 

Many women may be putting too much faith in birth control pills and condoms. Nearly half of the women questioned in a new study, published in theAmerican Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, thought these methods were better at preventing pregnancy than they really are. Just how far off were they? Here, a look at misconceptions about contraceptives, by the numbers:

9 
Annual pregnancy rate for women who take birth control pills, but fail to take them every day as directed

Less than 1
Annual pregnancy rate for women who take the pill as directed

18 to 21
Annual pregnancy rate for women who use condoms

45
Percentage of women in the new study who overestimated the effectiveness of the pill and condoms

0.8 
Percentage of women using an IUD who have an unplanned pregnancy in a given year

0.05
Percentage who have an unplanned pregnancy within a year despite the use of a contraceptive implant 

6
High-end estimate, in percent, of women in the U.S. who use either an IUD or a contraceptive implant, the most effective birth-control methods

71
Percentage of the 4,144 St. Louis-area women in the study who said they would have chosen an IUD or implant if they had received adequate counseling on their options

50
Rough monthly maximum cost, in dollars, of birth control pills

800
Up-front cost, in dollars, of an IUD, which should remain effective for 10 years

400 to 800
Cost range, in dollars, for an Implanon contraceptive implant

Only 30 percent of women under 50 back Romney — down from 44 percent in mid-February — while Obama’s number with that demographic jumped from just under 50 percent to more than 60 percent.

What accounts for Romney’s “women problem”? Here, some theories:

1. The GOP’s war on contraception is killing him
   Romney’s women problem started in February, says Steve Kornacki at Salon, “when Republicans revolted against the Obama administration’s efforts to make birth control a mandatory component of health insurance coverage.” House Republicans held a “committee hearing made up entirely of male witnesses,” Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a “slut,” and top Republicans were reluctant to condemn him for it. It’s suddenly easy for Democrats to claim the GOP is “engaged in a ‘war on women,’” and Romney is paying the price.
    
2. Romney hasn’t found the right message
   If contraception is behind this, says Molly Ball at The Atlantic, why does Romney’s main GOP rival, hardline social conservative Rick Santorum, do better among swing-state women than Romney? Maybe the real problem is that “Romney’s economic message is leaving women cold.” Mitt has been deploying his “charming wife Ann to do women’s outreach; her pitch revolves around how concerned women are about the deficit.” But the swing-state poll found that women’s No. 1 concern is health care — the deficit is fourth. If Romney hopes to make inroads, he’ll have to find a better message.
    
3. He just doesn’t get women
   When Romney needs to counter Democrats’ claims that the GOP is at war with women, Romney relies on Ann to make his defense, says Amy Davidson at New Yorker. “It is a symptom of Romney’s women problem that he thinks his wife might be an answer to his women problem.” Apparently, Romney imagines “the electorate as a cocktail party or a company barbecue, where his wife can be relied on to talk to the spouses and then report back to him.” Really, Mitt, “you don’t need to be a woman to listen” to women.
    
4. It’s a reflection of Romney’s lackluster support overall
   Romney was always fighting an uphill battle with women, says William McGurn in The Wall Street Journal. After all, Obama won handily among women in 2008. And yet, Romney’s women problem is symptomatic of a larger issue: “His inability to generate much excitement among women appears related to a general inability to generate much excitement among anyone.”

(Source: theweek.com)

The burning birth-control controversies boil down to two seemingly simple questions: How much does contraception cost, and who should pay for it? As the hubbub over Rush Limbaugh and his advertisers rages on, here’s a look at some numbers that factor into the true cost of contraception:

$9 → Monthly cost of some brand-name versions of the pill ($108 a year)

6.7 million → Pregnancies in the U.S. each year

3.2 million → Unintended pregnancies in the U.S. each year

$11.1 billion → Public funds spent on the births of unintended babies in 2006

$7 billion → Amount Medicaid and other government programs saved in 2008 by investing $1.9 billion in family planning centers

99 → Percent of women age 15-44 who’ve had sex and used contraception at some point

More numbers

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we’d like to hear your stories about strong, inspirational women. We’ll pull your stories together and share them with our readers. Answer here, or tweet your response to @TheWeek using #StrongWomen.

So, who is the most inspiring woman you know, and why? What has she done that makes you look up to her? What kind of difficulties has she overcome? And what more can we do to bring equal rights to women around the world?

Today the feds decided not to scrap regulations that require young teens to obtain a prescription before purchasing the Plan B emergency contraceptive pill.

Currently, the contraceptive is available without a prescription to women 17 and older. Younger teens require a doctor’s note. The drug’s manufacturer, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and many women’s health advocates have been arguing that Plan B should be available in drugstore aisles, alongside condoms and the like, and be as easy to purchase as aspirin. Obviously, this has sparked a whole new round of arguments.

npr:

Many Women Underestimate Fertility Clock’s Clang

A new survey finds many women dramatically underestimate how much fertility declines with age.

Photo courtesy of Kate Donnellon Nail