[Update: Two additions below.]

News

• Fordham Law Students’ Birth Control Clinic 
• Fordham Students Hold Birth Control Clinic (Catholic Culture)
• Students Protest Anti-Birth Control Policy (Jezebel–elch, but a decent news treatment)
• Fordham Law Students Accuse School of Misleading Birth Control Policy (Fox News)
• Google News Search on Fordham Law Student Story
• Prostate Cancer May Be Linked to Birth Control Pills in Water Supply
• Video (FoxNews)
• British Medical Journal Abstract
• Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines Change
• Daughter to Receive Transplant of Mother’s Womb (BioEdge)
• Meteorologist Speaks Out Against Dangers of Birth Control & DVT
• Meteorologist Jennifer Reeves

Commentary/ Editorial

• Bayer Corporation are Bastards–an update on the latest Yaz drama, with good research by Marc at Patheos
• Fordham Law Students’ Health Clinic a Success, But University Still Refuses to Divulge Health Care Policies (RH Reality Check)
• Motherhood at a Price–the cost of IVF for the health of women & children (ZENIT)
• The Strange World of Assisted Reproductive Technology–Moral Theologian Pia de Solenni summarizes the quandary of ART

Of Interest

• HOMO FABER AND/OR HOMO ADORANS: ON THE PLACE OF HUMAN MAKING IN A SACRAMENTAL COSMOS–by Michael Hanby (Communio)
• This is My Body–a reflection on motherhood (Catholicmom.com)
• Being Pregnant with Grace (Art of NFP Blog)
• Be Prepared–an engaged cafeteria Catholic discovers NFP (stop by to comment!)
• My Wife, My Best Friend (fellas–for you)
• Why You Should Listen to the Church’s Teaching on Contraception (Marc at Patheos)

Okay, with the drospirenone study & the FDA finally raising a flag for a chance (see first article in the list), the world population hitting 7 Billion Monday, as well as me finally checking my old bookmarks and Google Alerts–there’s a lot here to read. Pick a few to start with. And by all means, comment away (especially on the secular web sites!).

News

• Study Links New Birth Control Pill to Blood Clots & Strokes (NPR Health Blog)
• Welcome Baby Seven Billion--an initiative of the World Youth Alliance
• Ovarian Tumors May Develop Years After IVF Treatment (USA Today Health)

News Commentary

• The Grass is Just as Complicated on the Other Side by Simcha Fisher–commentary on NFP struggles
• World Contraception Day: Empowering Whom? [I think it's 'who', but whatever] by Arland Nichols at the Ruth Institute Blog
• The Catholic Church’s Best Kept Secret–One Husband’s Thoughts
• Why the Pill is a Problem by Kristan Doerfle
• No Exceptions with Contraception–Thank God! by Jennifer Fulwiler, wonderful reflection on the no exceptions for contraception teaching by the Catholic Church, and encouragement by someone who’s lived this difficult teaching in a health-crisis

Misc.

• 10 Ways to Tell if a Product Is (or isn’t) Really Natural (er…HuffPo)
• Who You Callin’ a Slut? Commentary on the ‘Slut Walks’ at About-Face, a feminist non-profit promoting positive body image

If NFP is the natural and supernatural in family planning, then IVF is the opposite of that, the bastard child of modern science and the avaricious attitude that one is owed a child. But, sadly enough, not enough people know about it–scientifically or morally–and most people who struggle with infertility have no idea that there are IVF alternatives out there.

I know two out of the four presenters for this years Catholic United for Life Conference in Cody (from my work in the Diocese of Madison), but trust me–all four are all stars of the Catholic speaking and Pro Life activist circuit.

For many people the term “Pro Life” means simply the fight to end abortion, but this year’s conference theme, “Making Sense of In Vitro Fertilization & Embryonic Stem Cell Research” drives home the point that Pro Life fights for human dignity on all fronts from conception to natural death, regardless of disability or ability.

Did you know that currently there are 800, 000+ conceived children, “unwanted” byproducts of IVF procedures, simply frozen and waiting to be destroyed? What happens to them? Why were they “made” in the first place? If you’ve wondered what the big deal about IVF or Stem Cell Research is all about, come hear this nationally and internationally renowned line up make the case. Plus, you’ll get to connect with fellow lovers of life as well!

If you’ve not seen the poster/ brochure locally, here it is. Admittedly, I should have done this blog post sooner, but if you really want to come to this conference, they can still make room (although you might have to brown bag it for lunch). Bottom Line: RSVP to Symona ASAP: 307-754-1026. You’ll thank yourself. See you there.

One More Soul's New Logo

Number five in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective NFP Promoters is Creative Presence, which includes an updated and effective web site that utilizes pictures and other media well. Here are a couple of my favorite web sites, including One More Soul’s newly updated web site, a priority of new Exec Director, Jenn Giroux (interview forthcoming). They’ve got a new logo, a slide show of their featured posts, persons and events, and an overall new setup.

One of those fertility-friendly web sites that’s gone through a redux is FertilityCare Centers of America. Well done, FertilityCare Centers!

They’ve harnessed the power of video and YouTube. They’ve kept the text simple, bulleted and readable (as opposed to their sister site of the Pope Paul VI Institute which is text heavy–8 point Times New Roman is not recommended–and virtually image and click-through free). Their color palette is cool, which is relaxing and lends itself I think to a medical feel, affirming their clinical setting. They offered simple and persuasive testimonials, links and very practical information on the p in obtaining insurance codes for natural family planning and fertility treatment through natural family planning.

The only thing I think they could add is a Facebook fan page (there are some hard-core FC fans out there!), an Amazon.com or One More Soul link to purchase their amazing testimonial book “Women Healed.” But it’s a great step in the right direction!

One of my other favorites is New Jersey NFP Association (NJNFP), founded by Damon & Melanie Owens. It’s clean, simple, uses effective and modern NFP terminology, and is organized well. They only thing that they could use is perhaps some embedded video promoting NFP. Damon’s a well known Theology of the Body speaker, so I imagine he’s got some video coverage somewhere! Keep it up Owens’!

From a Catholic Diocesan office point of view, Chicago’s NFP Office got one of the best–if not THE best–NFP sites out there. It’s got a similar color pallette as NJNFP, which gives it a warm glow and comfortable feel. They have a simple but good use of Flash in their header and left sidebar.  My only criticism might be that NFP is generally listed in the engaged area, which sort of makes the assumption that there’s not pastoral need to promote NFP to married couples. Since 90% of Catholic married couples are contracepting, I might make NFP more prominent in their “Marriage Resources” page. Overall, they just have a lot going on over in Chicago, so there’s plenty of coverage of their programs.

Part two of the FertilityCare piece on Infertilty and alternatives to IVF.

A great new video from the new web site of FertilityCare Centers of America. News Flash: There are alternatives to IVF!

I met a firebrand New Yorker at last year’s ENDOW Conference in Denver. Joan is the co-foundress of the John Paul II Center for Women in Manhattan. [It's now called Gianna Care with St. Peter's Hospital.] The John Paul II Center,

is an organization dedicated to advocating a deep understanding of the dignity of women, the meaning of human sexuality, and the nature of human relationships as expressed in the teachings of the Catholic Church. As part of this mission, it is committed to promoting natural family planning, pro-life reproductive health care, and pro-life medical ethics.

They recently reported on their blog [no longer in use--contact the Gianna Center for more info] their starting an online Infertility Discussion Group:

Finally, we have also started an outreach for pro-life and Catholic women struggling with infertility. This is an email listserv (a “Google Group”) called “Prolife Catholic Infertility.”

We created this in response to requests from Catholic and pro-life women from around the country for a common place to discuss those issues which pro-life women uniquely struggle with as they seek treatment for infertility.

What treatments are available? Which destroy embryos? What does the Catholic Church say about the various alternatives? Where can I turn for help?

Few have been the resources available to you – and many of you have expressed a sense of feeling abandoned by medicine if you do not want to go through with IVF or other artificial reproductive technologies.
At the JPII Center, we hope to eventually create an online resource where you can go to find answers to the common questions about infertility treatment, pro-life alternatives, ethical decision-making, and where you can go for help and support.

This will take some time. In the meantime, we have created this online email discussion group to allow you to network and dialogue with each other about the issues you are dealing with – many of you have already sought and found answers to these common questions and this group allows you to share these answers with others. It is a “closed” group, so only those people I add to the list will have access to the discussions in order to create a “safe space” for you to share your real concerns and questions.We are a Catholic organization, but any woman struggling with infertility who is looking for pro-life alternatives in infertility treatment is welcome to join, regardless of her faith tradition or beliefs.To be added to the list, please email me directly at amielnik@jpiicenterforwomen.org. I need only your name and email address and a brief description of why you are interested in the listserv.

I’m so glad they’ve jumped on the new media/ online discussion train. While one always needs to be prudent about online memberships and discussions, they can also be of enormous help, as it seems with the NFP Facebook group, which is quite active. It’s commonplace for women to travel from Europe, Australia and all over the North America to travel to Omaha just to get their NaProTechnology consultation and treatment, so until we can have NaPro consultants in every parish and surgeons in every metropolitan area, online discussion forums must serve as a place for research and connection.

I only pray that more and more people will train as FertilityCare practitioners, medical consultants and especially as NaProTechnology surgeons. Could you be called to teach NFP or be an NFP-only health professional? Consider it, for the need is great.

Pray for the JP II Center for Women and their mission!

I nixed the Teens and Birth Control show on the FertilityCare iPod queue because it was more moral and cultural commentary than about diagnosing young women’s menstrual issues. It was a good show, and a little insightful into the average teen-and-mother/ doctor experience; i.e., what the doctor says when prescribing versus what he really things, and the general lack of knowledge into women’s wellness. What it comes down to is that typical Ob/Gyns are not prepared to identify, diagnose and treat girls’ or womens’ wellness issues without the Pill. There’s a lot of reasons for this–lack of education, contraceptive bias, pharma kickbacks for prescribing the Pill, etc.–but in the end, the Pill serves as a band aid over the underlying issue, which may persist for years and cause problems down the line. However, I was looking for more of the medical/ fertility commentary on that issue.

Which brings me to the next episode I’d like to feature: Women Healed: Infertility. In this episode Dr. Hilgers talks about FertilityCare vs. IVF, and why FertilityCare blows IVF out of the water, not only for helping people conceive, but also for treating their fertility issues. His years of research and medical practice developed into something called NaProTechnology, or Natural Procreative Technology. It’s a major breakthrough for reproductive science, offering real solutions to some real issues:

• Infertility
• Menstrual Cramps
• Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
• Ovarian Cysts
• Irregular or abnormal bleeding
• Polycystic ovarian disease
• Repetitive miscarriage
• Postpartum depression
• Prematurity prevention
• Hormonal abnormalities

…and so on.

It’s really quite astounding once one looks into NaProTechnology, which is a fertility-based women’s care, not fertility-control, or fertility-suppression methods. It works with your whole body because fertility is a state of wellness, not a disease to treat. Dr. Hilgers has put together a book of the same title of this post, which you can find here. Are you ready to find out more about being healed?