Quick & Dirty Repro Health Update
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Consensual Text is featured on Twitter and on Facebook . Fan and follow us for info on a range of topics pertaining to sex and sexual health!
There’s been a lot of repro health and birth control news lately, so we thought we’d give a quick update on what’s newly available to you.
ellaOne: An FDA advisory panel unanimously ruled this new emergency contraception (morning after pill, Plan B) drug is both safe and effective. If you haven’t been following this story you may be wondering what the big deal is and how ella is different from current EC.
The main advantage of ella is it effectively prevents pregnancy up to five days after sex. Current EC loses effectiveness after three days. It’s not always possible for women to obtain EC within that three day window (for a number of reasons), and ella will provide women with two additional days.
It’s important to point out that ella is not an abortion pill, nor will it cause a pregnant woman to have an abortion.
HPV vaccine available for males: As with girls/women, men can now get the HPV vaccine between the ages of 9 and 26. Makes sense to us—how else can you expect to eradicate a communicable disease if you’re only focusing on one half of the population?
Humor aside, the need for the HPV vaccine in men is great. Half of sexually active men in the U.S. will get HPV at some point in their life, but most won’t know it. HPV is easily transmitted and certain types of the virus can increase the risk of or cause cancer of the anus or penis in males, as well as genital warts.
No matter who you are or how old you are, talk with a health care provider to find out if the HPV vaccine could benefit you or your child.
Free birth control: Last is a super-exciting story (yes, we actually are that excited!) about health insurers possibly offering contraceptives at no extra charge soon. The word on the street is that new health plans have to offer preventive services for free to patients. Many people think birth control should fall into that category, as it’s pretty much the definition of “preventive.”
One of the main reasons for unintended pregnancies has to do with the high cost of birth control. If contraception was free, the number of unintended/unwanted pregnancies could drop significantly.
It could take up to a year for the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to make it’s decision on the subect. In the meantime, we’ll be sure to keep you posted with their progress.
Happy Friday!
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s Education Department carefully selects all weekly questions. All questions are actual inquiries made to PPNNE by college-aged students.
Do you have a question you would like to see included? Please email goddess@ppnne.org
Consensual Text is featured on Twitter and on Facebook . Fan and follow us for info on a range of topics pertaining to sex and sexual health!
There’s been a lot of repro health and birth control news lately, so we thought we’d give a quick update on what’s newly available to you.
ellaOne: An FDA advisory panel unanimously ruled this new emergency contraception (morning after pill, Plan B) drug is both safe and effective. If you haven’t been following this story you may be wondering what the big deal is and how ella is different from current EC.
The main advantage of ella is it effectively prevents pregnancy up to five days after sex. Current EC loses effectiveness after three days. It’s not always possible for women to obtain EC within that three day window (for a number of reasons), and ella will provide women with two additional days.
It’s important to point out that ella is not an abortion pill, nor will it cause a pregnant woman to have an abortion.
HPV vaccine available for males: As with girls/women, men can now get the HPV vaccine between the ages of 9 and 26. Makes sense to us—how else can you expect to eradicate a communicable disease if you’re only focusing on one half of the population?
Humor aside, the need for the HPV vaccine in men is great. Half of sexually active men in the U.S. will get HPV at some point in their life, but most won’t know it. HPV is easily transmitted and certain types of the virus can increase the risk of or cause cancer of the anus or penis in males, as well as genital warts.
No matter who you are or how old you are, talk with a health care provider to find out if the HPV vaccine could benefit you or your child.
Free birth control: Last is a super-exciting story (yes, we actually are that excited!) about health insurers possibly offering contraceptives at no extra charge soon. The word on the street is that new health plans have to offer preventive services for free to patients. Many people think birth control should fall into that category, as it’s pretty much the definition of “preventive.”
One of the main reasons for unintended pregnancies has to do with the high cost of birth control. If contraception was free, the number of unintended/unwanted pregnancies could drop significantly.
It could take up to a year for the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to make it’s decision on the subect. In the meantime, we’ll be sure to keep you posted with their progress.
Happy Friday!
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s Education Department carefully selects all weekly questions. All questions are actual inquiries made to PPNNE by college-aged students.
Do you have a question you would like to see included? Please email goddess@ppnne.org
