Recent news (and stay tuned for future postings)

I am happy to be back after an unexpected hiatus during the month of August. Several recent stories are worth notice (and regrettably, I let a few pass by). A new study has found that Cesarean births triple the risk of maternal and infant death due to surgery-related complications. In an interesting follow-up to the recent push by the government and the medical establishment to promote exclusive breastfeeding, a New York Times article chronicles the vast differences in the opportunities and resources available to women in the workforce in order to pump their breast milk. It will come as no surprise that women in higher-income jobs have an easier time doing so (though I would venture to say, for many it is still far from ideal), whereas women in lower-income jobs face many more obstacles and are often forced to quit. Which brings us back to the same issue: rather than using guilt to promote guidelines, why not make sure that women, all women, have the support they need to succesfully breastfeed? Finally, over the last ten days Slate magazine has published two interesting articles, the first one on the sudden spike in the price of birth-control pills faced by thousands of family planning clinics in the United States, and the second one on the just-as-sudden price roll-back. I'll be back with more...