“Religion, conservatism, and teen pregnancy - San Francisco Examiner” plus 4 more

Religion, conservatism, and teen pregnancy - San Francisco Examiner
Oh Baby! Padma Lakshmi Miracle - Plus a Rare Superfetation Pregnancy - National Ledger
Center Township twins, conceived by in vitro fertilization, are all ... - Beaver County Times
Desperate Housewives: Preview of Episode 6.2 "Being Alive"d - Buddytv.com
More protesters expected outside Woodbridge abortion clinic during 40 ... - MyCentralJersey.com

Religion, conservatism, and teen pregnancy - San Francisco Examiner

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 02:32 PM PDT

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I recently became aware of a study that is coming out through the periodical Reproductive Health that analyzed correlations between religiosity and teen pregnancy. The abstract can be found here - the full pdf is still in production according to the abstract.

What the study concludes is that there is a correlation between religiosity and teen pregnancy - that is, states with higher levels of self-reported religiosity have higher rates of teen pregnancy.

One doesn't have to watch the news that often to hear something about the debate around sex education in our culture. George W. Bush was a big fan of "abstinence only" sex education for teens, and under his administration abstinence-only programs got the lion's share of funding. This abstinence-only focus was fueled by conservative religious groups in the U.S., who often express the fear that actually teaching teens about sex will result in them having more of it.

I have yet to see any kind of study which demonstrates that this is any more than an irrational fear, but I'm willing to even accept that it might be the case. Giving teens accurate information about sex is the only way to let them make informed decisions about sex, and some of those decisions will be affirmative. I imagine that misinforming teens, withholding information, and using scare tactics might keep some of them celibate.

The problem that this study demonstrates, however, is that for those who do choose to become sexually active (the rate seems to hover around 50% or a little less from what I've read), they will tend to be uninformed and to therefore make some bad choices that otherwise could have been avoided.

What is interesting about the study is that it purportedly finds that there is not nearly as strong a correlation between liberal religiosity and teen pregnancy.

So it is possible to have your Jesus and your sexually responsible teenagers too. That's an encouraging thought.

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Oh Baby! Padma Lakshmi Miracle - Plus a Rare Superfetation Pregnancy - National Ledger

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 10:00 AM PDT

The NBC Today Show had Julia Grovenburg on this week with her husband and she is pregnant with two babies - that are not twins. That is described as a "a rare superfetation pregnancy" by Jess Snow and he notes in a report that some medical officials believe they "conceived their second baby, son Hudson, a full two-and-a-half weeks after their first conceived, daughter Jillian."

Snow has more here on the happy news for the couple. Another stunning pregnancy, this one is "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi and she has revealed she is expecting her first child after suffering from endometriosis.

Lakshmi, 39, has not revealed the father of the baby but reports have said it could be Manu Nathan. However, her rep denies the claim. Her rep said to Usmagazine.com: "Model, author and Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi confirms that she is carrying her first child after years of struggling with endometriosis, a cause for which she has co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America.

"As a result of her condition, this pregnancy has been referred to by her physician as nothing short of a medical miracle. Due to its delicate nature, we ask/implore the press to respect Ms Laksmi's privacy at this time."

Lakshmi split from her novelist husband Salman Rushdie in 2007 after three years of marriage.

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Center Township twins, conceived by in vitro fertilization, are all ... - Beaver County Times

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 08:23 PM PDT

CENTER TWP. — Eighteen springs ago, Doug and Cindy Blackburn traded in their 1988 Mercury Cougar to help pay for an iffy ride toward parenthood.

The Center Township couple believed that the reproductive specialists at Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh would work wonders and give them what they wanted most — a baby of their own — via a fairly new and unrefined program called in vitro fertilization.

Back then, in vitro fertilization was a tug-at-your-heart and -purse strings route that promised infertile couples nothing, but offered hope.

The price tag per cycle hovered around $8,000, a fee few insurance companies covered.

The medical odds were against them: Only one in five in vitro attempts resulted in a pregnancy in the early 1990s.

But the Blackburns beat the odds, and since Dec. 5, 1991, the couple has been on the ride of their lifetimes as parents of twin daughters, Katelyn and Leah.

At 17, the Center Area High School seniors are now driving a Pontiac Sunfire, courtesy of their father's recent trade-in of an all-terrain vehicle.

The 5-foot-tall Leah likes to drive and doesn't hesitate to tell Katie or anyone else how she feels about anything. The 5-foot, 6-inch Katie is laid back and likely to lean on headstrong Leah, their parents said. They are each other's best friend.

Yes, the twins said, they are aware of their parents' concerted efforts to have them. Cindy had two young sons, Jimmy and Joey Fayad, from a previous marriage and wanted Doug to know the joy of raising a child. In 1987, she underwent fallopian tube reversal surgery and weathered a miscarriage and two ectopic pregnancies before the couple decided to take the in vitro path.

The twins were surprised when they heard about the physical toll the pregnancy had on their mom: the daily deep-muscle injections with an inch-long needle their dad gave during her in vitro cycle; three months of bed rest after a miscarriage scare; and a 60-pound weight gain.

And they're apt, they said, to tell friends where they came from when "Are you twins?" questions arise.

"We're miracle babies," Katie and Leah chimed, and then giggled at how often they say the same thing at the same time with the same lilt.

"I hate when we do that," Leah said.

Three more times during the next hour, they did the same thing.

They have fun with the fact that their first hours together began in a warmed Petri dish in a hospital laboratory. Their tale begins with a statement to inquisitors.

Leah will offer the bait. "Did you know that there are two more of us out there in the world somewhere?"

"No way! Why?" is the response. They present details, in teen terms.

"They took my dad's stuff, my mom's stuff and they put it in a little dish and waited to see if anything happened," Leah explained.

What happened was that their mother's eggs and their father's sperm were combined and, in the dish, fertilized into eight embryos.

A doctor transferred four microscopic embryos into Cindy Blackburn's uterus and froze the remaining four. Five years later, the Blackburns, content with the family they had, decided to donate the frozen embryos, hopeful, Cindy said, that another infertile couple might have their good fortune.

So the twins might have two more siblings somewhere out there,

"We always think about that," Katie said.

One day, perhaps, someone will knock on the Blackburns' door and introduce themselves, Cindy said.

That's unlikely, because the confidentiality of embryo donations is guarded in the assisted-reproduction field.

Cindy believes that could change. "They used to say that years ago about adoption, and now you can find out anything about your birth parents."

What the Blackburns knew then and more so now is how lucky they were.

In July 1978, the first "test-tube" baby, a girl named Louise Brown, was born in Great Britain with fanfare and ethical debate. By 1991, in vitro fertilization was the medical option offered to infertile couples who had exhausted medications and surgical procedures. The procedure was past infancy but carried no guarantee.

In 2009, it still doesn't, said Etta Volk, the project manager and an embryologist at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC.

But the in vitro route is better paved, and more couples drive home with a baby in the back seat.

In 1992 at Magee, about one of five in vitro cycles — between 17 and 25 percent — resulted in a pregnancy. In 2008, between 48 and 56 percent resulted in pregnancy, Volk said. Once pregnant, then and now, chances are about 80 percent that the pregnancy will carry to full term.

Volk attributes the changes to improved laboratory conditions, newer medications and advancements in in vitro fertilization and other procedures such as egg donation.

Specifically, embryos, she said, do better because the fluid they're placed in is similar in pH and nutrients to the uterus, and quality-control measures in the incubator are more accurate. Drug companies have developed synthetic fertility drugs that can be injected beneath the skin, not deep into the muscles. The catheters used in the transfer are more pliant. Doctors use ultrasound as guidance in embryo transfer.

"With all the advancements, not only have we increased the pregnancy rate and the live birth rate, but we have decreased multiple rates," Volk said.

In the early 1990s, doctors would transfer three, four or five embryos into the uterus, which could have resulted in triplets or more. Two embryos is now the norm, she said.

"Triplets or quadruplets are not always good for the babies or the mothers carrying them," Volk said.

Twins have been just fine with the Blackburns. They are as girly as girls can be, their mom said. Doug is "cheer dad," having driven and watched his daughters enjoy 11 years of cheerleading. Katie borrows Leah's clothes without asking, which irks Leah.

They share shampoo and hairspray and the desire to become nurses.

Next fall, they'll probably attend different colleges. Leah wants to experience the dorm life. Katie prefers staying close to home. The Blackburns made their last monthly payment on the $10,000 in vitro bill when the girls were 8 or 9 years old. Tuition payments await.

Their parenting ride has gone too fast, the Blackburns said. It hasn't been without heartache.

In October 2000, Cindy's 21-year-old son, Joey, was killed in a car accident in Virginia. They'd always known how lucky they were to have their daughters. That's when the Blackburns knew how blessed they were, what gifts God had given them.

"If it wasn't for them, I don't where we'd be," Doug said.

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Desperate Housewives: Preview of Episode 6.2 "Being Alive"d - Buddytv.com

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 07:40 PM PDT

On tonight's episode of Desperate Housewives, we follow up on what happens after Julie, who was back home for her mom's wedding, was viciously attacked in the dying seconds of last week's kick-off. The citizens of Fairview try to make sense of the recent attack, and it sheds light to the new family the Bolens when the neighbors start pointing their fingers at them. Another unexpected pregnancy, meanwhile, jeopardizes Julie's condition. Angie Bolen, though, is determined to protect her son and her family's past. Remember that scar?

Elsewhere on "Being Alive" Lynette withholds a secret from Susan (maybe the pregnancy, don't they know already?), Gaby gives niece Ana advice on how to get a guy's attention, while Bree is understandably worried that her now full-blown affair with Karl will affect her friendship with Susan. Finally, Roy and Karen move their relationship forward - and we all know what the next big step is. Yes, that's exactly it, whatever you're thinking.

On last week's Desperate Housewives season 6 premiere, all seemed normal (Bree's having an affair, Katherine tried crashing Susan and Mike's wedding, Lynette is not fond of her unborn twins, and Gaby is being motherly, kind of), when right at the end of the episode, the young Bolen strangled Julie and left her for dead. This family has secrets all right, but right now it's still not clear what it is.

Among the highlights of the episode was the wedding of Mike to - Susan. Everything was peachy when Katherine showed up, not exactly to wish the happy couple well. Eventually, reconciliation between Susan and Katherine seemed to be afoot, when we learned that good old Katherine wasn't really keen on anything reconciliatory. Gaby had to go to a club, bribe a DJ, and wait for her niece to be bodysurfed against her will to the stage. Lynette, finally, had to deal with her unwanted pregnancy. I expect some serious drama here.

Catch Desperate Housewives tonight on ABC.

- Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: ABC
(Image courtesy of ABC)

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More protesters expected outside Woodbridge abortion clinic during 40 ... - MyCentralJersey.com

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 08:58 PM PDT

WOODBRIDGE — If it were not for the men and women standing every morning in front of 228 Main St., you might not know the two-story Victorian house is a clinic that performs surgical abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy.

Anywhere between two to a dozen picketers are at the American Women's Services clinic Monday through Saturday, as early as 9 a.m. and as late as 7 p.m., carrying prayer beads, large crosses and signs that say, "Choose life Let your baby live" and "Save our babies End adoption."

Motorists will be seeing a lot of more these protestors this month as the international pro-life organization 40 Days For Life holds its 40-day, 24-hour vigil in front of the clinic from Sept. 26 to Nov. 1.

"It's hard to say whether we'll have 24-hour coverage but we certainly encourage people to attend when they can," said 40 Days organizer JoAnn Gerling of New Brunswick.

"We will try to direct women not to have an abortion, not to go into the clinic, and point out that . . . women do regret abortions but women don't regret the child that they have," Gerling said.

"Another good reason for praying is that the public sees us out there," she added. "A year or 10 years later they may remember people praying in front of the abortion clinic and that may change their mind."

And that, clinic manager Sabina Vasquez said, is what's happening.

"(The women) are embarrassed by them," she said. "One woman who was just here said she was very uncomfortable that the guy was shouting at her. To a lot of patients it changed their mind right away and they they never come back. It happens a lot."

The picketers' determination is buttressed by a federal court judge who knocked down the township's protest permit ordinance in 2005, and by their faith. Many of them are Catholic, although an organizer, Father Van Hager, said "everyone is open to pray respectfully regardless of their differences in faith."

Hager said they're there to save mothers from the physical and psychological dangers of abortions and their unborn babies from death.