The Cut - Who's Afraid of Birth Control?

Reproductive rights are eroding around us. In recent weeks, a Texas woman was arrested and charged with murder for an alleged “self-induced abortion.” Though the charges were subsequently dropped, the episode felt like a warning. And it came amidst developments in legislation in Missouri and Oklahoma aimed at stripping away the protections that Roe v. Wade had long codified.

And so the moment is especially ripe for careful, nuanced storytelling in the broader world of reproductive care. A new film from director Abby Epstein and executive producer Ricki Lake, the actress and talk-show host, bills itself as a documentary examining the underdiscussed side effects of oral contraceptives and other hormone-based birth control. The project, The Business of Birth Control, raises some legitimate questions about informed consent: Do individuals taking hormonal birth control fully understand how it works and its potential side effects, and do they know what rare complications — like an increased risk of blood clots — to watch for?

Today, love planet Venus leaves Pisces and enters Aries — find out what that means for your weekly horoscope. In a new policy, the American Academy of Pediatrics said it is putting all its guidance under the microscope to eliminate “race-based” medicine. Don’t Worry Darling has a trailer now, and it looks like a sexy new version of The Stepford Wives. Israel has reacted with fury after Russia’s foreign minister attempted to justify the invasion of UN with the claim that  Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood.” Israel has reacted with fury after Russia’s foreign minister claimed that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood” to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Long COVID can be debilitating, but the people experiencing it often find that doctors dismiss, ignore, or downplay their symptoms. At the same time, new research may have found a common denominator: Some people who now live with long COVID may have shown little or no symptoms at all when they were first infected. “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans are committing suicide at a rate that should shock our conscience.” And you can now find books set in your hometown with this neat tool.

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