True confession time. During my pregnancy, I purchased and read just about every book available on how to be prepared for a newborn. From The Happiest Baby on the Block to The Baby Whisperer to the official publications of the American Academy of Pediatrics, I read them all. What I didn't find were books on how to what to expect or how to take care of myself after the baby was born. And even as an Ob/Gyn, I was shocked at how ill prepared I was for the "4th trimester". As dis

As part of their ongoing investigation into the maternal health crisis in the US called "Lost Mothers", ProPublica posted a thought-provoking article "If you hemorrhage, don't clean up: Advice from Mothers Who Almost Died." They received stories from 3100 women after their initial article in this series was published. These stories further demonstrate the lack of priority we place on the health of women during and after childbirth. Highly recommended read for all women and th

Photo credit: K Culwell, 2013. Family Planning counselor in Ethiopia. The Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, and now by the new ironic name, "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance" has been been in and out of effect since it was first signed by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Each Democratic president repeals it and each Republican president re-instates it. The rule prevents any US-government global health funds (previously limited only to family planning fun