Sexual and Reproductive Health

Mo. Attorney General to Republicans: Enough "Foolishness" on Contraception Coverage

In a scathing rebuke of conservative lawmakers, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster today called on Republicans to end their continued bickering over contraception coverage outlined in the federal Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. "The Republicans' attempt to deny contraceptive coverage to ... More >>

Catholic Bishops Slam Birth Control Ruling: "Pray for the Protection of Religious Liberty"

The Catholic bishops of Missouri are praying that the legal fight against federal health care mandates for birth control coverage is not over. "We now call upon all people of good will to pray for the protection of religious liberty and for defense of the First Amendment freedoms we all hold dear, ... More >>

Contraception: Tim Jones Still Fighting Birth Control Mandate After Ruling, Cites Free Speech

Should employers and insurers in Missouri be allowed to deny coverage of birth control if it violates their religious beliefs? A federal judge, as we reported earlier this week, ruled that they cannot be exempt -- in a decision overturning a Missouri law that directly contradicted President Barack O ... More >>

Birth Control: Court Overturns Missouri Law Allowing Moral, Religious Coverage Exemptions

Last week, we reported on a GOP proposal in Missouri that would give doctors the right not to perform procedures that go against their moral beliefs -- such as abortions. Meanwhile, a federal judge has struck down a Republican proposal with a similar theme that became law last year; this now over ... More >>

Sue Gibson, HIV Patient in Castlewood Case: Other Patients May Have Been Denied Care

The Department of Justice agreed last week that a St. Louis eating disorder clinic discriminated against an HIV-positive woman by intentionally delaying her admittance and denying her treatment. Castlewood Treatment Center for Eating Disorders has been ordered to pay a $140,000 settlement, the secon ... More >>

City of St. Louis Has 2nd Highest Rates of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in the U.S.

Just looked at the new numbers released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. There's a sliver of good news and some pretty bad news. First, the bad news. Among U.S. counties and independent cities, the city of St. Louis had the second-highest rate of both chlamydia and gonorrhea in the ... More >>

BREAKING: Birth Control Leads to Fewer Abortions. Also, Sky is Blue

Here's some absolutely shocking news for all you abstinence supporters and abortion fighters out there: Women who use birth control have fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer abortions than women who don't. Common sense might have told you that, but now it's been scientifically proven by researchers ... More >>

It's a Bug, It's a Pain, It's...Supergonorrhea!

There was much rejoicing last fall when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention released its annual report on sexually-transmitted diseases ranking the prevalence of the disease in U.S. cities and St. Louis came in at number 12. Yes, 12! All the way down from number 1 from the 2007 report. The ... More >>

IUD, Implants More Effective Birth Control Than Pill, Patch or Ring, New Study Shows

If you don't want to get knocked up unexpectedly, your best bet, according to a new study out of Washington University Medical School, is a long-term method of contraception, namely an IUD or an implant. Either one of these methods is twenty times more effective than shorter-term methods like the Pi ... More >>

MO Rep. Stacey Newman Proposes Bill to Restrict Vasectomies

​Well, well, well. The birth control debate has finally come to our swimsuit areas, gentlemen. Yesterday Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman (D-St. Louis County) filed HB1853, which would only allow a man to have a vasectomy when doing so would protect him from serious injury or prevent hi ... More >>

We're No. 2 in Chlamydia, No. 3 in Gonorrhea!

Image viaFolks, please wear more of these. ​St. Louisans are still ridin' durrty - even more than before! According to fresh stats from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, our city has retained its number-two spot in the nation for cases of chlamydia, and vaulted from twelfth to th ... More >>

Dancin' in the Streets About Birth Control, Bollywood-Style

Dancing birth control pack? Check.​By now, surely you've heard that the Department of Health and Human Services has determined that birth control is basic preventive health care and is required to be provided without a co-pay by health insurers. (You've probably also heard about the moronic compar ... More >>

Implantable Birth Control Most Effective, Wash. U. Study Finds

​The best way to prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions, a study finds, is to implant birth control into women's bodies. The Contraceptive Choice Project, which aims to enroll 10,000 women and girls in St. Louis city and county, is a project of Washington University. Participants -- more than ... More >>

Get Tested: It's National HIV Testing Day

​Today is National HIV Testing Day. Do you know your status? Are you sure?According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than a million people in the U.S. living with HIV. And even though we aren't being bombarded with prevention messages like we were when the disease ... More >>

Mobile STI Testing in The Grove This Weekend

​It can't be said enough: Sexually active people must know whether they have HIV or other sexually-transmitted infections. It's the first and most crucial step in preventing the spread of these infections and in seeking treatment when it's needed."Forty-five percent of new cases [of HIV] are from ... More >>

More Restrictions on Reproductive Health Move Forward in the House

Not if the pharmacist doesn't want you to have them.​Today in Jefferson City, Missouri representatives added language to a bill that places more hurdles in front of women seeking legal abortions, in addition to fettering their access to emergency contraception.The bill, HCS HB 28, first came befor ... More >>

Planned Parenthood President Visits for Rally to Oppose Funding Cuts

​Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to deny Planned Parenthood federal dollars in the form of Title X funds. Title X, signed into law in 1972, grants clinics money to perform cancer screenings and routine sexual health procedures on low-income women.Pro-choice forces are galvanizi ... More >>

U.S. House Voting to Defund Planned Parenthood

Rep. Mike Pence doesn't want you to have these.​As soon as today or tomorrow, members of the U.S. House of Representatives could approve bills to strip Planned Parenthood and other reproductive care centers of federal funding. Such a move would leave millions of low-income women nationwide without ... More >>

Let's Talk About Sex ... Without Bristol Palin

Without Palin, attendance was limp. ​Remember that Wash U sex panel that was supposed to feature Bristol Palin, until she bowed out in the face of protest? Well, it turns out that the students who fought for her ouster weren't exactly gung-ho about the Palin-less panel, which addressed sexual ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Former Wash. U. Student Bristles at Bristol's Invite to Sex Week

Today's comment comes in response to news that Bristol Palin will be paid thousands of dollars to speak to Washington University students about abstinence with students during the school's Sex Week. That's the same Bristol Palin, btw, who's ridden her teen pregnancy to fame and riches.  Writes ... More >>

James Davis: Alleged Child Abuser Accused of Giving 4-Year-Old Chlamydia, Gonorrhea

James Davis​A 19-year-old man stands accused of raping a 4-year-old girl and giving her the sexually transmitted diseases, chlamydia and gonorrhea. James M. Davis of East St. Louis was charged this week with first-degree statutory rape. Authorities say the teenager abused the girl during a three-m ... More >>

St. Louis: No. 2 in Chlamydia; 12th in Gonorrhea

​So, yesterday city leaders were quick to rebuke a national study ranking St. Louis as having the highest crime rate in the nation.Today, another study comes out showing St. Louis as having some of the hightest rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the nation, and city doesn't question the num ... More >>

Olean, Missouri, Goes Balls-Out for Turkey Testicles

Robin Wheeler​Olean, Missouri, is a tiny town with a lot of balls. Located near the Lake of the Ozarks (four miles northeast of Eldon off Highway 87), the village (pop. 157) will host the 17th annual Olean Testicle Festival on Saturday, June 5. The event's sponsored by the town and the Olean ... More >>

Before You Dine Out For Life, Saint Louis Effort for AIDS Wants You to Know About HIV

Image source​This Thursday, April 29, marks the seventeenth annual Dining Out For Life event where you eat at one of more than 140 local restaurants and they donate a share of the profits to Saint Louis Effort for AIDS, 25-year-old organization that provides support services to people who hav ... More >>

Local STD Club Increases Membership Despite Obvious Recruitment Challenges

​You think your organization has trouble recruiting new members? Try forming a club solely for people willing to admit they have herpes and/or genital warts. It ain't easy. "I've tried a lot of tactics," says the 29-year-old female founder of St. Louis H Club who, for the purposes of this post, we ... More >>

18 Symbols That Should Be Made "Official" in Missouri

​In Missouri, legislators didn't think it was a good idea to name a dead dog as the official state canine. On Thursday, the state House defeated a bill aimed at making "Seamen," the dog that accompanied Lewis and Clark on their trip West, the official canine in our state. As the Post-Dispatch ... More >>

Stronger Together

Good Night, Sweet Prince

Ask a Mexican: English as a Second Language: The rest of the world knows English; are a few signs for Mexicans too much to ask?

Thank God for Baltimore! St. Louis No Longer Leads Nation in Two Painful STDs

​St. Louis shares many things in common with Baltimore, Maryland. We have the same brick infrastructure, the same *&%@ed up government, the same run-away crime and -- now -- the same STD. Yesterday the Center for Disease Control published findings indicating that Baltimore has surpassed St. Lo ... More >>

Got Clap? St. Louisans Do. Chlamydia, Too!

Playas and hoes, take note: The Center for Disease Control is out with its annual report on sexually transmitted diseases. Once again St. Louis tops all other U.S. cities in the percentage of its population that came down with chlamydia and gonorrhea (right) in 2007 -- the most recent year in which ... More >>

STD-Day: The recent HIV scare at Normandy High School has prompted cries for better sex education

In Wake of Normandy High's HIV Scare, Free Testing Available

'Fight McCain, Have Sex': Free Condoms Go Quickly at Debate

An official state beer? Unreal's all over that one! Plus: We ring them bells and play CDs to our dog.

The Egg Man

Dr. Sherman Silber says he can extend a woman's fertility by decades. All he needs is an ovary and some ice.

ARK Angels

Beat Happenings

Music news you can use

The Great Imitator

The scourge of syphilis re-emerges, deadlier than before

Where Do Wolf Babies Come From?

Sometimes Mother Nature can use a little human intervention

Code Red

The bleeding won't stop. The city health director's job remains a revolving door as Dr. Hugh Stallworth is vanquished in a fierce bureaucratic battle.

AIDS Walk: A Big Deal

Take steps in the right direction with the AIDS Foundation of St. Louis

Is Avoiding Sexually Transmitted Disease a Major Concern?

Week of October 1, 2003

Vaginas, Unite!

The Vagina Monologues phenomenon finally reaches St. Louis

Ode to Joy

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens is not so much a eulogy of AIDS victims as it is a celebration of life

Unbroken Promise

A young woman raises her voice in the face of despair

Misplaced Morality

There's nothing holy about the war on family planning

WHEN PRO-LIFE MEANS MORE ABORTIONS

Letters to the Editor

Fertile Ground

Planned Parenthood seeks to require Missouri's health-insurance industry to get consistent and provide coverage for birth control