by Michelle Denise Jackson

On June 30th, 2014, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby and other businesses whose owners had deeply-held religious beliefs could refuse to pay for certain types of birth control for female employees who had the company’s health insurance plan. Hobby Lobby’s reasoning being certain types of birth control methods, like the IUD and Plan B, prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman’s uterus. Without implantation, the fertilized egg is expelled from the woman’s body, and they view this as abortion. This is scientifically and medically incorrect. Hormonal IUDs and emergency contraception work the same way as other hormonal birth control methods: preventing an egg from being released from the ovaries; thickening cervical mucus to make it harder for sperm to travel through the uterus to fertilize an egg; and thinning the uterine lining. And while thinning of the lining does make it more difficult for a fertilized egg to implant, a fertilized egg is not yet a baby. It is not even an embryo or fetus.

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dismantles some long held myths about teen sexuality. The birthrate for teens in the United States hit an all-time low in 2013.

The government agency reports 277,749 babies were born in 2013 to mothers who were under the age of 20. That is the lowest number recorded since the CDC began collecting birthrate data in 1940.

Birth control: it was a subject in my house that I knew would cause me strife if I ever dared to ask for a prescription. A trip to the gynecologist? That was out of the question as well.

Last week a federal judge ordered that the emergency contraception pill Plan B should be available over-the-counter to young women as young as 15 years old. While reproductive rights advocates and women's health groups praised the decision, but on Wednesday the Department of Justice filed notice that it will challenge the ruling in court.

The Federal Drug Administration (F.D.A.) recommended lowering the age limit on purchase of Plan B One-Step from 17 with valid ID to 15. FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said in an agency news release, "Research has shown that access to emergency contraceptive products has the potential to further decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies in the United States."

I had a conversation with a friend of mine from college today that both perplexed and perturbed me. My friend, a Black man in his mid-twenties, and I were talking about a girl that he was considering dating. His only trepidation came from knowing that the young lady (24 years old herself) had a child already. He then went on to say to me that he felt good about himself because he “has done a good job so far of not being trapped or having any little surprises show up”. When asked to elaborate on that statement, my friend stated that he “had done well to choose women who would take care of ‘all that’ if it came down to it, and who always made sure to be on the Pill,” so he didn’t have to worry about it.