Although some have claimed that threats are "up 400%," Sullivan denies that there has been much of an increase at all. "I'm not sure where that number comes from," he said. • Congressman Bennie Thompson, the House Homeland Security Committee Chairman, says his staff is preparing to subpoena the Salahis to testify as to how they crashed the White House State Dinner. He added that he will not subpoena White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers because her testimony isn't worth "engaging in a protracted legal battle with the White House." • Anthony Sowell, who was accused of the murder of 11 women in Ohio, entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity today. Sowell has been charged with an 85-count indictment, for crimes including rape, murder, assault and corpse abuse. If convicted, he could be given the death penalty. •  French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo has announced plans to retire. "I don't want to train anymore," said the 2006 Wimbledon title winner. "When you grow older, it's more difficult to stay at the top. It's a bit sad but this is the right decision." •  The Optimum Population Trust has determined that contraception is the cheapest way to help the environment, much cheaper than, say, planting trees of investing in wind power. The group has created a website that accepts donations to help pay for family planning services. •  This story, about a team of soccer-playing grannies from South Africa, will seriously brighten your day. The group of 40 older ladies has been playing since 2006, when cancer survivor Beka Ntsanwisi saw a group of women waiting for treatment, and decided that they needed somewhere to go for both exercise and companionship. Since 2006, several other teams have been set up, and they all compete in a league called the Top Eight. • The Berhane Hewan or "Light of Eve" program funded by the U.N. and Nike Foundation educates about 10,000 women and girls in Ethiopia in hopes of preventing child marriage. The program holds meetings for whole villages to discuss why child marriages hurts girls and gives families a pregnant ewe each time a daughter completes two years of school to offset the poverty that drives parents to marry off their daughters. • Sarah Palin received a special award from College of the Ozarks, a small Bible school in Missouri that goes by the slogan "Hard Work U." (strangely, this was a great favorite of my high school guidance counselor). They gave her the first ever "Great American Award." The press release reveals she got the award for being super patriotic: "Patriotism is one of the important goals of the College." •

The actual number of abortions in China is probably higher than 13 million, because the official count doesn't include abortions induced by the pill RU-486, or performed in unregistered clinics. 62% of those who sought abortions were women in their 20s, and most were single. Reuters reports that single mothers can't get household registration cards for their children in China, making it difficult for the kids to get education and health care. And, as is well-known, China's one-child policy also contributes to the high incidence of abortion.

But why the increase since 2003? One gynecologist, Yu Dongyan, blames an increased acceptance of sex without a corresponding increase in sex education. Yu says, "Sex is no longer considered taboo among young people today, and they believe they can learn everything they need from the Internet. But it doesn't mean they've developed a proper understanding or attitude toward it." China Daily reports that more than 70% of callers to a pregnancy hotline knew little or nothing about contraception, and less than 30% knew that HIV could be transmitted sexually.

Unfortunately, young people in China are likely to get less information, not more. Teaching sex ed in schools is difficult because some teachers and parents believe it will encourage students to have sex (sound familiar?). And starting this month, Web users will be banned from accessing sites about sexual health, as part of a crackdown on pornography. Though its widespread acceptance of abortion makes it different from America (the procedure has been legal in China since 1953), China's tight-lipped attitude toward sex is reminiscent of Bush-era abstinence-only policies. And we know how well those turned out.

Abortions Surge In China; Officials Cite Poor Sex Education [NYT]
13 Million Abortions In China Each Year: Report [Reuters]
China Concerned About Abortions [BBC]
13 Million Abortions Carried Out Every Year In China, Newspaper Reveals [Guardian]

ACCESS, an Oakland-based women's health organization, says 72% of women who call want information about abortion, up from 60% last year. Most of these women aren't the stereotypical single girls who need to get back to their carefree lives, but rather women with families who "are really having to make thoughtful decisions whether now is the right time to get pregnant or not," says ACCESS executive director Destiny Lopez. She also says, "we are seeing women who have children, who in another economy would probably have their second or third child, but now can't because they feel so insecure about maintaining their job or losing a job."

Women are also turning to other options besides abortion. A Chicago adoption agency has seen a 30 percent rise in pregnant women asking about adoption. "We've seen a dramatic increase in girls calling us from the hospital," concurs Joseph Sica, of a Florida-based adoption group. And one in five women is more conscientious about birth control now, with many seeking longer-term methods like IUDs.

The saddest part of this news, though, is the stories of women who are forced by economic concerns to consider abortion — and then can't even afford that. Lopez describes a woman who sought an abortion in her first trimester, but found her insurance wouldn't cover it. She tried to enroll in Medi-Cal, California's insurance program for the poor, but the program made her wait five weeks, at which point "she felt it was too late to personally go through with it." Lopez has helped the woman file a complaint with Medi-Cal about the delay. She says, "This is a really good example of the barriers that are put in front of women who are trying to make responsible decisions early on. It's not like women are making these decisions at the drop of a hat. They are considering their life situations." Better health insurance for everyone would improve these life situations — and lessen the need for such heart-wrenching decisions.

Women's Clinics See Rise In Calls And Visits [LA Times]
Inquiries About Adoption, Abortion OnRise [UPI.com]

• Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned and raped his daughter for 24 years in his basement, has been declared clinically sane, according to an Austrian psychiatric report to be presented when he comes to trial sometime next year. • Honor Blackman, the actress who played Pussy Galore in the film Goldfinger, says that her Bond girl was "no bimbo" but a "career woman" who fell in love with Bond. • Are you prone to shedding tears on your pillow? Now there's a pillow that is specially designed for bedtime-weepers. • Two Icelandic women have been put in charge of two nationalized banks that helped push Iceland's economy to the edge of bankruptcy. • A 24-year-old Australian woman who hid in her lover's house 10 years ago for 5 years and led her family to believe she was dead has recently married the man who helped hide her. • A new exercise program is being developed by researchers to reduce knee injury in the anterior cruciate ligament in women, which often sidelines female athletes. • A Florida grand jury issued a sealed murder indictment today in the murder of missing 3-year-old Caylee Anthony. • A 68-year-old former cross-country champion ran after and caught a 15-year-old boy who stole her handbag in England. • Some young Muslim women in Turkey are rebelling against against the secular Turkish state, which forces them to drop out of college if they wear headscarves. • Actress Maggie Quigley (or Maggie Q) describes the stereotypes in Hollywood about Asians and the difficulty she has in Hollywood due to her biracial background. • The California Association of Clerks and Election Officials wants to delay the change on marriage licenses from "Party A" and "Party B" to a "bride" and "groom" which is supposed to go into effect on November 17 since the clerks are currently overloaded with Election paperwork. •

They took away some of the off-putting marketing messages, replacing this kinda militant line about the right to "reproductive self-determination" from their Mission Statement and replacing it with something about how they want to "leverage strength through our affiliated structure to be the nation's most trusted provider of sexual and reproductive health care" that sounds like it was generated by a corporate Mission Statement algorithm. In many markets a third or more of the clients even have health insurance!

One thing that isn't mentioned in the piece is the uptick in "medical" or pill abortions, which generally cost as much as surgical abortions but have got to be wayyy more profitable...in fact, I'm sure they're probably considered the "cash cow" of the whole industry, not that the industry generally talks about itself like it's about to go public on NASDAQ. Anyway, as you can imagine, mom-and-pop abortion clinics are grousing about Planned Parenthood's Wal-Marty tactics and lowering their prices and the whole thing would be another great chapter in my forthcoming book "Why Normal Countries Socialize Their Medicine Kthanxbai" except, hello, that book would be wayyyyy too long for me to ever finish the proposal.

Planned Parenthood Hits Suburbia [WSJ]

Related: 'Miffy' Helps Make Abortion A Private Affair [SF Chronicle]

Earlier: Experts Don't Understand Why Fewer American Women Are Getting Abortions

• Three cheers for 76-year old Ora Doris Anderson; the senior was thought to be dead after she went missing in the Oregonian mountains for two weeks but rescuers found her alive yesterday. Way to go, Grandma! [CNN]
  
• A Daily Mail writer has her panties in a wad over usually demure women being fond of topless sunbathing. We were laying out topless yesterday not because it was a way of letting out our inner whore but because white boobs look stupid. Besides, Sienna Miller does it and she's a trendsetter. [Daily Mail]
  
• Is breast-feeding the word of the day? Lactivists (heh) took their "nurse-out" national as protesters demonstrated at Applebee's restaurants in 30 states. It would be so much easier to just refuse to eat at Applebee's from here on out — their food is nasty anyway. [Kentucky.com]

• The UN has been meeting with women's rights activists from Iran. Um, they give us oil right? Okay, who gives a shit then. [Ms.]
• This news story is all in French but a reader translated it for us — seven French riot police are accused of raping prostitutes, blackmailing them into having sex for free. But seriously, they were just kidding! It was all a joke! That really is what one of the officers is using as his excuse. [France2.fr]
• A British police chief says the legal drinking age should be raised to 21 because of the rising booze-fueled rape occurences. Um, yeah, it's really worked for us here in the States. Now, where did we put our pepper spray? [Daily Mail]
• Side effects like muscle aches and hot flashes are causing women to stop taking cancer pills that prevent the disease from returning. Unfortunately, the possibility of death increases if the women don't take the pills for the recommended five years. [MSNBC]
• The Senate voted to lift restrictions on family planning aid to overseas organizations that performs abortions (Bush is expected to veto it anyway). Will the FBI come running into our home office if we dare say we wish he had been an abortion? [Let's find out! - Ed.] [LA Times]