Beth, who has battled anorexia, bulimia, and excessive exercising for 25 years, is not one of those women. In a therapy group for pregnant women with eating disorders, Beth explains what's going through her head: "This baby's going to come and you're going to be big and fat. Who are you going to be if you're big and fat? That's just not acceptable, sorry."

Luckily, Beth's baby is born at a healthy weight and she plans to continue treatment. However, her husband Mike worries about the effect her eating disorder may have on their three children. He breaks down as he says, "Kids pick up on everything. its something we are extremely aware of and I will be extremely sad, especially if my daughter... if they would ever have to go through that."

Pregnant With An Eating Disorder: "I Want To Get Well" [ABC News]

Earlier: New Standard For Obese Women: Zero Weight Gain During Pregnancy

That would be the four-year Healthy Moms study, which wants obese participants to gain between zero and 3% of their body weight, or 5 pounds for a 170-pound woman. The New York Times coverage of the study, by Roni Caryn Rabin, doesn't explicitly state what women are supposed to do about the weight of the fetus and placenta, but the implication is that they should actually be losing some of their own weight to make room for them. Rabin says experts think women only need an extra 300 or 400 calories a day to have a healthy pregnancy, and that many obese women deliver healthy babies with no weight gain at all. The researchers in charge of the study hope to show that zero weight gain makes for easier delivery and decreases the baby's chance of obesity later on. But the advocates behind reducing pregnancy weight gain may also hope to set obese women on a path to weight loss. Says Prof. Kathleen M. Rasmussen, who worked on this year's earlier 11-15 pound guideline, "Pregnancy is what we call a teachable moment, a time when women are willing to make positive behavioral changes, because it's important for their own health and their babies' health."

But there's some evidence that pregnancy isn't the time to make big behavioral changes, at least not if they involve weight loss. If women burn fat during pregnancy, they may increase their blood levels of ketones, which in turn may lower a baby's IQ. The Healthy Moms study apparently doesn't plan to track the mental development of babies and children after birth, but some argue that it should. Then there's the risk to mom and baby of unhealthy weight loss. As Kate Harding pointed out in October, "the health care providers pregnant women visit most often aren't necessarily trained to recognize and address body image issues and eating disorders - but they are trained to track expectant mothers' weight and instruct them to keep it within a certain range. For women who struggle with disordered eating and body dissatisfaction, that can be problematic." And eating disorders can cause problems for the developing fetus as well as the mother.

There's also the more existential question of whether we should really be using pregnancy as a time for behavior modification. The reason it's a "teachable moment," the reason women are willing to quit smoking or drinking or eating soft cheese, is because many of them are anxious to do everything they can to have a healthy baby. Is it really a good idea to capitalize on this anxiety to try to make obese women thinner? Yes, the Healthy Moms study is in part geared toward healthier babies — but it's also about creating a population of moms who don't have to "lose the baby weight," because they already lost it during pregnancy. And should you doubt that women's worries about their babies and their bodies might be exploited as part of the new movement, note that two of the top three comments the Times Well blog post about this issue are hawking personal training services. One reads,

Very important also is to exercise the abdominals and pelvic muscles post pregancy. These muscles get turned off and stretched out. They don't just return to normal post partum. Specific core exercises are required. For exercise advice or training in nyc [link redacted]

Women are already getting the message that pregnancy, rather than a life stage that many women go through, is a sort of affliction that will totally fuck up their bodies, and that they need special products to recover from (Kourtney Kardashian has already chosen QuickTrim!). Teaching them that it's a time for weight loss — which zero weight gain during pregnancy essentially is — will almost certainly amplify this message. Combine that with the potential risk to babies' brains, and it doesn't really seem all that healthy.

New Goal For The Obese: Zero Gain In Pregnancy [NYT]
Zero Weight Gain During Pregnancy [NYT Well Blog]

Earlier: Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat?

If, like us, you've been following the heartbreaking saga of the Kehoe twins, the detailed piece in the New York Times on the murky politics of surrogacy will reconfirm what you already knew: the issue is a mess. This case might be called the ultimate test, involving as it does as many variables as possible. But it brings to the fore issues that affect many surrogacy cases. Because unlike adoption, surrogacy is largely unregulated. And in a case like this, where no one party is biologically related to the babies, lawmakers are basically making it up as they go along, state by state. Explains the Times,

Instead, surrogacy is controlled mainly by fertility doctors, who determine which arrangements are carried out and also earn money by performing the procedures. And while some agencies that coordinate surrogacies and some clinics that carry them out strictly adhere to guidelines, others do not, the interviews and records show... Between brokers, legal and medical expenses and surrogate fees, a successful surrogacy can cost prospective parents $80,000 to $120,000. About an estimated 100 agencies advertise themselves as surrogacy brokers.

For instance, in the case of the Kehoes, psychological screening was "recommended" but not required. Sound problematic? It is.

On Tuesday, July 28, the babies were born by Caesarean section. The following Monday, in court in Ann Arbor, Ms. Baker said she first learned of Ms. Kehoe's psychiatric history...During a hearing to transfer guardianship to the Kehoes, Scott Kehoe said his wife had paranoid schizophrenia. Ms. Kehoe's psychiatrist listed the diagnosis as a "psychotic disorder not otherwise specified." Ms. Kehoe takes an antipsychotic to control her symptoms. Before her diagnosis in 2001, Ms. Kehoe told the judge, she had self-medicated, and that was the reason for her arrest on charges of cocaine use and driving under the influence. Adoption experts said that mental illness was not a bar to adoption if the illness was under control and the patient went to doctor's appointments and took medications. And Ms. Kehoe's psychiatrist wrote a letter saying she would be a good mother because her disease had been fully controlled for eight years and she currently had no symptoms.

Laschell Baker, who carried the twins, has reclaimed them and, with her husband, is raising them as her own. After a prolonged legal struggle, the Kehoes have relinquished the fight. The Bakers, however, have faced tremendous fallout in the surrogate community, much of which condemns their actions. Fired back Baker on Surromomsonline.com,

My reasons for wanting to take them back were purely that I was not comfortable that she has a pscyological disorder, thats my reason. I never knew about the other issues either including the legal stuff, but that was not my reason at all. If i would have known up front about the medical disorder up front I never would have felt comforable working with them. Not making judgement I'm glad she is working on changing her life, however I did not want to release the babies in their forever care and never know if something ever went wrong. I was totally ready to go through with everything untill I found out this important issue. We did not use an agency. Funny that so many of the surrogates take sides so quickly when not everything is out about the story. I will not STOOP to their level and air ALL THE DIRT and things I and my family have delbt with during th

While about 10% of new moms get depression, a 2005 study showed that 4% of dads had significant symptoms as well. Richard Friedman writes in the New York Times that a drop in testosterone associated with a partner's pregnancy may cause depression. But life changes may be a factor as well. Friedman writes of a male patient who lamented, "We go out a lot with friends to dinner and theater. Now I guess that's all going to end." And the biggest risk factor for male postpartum depression is having a depressed partner — dads whose partners are depressed are two and a half times more likely to suffer themselves. Friedman points out,

Unlike women, men are not generally brought up to express their emotions or ask for help. This can be especially problematic for new fathers, since the prospect of parenthood carries all kinds of insecurities: What kind of father will I be? Can I support my family? Is this the end of my freedom?

Not only are men not encouraged to share their emotions — they're widely considered not to have as many emotions where children are concerned. Commenter Zorba on the Times' Well blog writes,

I am so relieved to see this. This connects with my long-held suspicion (that no one will validate) that MOST MEN DO NOT WANT CHILDREN. As a woman, I hear women complain all the time about how men don't get how difficult it is to be pregnant, have a baby, be a mother but these are the same women who were giving their husbands ultimatums when the men didn't want to get pregnant and even (more often than you'd think) lying and leaving off birth control to have a baby regardless of their husband's feelings. This makes me sad because I would like to think that fatherhood is something men really want but most of the men I hear about are bamboozled into it. Do men even want kinds? Is that why they get depressed?

But Zorba could just as easily say that women don't want kids, because they suffer from postpartum depression more often than men. Unfortunately, several male commenters chime in to reinforce the old stereotype that men who have kids are just giving in to their wives. Says Calmd,

Based on the comments of the women, why do women want kids anyway? After our first, my wife wanted more. I said no way. Our child is 12 but my wife still resents wish not to have more kids.

Sounds awesome. But not as awesome as this, by Penumbranian:

Children change everything irreversibly. They cost time, energy, money and space. The spatial and temporal boundaries shift, your spouse pays less attention to you, even totally ignores you. Does she still love you? Did she choose you to have children only? My wife was yelling at me: "My biological clock is ticking! With you or without you I'm going to have children!" Perhaps I had children with her only to please her, to be kept by her, not to be dumped by her.
Yes, your freedom will be lost. I know a couple who did not go to see a movie for five years after they had a child. This is widely considered normal.
If a father should talk about these and related concerns, like I did, he may be labelled as "immature" or worse, like I was.

What both of these comments underscore is the need to talk about children before you get married. When one partner wants them much more than the other, resentment and depression can easily result. Despite the words of Calmd and Penumbranian, it's not always the woman who wants kids more. However, women do bear a greater physical, and often a greater social burden in pregnancy and child-rearing. Writes D.J.,

Hmm, the men don't give birth, don't carry a child for nine months, don't have hormonal or weight fluctuations, swollen ankles, stretch marks, sleepless nights when there is no comfortable position in bed, heartburn, morning sickness, but they want to suffer from post-partum depression. Then, they usually aren't the ones nursing, or have a body trying to return to it's pre-pregnancy status. They typically aren't the ones getting up in the middle of the night to feed or calm the baby, run the rest of the household if there are other children and still have a smidgen of time for themselves. My husband was a helpful as the next one, but given everything that a man doesn't go through, it sounds like whining to me.

It's true that men don't have to go through the physical changes of pregnancy. And it's true that expectations of moms are still higher than expectations of dads. But that doesn't mean men aren't emotionally invested. A commenter who identifies himself as "a medical student and father" writes,

Fathers don't want to suffer from postpartum depression- No one wants to suffer from depression! Depression is not a ‘badge of honor' for all the hardships they have been through- depression is a terrible and crippling (sometimes fatal) disease. Its true that there is likely a different hormonal aspect to the depression but the fact of the matter is we, the scientific community, do not know what causes depression or what combination of hundreds or thousands of bio-psycho-social factors lead to a depressive episode. Whether you label it postpartum depression for women or after pregnancy depression for men, its depression.

The important point is that doctors, like everyone else should be aware of who is at risk and try to understand, treat and hopefully relieve suffering.

Doctors do need to be aware of male postpartum depression — and perhaps we all need to be more inclusive when it comes to a father's role. Many men are still trained to view involved parenting as somehow feminine, and they need to resist this training. At the same time, though, if we as a society want men to share equally in the mundane parts of parenting, the "getting up in the middle of the night to feed or calm the baby," we need to acknowledge that they share in the emotional parts as well. Male postpartum depression may feel like "whining" when women still bear the brunt of child-rearing responsibility, but treating this depression can also be a step towards accepting men's emotional investment in the family and channeling this investment into actual time spent with kids. Children may affect men more than they're currently encouraged to admit — and recognizing this would be good for everyone.

Postpartum Depression Strikes Fathers, Too [NYT]
When New Fathers Get Depressed [NYT Well Blog]

• Her official photographer has posted many of the pictures on Palin's Facebook page, along with the credit "The Photo Opportunity is Provided By SarahPAC," so, if you want a shot of yourself wearing an Obama shirt next to Palin you'll have to contribute to her PAC. • Sarah Palin will give the keynote address at the International Bowl Expo 2010, the "premier international convention" of bowling in June. A rep said: "Regardless of your political affiliation, Ms. Palin is a force in American politics and culture. Her presence underscores the impact and importance of bowling, one of our country's leading national pastimes and a growing $10 billion industry." • Leroy Benros was charged with rape at a New York nightclub after his alleged victim texted her friends during the attack. After he forcibly kissed her, the woman texted her friend: "I'm being molested. Help." By the time two of her friends found her, police say she was partially naked under a coat with her eyes closed and her arms dangling. Her friends pulled her away and Benros was arrested. • Now that Maurice Clemmons, the ex-convict suspected of killing four police officers, is dead, authorities are focusing on the people who may have helped him escape and stay on the lam for two days. Prosecutors are expected to charge alleged getaway driver Darcus D. Allen today. Clemmons' aunt and another woman have been arrested and are expected to be charged for giving him first aid and helping him escape. Police are still investigating a handful of other suspects. "Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they're all partners in crime," said a police spokesman. • Cocaine abuse is on the rise among young English women. Among women ages 18 to 25, the number of women who needed treatment for cocaine abuse in England. jumped 80 percent in the past four years from 329 to 592. Experts point to a growing "ladette" culture, which is also blamed for increasing alcohol abuse among young women. • In a new British study, researchers say they have discovered how and where androgenic hormones work in the testis to control normal sperm production and male fertility, which may allow for the development of a male birth control pill. "This study provides a new opportunity to identify how androgens control sperm production, which could provide new insight for the development of new treatments for male infertility and perhaps new male contraceptives," said Michelle Welsh, Ph.D., co-author of the study. • An increasing number of British women are hiring doulas to help them give birth, but anesthetist Dr. Abhijoy Chaklader questioned their role in the British Medical Journal. He wrote the trend toward hiring doulas, who have no medical training, may "be a sad reflection of failures in the delivery of medical and midwifery care, a sticking plaster concealing greater problems... a cynic might ask whether the doula business is actually necessary or whether it is exploiting - for profit - unspoken fears about NHS perinatal care and the seemingly limitless market for birth related products and service." • Switzerland elected women to the nation's top three political positions today: president, speaker of parliament's lower house, and speaker of the upper house. Swiss women couldn't even vote in national elections until 1971. • A Dutch man was arrested for allegedly collecting information on more than 30 girls from social networking sites, then blackmailing their parents. He posed as a photographer and told the parents their daughters had performed sexual acts on camera, or suggested they had been raped by others, then said he'd upload the non-existent pornography online if they didn't pay him. • Family members say a New York hairdresser who disappeared last week after dropping her 6-year-old daughter off at school complained about a creepy man she kept encountering near the school. "She mentioned to us about this guy in the street she would see every day," said Jamaica Smith's niece. "He was real aggressive toward her, always saying, 'Hey, baby, you look so pretty.' ... We know for a fact she was abducted because she would never leave her daughter." There are rumors that some people saw her struggling with a man near her home, but police deny the story and say they don't think foul play was involved. • After General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson announced yesterday that he was stepping down, someone claiming to be his daughter Sarah Henderson posted on GM's Facebook page, "HE FUCKING GOT ASKED TO STEP DOWN ALL OF YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. I'M FRITZ'S FUCKING DAUGHTER, AND HE DID NOT FUCKING RESIGN. WHITACRE IS A SELFISH PIECE OF SHIFT [sic], WHO CARES ABOUT HIMSELF AND NOT THE FUCKING COMPANY. HAVE FUN WITH GM, I HOPE TO NEVER BUY FROM THIS GOD FORESAKEN [sic] COMPANY EVERY [sic] AGAIN. FUCK ALL OF YOU." It was later removed. • Adeline Bayne-Goody, a 56-year-old New York City subway driver, may lose her job over an incident in October in which she subdued a crazed man who threatened other passengers, spewed racial epithets, punched her and spit in her face. She held him down until the police arrived, but officials told her she committed "gross misconduct" and should be fired because she left her post. • Carmen Huertas, the woman accused of driving drunk in Manhattan, injuring six children who were in the car and killing one, has been trying to commit suicide in jail. "She's tried to place objects around her neck," said her lawyer. "She's confused and devastated, and understands the consequences of her actions." • Thirteen female ski jumpers have filed a request with Canada's Supreme Court to allow the sport in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The International Olympic Committee voted in 2006 not to include women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympics because they say the sport is not developed enough. • The Japanese man who recently married his virtual girlfriend from the Nintendo DS game Love Plus has responded to media reports with a letter and some photos from his honeymoon. He writes: "Now that the ceremony is over, I feel like I've been able to achieve a major milestone in my life. Some people have expressed doubts about my actions, but at the end of the day, this is really just about us as husband and wife. As long as the two of us can go on to create a happy household, I'm sure any misgivings about us will be resolved." •

This shouldn't be difficult for Australians, according to White Ribbon Chairman Andrew O'Keefe: "Today we are challenging all men to swear, and let's face it swearing comes naturally to most Aussie men." •  According to police, Kevin M. Derks, 53, turned his Wisconsin home into a shrine to child porn. He covered "every flat surface" with pictures of young celebrities and computer printouts of young girls in various states of undress or being otherwise molested. He claims he turned to children after realizing that the world has gotten "worse and worse." •  The Federal government has issued a recall for more than 2 million cribs, following reports that four babies had suffocated in them. They say the crib has a detachable side which can break, and allow the child to become trapped in a space between the crib and the mattress. • An Alabama district attorney says he is considering charging a 14-year-old girl for arranging the rape of her classmate. The girl told reporters that she and her classmate had planned on having sex with three older teens, but the victim said no when the other boys joined in. • Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio recently forced a pregnant woman to give birth while cuffed at the wrists and ankles. The woman was transported to a medical center, where she gave birth in "forensic restraint." She was also not allowed to hold her child, or see her for 72 days. Arpaio claimed he "had no choice." • According to plastic surgeons, Venezuelans are so dedicated to looking good that many people are dipping into their savings or taking on debt to pay for the costly procedures. "The financial crisis has spurred people to spend more on themselves ... to console themselves in this crisis. I have not seen demand diminishing," said one doctor. • In efforts to combat reports of anti-choice centers manipulating pregnant woman, the Baltimore City Council is considering legislation that will require pregnancy centers to post signs if they do not offer abortions or birth control referrals. • 

• On Sunday, Michelle Wie won her first LPGA tour title. This was her 65th LPGA tour event, and while she had finished second six times, she had never managed a win. ''Wowww-w-w ...... never thought this would feel THIS great!!!!" she said on Twitter. • President Obama told - not asked - Burma's junta to free pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi at a recent summit with the Burmese prime minister. •  A Zambian reporter has been acquitted of pornography charges, which could have held a five year sentence if she had been convicted. The so-called porn possessed by Chansa Kabwela was actually photographs of a mother giving birth in a car park, which Kabwela did not publish but instead sent out to women's rights groups. • The suburban swim club outside Philadelphia that was accused of discrimination earlier this year has announced plans to declare bankruptcy. The club reportedly asked several children not to return because of "racial animus" expressed by a member. But the swim club's president denies that their closing has anything to do with the legal proceedings. •  A bushfire on the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve has turned the area into an "animal graveyard." Some blame Terri Irwin for improperly managing the property, but Irwin blames it on pig hunters, who she claims were probably trying to clear the land. •  A recent study published in the British Medical Journal found that current policies to reduce teen pregnancies are simply not working. The study also linked certain factors to teen pregnancy, including dislike of school, poverty, unhappy childhoods and low expectations for the future. •  For the first time in decades, the U.S. skating team has no clear-cut Olympic medal contender. "In the past, we've had Michelle Kwan, Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill year after year, and every time we felt that they were going to win the gold medal," said David Ruth, executive director of US Figure Skating. "But when Michael Jordan left the N.B.A, they were looking for a new star, and we're looking for a new star." • Researchers have found that texting may be linked to neck pain, caused primarily by the hunched-over body position favored by serial texters. • Doctors are hopeful that a vaccine for chlamydia isn't far away. However, previous research has shown that injections don't work very well, so a vaccine may come in the form of a vaginal cream or spray. •  Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has pissed off some 200 Italian women after he placed an ad recruiting "attractive girls between 18 and 35 years old" for an "event." While most expected a party, the event turned out to be a two hour lesson intended to convert them to Islam. •  A recent report touts the benefits of distributing contraceptives in Uganda. The report estimates that meeting just half of Ugandan women's unmet needs for contraceptives would yield dramatic health benefits, including an expected 21% decline in maternal deaths. • Angie Young's film The Coat Hanger Project tells the story of how abortions have actually become increasingly less accessible in the decades since Roe vs. Wade. One good example: the Stupak amendment. You can take action against the pro-choice Democrats who supported the amendment by signing a petition to send them a coat hanger. • The Association of Chief Police Officers in England and Wales has proposed a domestic violence register to track an estimated 25,000 serial abusers. The register would allow people to look up a man's history including convictions and unproven allegations. The Association is also pushing for the creation of a "course of conduct" offense to make it easier to go after serial offenders, even if there isn't enough evidence to prosecute each individual case. • Janet Clark went to a British hospital because she believed she'd gone into labor in her 25th week of pregnancy, but a doctor and four midwives told her to go home. The next day she went back and was told to go home again, and then started giving birth on the toilet. "A pregnant woman shouldn't have to plead with medical staff," said Clark, who had a healthy baby boy. • In a study 54 Caucasian subjects were asked to manipulate the skin color of male and female faces on a computer screen to make them appear as healthy as possible. Most increased the rosiness, yellowness, and brightness of the skin. "In the West we often think that sun tanning is the best way to improve the color of your skin," said researcher Dr. Ian Stephen, "But our research suggests that living a healthy lifestyle with a good diet might actually be better." The study didn't address what makes non-white faces appear healthier and attractive. • Researchers found that in business, gender is a factor in measuring a team's performance, but but not the leaders themselves. In industries in which most leadership positions are held by men, people will expect more of teams led by men, but expectations of the leaders themselves are not influenced by gender. • In an interview on CBS' Early Show Mary Lou Quinlan, author of What She's Not Telling You: Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It, says women tell "half truths" about "anything with a number in it. Their age, their weight, how many drinks they had." • In a new interview with CBS News, Laura Bush said Texas feels like it's a million miles away from Washington. "...Not that I ever felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders, or that George did when I lived there — but when it was gone, I could notice it," she said. "There's a great feeling of freedom." •

Drinking while pregnant has become almost synonymous with bad motherhood, at least in the U.S., where one glass of wine in a restaurant can send the eyebrows of nearby diners shooting through the roof (yes, I have observed this first hand). Apparently, this is also true in the U.K. In a piece in the Guardian, Catherine Phipps explores the ins and outs of alcohol consumption and the ever-changing guidelines designed to protect the fetus and scare the mother.

The British Department of Health (DOH) currently advises mothers to abstain from drinking entirely, as does the U.S. Center for Disease Control. In response to the question: "Is it okay to drink when pregnant?" the CDC admonishes: "No, there is no safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy. Women who are pregnant or plan on becoming pregnant should refrain from drinking alcohol." However, Phipps points out that this often is, for all practical purposes, often translated as "we don't want you to drink, but if you must, limit it to 1-2 units, once or twice a week." Indeed, the "1-2 units" has become common wisdom. Drinking is a bad idea, but some alcohol is safe. It's just not clear how much.

Phipps points to another piece of official advice, which is rife with contradictions:

It gets muddier - this document (pdf) from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), doesn't advise total abstinence throughout the nine months. At one point, it recommends not exceeding 1-2 units once or twice a week, and in the next, advises not drinking "more than 7.5 units of alcohol on a single occasion" - couldn't this unnecessary binge drinking warning be taken to imply that drinking up to that amount is fine?

But the government - in both the U.S. and Great Britain - still tells women just say no. Why? Phipps concludes its out of paternalism and basic lack of trust. If women are told not to drink at all, surely they will drink less, right?

Except this has resulted in a strange fanaticism on the part of non-mothers. While most doctors are okay with a drink now and then, bartenders have been known to refuse to serve visibly pregnant women, and strangers have come to think its somehow their job to police a woman's alcohol intake simply because she's with child. According to Phipps, Americans are the worst when it comes to meddlesome behavior. She mentions a restaurant in New York that displays a sign reading: "Pregnant women please do not ask our waiting staff to harm your unborn child by ordering alcohol." Although women in the U.K. feel the pressure, it makes sense that our country, so prone to extremes and dichotomies, would have a particularly difficult time understanding a woman's right to moderation. It is also a disheartening reminder that women are still seen, even when in the throes of motherhood, as somehow child-like and in need of constant guidance. Ultimately, Phipps argues in favor of letting a woman decide for herself — even if that means serving her a gin and tonic. Naturally, we're inclined to agree.

Alcohol And Pregnancy - Conflict And Confusion [Guardian]
Alcohol And Public Health - FAQs [CDC]

•  A 35-year-old woman from Japan is believed to have drugged and murdered five men over the past few years. Police believe that she was deeply in debt, which may have been the motivation behind the killings. •  A study from Indiana University has found that using lube makes sex better for women (well, duh). Both water and silicone-based lubricants were found to reduce the risk of vaginal tearing and genital pain. •  Stroller manufacturer Maclaren has announced a recall of one million strollers - all strollers sold since 1999 - after twelve children had to have fingers amputated from being caught in the hinges. •  Canadian researchers report that women with "denser" breasts are at a higher risk of seeing breast cancer return. They examined over 300 breast cancer patients, and organized them into low density, intermediate, and high. The women with high density breasts were much more likely to have cancer return within five years. •  Women taking medication for depression are more likely to give birth prematurely, according to a recent study. Another finding showed that without medication use, women who displayed elevated symptoms of depression during pregnancy were no more likely to give birth preterm than their healthy peers. • On Saturday, hundreds of women in South Africa donned their bikinis and paraded through the streets of Johannesburg. The day-long event raised money for breast cancer research while breaking the world record for largest bikini parade. • Over the past five years, UK-based charity Childline has seen a significant rise (132% since 2004) in the number of calls received regarding sexual abuse by women. However, they do not believe that more women becoming abusers, but rather that more boys have tended to call the helpline. "Many would find it shocking that any woman - let alone a mother - can sexually assault a child. But they do," said Sue Minto, head of Childline. •  Sad news: The natural birth center at NYC's Bellevue Hospital has closed. The birth center was one of the only of its kind to cater to mostly poor, immigrant women on Medicaid, but it was apparently shut down in September due to budget constraints. •  Relatives of Janice Webb, a Cleveland woman who has been missing since June, say that they have not given up hope that Webb is alive, despite fears that she may be among Anthony Sowell's unidentified victims. •  On Sunday dozens of Muslim women gathered in Fremont, California to discuss hijabs. Many of them report facing hostility and prejudice: "There's a lot of covert discrimination out there," said one of the organizers. •  A senior Burmese diplomat has announced the possible release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for the majority of the past two decades, but her supporters at home and abroad hope that she will be free in time for next year's election. • Research on rabbit penises indicates that artificial penis tissue could one day be grown to help men with diseased or damaged penises, or simply those who want bigger dicks. Reassuringly, a writeup of the study notes that "if the scientists do try and help people with this research, naturally they will not use rabbit cells with men." •  The pro-rape Facebook group organized by the University of Sydney's St. Paul's college is apparently not an aberration: one student wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald that ''St Paul's boys are notorious for their sexist behaviour, referring to women as 'holes' and some of the co-ed colleges have 'don't speak to women days.'' • Scott Roeder has confessed to the murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, and plans to use a "necessity defense," arguing that the murder was "justified to protect the lives of unborn children." • A 23-year-old Kansas City man has been arrested for marrying a 14-year-old girl in a Muslim ceremony — under Missouri state law, he would have needed a judge's order to do so. • Members from the Westboro Baptist Church have been protesting outside the Sidwell Friends School, where Sasha and Malia Obama are enrolled as students. Protesters carried signs with anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-Obama slogans. • 

An at-home test of a woman's current ovarian reserve — and thus her likelihood of being able to conceive — has been available since spring. But Norbert Gleicher of the Center for Human Reproduction thinks he can go a step further, using a woman's genes to predict when her ovarian reserve will begin to fall. He has discovered that variations in the Fragile X or FMR1 gene are associated with early ovarian aging and thereby with an early drop in fertility. By testing this gene, he believes he can predict whether a young woman is at risk of early ovarian aging, and thus help her make decisions about when to try to conceive. Gleicher says,

Then you can sit down and have a discussion about her reproductive life plan. In other words, 'do you want to have your kids before you get your PhD, or afterwards?' If the answer is 'afterwards', OK, but maybe you want to freeze some eggs.

Of course, it's not quite that simple. Egg freezing, for one, is expensive and not a sure thing. And critics of Gleicher's research say he still needs to do follow-up studies to determine whether women with the genetic markers for early ovarian aging actually have trouble conceiving. Writing in New Scientist, Linda Geddes says,

[A] test reliable enough to transform the lives of a large number of women will likely involve a series of genetic and hormonal markers. It will also need rigorous testing to ensure woman aren't burdened with anxiety - or given false hope.

Her last sentence seems key: Gleicher's test would need to be pretty foolproof for women to be able to plan their lives around it, especially because such planning tends to be messier than he lets on. Deciding when to have a child depends on a lot of factors besides how your Ph.D. research is going — women have to consider their finances, their health, whether they want to raise the kid with a partner and whether they've met that partner yet, and simply whether it feels like the right time for them to reproduce. A reliable test to predict future fertility would give women information to help them make these decisions, but they'll probably never be easy or cut-and-dried.

Of course, there are ways society could make them easier. Subsidized child care and better maternity leave would be a couple. Another comes up in the Daily Mail coverage of Gleicher's research. The old Fail isn't as obnoxious as usual on this, beyond a weird photo of a woman looking pensive while pressing her head to a man's belly (is he pregnant?). But the article, by David Derbyshire, does start with the line, "A DNA test that can tell a women in her early 20s how long she has left to start a family is being developed by scientists." This is a relatively small linguistic quibble, but Gleicher's test doesn't measure "how long a woman has left to start a family" — it measures how long she may have to conceive a child from her own eggs. There are other ways to "start a family," like adoption, and plenty of couples think of themselves as a family even if they don't have kids. If we reformed adoption laws to make adoption easier and more affordable, more kids might find homes and women could stop tying their ability to raise children so directly to their egg reserves. And if we gave child-free people their due as valid families, maybe we'd also stop viewing a woman's ability to reproduce as a measure of her value. More information about women's fertility would be a good thing — but it's worth remembering that no genetic test is going to magically make our reproductive lives easy.

Genes Show When A Woman's Biological Clock Will Stop [New Scientist]
DNA Fertility Test Warns Women How Long They Have Left To Start A Familys [Daily Mail]

• The Ad Standards ruling also said that the imagery is "dream-like," which makes it somewhat removed from reality, and thus inoffensive. • The Louisiana judge who refused to marry an interracial couple has announced his resignation. Keith Bardwell admitted that this was not the first time he had discriminated against couples based on race, and that he routinely recused himself from marrying couples that he felt would create an unhealthy environment for children. •  New research shows that kissing may help boost the immunity system of pregnant women. Doctors believe that if a couple smooches for six months during the pregnancy, the mother builds up protection against a certain virus that could harm her fetus. •  Three college students that went missing in North Dakota on Sunday have been found dead. Their bodies were found trapped in a car at the bottom of a stock pond. Authorities say they do not suspect foul play, and believe it was most likely a tragic accident. •  The defense team for Casey Anthony is arguing that the charges brought against Anthony are too vague, and should be dropped. "Instead of starting with the crime and figuring out who did it, the state has essentially started with who did it and is now trying to figure out what crime she might have committed," read the motion filed Tuesday. • A new law in Australia may raise the salaries of women working in homeless and domestic violence shelters by as much as 30%. The Fair Work Act would increase compensation for "feminized" work so that it more closely matches pay for similar "male occupations." • A new study has found that eating quickly makes it more likely that you will overeat, and thus achieve the dreaded food baby stage. Speed eating slows the release of hormones that signal fullness, so scarfing down multiple burgers in a ten minute span is not actually the great idea it might seem. • A 13-year-old cat in Iowa has become the first feline to be diagnosed with swine flu. But the Iowa Department of Health says that this is "not completely unexpected," and that other flu strains have been found in cats in the past. • A portrait of a disabled swimmer has won photographer Paul Floyd Blake a $19,000 prize from the National Portrait Gallery. "She had just swum a personal best in her event and I think that's why she has such a confident, self-assured look in the portrait," said Blake. Blake's 13-year-old swimmer says she hopes to go on to compete in the Paralympics. • Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced today that she is running for Senate against Barbara Boxer, a three-term Democrat. She depicted Boxer as a do-nothing who just writes novels while Californians face real problems and said, "What do you say that come next year, we give Barbara Boxer the chance to become a full-time novelist?" • According to resent research from Florida State University, discrimination is a major threat to the mental health of African American women. Women who reported experiencing discrimination were more prone to depression and less psychologically resilient than those who felt more "in control" of their lives. • Though abortion is only legal under very limited circumstances in Pakistan, a study by the National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health estimate that 890,000 abortions were performed there in 2002. Most of these abortions took place in clandestine and unsafe conditions and as a result, many of the women who sought them out suffered health complications or death. • Israeli researchers studied 2,700 twin pregnancies and found that the risk of premature delivery was highest when both twins are male and lowest when they are both female. The findings support the theory that the "male factor" raises the odds of pregnancy complications. • Photos of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Whitney Isleib wearing blackface for her Lil Wayne Halloween costume were posted on the Gawker blog Deadspin and later removed. "We are aware of the images and we are handling it internally," said Brett Daniels, a spokesman for the team. • 18-year-old Tiffany M. Wallace has plead guilty to ramming her pickup into another car, then throwing ranch dressing at the car. She was arrested in Idaho after a man said she cut him off, then threw coins and plastic containers of dressing at him. • At the end of a speech at a Wisconsin middle school today , President Obama told an anecdote about his daughter Malia. "These aren't in my prepared remarks, but I think it's important to note, kids slack off... And part of our job as parents is not to just tell our kids what to do but to start instilling in them the sense that they want to do it themselves..." Recently Malia came home with a 73 on a test and told explained to her dad "what she planned to do about it." When she came home with a 95 yesterday she told him, "I just like having knowledge." •

The pictures in question were taken over the summer, and showed the pretending to kiss or lick "novelty phallus-shaped lollipops." Other images showed the girls in their underwear with dollar bills sticking out. The ACLU has become involved in the case, and they claim that since the incident occurred outside school, it should not effect their standing. •  A new study from Britain's Department of Health has found that new mothers feel most anxious around five months after giving birth. At this point, the excitement has supposedly worn off, and friends and relatives are supposedly no longer offering as much support, which leads many mothers to feel isolated and nervous. • Nutrition experts have complained that Kellogg's is falsely advertising that its Cocoa Krispies cereal can help "boost immunity." Currently, the Cocoa Krispies box reads: ""Now helps support your child's IMMUNITY," alluding to the addition of vitamins A, C and E. But Kelly Brownell from Yale University says, "by their logic, you can spray vitamins on a pile of leaves, and it will boost immunity." • Researchers recently found that 1/5 of smokers lie about smoking during pregnancy. The study, which looked at 3,475 women from Scotland, asked women to come clean about lighting up while pregnant and followed up with the revealing blood tests. •  The Cyprus Feline Society has identified two breeds of cat that they claim are "ancient breeds" and would like international recognition for them. The two breeds include the tall and elegant "Aphrodite," and short, broad-faced "Helen." •  A professor at Harvard has announced that next semester he plans a class based entirely on the HBO show The Wire. "I do not hesitate to say that it has done more to enhance our understanding of the challenges of urban life and the problems of urban inequality, more than any other media event or scholarly publication," said sociology professor William J. Wilson at a recent panel discussion.  • A new study found that while marriage rates are lower for women on welfare, receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, once they exit the system they are as likely to marry as women who were never on welfare. • International cancer specialists will meet this week to figure out how to combat the increase of breast cancer in developing countries, where almost two-thirds of women aren't diagnosed until the cancer has spread through their bodies. Doctors say part of the problem is that in some areas women worry that men will leave them if they lose a breast. "It's not a trivial consideration," says Dr. Lawrence Shulman of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, who is working to begin cancer care in parts of Africa where "the women are often seen as really either vessels for producing children or as sex slaves." • A mother in New York is challenging a judge's decision to 34 percent increase in the number of Down Syndrome births between 1989 and 2005, 15 percent fewer babies were born during that time due to prenatal testing. Some are worried that the decline in Down Syndrome cases will lead to cuts in research funding and that more people aren't even considering raising a child with Down syndrome. • A Texas health clinic operator CareNow says it regrets telling a Muslim doctor applying for a job that she couldn't wear her hijab. The company called it a "misunderstanding" after the American-Islamic Relations wrote to CareNow, explaining federal law requires employers to reasonably accommodate religious practices of an employee. • Today Michelle Obama is launching a mentoring program in which she and female White House staffers will mentor 20 high school girls from the Washington, D.C. area. The girls will get to visit their mentors' offices and gather for a group dinner. • Despite Liz Lemon's well-known love of the German language, 30 Rock is not popular in Germany. Its premiere last night on the German channel ZDFNeo earned a 0.0 rating, meaning it was watched by fewer than 5,000 people. Blerg. •

Deceptive, baby-hungry women have always been a staple of male-mythology; punching a hole in a condom is the sort of thing we like to do between maxing out guys' credit cards on shoes and sleeping with their best friends. So it's not shocking that this particular urban horror story should make the lad-mag rounds just in time for Halloween.

What is shocking and depressing is the number of women who the author brings in to bolster the story, making it seem as though it's totally common practice and that deception is part of women's acknowledged code of conduct.

"It's not about trapping the guy," Jody says. "That's kind of old-fashioned. Yeah, you want him to be into it, but there are other ways to get a guy to commit. If you're smart and in a good relationship, it's just about the fact that you want a kid." Even in her circle of young, urban, and gainfully employed friends, Jody says, this particular brand of subterfuge isn't exactly condemned the way one might expect. In fact, it's sort of, well, normal. "I see and hear people talk about it, and I understand. I get it," she says, "and I don't even think it's that manipulative. It's more like, 'Hey, the timing is right for me. I got pregnant-oops! Well, it's here, let's have it.' I think that's more the way it is now than it was back in the day when you had to marry someone before you got pregnant. Marriage doesn't matter now."

Then there's alleged feminine "logic" like this:

"A lot of us feel like it's not even really fair that men should get to vote, considering they could be 72 and, with a little Viagra, have another baby," says Vicki Iovine, author of The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy. "For us women, it's really a limited window. We know that boys who grow up to become men don't necessarily want to be men. They like to be boys. And so women say, 'You know what? He's gonna just have to snap out of it-and my pregnancy will be the thing to do it.'" The end, says Iovine, sometimes justifies the means. "Any guy with a heart and soul, and preferably with a job, once he sees the baby on the sonogram or hears the heartbeat, will melt," she says.

Wait - what? Don't rope me in with these women who want to disenfranchise men because they're...fertile for longer? For every Cosmo-wielding nutter this guy dredged up (and I'd really like to see the email he sent out requesting quotes from "friends") he could have found ten thousand who found the idea not merely abhorrent, but insulting and frankly incomprehensible.

Of course, to the author it makes total sense:

The average cost of in vitro fertilization in the United States is $100,000 per baby-and insurance generally won't pay a cent. Combine that with the shifting social mores about single motherhood and having kids outside of marriage, and you've got a pretty good explanation for why some women, particularly ones in stable relationships, don't see this as trickery at all-it's more like a nudge.

What these "shifting social mores" are, he neglects to say. Nor can he get a real read on the number of wily tricksters are out there, stealing men's sperm and then gouging them for money, because of the women who get preggers while on birth control, "there's no way of knowing how much of that disparity can be explained away by "intentional" oversight, but that's a big gap to chalk up to carelessness." Okay, first of all, there's a reason the Ring has taken off, and it's not because a plastic disc in one's vagina is so incredibly erotic. The pill is an enormous pain in the ass, an expensive, distorting, side-effect-inducing millstone with no regard for travel schedules, the availability of doctor's appointments, sleep, jet lag, pharmaceutical and insurance vagaries. That's 365 chances a year to screw things up. And while, yes, theoretically, it works, the reality is never, ever that straightforward. So save your insinuations, please.

Are there women who do this? I guess there are. If you believe Glee, the world is full of deceitful women. There are a lot of dishonest, desperate, screwed-up people out there who do all kinds of things. But this is not, I repeat not, common or acceptable amongst women. If anything, I think we'd judge it more, not merely because it's awful, but because we've fought hard for birth control and reproductive rights and that wasn't to entrap men into marriage.

I can understand that it must be hard for a man to surrender all control of this issue - believe us, it's not so fun assuming the total responsibility, the chemical consequences, or the expense. But there are such things as condoms. A guy who claims he was tricked into impregnating his girlfriend (he has no contact with the child, but does pay child support) has sued his ex. The case has been taken up by the National Center for Men, which calls it "Roe vs. Wade . . . for Men." No, see, that would be if men were legally denied the right to wear condoms. But while I am, in fact, willing to believe this occasionally happens (apparently, judging from the psychos quoted above) it's also, as the judge ruled, simply impossible to prove - and more to the point, a very slippery slope indeed in a world where many men are all too ready to duck their responsibilities.

And it's irresponsible stories like this that perpetuate dangerous, offensive stereotypes and misconceptions. For the vast, vast majority of us, having a baby is quite a big enough deal without adding deception and ruses to the mix. Guys, wanna avoid this? Don't sleep with someone crazy, because literally no one rational is pulling this. Your DNA is not that appealing. Oh, and wear a condom. The needle thing is too obvious for most of us crazy baby-grubbers, anyway.

That Was No "Accident" [Details]

A womb transplant was tried on a human in 2000, but the organ had to be removed after three months because of problems with its blood supply. But now surgeon Richard Smith (that's not him above) has developed a "vascular patch technique" that connects major blood vessels like the aorta. His team performed transplants in five rabbits, two of which lived for 10 months after the procedure. Examinations after the rabbits died showed the transplants were successful.

Smith said the next step is to impregnate rabbits to see how the transplanted womb handles pregnancy. Then he will try the procedure on bigger animals — if he can get the money. He's been denied grants from several medical organizations, perhaps because of questions about the usefulness of his procedure. A transplant could allow a woman to carry a child if she was born without a womb, or if the organ was damaged by cancer or another disease. But she would probably need IVF, as the transplant would raise the risk of ectopic pregnancy if she conceived naturally. And she would need to deliver by C-section because the transplanted womb would likely not hold up in labor. And of course, the transplant itself would carry risks — the womb would only be left in long enough for the woman to have a child, but during that period she would need to take immunosuppressant drugs. The whole procedure would be expensive and potentially dangerous, and Smith says, "There's a lot of dismissal in the profession in terms of this being a step too far in terms of fertility management."

It's worthwhile to ask what "a step too far" really is. Some people object to IVF because of its expense or because of the risk of multiple births. Others see ethical problems with surrogacy, finding it distasteful to pay a woman to be pregnant. But both techniques have gained fairly wide acceptance, and it's possible that womb transplants would too. Smith says, "for a woman who's desperate for a baby, this is incredibly important." His choice of the word "desperate" is a little questionable, but the popularity of IVF does show that many women — and men — who have trouble conceiving still want to have biological children. Womb transplants would extend this opportunity to a group of women who don't currently have it. While some opponents of fertility treatment advocate adoption for such women, that's far from a cheap or easy process either. If Smith's research succeeds, it will give women without wombs the same options as women with them — which seems, on balance, like a good thing.

Womb Transplants 'A Step Closer' [BBC]
Womb Transplants 'On The Way In Two Years' [Daily Mail]
British Scientists Step Closer To Womb Transplants [Guardian]

[Lovill's] cause has been taken up by civil liberties and women's rights groups who complain that Lovill was treated more severely than a man or nonpregnant woman in the same situation.

"Women should not be incarcerated because of their pregnancy. It's not healthy for pregnant women or the fetuses or future children that they carry," said Kathrine Jack, staff lawyer at National Advocates for Pregnant Women. "This is just another example of very old stereotypes being used to punish or discriminate against a woman."

Prosecutors say Lovill was targeted for violating her probation, not for being pregnant. But probation officers also were entitled to take action to protect the fetus from Lovill's drug use, said Doug Norman, Nueces County assistant district attorney.

"The use of illegal drugs during pregnancy clearly has an impact on the health of the unborn child that is beyond serious dispute," Norman told the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a brief. "The state clearly has an interest in healthy children."

Oral arguments in Texas v. Lovill, PD-09-0401, will be Wednesday in the appeals court's downtown Austin courtroom.

Women's Take, a site run by the National Women's Law Center, points out flaws in the state's reasoning:

Jill offered a presentation called "Prosecuting Pregnancy," where she talked about state actions that criminalize the medical decision-making and drug use of pregnant women. For example, women have been criminally prosecuted with such charges as child endangerment, neglect, or fetal homicide when their newborn infants test positive for drugs at birth. Jill posed the question: Is it right to prosecute pregnant women when they (or their newborn children) test positive for illegal drugs while we don't prosecute anyone else for who tests positive for illegal drugs? And she answered it for us, too: No, she said, because having illegal drugs in your body is not a crime — even for a pregnant woman. Jill explained that the Supreme Court has held that it is unconstitutional to criminalize a person's status, including the status of being an addict. A person can be charged with possession of a drug, but the appearance of that drug in their system can't be a crime.

Now, obviously, the issue is a complicated and contentious one. I think that most people are uncomfortable with the notion of pregnant women using drugs.[...]

However, there are two questions that must be asked when looking at the way we currently punish pregnant women. First: Is it constitutional to criminalize pregnant women's actions during their pregnancies? Jill asked. The answer, is no. It is not equitable, legal, or constitutional to apply the law differently to pregnant women than anyone else. A recent example of this unconstitutionality in action is the State of Texas v. Amber Lovill. When Amber Lovill tested positive for drugs while pregnant and on probation, the state moved to revoke her probation and incarcerated her for the duration of her pregnancy. As the Webwire story on this subject notes, officers in the trial acknowledged numerous times that if Ms. Lovill were not pregnant, "less restrictive alternatives would have been the typical response to a positive drug screen."

The second question that must be asked when looking at the prosecution of pregnant women for their drug use: Is it an effective public health strategy to criminalize pregnant women's actions during their pregnancies? And the answer to this question is also a resounding no. First of all, it can sometimes in fact be more dangerous to the fetus for a pregnant woman to stop using certain drugs suddenly than it would be for her to continue using them. As the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has shown, "It is important for the health of both a pregnant woman and her fetus to be under close medical supervision when she stops her drug use, particularly if she is addicted and if the drug to which she is addicted causes withdrawal symptoms." More broadly, as Jill has said, threats of prosecution just scare women away from drug treatment and prenatal care.

The ACLU has filed an amicus brief in support of Lovill.

This conversation is most certainly complicated. After all, I, like many on this site, am staunchly pro-choice and so I do not believe that a fetus should have rights, particularly if those rights trump the mother's. In addition, I am against the incarceration of non-violent offenders. However, memories of the 1980s crack epidemic are quite haunting, and I know of too many people who ended up wards of the state because their mother never could manage to get her addiction under control. If incarceration is helping to protect the child for exposure to harmful drugs and could possibly lead to treatment, is this a better way? If this child is intended to be carried to term, does it make things different? Is there ever a "right" to intervene?

Jailed for being pregnant? [American Statesmen]
A Lesson On Prosecuting Pregnancy [Women's Take]
State Of Texas V. Lovill - ACLU Amicus Brief In Support Of Respondent [ACLU]