Once again, scientists have confirmed something that any woman who's ever taken birth control pills could tell you: It's easier to stay on them when you aren't running out every few months.

We hate to question the wisdom of gag gifts purchased for $1 at the gas station, but there are many people pushing this method of birth control, and so far it hasn't been all that successful.

A new C.D.C. report found that now 72% of women use condoms when they lose their virginity, up from 34% in 1985. However, the pill is still the most popular form of contraception overall, followed closely by sterilization. [NYT, HuffPo]

The Onion's list of ways the Pill changed women's lives includes gems like "women are now able to learn math" and "heralds the start of all '60s montages." But what about the all-important period control?

In a tribute to the birth control pill, which turns 50 years old today, CBS contributor Faith Salie argues that the pill not only revolutionized women's sex lives, but it also "produced better mothers: fulfilled women who deliberately created families."

[New York, 1974. Image via AP]

Though many women report that birth control pills lower their sex drive, they've had frustratingly little scientific support — but now a new study shows women on hormonal birth control actually are at higher risk for low libido.

Good news: according to a big new study, using birth control pills is "not associated with increased long-term risk of death." The bad news: it's still really hard to get new contraceptives to market.

As if you needed another reason to support a pro-choice, pro-contraception, pro-female health candidate in the upcoming election (not to mention in local races which are nearly as important), a 40-year study has concluded that taking the birth control pill cuts long-term risk of cancer — cancer of any kind, that is —…