Before the internet and Wikipedia, when I needed information, I dialed the reference librarian at my local library.  The materials I needed could be wide-ranging.  How to spell pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is one example.  Or, I might want to know the population of

In his popular novel, The Overstory, Richard Powers creates a woman who devotes her life to the study of trees.  Her diligence rewards her.  She makes an astounding discovery.  Trees communicate with each other through the air.  Though her research is scrupulous, her male colleagu

Recently, U. S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he plans to create a Religious Liberty Task Force intended to insert faith-based protections into the political agenda.  In doing so, he misuses his public office.  His is a bald-faced attempt to extend the reach of conservati

Around three o’clock each afternoon at my retirement center, a gaggle of residents gathers around the coffee machine to discuss, for an hour, the state of the world.  I don’t usually join them because it’s the time I exercise.  Sometimes, I pause long enough to grab a

I may have been born before my time, but  at 82, I’m not too old to rejoice in the recent development of  fertility phone aps.   How wonderful that a young woman can have at her fingertips a device to help her decide when and if she wants to become pregnant.  Or, how to avoid p

As one who supports a woman’s right to choose, I listen to speculations about whether or not the U. S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that granted a woman the right to an abortion.  Some pundits are complacent.  They argue that after 45 years, Roe v. Wade

In a recent article, Megan McArdle, a onetime Ralph Nader supporter now turned Libertarian, argues the time has come to throw out  Row v. Wade, the High Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States.  (Click) To support her position, she points to Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Last week,  I wrote about the return of midwifery to this country, and its underground movement to teach women to perform self-induced abortions.  (Click) Another option exists for the same purpose, but it isn’t widely known. The drug, Mifepristone, can be effective if self-admini

In her essay, “Musical Chairs,” Rebecca Solnit parses the numerous splits in American politics. I  particularly like her description of the Republican party.  She charges it “preaches the gospel of austerity while running up deficits,” and extols individual rights, “except

While women have been helping other women have abortions for centuries, self-induced abortions have an equally long history.  (“The New Abortion Underground,” by Nina Liss-Schultz, Mother Jones, March/April, 2018, pg. 49).  Generally, the procedures were safe. Nonetheless, in th