It’s evident that contraception, when used correctly and consistently, helps women and couples avoid pregnancy until they’re ready to become parents. Contraception has helped millions of women (and men) stay in school, achieve personal and professional life goals, and plan for healthy pregnancies. Now, a new contraceptive intrauterine system (IUS), Skyla, will be added to the array of options a woman can choose from to prevent pregnancy.

Over the past week, two major medical associations have issued statements supporting easier access to birth control. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended in its statement that birth control pills be made available over the counter, while the American Academy of Pediatrics argued that emergency contraception (the so-called "morning after pill") be made available to teenagers.

A new infographic from Colorlines.com looks at how the "war on women" has affected women around the U.S., with a particular focus on Texas. According to the graphic and its accompanying article, written by Colorlines' Akiba Solomon, 29 states enacted 69 anti-choice measures last year, with 5 apiece in Florida, Kansas, and Arizona. In Texas, some 284,000 women are projected to lose reproductive health care in 2012-13. Check out the graphic after the jump.

The main takeaway of a new study from the Guttmacher Institute may seem rather common sense, but it's important nonetheless: women use contraception so they can achieve life goals like getting an education, planning and taking care of a family, and maintaining financial stability. The report found that most of the women surveyed said that "contraception has had a significant impact on their lives."

Sandra Fluke is once again under attack. This time by Representative Joe Walsh. She responded in the Huffington Post to Rep Walsh, writing that a friend "lost an ovary when she was unable to afford the contraception her insurance failed to cover, but that she needed to treat her polycystic ovarian syndrome." Unfortunately, her assertion regarding the hormonal contraception as a treatment of ovarian cysts is not accurate.

Last year, before the fight over health care coverage for contraception began, the Obama administration made the somewhat shocking decision to overrule an FDA panel recommendation that Emergency Contraception (EC) be available to young people under age 17 without a prescription. Now a new study has found that even 17 year-olds (who should have access EC over the counter), may have trouble getting it from their local pharmacy.

"At first, women reacted with fury and clenched fists at the moves by legislators to sharply restrict not just abortion but contraception itself. Within two weeks, however, dozens of female state legislators pushed back, with sarcasm and a sense of humor, proposing draconian restrictions on Viagra, spilled sperm, vasectomies," writes Peggy Simpson for the Women's Media Center, who goes on to name many of the measures that were meant to "point up the hypocrisy of moves that would greatly expand government intervention in women’s health care decisions."

"[T]he Obama administration announced late Friday that most colleges’ student health plans will have to include contraceptive coverage at no cost," Inside Higher Ed's Libby A. Nelson reports. "The rules will apply to religious and secular colleges alike, although religious institutions have an additional year to comply with the new regulations. The administration’s final rule on student health plans, which will be published this week in the Federal Register, left one loophole: colleges that offer self-insured student health plans, rather than purchasing plans from an insurer to offer to students, will not be required to cover contraception."

Despite Foster Friess' suggestion that women just use an aspirin between the knees to fill their low-cost birth control needs, most women know that birth control can actually be extremely costly. Mother Jones offers a calculator so you can find out exactly how much your birth control method -- be it the pill, an IUD, injections, or another method -- will cost you over the course of your lifetime. You may or may not be surprised at the results.

A new Funny or Die video pokes fun at the many male women's health "experts" that have come out of the woodwork amidst the ongoing national debate about reproductive health and contraception. The video especially riffs on the all-male panel that appeared at Darrell Issa's recent Congressional hearing o the Obama administration's new birth control rules. (Several Congress women staged a walk out of the hearing after women were not allowed to testify.) Watch the video, featuring actors and comedians Nick Offerman, Tim Meadows, and Judd Nelson, after the jump.

On a recent episode of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart hosted a Mad Men-esque mostly-male panel to discuss women's right to birth control access, a la the recent all-male Darrell Issa Congressional hearing on contraception. There was one woman on Stewart's panel, but no one would listen to her until she dressed as a man -- a funny conceit, but something that hits close to home for many women as we try to participate in this birth control debate. Watch th segment after the jump.

Even though the crop of candidates seeking the Republican nomination are mostly misogynist a-holes that make Chris Carter look like John Stuart Mill (no relation to comedian host), Rick Santorum's words and actions, both during his stint in the Senate and on the campaign trail, demonstrate total contempt for women. So it’s only natural that Foster Friess, Mr. Frothy’s chief political benefactor and main donor to the Super PAC backing Rick Santorum’s presidential bid, would have an even lower opinion of women.

Thursday morning's House panel on the Obama administration's birth control mandate was curiously male for a discussion centered around women's healthcare needs. Even worse, when women tried to get involved, they were shut out. "Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa rejected a request to include just one female witness, saying 'the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception,'" reports Feministing, noting that this is "democracy in action, ladies and gentlemen: Women actively barred from speaking about an issue that directly affects us, our health, and our lives."

A new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling for Planned Parenthood finds that the majority of Americans support President Obama's decision to require health plans to offer birth control with no co-pay. A similarly strong majority of voters think that women employed by Catholic hospitals and universities should have the same rights to contraceptive coverage as other women, while only 39 percent say these institutions should be exempted from the requirement that health plans cover prescription birth control with no additional out-of-pocket costs because contraception runs counter to Catholic teachings.