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    Catherine Pearson

    Catherine Pearson

    HuffPost

  • One Mom's Life-Threatening Birth Story, In 12 Incredible Photos

    Sara Peach's labor was induced because of preeclampsia, and she spent most of her son's first day separated from him. Here, she tells her story.

  • 5 Reasons Why Your Vagina Is A Total Boss

    Gwyneth Paltrow wants you to steam yours with mugwort; fans of the "vajacial" endorse slathering on masks and enzymes, but vaginas are true marvels that need little to stay fit and healthy aside from some very basic TLC. As a sage Russell Saunders writes in The Daily Beast,  "women should no more steam their vaginas than flush them with Lysol." Indeed.

  • How It Feels To Be An 'Unintentional Virgin'

    Katherine, 25, grew up in a conservative Pennsylvania town and went to schools where the only sex education was abstinence-based. It wasn’t until the early 20th century, when women began to leave their homes to take jobs in factories, that this idea began to slowly shift.

  • 8 Women On Why Roe v. Wade Has Mattered So Much To Them

    Thursday marks the 42nd anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that affirmed women's right to obtain a legal abortion. At that time, the majority of states  outlawed terminating a pregnancy, except in instances when it would save a woman's life or in cases of rape, incest or major fetal problems. But as HuffPost's Laura Bassett reports, access to the procedure continues to be challenged 40+ years later, with Republicans in Congress introducing a handful of new potential abortion restrictions in the first few days of the new 2015 legislative session alone. "I'm fearful we may lose [the right to legal abortion] and lose access to safe care.

  • The App That Could Be A 99 Percent Effective Form Of Birth Control

    In many ways, family planning based on keeping track of one's fertility is about as old-school as it gets. Currently, a slew of fertility tracking apps are working to bring family planning into the smartphone era. Created by two physicists in Sweden, the app uses -- as the company's website describes it -- "statistics and analytics instead of chemicals or surgical procedures in order to prevent pregnancies," by helping women pinpoint the handful of days per menstrual cycle when they have the greatest chance of getting pregnant.

  • Nearly 1 In 5 Women Who Have A Hysterectomy May Not Need It

    Hysterectomy is the second most common surgery performed on reproductive-age women in the United States, after the cesarean section. Nearly 1 in 5 women who underwent a hysterectomy for benign conditions -- such as uterine fibroids, abnormal bleeding, endometriosis or pelvic pain -- may not have needed the surgery, researchers with the University of Michigan and Wayne State University found. For younger women, those age 40 and under, the researchers found that pathology analyses for nearly 2 out of 5 did not support use of the procedure.

  • Here's What Really Goes On At Planned Parenthood, Every Single Day

    For many, Planned Parenthood is synonymous with one thing: legal abortion. "Most people don't have any clue about the breadth of work we do," says Joan Malin, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood New York City, or PPNYC, which has four health centers -- one in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island, with one opening in Queens next year.

  • Yet Another Reason Why Teens Need Access To Birth Control

    Researchers with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis set out to tackle that question, and the answer, they found is clear: When teenagers have access to free, long-acting contraception, pregnancies, births and abortions plunge well below current national averages. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, took place over a five-year period and included more than 1,400 girls, ages 15 to 19, from the St. Louis area. Researchers provided the teens with basic contraceptive counseling, presenting the most effective options first -- namely, long-acting reversible methods like intrauterine devices and implants.

  • New 'Tampons' Could Protect Women Against HIV

    Traditionally, women's options for lowering their risk of contracting HIV have been relatively limited: Use condoms or don't have sex. In a preliminary study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, the researchers combined silky, electrically spun fibers with maraviroc -- a drug currently approved to help treat HIV infections that may also prevent healthy people from acquiring the virus. "We envision a product that could dissolve, pretty much instantaneously, into a gel and then spread around the vagina during sex," Cameron Ball, lead author on the paper and a doctoral student in bioengineering with the University of Washington, told The Huffington Post.

  • Proof Birth Control Access Is A Very, Very Big Deal To Women

    On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations cannot be required to provide their employees with coverage for contraception, a decision that medical groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists -- this country's leading group of professionals providing health care to women -- have called "profoundly" disappointing. "Contraceptives are essential health care for women and should not be treated differently than other, equally important parts of comprehensive care for women, including well-woman visits, preconception care visits, cervical and breast cancer screenings and other needed health care services," ACOG added. From pain management and menstrual cycle regulation to straight-up family planning, here are just some of the ways that birth control has been a very, very good thing in the lives of real women.

  • This Is What It's Like To Be Young And In A Sexless Relationship

    While on a trip to check out graduate programs, Alexis, 24, went out drinking and met S., 29, at a local bar.* Their physical chemistry was immediate and they slept together that night. Six months later, Alexis relocated to the area for school and she and S. immediately started dating. "I would go over to his place and instead of having sex, we would watch movies or play video games," said Alexis.

  • These Ridiculously Simple Morning Hacks Will Set You Up For The Day

    My morning routine, if you can even call it that, is pretty deranged. A former coworker of Doland's once swore it took her 20 minutes to commute to work, but after tracking herself for three weeks, she realized that only happened once.

  • This Woman Went From Tech Executive To Circus Performer -- And She Couldn't Be Happier

    On any day of the week, Linda Souza is likely dangling from two wisps of fabric, or a hoop suspended 20 feet in the air, relying on nothing but her own strength to keep from crashing on her head. After earning her master's degree in global marketing, communications and advertising, Souza spent 17 years working for various tech startups, eventually reaching the director level. "There were some elements of marketing, and the positions that I was in, that I enjoyed," she told The Huffington Post.

  • Why This Woman Feels 'Rich' On Only $29,000 A Year

    For years, Katie and Doug Sanders were stuck in their version of the suburban slog. Despite having three healthy and happy children from Katie's previous marriage and bringing home a combined income of more than $100,000 a year, the pair felt stressed and unfulfilled.

  • 9 Ridiculously Simple Things All Women Should Be Doing For Their Health

    Because for the record, no, I have never been a regular flosser, despite knowing full well that it is a key part of good health. With that in mind, we wondered, what other relatively easy and painless things should women be doing for their overall health and wellbeing -- but aren't? Alice Cooper, a nurse practitioner in the department of obstetrics and gynecology with Duke Medicine asks her patients: "Why don't you think about the three top things that are important to you before you come to see me the next time?'" she said.

  • The Age Your Fertility Really Begins To Decline -- And Why You Shouldn't Freak Out

    The nation's obstetricians and gynecologists have once again publicly underscored the role that age plays in women's fertility. In a revised opinion released Wednesday, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists emphasized that women's ability to have babies declines gradually "but significantly" beginning around age 32, then more rapidly after age 37. The statement is not intended to alarm women, or to suggest that age is the primary cause of fertility problems, Dr. Samantha Butts, a member of ACOG's Gynecologic Practice Subcommittee on Reproductive Endocrinology, told The Huffington Post.

  • What Every Woman In Her 20s And 30s Needs To Know About Stroke Prevention

    The American Heart Association released its first-ever guidelines on stroke prevention in women on Thursday, and they shine a spotlight on many factors that affect 20- and 30-somethings specifically. Birth control pills, pregnancy and certain types of migraines can all play a role in determining a women's stroke risk, both immediately and down the road, the AHA emphasizes. "It's something [younger women] need to think about," Dr. Cheryl Bushnell, associate professor with the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and author of the guidelines, told The Huffington Post.

  • 8 Things Every Woman Should Know About IUDs

    Women's health advocates tend to be big fans of the intrauterine device, otherwise known as the IUD. The small, T-shaped contraption is inserted into the uterus by a trained health care provider to prevent pregnancy by keeping sperm from joining an egg. IUDs are extremely effective (every year, less than 1 out of 100 women get pregnant while using an IUD), and are also "some of the least expensive, longest lasting forms of birth control available to women today," according to Planned Parenthood. (IUDs don't, however, protect against sexually transmitted infections.) The insertion procedure, which is done by a health-care provider, generally takes only a few minutes.

  • The Simple Household Item This 24-Year-Old Is Using To Change The World

    Erin Zaikis often used to think about how she could help change the world, but it wasn't until she got very sick with dengue fever that she decided to take action. "I'm from a middle-, upper-class town and had never been exposed to extreme poverty, or starvation, or issues like child trafficking," Zaikis said. After graduating, Zaikis, now 24, traveled to Thailand, where she worked with organizations that fight child trafficking.

  • The Upsetting Fear The Majority Of 13-Year-Old Girls Have

    Body image issues among young teenagers are widespread, a U.K.-based study showed. Two in three 13-year-old girls are afraid of gaining weight, and one in three are upset about their current weight and shape, researchers at the University of College London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found. Overall, girls are more than twice as likely as boys to be "extremely" worried about gaining weight, or becoming overweight, the study concluded.