Reproductive Health in the Media

Jennifer Pozner from WIMN's Voices discusses reproductive health in the media in her multimedia presentation called "Reproductive Wrongs: Exposing Media Misinformation About Abortion, Family Planning and Clinic Violence."

Media coverage of reproductive justice issues informs what the public believes is true about family planning, sex education, low-income women's access to health care, anti-abortion legislation, clinic violence and more. Yet all too often, our most influential media outlets play political football with these issues, reporting their impact on politicians' position in opinion polls, rather than on the women and girls whose lives they most affect.

Sounds intriguing and spot on. Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near Easton, Massachusetts -- but if you are, check it out on February 12th and let me know what you think.

On a related note, the television show Veronica Mars drew a lot of attention this week for an episode that referred to RU-486 (mifepristone) as "the morning-after pill" in the episode summary (which has since been changed) and title (which has not).

Jennifer Pozner from WIMN's Voices discusses reproductive health in the media in her multimedia presentation called "Reproductive Wrongs: Exposing Media Misinformation About Abortion, Family Planning and Clinic Violence."

Media coverage of reproductive justice issues informs what the public believes is true about family planning, sex education, low-income women's access to health care, anti-abortion legislation, clinic violence and more. Yet all too often, our most influential media outlets play political football with these issues, reporting their impact on politicians' position in opinion polls, rather than on the women and girls whose lives they most affect.

Sounds intriguing and spot on. Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near Easton, Massachusetts — but if you are, check it out on February 12th and let me know what you think.

On a related note, the television show Veronica Mars drew a lot of attention this week for an episode that referred to RU-486 (mifepristone) as "the morning-after pill" in the episode summary (which has since been changed) and title (which has not).

The storyline included a young pregnant woman suffering a miscarriage because her roommate slipped her mifepristone (after she obtained it from a clinic without taking a pregnancy test or ultrasound). There are so many things wrong with this, which are pointed out by both Ann from Feministing (who also guest blogged on WIMN's Voices) and Christine from OurBodiesOurBlog. Talk about giving young women the wrong message… from doctors handing out mifepristone to a non-pregnant patient (and without misoprostol), to confusing it with emergency contraception…. sheesh. Way to go, Veronica Mars.

See the CW network's response to public outcry over the confusion in an email to ThinkProgress.