ColumnThis week, we’re going to take a look at pregnancy and abortion in America. Spoiler alert: it’s complicated.

Let’s start with the political.

A recent Mother Jones article examined Bernie Sanders’ and Hillary Clinton’s opinions about abortion. The major difference between the two presidential candidates concerns a type of abortion that’s been debated at length through the years–the late-term abortion.

During a recent Fox News town hall meeting, Sanders and Clinton were asked about their thoughts on all types of abortion, both early and late. Sanders’ answer was clear; he doesn’t think there should be any abortion restrictions in the United States. Clinton’s response was more complicated.

“She began her response to moderator Bret Baier with a broad defense of a woman’s right to an abortion, mentioning the current Supreme Court case involving Texas’ anti-abortion regulations and the continued Republican attacks on Planned Parenthood,” Mother Jones reports. But when the town hall moderator pressed Clinton about her specific opinion about late term abortion, she said she supported them with exceptions.

“Politicians should not interfere with a woman’s personal medical decisions, which should be left to a woman in consultation with her doctor,” Clinton’s campaign told Mother Jones in an email meant to clarify her position. “She also recognizes that Roe v. Wade provides that restrictions are constitutional later in pregnancy so long as there are clear exceptions for the life and health of the woman.”

While most abortions happen before 20 weeks, a late-term abortion happens after 24 weeks. It’s worth noting that Clinton does not  support abortion in total, which is a fact pro-choice Clinton supporters should consider.

Part of the reason abortion restrictions–even seemingly small ones–need to be considered is because DIY abortions are on the rise in the U.S.

The New York Times recently tackled this incredibly difficult topic in an early March article. The Times reports that although it’s difficult to figure out how many women are actually giving themselves abortions, roundabout research, such as Google search investigations, can help find an approximate answer.

Google searches show “a hidden demand for self-induced abortion” that’s “reminiscent of the era before Roe v. Wade,” the Times reports. “This demand is concentrated in areas where it is most difficult to get an abortion, and it has closely tracked the recent state-level crackdowns on abortion. In 2015, in the United States, there were about 119,000 searches for the exact phrase ‘how to have a miscarriage.’ There were also searches for other variants — ‘how to self-abort’ — and for particular methods.”

In 2015, there were more than 700,000 Google searches related to how to conduct a self-induced abortion. Among the 700,000 searches were about 160,000 “asking how to get abortion pills through unofficial channels.” These searches included phrases like “buy abortion pills online” and “free abortion pills.”

“There were tens of thousands of searches looking into abortion by herbs like parsley or by vitamin C,” the Times reports. “There were some 4,000 searches looking for directions on coat hanger abortions, including about 1,300 for the exact phrase ‘how to do a coat hanger abortion.’ There were also a few hundred looking into abortion through bleaching one’s uterus and punching one’s stomach.”

Further research showed that these Google searches were most frequent in states that are considered “hostile” or “very hostile” to abortion by the Guttmacher Institute, an organization dedicated to reproductive health.

It’s clear that when abortion is regulated to the point that it is no longer available, women suffer. Sure, no one is forcing women to perform their own abortions, but when people aren’t given a safe place to receive health care, terrible things will happen and women, in this case, get hurt.

The last bit of news we’d like to mention is surprisingly positive.

The number of unintended pregnancies in the U.S. is finally down, a New England Journal of Medicine paper reports. Researchers tapped into this trend by calculating  the rates of pregnancy between 2008 and 2011, according to the pregnancy intentions of women and the eventual outcomes of those pregnancies.

“We obtained data on pregnancy intentions from the National Survey of Family Growth and a national survey of patients who had abortions, data on births from the National Center for Health Statistics, and data on induced abortions from a national census of abortion providers; the number of miscarriages was estimated using data from the National Survey of Family Growth,” the study authors noted.

And the results were pretty staggering–in a good way. “Less than half (45 percent) of pregnancies were unintended in 2011, as compared with 51 percent in 2008. The rate of unintended pregnancy among women and girls 15 to 44 years of age declined by 18 percent, from 54 per 1000 in 2008 to 45 per 1000 in 2011.”

Although the overall news about pregnancy rates dropping is great, there are still a few populations of females who are at a greater risk of having unintended pregnancies. These groups were women who were poor or living with a partner.

So, why the drop? The researchers suggest it’s because contraceptives have changed; there are more long-acting methods of birth control that are safe and available, and more women are using some form of contraception, the New York Times reports.

While these pregnancy numbers are great, we all know that rates can change quickly. Because, if women don’t have access to safe and affordable health care, pregnancy rates and abortion rates of all kinds increase.

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ColumnMarlise Munoz is being kept alive—against her family’s wishes—to incubate a fetus.

Marlise Munoz was 14 weeks pregnant when she suffered a blood clot and was declared brain dead just after Thanksgiving.

Texas, where Munoz lived with her husband Erick, is one of 12 states that automatically invalidate a pregnant woman’s advance healthcare directive. Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin make up the full list, reports the Center for Women Policy Studies.

Let’s pause here for a moment. In 12 states, close to 1/4 of the U.S., the second you get pregnant, your rights and wishes go out the window—your sole purpose becomes to grow that baby.

Erick and Marlise Munoz both worked as paramedics. Erick told the Associated Press, having seen more death than the average person, that his wife was really clear about her wishes: If she fell into a condition like this, end life support and let her die.

But, John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth has refused to take Marlise Munoz off machines, citing a state law the hospital says requires it to continue treating a pregnant patient.

The lawsuit recently filed by Munoz points out that this rule doesn’t apply because his wife is no longer a patient, she is dead. Dr. Robert Fine, clinical director of the office of clinical ethics and palliative care for Baylor Health Care System, agrees.

Despite a family that is on the same page, and Dr. Fine’s clinical and ethical assessment, the hospital’s focus isn’t on doing what’s best for the woman. She no longer matters—dead or alive—because she’s pregnant.

She’s an incubator.

Ernest Machado, Marlise’s father, told the New York Times, “All she is is a host for a fetus. I get angry with the state. What business did they have delving into these areas?”

The areas he is referring to are a messy mix of politics and medicine—not to mention his family’s personal life.

The media is fixated on the viability of the fetus (now 21 weeks) and just how long the state would have to keep Marlise Munoz’s womb warm and keep her artificially alive for the fetus to survive.

If it’s not what she wanted, one hour is too long. One minute is too long.

Marlise’s husband and parents do not know the state of the fetus’ health. Past cases have shown that under similar circumstances some develop normally, while others don’t. It’s also unclear how long Munoz (and therefore the fetus) was unconscious and without oxygen before she was found and placed on life support.

But the viability of the fetus is not the issue. Marlise Munoz’s decision about her end-of-life care is the issue. She made her wishes clear; her husband and her parents are trying to respect those wishes. That should be the end of the story.

But we all know it won’t be.

The ruling in Erick Munoz’s case against the hospital will set a precedent because it raises hard questions about the right to choose when it comes to death and to life—questions that this family who has already lost a daughter, wife and mother (the couple has a 15-month-old son) has answered for itself and should have been be able to answer privately.

As of last Tuesday, there wasn’t a date set for the hearing, despite Erick Munoz’s request to expedite the case.

It’s easy to see the state dragging this out to pacify anti-choice voters in the name of buying time for the fetus to develop.

But, the real point Texas is making with this case is that it can keep using Marlise Munoz’s body however it sees fit because as women, our bodies don’t belong to us.

That Happened is Libby Lowe’s weekly column for EcoSalon analyzing media, news and pop culture through a feminist lens. Keep in touch with Libby @LibbyLowe.

Image: dreamingofariz

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A vegan eats a baby’s placenta?

I gave birth. No, really. A semi-gigantic future sumo wrestler was born out of the most delicate part of my body. After she appeared, an organ almost as big as her pushed its way through me as well. I have witnesses. Miraculously, I did not split in half. In fact, for the most part, if you look at me now, it’s pretty difficult to even tell that it ever happened.

It’s the single most ridiculous, stupid and unbelievably beautiful thing we as human women can do. Once you’ve become a mommy, there is an instant and unbreakable bond with other women. It’s an exclusive club amongst us girls with only one requirement to get in. Like a good eco-minded organic, vegan mommy, my recovery was under the guidance of a midwife. We tried to have as natural a pregnancy, birth and post partum recovery as we could. And most of that worked out smoothly.  (Complications during the end of my pregnancy and labor required that I spend a good bit of time in the hospital though.) I recommend the natural birthing route. After all, what’s more natural than giving birth?

To ward off post-partum depression and to boost energy, it was recommended by our midwife that I eat my baby’s placenta. It’s the organ that fed her for nine months in my uterus. It’s pretty amazing that during pregnancy a woman’s body not only grows a human (or many more), but a whole other organ as well! Like other organs, it’s a source of nutrient density. Other mammals eat their babies’ placentas (the act is called placentophagia). So, at the urging of our midwife, I decided to give it a shot even though animal parts have not entered my body in more than two decades…let alone organ meat.

In the wild, animals eat their placenta for two main reasons: First, it’s easy-to-find food. (It literally falls at their feet.) But it’s the second reason that’s even more important: It removes any trace of blood and rotting body parts that would tempt the nose of the nearest predator. Animals eat their placentas for safety.

Despite being mostly sure I would projectile vomit it out, I agreed to eat it. Even though I wasn’t in any jeopardy of attack by a pack of hungry lions, tossing the placenta into the hazardous waste pile didn’t seem very eco. And as overwhelming as pregnancy and labor were, I didn’t want to take any risks with developing post-partum depression.

We cut up the frozen placenta into chunks and my partner added them to smoothies per our midwife’s recommendation. I won’t lie; the smoothies tasted amazing. At first, anyway. I don’t know what a placenta tastes like, but all I tasted was almond milk and berries.

You’re supposed to eat the placenta until it’s gone…about ten days worth of smoothies. We were in for about three when I started to notice nausea percolating in my still intact stomach. I shrugged it off as just getting feeling back into my body after the birth. On the fourth day, a few minutes after drinking my organ and blueberry smoothie, I was overcome with the chills. Like, put me in a Tauntaun, Han, or I will freeze to death. My partner took my temperature: 95.9 degrees.

The thing they don’t tell you about post-partum is just how bat-shit crazy your hormones can go. The pregnancy hormones cease as soon as the placenta vacates the uterus. Then, you’ve got the breastfeeding hormones settling in. It’s a thirteen car pile up. I was skidding off the road. And the placenta? It was like the sheet of sheer hormonal ice underneath my car.

While lots of women swear eating their placentas spared them from PPD, it’s important to remember that the placebo effect is nearly 40 percent. And curiously, looking into human placenta consumption, it’s not as common as you would think. Turns out most of our ancestors buried the thing and honored it. They brought their children to the place where it lay so they could give thanks and pay respects. It’s as much a mother to them as we women are. For a time, anyway.

I stopped eating the placenta after I realized it wasn’t doing me any favors. We haven’t buried it yet, but there’s a beautiful spot in Eaton Canyon east of Pasadena, Calif. where I plan to take its remains. And we’ll take our daughter there from time to time to visit. I don’t know how she’ll feel though, once she knows I actually ate some of it.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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EcoSalon chats with Keya Chatterjee, Senior Director for renewable energy and carbon footprint outreach at the World Wildlife Fund, and author of a new book about carbon-free parenting.

Before getting pregnant, Keya Chatterjee and her husband lived the type of low-carbon lifestyle that most of us only dream of. No car, no refrigerator, and 100 percent of their home’s energy supplied by solar panels. Once their baby Siddarth arrived, Chatterjee knew they were going to have to make some changes, but still wanted to keep their carbon footprint minimal.

Doing so took a lot of research and dedication, something that’s probably far down the list of priorities for expecting parents who’ve had their lives turned upside down. Thankfully, Chatterjee chronicled the entire process and put it into a book that can serve as a guide for the rest of us.

We recently caught up with Chatterjee to ask her some questions about the book and what she learned while writing it. Keep reading to find out what she had to say.

Eco Salon: What inspired you to write this book?

Keya Chatterjee: As a person who works on climate change, it was a tough decision to decide to have a baby– I was worried about the kind of world I would be bringing my baby into, and I was worried that having a baby would mean having to give up on our relatively sustainable lifestyle. I did tons of research while I was pregnant about the carbon pollution associated with different decisions we were making– about whether to move, what kind of birth we wanted, how to diaper (or not!), how to feed our baby, and even what type of child care to secure. It was harder than I thought it would be to find out what the most sustainable options were, so once I compiled it I really wanted to share it with other parents who might have the same interest in protecting the future for their babies.

ES: What aspect of having or raising a baby would people be surprised to hear carries a large carbon footprint?

KC: It’s electricity and transportation that makes the biggest difference– much bigger than diapers, which are nonetheless top of mind for many new parents. Parents could make a huge difference by deciding to move to a smaller home that is close to public transportation, or deciding to switch to a more efficient vehicle. Our carbon footprint actually got negative by giving up air travel, so transportation makes a huge difference even when it is for vacations!

ES: How do you respond to those who say the greenest thing we can do is not have kids at all?

KC: It’s a fair point, which is why I have a chapter on adoption in the Zero Footprint Baby. That said, as a parent, however you become a parent, you have a much bigger personal stake in the future of the planet, and that has made me even more engaged and committed. Also, I crunch the numbers in the book and show that it is possible to reduce your carbon footprint as you add a new bundle of joy to the family!

ES: What’s the most useful green parenting tip that you discovered while writing this book?

KC: What was most useful for me was finding out what changes had a huge impact on my carbon footprint and what changes had a more modest impact. Diapers are on our minds a lot, but solar panels make a bigger difference. I also discovered that the cost of solar panels has come down 75% since we bought ours in 2008, and that many homeowners today would save money immediately installing them, whereas it took us four or five years to get to the point where our electricity is basically free.

ES: We recently reported on Alicia Silverstone’s breast milk-sharing program “Kind Mama Milk Share.” Are there other types of peer-to-peer sharing or swapping can help parents raise a low-impact kid?

KC: Oh yes, ThredUp is a great website for helping parents share clothes, and so is Encore baby registry, which helps new parents register for second hand items. I also used Craigslist a lot, and our neighborhood listserve.

The Zero Footprint Baby is available on Amazon for $12.97.

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VideoIf you can’t say it, don’t legislate it.

As the War on Women rages on, anti-woman forces – primarily a cadre of ultra-conservative men – continue to beef up their offensive troops. They now have Paul Ryan “a no abortions ever” kind of guy, teaming up with Mitt “I’ve always been pro-life” Romney, and together, they’ve created a party platform that represents the biggest threat to Roe v Wade we’ve seen thus far.

New to the frontline, we’ve been introduced to the rogue soldier, Representative Todd Akin, a Missouri candidate for the U.S. Senate. In a recent interview, Rep. Akin was seen munching on a tasty foot in his mouth as he expressed his belief that in most cases of “legitimate” rape, “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” thereby preventing pregnancy. Sadly, he isn’t the only politician who actually believes this absurd theory, nor does he stand alone in his justification for excluding rape-induced pregnancies in legislation that would restrict abortion funding.

Though our battles have escalated in the 2012 presidential campaign, women have long been besieged by fundamentalist religious groups, a male-dominated government, and society at large. It wasn’t until the 19^th Amendment was ratified in 1920, that women were granted the right to vote. Finally, we were allowed to raise our political voices, even if we would not be spared continuing efforts to silence us. We’re now all too aware that a strong declaration of opinion can lead to consequences. The duality of our political system was clearly exposed when Michigan’s State Rep. Lisa Brown, was censured for using the word “vagina” during a debate on abortion rights. Politicizing the word “vagina” helped mobilize many of us who had grown a little too accustomed to minding our manners.

If you can say it, display it.

Women have continued to say “vagina.”

Some even seek to destigmatize other descriptive terms for female genitalia, speaking – what may still be to many – the unspeakable. Others, the more demonstrative among us, are showing their vaginas (or vaginae…) to the world in a no-skirt-lifting fashion, through various forms of artistic expression. Vagina art may not be a new concept, but it is a window to society’s changing regard for women throughout history – from divine worship to oppression and repression.

Instead of conforming to expectations of “good girl” behavior, we’re seeing an emergence of newly empowered and emboldened women who have set up their easels, raided granny’s baskets of crochet hooks, knitting needles, embroidery kits, and hauled the sewing machines down from the attic. The results, as seen in the examples we’ve collected, evoke a broad range of emotions. Laughter. Anger. Sadness. Pride. Each creative effort celebrates the artistry of the individual as well as our collective identity. All have been inspired by “the sacred source of life” –the vagina.

Slideshow Music Courtesy JSP Records “Mama Don’t Allow It” by Julia Lee & Her Boyfriends; Images: Not Your Average Hooker, Hypgnosis, Shine Maverick Jewelry, Hypgnosis, Johnny B Wilde,  Expired Goods, Scarlet Tentacle, Purple Hippo Stitches, I Wear Party Hats, spidercamp, Irma Diaz/SourOctopus, TheVaginaZine, The Tie Dye Bohemian, Alex Florschutz, Adrien Art, Tina Casebeer/wikit626, ©Carrie Reichardt, Alex Florschutz, Woman In Bloom, thepixelrat, The Voting Box , VJazzle, Bridesmaids, Wedding Dress, Protest/CODEPINK, ©Ursula Kölle, Cupcakes, Body Parts Poster, Pink Flannel by Daria, Graffiti, Stenciled Tees/#waronwomen, ampule, the moss girl, ©Lydia Shalanko, Protest/CODEPINK, Scarlet Tentacle, Pochos Cosas, Vulva Love Lovely, Sinful Soap Favors, Family Tree Glass, Delicious Accessories

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The benefits of mango with a recipe to add to the love.

Mango is a meaty fruit that holds its own quite well in more complex dishes. It is a nutrition powerhouse with some major benefits – it lowers cholesterol, regulates sex hormones, boosts sex drive, improves concentration and memory, treats acne, fights diabetes, and prevents cancer and heart disease. It it also helpful for women going through menopause or who are pregnant.

The parsley adds an earthy tone to the citrus from the grapefruit and sweetness from the mango, and the cayenne gives the salad an additional edge that will not only taste great but also boost your metabolism.

Spicy Mango Citrus Ceviche

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 mango
• Juice of 1 grapefruit
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• Dash of sea salt

Directions:

Julienne the mango and place on a serving tray with the grapefruit juice. The longer the mango sits in the citrus, the more tender and infused with flavor it becomes.

Add the sea salt, cayenne and chopped parsley or cilantro.

Toss and serve.

Enjoy!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

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Due to the common use of assisted reproductive technology, twins and triplets are now subconsciously labeled “natural” or “unnatural.”

In Katharine Wroth’s Salon article about the questions people ask pregnant women, she expresses her outrage at continually being asked “Were you trying?” She thought it was not only too personal, but the answer potentially passed judgment on her relationship and lifestyle. The good news is that once she gives birth, this question will most likely disappear. As the mother of twins, there is a question I feel is far more invasive and offensive that begins with pregnancy and is more frequent after birth.

“Are they natural?”

It is universally the most-hated question asked of parents of multiples, followed closely by “You must have your hands full!” or “Better you than me.” In just three words, strangers pry into your method of conception – a private and intimate moment – and tack a label on your children. Using the term “natural” to describe children conceived without any help automatically conveys what the asker thinks of children who were conceived using assisted reproductive technology (unnatural).

What is an unnatural child, anyway? Am I really supposed to answer: Yes or no? It’s shocking that strangers and casual acquaintances think it’s appropriate to ask someone how their children were conceived. Although fertility treatments account for 77 percent of multiple births, many single children are born that way, too, yet I don’t see the same people marching up to everyone they meet and asking how their child was conceived. Whenever I am asked, I get the creepy feeling that the person is either picturing me in bed with my husband or in a gown and stirrups at a doctor’s office. I was raised to be polite, so as yet I haven’t asked that person how they conceived their own children – flat on their backs or in some other position? Maybe next time, I will.

I have seven friends with twins to whom I am close enough to know the circumstances of their origin. Out of our group, six sets (one mom has two sets) were conceived with no outside intervention, and three were the result of assistance. We have all been asked how our children came to be, and I’ve noticed that when the answer is that they were conceived naturally, the asker smiles and is supportive, commenting on how cute the children are. When the answer is that they were conceived with help, the asker usually replies, “oh,” rather flatly. Many parents report that they have resorted to lying or giving outrageous answers like “No, they’re plastic” or “We had sex twice in one night” in an attempt to end unwelcome conversations in the mall or at the supermarket.

My friend’s mother was talking the other day about a coworker’s daughter who had IVF and subsequently had triplets. She said, “Well, you get what you deserve.”

Exactly what do couples who have infertility issues deserve? The repeated disappointment of not being able to get pregnant, month after month, while watching their family and friends reproduce without issue? The devastation of miscarriages? The bone-deep, hollowed-out heartache of watching a fetus on an ultrasound that is not moving and has no heartbeat? Or, because they had the nerve to see a specialist and use fertility medications, they “deserve” multiples? Evidently, multiples are somehow a punishment.

Assisted reproduction has become more common now due to a variety of factors, and it is certainly discussed more often. Perhaps that’s why people feel that they can ask parents how their children came to be, however inappropriate it still is. While it’s more common, judging by the reactions, assisted reproduction is still looked down on by many. For some reason, having one child through assisted reproduction is a miracle, but having multiples that way is unnatural, even though having twins or triplets is always out of anyone’s control. One commenter on a twins blog said that he had “natural” twins, and felt they were special, whereas twins conceived through IVF were not.

Whether people are fascinated, admiring, or just plain nosy, the issue affects more than the parents – the kids can hear these comments, questions, labels and tone of voice, too. One mother posted a story about a woman who asked her if her triplets were “natural.” She then said, sympathetically, that the mother’s life must be so hard and how did she possibly do it? Later, her sad daughter asked the mother if she wished she had had only one child instead of three. I worry, too, that soon my two-year-old sons will want to know what “natural” means. That funny, irrepressible Ben and serious, cuddly Sam will wonder if they are a burden to me due to the thoughtlessness of others.

When people ask, “Do twins run in your family?” (the fraternal twin question to “Are they natural?”) in that I-would-shoot-myself-in-the-head-if-it-were-me voice, I tell them I’m adopted. Although they are asking for personal information, it seems that when they get some they don’t expect, people shut up – at least long enough for me to make a getaway. But what’s next? Perhaps they’ll want to know if I plan to find my “real” parents someday.

image: Angela Vincent

The post Lovely. Are They Natural? appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnWhere celebrity becomes conscious.

Hollywood is a land of contradictions. An extra serving of ice cream can send people into hysterics while no one bats an eyelash at a starlet on her fifth arrest. But when it comes to abortion politics in film, everyone generally joins together to dive under high-end Egyptian cotton sheets, refusing to come out until someone yells “big opening weekend.” Even torture porn flicks such as Saw can cause less controversy than a pimpled teenager walking inside an abortion clinic.

While the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion occurred in 1973, the debate has continued to rage. Take issues near and dear to people, nicely steeped in the American zeitgeist, and you have a political fire starter no one wants to touch. With such impassioned supporters on both sides, you would think Hollywood would have been quick to carry over the argument on film. Controversy breeds ticket sales, after all. Right?

In a word: No. Abortion in cinema has become as popular as discussing abortion at a family reunion. No one wants to touch the subject for fear of reprisal. When films and television shows do deal with abortion, they generally employ the following ten rules of portrayal. While some of these rules walk the thin gray line, all seem determined to leave you confused and uncertain about the state of abortion politics in America.

If your character goes through with her abortion, be prepared to fight the studio to keep it in.

Dirty Dancing, 1987’s wildly popular tribute to 1963 Catskill dance moves, reminds us that abortion was once completely illegal in America. Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes) is forsaken by her bad-guy boyfriend and will lose her ability to earn a living as a dancer. She almost dies after seeking a back-alley abortion, and is saved by kindly Dr. Houseman (Jerry Orbach).

Eleanor Bergstein wrote the script for Dirty Dancing. The Daily Beast reports that when the studio saw the final version, they urged Bergstein and director Emile Ardolino to edit out all references to the abortion. As Bergstein tells The Daily Beast, “I explained that it was integral to the plot…and if we cut that out, the rest of the story would collapse. So we kept it in.” According to Bergstein, the lesson is clear. As she further expounds, “What movies are saying now is that if you are of fine moral fiber, you make the opposite decision and decide to have the baby. And everything turns out beautifully. The girls never end up in a shelter, as girls in real life often do.”

If your character is thinking about abortion, she will likely back out of it or experience an unfortunate miscarriage.

Several television shows have addressed the issue accordingly. The original Beverly Hills: 90210 (1990-2000) explored abortion when brainy Andrea became impregnated by her boyfriend, Jesse. Jesse breaks up with Andrea over the decision, only to realize the error of his judgmental ways. In the meantime, Andrea has decided to back out of the abortion. Happiness reigns. No judgment!

Sex and the City (1998-2004) similarly dealt with abortion a decade later. Miranda finds herself pregnant by her sometimes boyfriend, Steve. She initially chooses abortion, but backs out when confronted with the realization that, at aged 36, this may be her last chance at motherhood. While this episode explored the myriad issues surrounding abortion, it inevitably gave us a main heroine, Carrie Bradshaw, who has admitted to having an abortion. Further, Carrie truthfully acknowledges the uncomfortable feelings she still has over the procedure.

And if your character is still undecided? She can always fall back on the conveniently-timed miscarriage. In Party of Five (1994-2000), teenager Julia (Neve Campbell) chooses abortion, backs out, chooses it again, and then succumbs to a miscarriage.

If your character decides to go through with an abortion on a TV show, make sure it is on premium cable.

Abortion issues on the small screen almost always coincide with a premium cable bill. We’ve already mentioned HBO’s Sex and the City treatment of the issue. The same network also gave us Claire Fisher’s procedure on Six Feet Under (2001-2005), as well as with the HBO produced movie If These Walls Could Talk (1996), which looked at three women dealing with abortion over a span of forty years.

But abortion issues on network television? Keep looking. In 1972, Bea Arthur’s Maude decided to have an abortion after becoming pregnant at age 47. This episode of Maude, which was on CBS, is one of the only times where a character on network TV actually went through with an abortion.

European producers or financiers are more likely to back a film with an abortion plot line.

The Yellow Handkerchief (2008), written by Erin Dignam, features an abortion plot line. William Hurt is a recently released convict who went to jail after being incited into a criminal rage by the revelation that ex-wife Maria Bello has an abortion. As Dignam has said, finding financing for the film was extremely hard. Eventually the film was produced by Europeans, Arthur Cohn and Lillian Birnbaum. According to Digman, “The producers backed me. I’m sure the fact that they are European helped.”

Your character should be played by Laura Dern.

If you want to discuss abortion in the most satirical way possible, cast Laura Dern. Dern wickedly plays the titular character in Citizen Ruth (1996), the worst possible candidate for motherhood. Ruth is a stupid, often inebriated drug addict who already has lost custody of her four children. When she is arrested, the judge offers to lighten her sentence if she has an abortion. Pro-life and pro-choice sides are inflamed, nonsense and hilarity ensues. It’s rather like watching political debates on abortion today.

To avoid social moralizing in 1982, your unwed pregnant character must have the abortion.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) had Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Stacy Hamilton getting an abortion after an ill-fated hookup in a pool shed. The procedure was done quickly and without judgment, aside from the ire heaped on her hookup’s head for bailing out on Stacy.

To avoid social moralizing today, your unwed pregnant character must not have the abortion.

In 2007’s Juno, teen Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) considers an abortion and even visits an abortion clinic. But she backs out after a classmate points out her unwanted baby already has fingernails. Also in 2007, Knocked Up’s Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is an ambitious, career-oriented young woman who gets pregnant after a one night stand with a slacker. She doesn’t even consider abortion as a viable option. Of course, neither film would have had a story if they had. In the meantime, both films were appropriated by the pro-life movement as a testament to the right to life. But there’s also the point to be made that both heroines were merely exercising their right to choose not to have an abortion.

If your character has an abortion, make sure she is impregnated by a really bad guy.

In The Godfather: Part II (1974), Kay Corleone (Diane Keaton) aborts a male heir to the Corleone crime family. Penny Johnsons’ aforementioned lover in Dirty Dancing is a shady rich boy who is sleeping with wealthy married women. In The Cider House Rules (1999), Rose Rose (Erykah Badu) is raped by her father. Who she then murders. Because he’s a really bad guy.

After her abortion, your character will likely pay for her choice in some negative way.

The Cider House Rules walks a fine line of moralizing about abortion rights. Michael Caine’s Dr. Larch is a charitable abortionist in 1940s Maine who treats women while taking in their unwanted children. He ends up dead. Tobey Maquire plays Homer Wells, his uncertain protégé, himself an unwanted child.

Homer’s ambiguity over abortion is challenged by two women. Charlize Theron is Candy Kendall, whose abortion is seemingly consequence-free until her boyfriend turns up from war paralyzed from the waist down. Candy is now likely permanently childless. Coupled with the grim fate of Rose, who wins in any of these scenarios? No one. Even Homer Wells, who returns home to Maine to take up where Dr. Larch left off, is left to provide medical care to women in desperate situations in a barren, frozen landscape with a young Paz de la Huerta making eyes at him over the staircase.

And finally, if your character is going to have the first legal abortion on television, make sure the aborted fetus “reappears [decades later] fully grown after having been miraculously saved by the unscrupulous doctor who had performed the initial procedure.”

In 1973, All My Children’s Erica Kane had the first legal abortion on television. Which one would think is a landmark event, no? Until said fetus, now fully grown, showed up year later in Pine Valley. Just this April, ABC canceled All My Children after decades on the air. Tough break, fetus. Welcome to show business.

This is the latest installment in Katherine Butler’s column, Shade Grown Hollywood, where celebrity becomes conscious. “Shade grown” refers literally to shade grown coffee, a farming method that “incorporates principles of natural ecology to promote natural ecological relationships.” Shade Grown is our sustainable twist on Hollywood.

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Infertility is a major bitch. It can seem like an almost endless font of emotions, misconceptions, fears, and at times complete and utter despair for the women and men who suffer through it. For women of a certain age who are not yet even trying for babies, it can swing like a scythe out of nowhere. For women (and yes, men) who are on the path to babies and facing road block after road block, it can be one of the hardest roads to travel in life.

The good news? Infertility is a bitch who almost always gets made over into a happy stork. Of the many strong women and men I know who have been down this road, they all have children now – be they biologically-derived or of another mother. And all of them feel with the depth of their souls that they have the children they were “meant” to have. Some confide they would not even change the path that got them to parenthood, as stressful as it was at times.

Still, for our sisters and brothers still on this road, one of the most painful things about it can be the misconceptions of others. People in the midst of infertility may know the technical ins and outs almost as well as some doctors. But the same doesn’t go for the aunt at Thanksgiving dinner who loudly asks three times in one evening if you’re pregnant and haven’t you been trying for years? (Because you got knocked up in the ten minutes since the first time she asked, right?) For the nosy aunts and well-meaning friends out there, here’s a look at some of the common misunderstandings about fertility that are better left unsaid.

It’s all in your head. It’s not all in your head. As Parents Magazine points out, some may tell men and women struggling with infertility that “if you’d stop worrying so much, you’d get pregnant.” Dr. John Zhang is the director of New Hope Fertility Center in New York. As he told New York Family, your relaxed mental state is important while trying to conceive. But he points out that “It’s also not [the case] that you can just relax and everything will be fine.”

Isn’t it easy for women to get pregnant? Shows like 16 & Pregnant make it seem like a case of wine coolers is all you need to be with child. But the CDC reports that 7.3 million women in the United States have “impaired fecundity.” This is 11.3 percent of all women and by some estimate, one in every 10 couples. The struggle to get pregnant is more common than people think.

She had twins, so she must have used fertility treatments. Yes, with the rise of IVF, the rate of twin births has risen. One in 32 births are now twins, a rate that has gone up 65 percent since 1980 due to fertility treatments. But that doesn’t mean that every twin birth is from using fertility drugs or procedures, as one in 89 women still have fraternal twins and one in 250 women give birth to identical babies. More over, is it really a nosy aunt’s business how you conceived?

You’re healthy and look so young, so why are you having trouble? As a woman ages, her chances for conceiving a baby decrease no matter what. And while healthy choices are important on the road to baby, ultimately it is just about the joining of a viable egg and viable sperm. Further, infertility can strike men and women of any age.

Well, at least you have each other. To insinuate that a childless couple can’t have a happy or fulfilled life without babies insinuates that all people need parenthood as the lasting key to fulfillment. Life has disappointments. And if adoption and/or fertility treatments fail, people move on.

Genetics are everything. No, they aren’t. As Dr. Cooperman pointed out to New York Family, there is “no correlation between your mother’s infertility and your ability to conceive.” So if your mother or sister had trouble, that doesn’t mean you will.

It’s the woman’s fault. Sadly, CDC points out that 7.5 percent of all sexually-experienced men have sought treatment at some point for fertility issues. This comes to 3.3 to 4.7 million men. Couples who are trying for children are in this together. And as for the rest of us? We’re there for support.

Images: Vivian Chen, e3000

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Stretch marks. Friend and new mom Erin Fox speaks of them in hushed, angry tones, calling them, “Something so evil they must be destroyed. Evilly.” Yes, Erin, stretch marks are bad. What’s more, they are complicated. No, I’m not talking complicated like understanding the appeal of putting crazy people on reality television. Stretch marks are complicated because a vigorous debate exists as to whether they can actually be prevented.

And the debate over stretch marks is fierce. It pits doctors against mothers against physical trainers against beauty technicians. And sure, there are those who argue that stretch marks are natural, we must embrace our bodies, and these marks just accentuate perfection. All good and true points – click here, my positive-thinking friends!

For the rest of us still reading, let’s talk options.

The cosmetics industry has produced tons of creams, oils, and salves that they swear will decimate stretch marks like a nuclear bomb takes care of tree. Meanwhile, other skin experts shake their heads, check their offices for hidden microphones, and admit that nothing can be done to prevent them. They are, in fact, a result of the genetic makeup of your skin.

And it does seem that stretch marks are unavoidable for some people. I have friends who cocoa buttered themselves ceaselessly during pregnancy – only to end up with stretch marks best described as Freddy Kruger-esque. Then I know others who sailed through pregnancy without a mark to be had. And nary a cream or oil did they touch.

So what’s the deal? Firstly, stretch marks aren’t just due to pregnancy. They come from weight loss or weight gain – basically, from anything that will stretch the skin. Men and women get them all over their bodies. They arise in the elastic middle layer of skin called the dermis. Experts point out that when the dermis is constantly stretched, it can break down. Voila, stretch marks. They start off red or purple and can end up silvery white on the skin.

So what can you do to fight them naturally? Yes, I know that some say they are unavoidable. But experts suggest keeping the skin as hydrated as possible – and that sure can’t hurt the situation. Use Vitamin E lotions and oils on the skin, and get as much Vitamin E as you can in your diet. Nuts, spinach and tomatoes all contain a lot of it.

Finally, Narine Nikogosian of Return to Beauty details a natural recipe for stretch mark care in her book. She suggests combing 3 Vitamin E capsules with 2 tablespoons of cocoa butter, covering your affected areas every night before bed. She also offers up a similar recipe combining 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon apricot kernel oil, and ½ teaspoon of honey. You can purchase Narine’s book here.

Have any of your own homemade recipes or tips to fight stretch marks that you’d like to share? Let us know!

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