There’s a bunch of interesting stories about contraception I came across in my news round-up this morning. The first is the announcement of a new and completely natural birth control pill. Lauren Proper at Empowerher reports on oddly-named Qlaira, “the first “natural” contraceptive pill made from a bioidentical hormone.” It’s been developed by Bayer Schering Pharma and is now available in the United Kingdom and several other European countries. Proper explains, “Bioidentical hormones are formulated from plants and produce effects identical to the actual hormone. This could mean decreased chances for cancer, blood clots and other negative side effects that are present with typical contraceptive pills.”

Weighing in with a cure for another potential negative side effect of birth control, the blogger TaxGirl offers advice to those whose health insurance coverage doesn’t cover contraception. She writes,

“You can absolutely deduct the cost of birth control pills as a medical expense…Almost anything that requires the services of a physician would qualify - IUD, Norplant, etc. Additionally, the costs of sterilization for women and vasectomies for men are deductible. What you won’t see on that list are other non-prescription forms of birth control, like condoms. As a general rule, non-prescription drugs and medicines, as well as “personal use items”, are not deductible.”

Of course, contraception should be covered as any other prescription is and not a personal expense great enough to need to involvement of your accountant. If passed, Prevention First legislation, which was introduced in the Senate on the first day of session (a signal its importance,) includes a provision that would require all health plans that cover prescription drugs cover contraception.

Blast Magazine offered some perspective on news that trace amounts of birth control have shown up in suburban water supplies around the country. According to the post, last year studies were conducted of water supplies in nine states and discovered that 85 man-made chemicals, including medications, were slipping through treatment systems and ending up in our tap water. Some claim the amounts present, “a thimble full of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool,” are not enough to do harm. Yet, Blast Magazine continues,

“But others aren’t so sure. Researchers have found evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of drug residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species, and have been shown to labs to impair human cell function. One of the common culprits is estrogen, much of which is inadvertently released into sewers through the urine of women taking birth control. Studies have shown that estrogen can wreak reproductive havoc on some fish, which spawn infertile offspring sporting a mixture of male and female parts. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that human breast cancer cells grew twice as fast when exposed to estrogen taken from catfish caught near untreated sewage overflows. “There is the potential for an increased risk for those people who are prone to estrogenic cancer,” said Conrad Volz, lead researcher on the study.”

The blogger Visinvox offers an interesting account of her weekend tabling for Prevention First legislation and both the pro-life and pro-choice public’s confused response. She writes,

“There were occasions when I would approach somebody who turned out to be a Planned Parenthood supporter and I would explain to them that we were trying to get legislators to focus on measures that would reduce the instances of abortion, they would look at me and say, "Sorry, I'm pro-choice." And I'd have to re-explain that we were with Planned Parenthood and we were also pro-choice, but our goals were to reduce unintended pregnancies etc. My phrasing might have been a little confusing I'll admit, but in my defense this was my first time crowd-canvasing.

There were other times I would approach a group of people who turned out to be very strongly pro-life. They would say things like, "We don't support abortion, sorry." Having taken ques from the pro-choicers who thought we were anti-choice, I went into persuasion mode and explained to them that the goal of the petition was to reduce abortions and that even if we didn't see eye to eye on the matter of choice, it was still important for both sides to focus on preventative measures. Often after reading through the petition, they were often happy to sign on. It's just frustrating how quickly people are to shut down at the mention of Planned Parenthood without taking into account the positive impact we have made that is very much in-line with much of what anti-choicers are trying to achieve.”

In the end, she reports, “the response was overwhelmingly positive.”

Being a part of a marketing campaign for Yaz contraceptive was overwhelming positive for the pop group the Veronicas reports Billboard magazine,

“The partnership between Bayer birth control pill brand Yaz and the Veronicas is considered one of the key factors that broke the Australian electro-pop band in the U.S. market. The advertising and sponsorship deal, now three-plus years strong, was the subject of the final keynote at Billboard and Adweek’s inaugural Music and Advertising Conference in New York.

Before the partnership with Bayer, “Untouched,” the Veronicas’ first single from current album “Hook Me Up,” was in three small radio markets; the single has now sold more than 1.3 million units and has reached No. 17 on the Hot 100. The Veronicas were also invited to tour with the Jonas Brothers last summer, and have just begun a two-month U.S. headlining tour.”

Lisa Origliasso and her twin sister are The Veronicas. Lisa explained, “We thought it was cool. All these Disney acts are sponsored by, I don’t know, My Little Pony or something, and here we are with a birth control pill.” Here's the Yaz ad that made the Veronicas,