Photo by AshBayGrammy

Here on CafeMom, we talk about abortion, but mostly just to say whether we agree with it or not. Rarely, does someone "TALK" about abortion...until now. Thanks to AquarianPath for being courageous enough to come forward with her story...

Photo by AshBayGrammy

There's an alarmingly high statistic floating around CafeMom of late:

Forty-two percent of women claim they would lie about contraception in order to get pregnant, regardless of the wishes of their partners.

In other words, women so desperately want a baby that they tell their partners are on birth control when, really, they aren't.

Most CafeMoms say they are not part of this 42 percent. In fact, they think this statistic is way too high...take our anonymous poll, then tell us what you think about the topic...

Do you get migraines? If so, I can definitely empathize: They can really be excruciating. Getting migraines is bad enough. But now there's new research showing that for women who suffer migraine headaches with aura AND smoke  AND use oral contraceptives, the risk for stroke may be doubled.

Have you seen the "Choose Life" license plates (like the one pictured here) on cars in your town?

Twenty-four states (including Florida, Delaware, New Mexico, and North Dakota) allow these specialty plates that oppose abortion. But three states—New York, New Jersey, and Illinois—won't allow them. As such, some anti-abortion groups are fighting back, arguing that this is a violation of their free speech.

Forms of birth control: condoms, birth control pills, abstinence, crocodile dung...wait, what?

Yep, there has been some super bizarro methods of birth control used in the past. Momversation lists some extreme methods to prevent pregnancy. Here are my favorites:

For the last three years, Plan B has enjoyed an FDA-approved exclusivity window in which no other pharmaceutical product was allowed to compete with it. Any woman who wanted emergency contraception had to purchase the brand name Plan B.

As of Monday, other pharmaceutical companies are allowed to market generic emergency contraception. But if you're over 17, don't go to your corner drugstore expecting to find any.

Just because generic versions of emergency contraception are allowed to be sold doesn't mean that they are actually yet available to all women.

Confused? That's exactly the point.

There's a small Catholic college in North Carolina that refuses to cover birth control as part of it's health insurance. The Catholic Church believes in natural family planning; it doesn't support or promote other artifical means of contraception. 

And according to state law, Belmont Abbey College in Belmont has the right to refuse on the grounds that birth control contradicts the teachings and beliefs of the Catholic faith, beliefs that are part of this college's mission to uphold.

Two years ago, a couple of employees complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But the commission confirmed that the school had a religious exemption and was doing nothing wrong, so they closed the case.

Now, for some mysterious reason, the case has been reaopened and the commission is threatening legal action against the college if it refuses to cover birth control pills for its employees.

Photo from Mirena.com

Mirena is an IUD (intrauterine device) that's put in place by a doctor and can last for up to five years. Lots of women on CafeMom are using this method of birth control—with varying results. Some women love using it and have had no problems at all; others report horror stories of cramping, mood swings, and other painful side effects. I've asked two CafeMoms to share their very different experiences with Mirena...

Last week I posted about how the recession may be causing some women to switch to less expensive, less reliable methods of birth control—thereby increasing the number of unintended pregnancies. After reading some of your "pull and pray" comments suggesting that this info was, in fact, true, I decided to do a bit of detective work to determine how you might be able to save some money on birth control.

The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the recession may be leading to an increase in unintended pregnancies.

Why?