The Board of Directors of the American Society for Bioethics has issued a statement responding to accusations about “death panels” that have become a theme of attacks on healthcare reform efforts. The final paragraph of that statement reads as follows: “The Board of Directors of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities deplore the attempts by [...]

When I was initially asked to speak, I asked if there was a subject you wanted to hear about.  I was told “Oh, something about liberty.” As my older grandchildren might say, that seemed pretty specific—NOT.   When I thought about it, though, I decided that the subtext to the assignment was really something like: [...]

This morning, the Indianapolis Star ran an article suggesting that the FDA might retreat from its insistence that access to “Plan B”—the morning-after pill—be only by prescription. The agency “might” allow women over 18 to purchase it over the counter, despite deep concerns that its ready availability might “encourage promiscuity.”   And I thought the [...]

When I was a young woman, I faced gender barriers my granddaughter will never know: job and credit discrimination, exclusion from educational opportunities, and pervasive social attitudes about "proper" roles for women. Today the legal barriers are largely gone, and social expectations have changed dramatically. Women work…