Laura is a veteran sexual and reproductive health advocate who has worked for and volunteered with Planned Parenthood-affiliated organizations in Canada since 1986. She was a Columnist for Troy Health Media, and she is the new editor-in-chief for Re: Cycling, the blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. As many of you know, I recently interviewed Holly-Grigg Spall, and in that interview, we spoke about her book Sweetening the Pill or how we got hooked on hormonal birth control. Laura actually wrote the forward to this book, and she has also publicly shown her support for the upcoming documentary that Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein are doing based on the book. And she has also charted her cycles for 27 years.
Today we will be talking about the health implications of using the Fertility Awareness Method that go beyond the practical aspects of having a hormone-free method of birth control, why rejecting the pill is actually not "anti-feminist" and why it is important for women to have access to accurate information about all forms of birth control regardless of what method they eventually decide to rely on.
Topics discussed in today's episode
In this podcast episode, Laura described the hormonal changes that a woman experiences naturally throughout her menstrual cycle, and how that changes when a woman is taking hormonal contraceptives. For reference, here is an image of the hormonal cycle during a healthy menstrual cycle. You'll notice that a woman has high levels of estrogen in the first half of her menstrual cycle before ovulation, and high levels of progesterone in the second half of her cycle after she ovulates.
Connect with Laura
You can connect with Laura on the Re: Cycling Blog for The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research and on Facebook and Twitter!
Resources mentioned
Join the community! Find us on the Fertility Friday Facebook Fan Page
Music Credit: Intro/Outro music Produced by Sirc of (The Nock)