Teen pregnancies in New York City have plummeted 27 percent in the past 10 years. Thomas Farley, commissioner of the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, explains why on the Brian Lehrer Show.

It's another busy week in DC, with continuing efforts to reach immigration reform, the confirmation of Chuck Hagel in the balance, and another set of negotiations over taxes and "sequester" cuts on the horizon. Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent and author of The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, discusses the latest.

When Barbara Harris was 37, she started wishing she could have a daughter. It was 1989, and by that time only two of her six sons were still at home. So she filled out all the paperwork, and later that summer got a call about an 8-month-old ...

It used to be that liberalism pushed for an equality between the sexes. Now, any motion to treat women as equal to men is used as political ammo.

Later in the week, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill which would repeal the Obama Administration's health care regulation requiring birth control coverage. This follows a case in Tacoma, Washington where a federal judge ruled a law which requires pharmacies to offer emergency contraceptives to be unconstitutional. The plaintiff in the case, Kevin Storman, a store owner, felt his religious freedom was violated by the legislation. 

The religious freedom restoration act of 2012 is the latest wrinkle in a debate over contraceptive use in America. Last month, President Obama announced a mandate that would require faith-based employers to cover contraceptive care. Women's rights advocates have supported this measure, but members of the clergy and republicans in Congress have rallied against it in the name of religious freedom. The Takeaway asked listeners where they fell in the argument.

Since Obama announced his birth control mandate that requires faith-based employers to pay for contraceptive coverage, church officials have waged against the controversial bill. Last Friday, President Obama put forth a compromise that would allow churches and their religious employees to shift the cost of birth control to their insurance companies. Pastor Bob Stec and James Salt discuss the debate within the religious community over the federal ruling.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken issue with the Obama administration's healthcare bill, which requires all university and hospital insurance plans to cover contraception. Archbishop Timothy Dolan wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that this provision infringes on personal freedoms, "coercing religious ministries and citizens to pay directly for actions that violate their teaching." However, two new recently released polls reveal that American Catholics are more supportive of contraception coverage in employer-provided insurance than non-Catholics.

A study released on Monday shows that women using two popular hormonal contraceptives put themselves — and their partners — at greater risk for HIV. While this is a problem for all users of these drugs, it is particularly worrying to people in southern and eastern Africa, where these affordable and easily available contraceptives are used in a very high risk environment.

Federal health officials have announced new regulations that would require insurers to cover a range of preventive care services for women without co-payments or deductibles, including contraception. The new rules would go into effect in January 2013.

New York Times reporter Pam Belluck discusses medical advances toward a male contraceptive and the social impact it could have.

Listeners: Is this an attractive option? Men: Would you take it? Women: Would you want him to? Call us or comment here!

Mayor Bloomberg defended Schools Chancellor Cathie Black Tuesday following her controversial quip that birth control could help alleviate school crowding.