For what seems like always, that ubiquitous pink ribbon has meant one thing: Breast cancer awareness. And it's popped up on just about any product you can think of, from hair dryers to lipstick to clothing and U.S. postage stamps. You figure you can safely assume that by buying said product, part of the proceeds will go to help fund breast cancer research. Personally, when faced with a "pink" purchase, I'd think, "Oh yeah, I'm donating to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Cool." And I wouldn't bat an eyelash about making a donation in that direction. Until now.

Ever since Komen announced their split from Planned Parenthood -- initially due to a "disqualifying federal investigation," then because they supposedly were "looking to back groups that offer direct breast health services, like mammograms" -- that little pink ribbon will never be the same. Not even now that Komen has apologized, backtracked, and said they'll restore funding to the family planning clinics.

Nothing short of a total firestorm has arisen from the news that the Susan G. Komen Foundation is cutting their funding to Planned Parenthood. Uber-conservatives have been acting like it's their very own New Year's Eve, turning the Susan G. Komen Facebook page into their celebratory HQ. And anyone who cares at all about women's well-being has had a perpetual scowl painted across their face for the past 48 hours. But I'm here to tell you that those of us here on the sane side of the road mustn't mourn any longer, because there's a sweet upshot to all of this! No, really.

Donors who were totally P.O.'ed by the Komen decision have donated $650+K to Planned Parenthood over the past day or so, which is nearly enough to replace last year's Komen funding, say PP execs. Amaaaaaazing! 

Most of us ladies at some point have suffered from excruciatingly painful periods (or, in docs' and researchers' lingo, dysmenorrhea). If you've ever gone to your OB/GYN for help, you've probably heard him or her sing the praises of what they consider the #1 "cure" for this problem: The birth control pill. Docs have prescribed it for years off-label as a fix for cramps and heavy bleeding.

Now, there's a new study confirming this long-held belief. The findings, which are published in the journal Human Reproduction, show that women who used a combo estrogen-progestin pill (which is pretty much every mainstream pill these days) suffered less severe pain than women who did not use it. That's fabulous and all, but no one's talking about WHY this is the case?? And that's the most important part!

If anti-abortion activists are to be believed, women who get abortions are setting themselves up for a world of emotional pain and mental illness. They've argued for years that terminating a pregnancy leads to trauma and depression. Now, a large study commissioned by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and funded by the U.K. Department of Health is setting the record straight: Women who have abortions are at no greater risk for mental illness than women who give birth.

The one caveat is when women already have a history of mental health issues and when they've been pressured by their partner to terminate the pregnancy. Duh. Otherwise, the research -- which assessed 44 studies from 1990-2011, examining data on hundreds of thousands of women at least 90 days after an abortion -- concludes definitively that having an abortion isn't going to automatically make a woman lose her mind. Whodathunk?!

For most women, that annual visit to the OB/GYN is pretty much the opposite of raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. In other words, it's NOT among one of our favorite things. If you're lucky enough to have a good doctor, your pap smear might not be something you particularly dread. But even then, the drill we go through can range from annoying to cringe-worthy to downright upsetting.

I'm not surprised a big part of the problem is now being attributed to some physicians' total lack of warm bedside manner. At least that's what researchers in the UK say in a study published in the journal Family Practice. They found women feel like they're not always treated with the kindness and sensitivity that they would like by their docs, who can often appear detached and distanced. Yeah, I can relate!

We all know this country has a serious problem when it comes to health insurance. But did you know that women are bearing the brunt of the problem to a significantly higher degree? Consider the issue of health coverage gender bias, by the numbers, according to a new report from Prevention magazine:

• In 37 states, it's legal to deny us health insurance because we're women.
• 95 percent of insurance companies that sell individual health care plans practice something called "gender rating," or gender-related denials.
• Women end up paying 84 percent more than men for coverage.

In other words, we're being royally screwed and discriminated against by health insurance companies, and until the Affordable Health Care Act goes into effect in 2014, these glaring inequalities will be perfectly legal. Shocked? Enraged? You should be!

Exciting news on the women's health front this week: a vaccine that shows promise in halting the progress of breast and ovarian cancer and increasing the survival rates of women with advanced cases of the disease.

Hooray!

Although the study exploring the effects of the PANVAC vaccine, conducted at the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, was small, the effects were dramatic. Twenty-six women were treated (all of them with breast or ovarian cancer that had already spread to other organs) with the vaccine. In four women, the disease was brought to a halt. One woman experienced what sounds like a miracle: Her cancer just totally disappeared.

A few months back, the FDA said they were investigating the matter of those dangerous, "next generation" birth control pills that both Canadian and British studies have shown to be associated with an extremely elevated risk of blood clots. This week, the U.S. verdict came in!

The FDA's study reviewed the medical history of more than 800,000 American women who had taken various forms of birth control from 2001 to 2007. Women on Bayer's Yasmin, Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Evra patch, and Merck's Nuvaring were among those with the highest instances of blood clots. And on average, women taking Bayer's popular Yaz had a 75 PERCENT greater chance of experiencing a blood clot than women on older forms of the Pill. Wow. Now, we have FDA-approved proof that these pills are officially dangerous. And yet ... now what? Crickets?