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North Carolina isn't exactly considered a champion of reproductive rights. So it may come as a surprise that North Carolinians can now get hormonal birth control without a doctor's prescription, thanks to a law initially passed last year by the state's Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. (2/3)

Last summer, Britney Spears stunned the public when she revealed that her father, acting as her conservator, prevented her from removing her IUD. What shocked many people wasn't only the blatant disregard for her right to make decisions about her body: it was that it was perfectly legal for her conservator to take that decision away. Propped up by laws all over the country, guardianship systems (sometimes called conservatorships) deprive primarily disabled people from making some of the most basic decisions about their lives. The horrifying truth is that Britney's experience under guardianship and its legality is just the tip of the iceberg. Quietly embedded in legal codes across the country, many state laws grant courts a draconian power: the power to order disabled people to be permanently sterilized against their will. (Ma'ayan Anafi, 2/3)

Seattle Children’s, and the community it serves, has a reason to celebrate. The “Starts with Yes” campaign not only met its ambitious target of raising $1 billion for the region’s premiere children’s hospital, but it also surpassed that goal by $400 million. The meaning of the record-breaking achievement, spearheaded by Seattle Children’s Foundation President Doug Picha, goes beyond bragging rights. It is about making critical care available to more kids throughout the hospital’s network of clinics and providers, across four states. (2/3)

Last summer, a disabled man and his pregnant wife appeared on a morning news program to help “normalize interabled relationships.” A short time later, a medical journal asked three other “interabled couples” to “share how they make their relationships work.” Even The New York Times reported on the wedding of “interabled YouTubers” in December 2020. I am a lifelong wheelchair user married for more than 30 years to a woman who doesn’t have a disability, and I can’t help wondering if all this media fascination with disabled people’s sex lives is truly good for the disability cause. Don’t get me wrong. I applaud efforts to show love in all its permutations. It’s important for people to understand that disabled folks are romantic and sexual beings. But I have mixed feelings about our being singled out and pigeonholed. (Ben Mattlin, 2/3)

Sweeping social change often begins as a ripple in quiet places: conversations around the kitchen table, in church basements, on school campuses, and the like. For the recovery movement, conversations between concerned family members, teachers, rehab counselors, emergency medical technicians and street medics, and many others who are part of recovery community organizations are helping undertake a massive shift in the perception of addiction in the U.S. (Ryan Hampton and William Stauffer, 2/4)

More than 1 million Americans have died of opioid overdoses since OxyContin launched in 1996.The statistics are startling: During the first year of the pandemic, the federal government reported a record 100,000 annual overdose deaths. One in three Americans say that drug use has been a cause of trouble in their family. Beth Macy, the author of “Dopesick,” joined James Hohmann to discuss the continuing opioid crisis, and the new Hulu series based on her bestselling book. (Beth Macy, 2/4)