“Ah, the 1960s. Remember when it was a given that doctors were men and nurses were women? Back then gynecologists routinely downplayed serious risks and side effects because, as one doctor explained at the time, his female patients were not capable of weighing the information. “If you tell them the symptoms they’ll have them the next day.” In a 1970s Newsweek-Gallup poll, it was revealed that two-thirds of the women taking the Pill had never been warned by their physicians of any hazards. Barbara Seaman, who died of lung cancer today in New York City at the age of 72, rallied to educate people about the politics of the health care industry — in connection with the Pill and so much more. Because of her, many lives have been saved. She was, in the words of Gloria Steinem, ‘the first prophet of the women’s health movement.’” (02/27/08)