I had an abortion in 1975 when I was a college sophomore. I've never told anyone in my adult life - not my parents, my friends and lovers, my siblings or my teenage daughter. I didn't tell my colleagues in the 1990s when I was working at Planned Parenthood, nor...

Today I spent three hours in Hell -- the waiting room of the Family Court at the Arlington County, VA courthouse. As the foster parent of an infant, I was a tiny cog in the cumbersome wheel of a five day hearing which was actually taking place nine days after...

Women should not die giving life. I'm pretty sure most of us in the U.S. and around the world are in agreement on that. And yet, tragically, more than half a million of the world's women lose their lives during childbirth -- a statistic that has held steady for over...

When Connie Culp's husband shot off her face with a shotgun, he was sentenced to a mere seven years in prison. She was sentenced to spend the rest of her life faceless in a nation that values beauty. Who got off easier? And yet, she was given a reprieve of...

Motherhood is the only role I've ever had where I simultaneously feel I am doing pretty well at it and am sure that I know nothing. You'd think that after more than 16 years as a mom I would be able to write a book on parenting. The sad truth...

Maybe when you grow up with a name like "Barack Obama," you are forced to be more sensitive to language. Unlike, say, someone with the name of "George," you pay attention to how words are pronounced and their correct usage. Obama's press conference on his 100th day in office is...

The more than half a million children being raised in foster care belong to all of us and deserve at least as much support, guidance and love as our biological kids. But the sad truth is that less than a third of the 25,000 young people who age out of...

Are you a parent? Do you recall having a talk with your preschooler about "bad touches" and "private parts" of the body? I do. I remember so clearly telling my now 16-year-old daughter that she should never let strangers touch her and that she was in charge of her own...

Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter of Krakow, once echoed with the comings and goings of nearly 70,000 Jews, but now only 300 remain. The streets still bear a resemblance to their pre-World War II days, with synagogues and carved signs in Hebrew for shops and restaurants. But now the quarter...

When a beautiful, under 30-something sings like an angel, she can become an American Idol. When a dowdy, homely 47-year-old woman sings beautifully, it is headline news. I'm certainly not knocking you-tube sensation, Susan Boyle, who stunned even Simon Cowell with her singing ability on "Britain's Got Talent" last...

It took Krakow, Poland to turn me into an Ugly American - no easy feat given that I've lived in many countries, and traveled to at least 20 more in the past 10 years. On the other hand, perhaps it wasn't the town that should be blamed as much...

I am not usually one to take on the Vatican. In fact, I toured its lovely treasure-filled buildings only three months ago and marveled at the wealth and power it denoted. However, the Pope's recent pronouncements during his travels in Africa that condoms and abortions are morally wrong have filled...

One in 50 children in the U.S. is homeless each year, according to America's Youngest Outcasts, a new report from the National Center on Family Homelessness released on March 10. An astonishing 1.5 million homeless children! Chances are you've met a child who has spent time in the uncertain...

Growing up as an Air Force dependent, I recall an unexpectedly egalitarian community. That's not to say that rank wasn't important - our home on base housing grew in direct correlation to my father's rank as an officer. And we had to say "sir" and "ma'am" a lot. But...

In Arlington, Virginia -- my home for the past 17 years -- there is an invisible dividing line between the southern and northern parts of this small county. In the North, where I live, there are many million dollar mega-houses, wonderful public schools, beautifully preserved hiking trails and bike paths....

What are you willing to give up? I know it's a strange question at a time when so much seems to be taken from us -- our savings, our homes, our dreams for a financially solvent future. But the question is a fair one: What are you willing to give...

Dear Nadya,

Hey, I get that whole wanting to be a mom thing. Like you, I chose to become a single mom -- though of course it wasn't my first choice. But I was jonesin' to be a mom just as much as you were. I went the sperm...

Okay, so the economy tanked. All the years of livin' easy have come to an abrupt halt. No more flipping property -- now recent college grads may be faced with flipping burgers. It's true that in the "olden days" of the late 1970s when I graduated from college, most of...

I learned soon after I became a mother 16 years ago that parenthood is a series of losses, some of which are more painful than others. In the infant and toddler years, I would recall fondly a time when the space between my daughter and me was literally and figuratively...

An annual Christmas-time trip overseas has become a tradition for this single mom and her now 16 year old daughter, Hannah. In years past, we've traveled to Quebec, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Vienna and Istanbul to experience the holidays and traditions of others. When Hannah was younger, the lessons were...