...(such as taking a double-dose of BC pills or RU-486), "menstrual extraction" (as it was called back in the "Jane" days) has to be done EARLY ON.

For that reason, counting on early-term abortion, performed by well-trained "amateurs," doesn't work well for some deliberately-kept-ignorant teenager who's been raised on a steady diet of abstinence education, it doesn't work well for women who are "in denial" about being pregnant and/or are not fully-aware of the feel of their bodies' normal cycling, and it doesn't work well for women who are ambivalent about getting an abortion and decide to wait for a while while they weigh their options.

Years ago, I advised young women, on a forum that was heavily-visited by teens, that it would serve them well to decide, BEFORE becoming sexually-active, what they intended to do if they were to become unintentionally pregnant and how they intended to go about it. I suggested that they visualize themselves being pregnant, giving birth and then either keeping or raising the child or finding an abortion provider and then imagining how they would feel in the termination's aftermath (Relieved? Guilty?). How would they fund their decision--no matter what that decision was? What would their lives be like during and after the pregnancy?

"Do you know what your resources are and how to access them?" I asked, "After all, knowledge is power. And it helps to think this through well-before you're faced with a potentially life-changing crisis."

What kinds of responses did I get from these high school--and even junior-high--gals? In general, it was something along the lines of, "Thinking about the potential consequences only spoils my enjoyment of sex, so I'm not gonna think about that stuff!" --That, along with a condemnation of any fellow young woman who would make a decision other than that which she, herself would make (sadly, this was particularly true when a young woman posted that she felt that adoption would be her best option). It seems that everyone was in "crisis management" and "enforced conformity" mode.

If we are not strong--or "together"--enough to insist on the right to make our own decisions, then we'll sit idly by while politicians (for whom we probably didn't bother to vote either for or against) will make our decisions for us.

It also seems to me that the (unspoken) goal of mainstream society is to achieve a sheer "quantity" of mothers, rather than striving for "quality" mothers. Ironically, it may be the "together" women who know what they want out of life who are likely to use birth control responsibly and opt for early-method abortions when their birth control fails who are likely to be the highest-quality mothers.

The so-called "chicken cutlets" (and now that I think about it, that's a rather apt name for them) don't go in front of the entire breast, nestling between the breast and the bra, like those old-fashioned foam rubber things that we may remember our moms wearing in the 1950s-60s; instead, they nestle UNDER the breasts, giving the same effect as a foam-rubber "push-up pad," but with a more-natural breast-like bouncy movement and consistency (since they're made of silicone).

Think of them more as "breast shelves" instead of "breast covers", and you'll have an accurate mental picture.

And, as for "perky nipples," I understand that it's no longer necessary to use the old "icing" trick. I didn't happen to see the "Sex and the City" episode in which these devices were discussed and modeled, but I understand that there are stick-on pastie-type thingies that give their wearer a very noticeable "nipple hard-on" appearance.