Should women be forced to give birth in a hospital? (Photo: Samuel Corum)

BALTIMORE MIDWIFE Karen Carr is faces involuntary manslaughter, child abuse, and neglect charges after a complicated Alexandria delivery in September. "Carr’s attorneys described the allegations in this way: A 43-year-old woman wanted to deliver the family’s first baby at home. She sought out an Alexandria midwife practice, BirthCare & Women’s HealthCertified Nurse-Midwives. But there was a complication; the baby was in the breech position, meaning that it was upside-down rather than having its head closest to the birth canal. . . . BirthCare advised the mother that the case was too complicated for a home delivery, but she preferred to deliver at home. So she sought out a midwife experienced with difficult deliveries." When the delivery went wrong, the baby was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where the child was declared dead.

AFTER THE JUMP: Debunking the legend of the persecuted white male; Maryland senate prez doesn't like trans people; veganism may or may not be emasculating:

SHOULD WOMEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN MEDICAL CARE DURING PREGNANCY AND BIRTH? From the Women's Media Center: "Across the country, women are being charged with murder after losing a child due to fetal demise or still birth, adding gross insult to the deepest of injuries. In Oklahoma, for example, Theresa Hernandez spent five years in jail for having a still birth. And in Maryland, although the charges were later dropped, Christy Lynn Freeman was held without bail after the still birth of her child. It is shocking to find out how many women trying to have a natural, unassisted birth, such as Laura Pemberton in Florida, have been required to deliver their babies via forced c-section under threat of prosecution or removal of their children by the state. This is happening in America. . . . The question that we have to answer collectively as a society is whether or not women are capable of making decisions about their pregnancies, free from retribution by federal and state governments. Think about who can be trusted. Can you be trusted with these decisions? Can your sister? Your daughter? Your wife? Your mother?"

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Virginia tech loses sex discrimination suit in court, court of public opinion; walking on a treadmill is prohibitively feminine at UVA; kids these days' rules for condom use.

DEBUNKING Newsweek's "Beached White Male": "To be sure, many individual white males have been hurt by past recessions, and many more have been hit hard by this one, too. But the obsessive and disproportionate focus on the plight of this particular demographic actually contradicts the underlying theory of white victimhood. Far from being 'forgotten,' persecuted or 'without a freakin' prayer,' white men still very much retain their cherished privilege, so much so that their problems are presented by the media as the most pressing national emergency -- even when, on the whole, white men still occupy a comparatively enviable position in our economy."

BEYONCE revisits girl power.

MARYLAND SENATE PRESIDENT Thomas V. "Mike" Miller talks the state's failed trans non-discrimination bill: “I personally believe it’s antifamily, and so I am going to vote against it . . . The problem is this: I have senators that are not going to hire, uh, people with male sexual organs who wear a dress to serve as receptionists, OK? Um, and so if they're not going to do it, if the senators and house members themselves wouldn't hire a person in that category, how can we say to constituents, you've got to do this?"

MYTH-BUSTING: "Veganism is emasculating."