Samantha Pohl is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She is a graduate of Brandeis University.

Congrats, ladies, you are now supposed to live your life to ensure the health of your uterus.

That was the headline of an email I received from a friend and colleague yesterday afternoon. I had to read on; to what could this possibly be referring? As it turns out, the federal government has just issued a series of guidelines that according to the Washington Post “ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.” In an attempt to curb high rates of premature birth, low birth rates, and infant mortality, the groups involved with the creation of these guidelines (including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) hope to help women modify behaviors, health conditions and risk factors to ensure infant and maternal health.

So what does this mean for women of reproductive age? The guidelines call for all women between first menstrual period and menopause to take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control. While the guidelines’ suggestions are essentially part of good general health measures for any woman, or person, there is no reason to tie them to a woman’s potential to reproduce.

To read more on this topic, checkout one of the many articles from the Washington Post’s Health Section this week regarding pregnancy and teen sex. These articles discuss the mixed messages teens receive regarding sex and compare rates of unwanted pregnancies and STDs to Western European countries.