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FOR more than 10 years, Jennifer Gunter has been fact-checking claims about women鈥檚 bodies and writing about it all 鈥� sometimes humorously, at other times using expletives. She has been called Twitter鈥檚 resident gynaecologist and her Twitter fans (she has over 200,000 followers) describe those she has admonished for their ignorance as having been 鈥済untered鈥�.

Now, she is poised to reach out to many more when her book The Vagina Bible is published this month. The book offers scientific information on everything from reproductive health to vaginal steaming. At a time when women鈥檚 sexual health seems to have been taken over by zealots and jade egg sellers, the book is filled with answers to questions that women feel far too embarrassed to ask their gynaecologists.

Gunter is also wielding her 鈥渓asso of truth鈥�, as she likes to describe it, in a column for The New York Times and in a forthcoming TV show called Jensplaining with Canada鈥檚 public broadcaster CBC.

We caught up with Gunter and asked her about her motivation, what she really thinks about the term pro-choice 鈥� and why there is a big need for her book.

What made you write听The Vagina Bible?

I wanted to give women a manual for their sexual health. There isn鈥檛 much accurate information out there, from the mechanics of how women enjoy sex to the medical consequences of pubic hair removal to why yeast infections occur. The medical community is hopelessly patriarchal. There aren鈥檛 a lot of good studies, but there is a lot of gossip.

Take the still commonly read 1970 classic Our Bodies, Ourselves. It was written by women trying to do their best because doctors were ignoring them, but it is full of misinformation. Meanwhile, companies sell products based on false tropes about the vagina being dirty or impure. If the vagina is this filth-ridden space, how on earth do we use it to reproduce? Wouldn鈥檛 it just kill the sperm?

In addition to dispelling myths, you want women to feel comfortable discussing sexual health issues with their doctors. How did your own experiences as a gynaecologist and patient inform the book?

My sons were born very prematurely. One of my triplets died at birth and my other two sons were born with many serious health concerns. Various specialists would say: 鈥淚t鈥檚 so easy to get a history from you because you鈥檙e a doctor and you know what to say and the right words to use.鈥� I thought: 鈥淲hy can鈥檛 we open up the exam room doors and share more of the information we have as doctors?鈥� Much of the science isn鈥檛 that hard.

When I see patients who have had access to quality information, they get more out of their visit and I can advance their care so much faster. Whereas with someone who has read snake oil and believes it, I have to spend visit upon visit forging a connection and undoing that information. That is part of my job and I鈥檓 happy to do any part of my job, but I just got obsessed with this idea: what if no one ever fell down that rabbit hole?

I really believe we can bring everybody up to this level where they can make better decisions about their health and advocate for themselves better with their doctors.

You鈥檙e an outspoken critic of anti-abortion laws. What are your biggest concerns with the laws recently passed in places like Alabama?

These lawmakers are playing politics with women鈥檚 health. I don鈥檛 believe the people that write them care one way or another, but claiming to have the most restrictive abortion policy obviously works for fundraising and getting votes.

鈥淚鈥檓 pro-abortion the same way I鈥檓 pro-appendectomy. If you need a procedure, you need it鈥�

We know how to reduce abortion, if that is your goal. The contraceptive showed that free and easily available contraception reduces unplanned pregnancies and abortions. None of these politicians is trying to do that. The laws, by and large, don鈥檛 reduce abortion. They just make abortion unsafe or they make women seek abortion later, when it costs more money to do the procedure.

One of the biggest concerns is abortions that are conducted for sex-selection purposes. Why do you think neither politicians nor doctors should try to prohibit these abortions?

I think it is important to look at the whole picture of sex selection. Most people only think about the fetus, and as I wrote in my , that means that you think the only time a woman has value is when she is a fetus. Everybody forgets the woman who has seven, eight, nine girls and is trying to have a boy.

That isn鈥檛 something that is confined to any culture. I know someone who is the sixth or seventh girl of 11. Her parents kept trying for a boy and they have been in the US for generations.

Multiple pregnancies and births are extremely dangerous for women, compared with abortion. The way to reduce multiple pregnancies in the quest for a boy 鈥� because that is the real issue 鈥� is to work on creating a more equal society. And one of the ways to do that is to let a woman choose what she wants to do with her own body.

You want to change the narrative on abortion and do away with terms like pro-choice and pro-life. Why?

The political right has long profited from the use of euphemisms. I鈥檓 trying to move away from saying I鈥檓 pro-choice. Instead, I鈥檓 saying I鈥檓 pro-abortion or I鈥檓 against forced birth. I鈥檓 pro-abortion the same way I鈥檓 pro-appendectomy. If you need a procedure, you need it.

Choice isn鈥檛 really part of it. When you say 鈥渃hoice鈥� or 鈥渆lective abortion鈥� that implies that women can easily choose not to have an abortion. Well, no. It鈥檚 not a choice to be pregnant or not, it鈥檚 not like choosing between a Toyota or a Honda, it鈥檚 a need.

And pro-life, that is obviously false. We know these people don鈥檛 care about fetuses鈥� lives. They aren鈥檛 advocating for free prenatal care, which would reduce stillbirth and neonatal death. And they certainly don鈥檛 care about women鈥檚 lives.

Recent data from the Turnaway study [which looks at the effects of unintended pregnancy on women鈥檚 lives] showed that women who didn鈥檛 get the abortion they needed were more likely to have worse health outcomes, including severe complications in pregnancy, such as eclampsia and death.

The hatred that is directed against women who dare to be sexual is stunning. Forced birtherism is a way to keep people in poverty 鈥� or to force them there.

What do you find rewarding about writing about evidence-based healthcare?

I like to think I鈥檓 improving people鈥檚 quality of life, beyond my immediate patients. I wrote a blog post many years ago about an intrauterine device and later a woman sent me an email thanking me. Her doctor had told her she shouldn鈥檛 have an IUD because she had never been pregnant and her uterus wasn鈥檛 large enough. She printed out my post and when she saw her doctor, she slammed it down, and she got her IUD.

What about your personal rewards?

I know I need to find a better balance 鈥� I鈥檓 taking most of the summer off to be with my kids. But I derive a lot of pleasure out of reading and writing. I always said in medical school that my dream job would be to read about new medical therapies and write about them.