Reproductive Rights Blog

News Round Up (Nov. 30)

There's a lot going on, including another recommendation that women consider themselves pre-pregnant, a bunch of abandoned babies, and the government's abstinence recommendations.

The U.S. government is promoting it's abstinence agenda to people up to 29 years old who are unmarried.  Considering that up to 90% of people have people ages 20-29 have sex, the abstinence thing seems a little unrealistic.  Tyler sent me a very funny article from a SFGate writer lampooning the effort.

It seems like it was abused baby week - babies were flushed down toilets, microwaved, and abandoned at a Long Island Railroad Station.  Eric and I were talking about what the alternatives are, and how people could have gotten help.  There are laws in most places that preclude prosecution for abandoning your chilld.  New York, for example, has an Abandoned Infant Protection Act that allows a parent to leave her baby at a safe place - something undefined in the law.  Germany has baby hatches, or baby boxes, which are safe places for people to leave their babies as a last resort.

There's a simple surgery that can restore fertility by unblocking vessels in the testicle. 

So there's this whole push for prenatal care, which I am all for.  And even care for women who are planning on becoming pregnant, which I think is fabulous.  I was recently at a symposium on pregnancy, which I will post another day, but pre-pregnancy care is important.  It's also unlikely, considering that that 50% of pregnancies in America are unplanned.  If women don't always plan their pregnancies, it's gonna be pretty hard to start taking vitamins in anticipation of pregnancy, or stop smoking or whatever.  Which means, then, that women should always consider themselves pre-pregnant (as should their doctors) which is kind of grossing me out (discussed earlier here & here).  There's been a lot of commentary on it, including Saletan's round up on the pros & cons of the idea and Bean's opinions.  Anyway, the point is that not only is that it's a little condescending and kind of gorss, but it's also absurd because it's not accessible - Medicaid doesn't cover it, and most GPs or OBGYNs don't give that kind of advice.  Plus, the majority of the issues, like obesity, are problems that women should address anyway - it seems a little odd to tell women to lose weight ONLY for their fertility, not just for themselves, with their fertility as one of the many factors.  Anyway, I'm waiting for our laws and policies to catch up with our health recommendations.

Oh, speaking of pregnancy & birth defects, one woman is alleging that her use of Paxil led to her child's health defects. (Thanks Dave!)

A man in South Africa took time off of work saying he was pregnant.  I don't want to know how dumb this guy is (please don't let him have children), but he got FINED by the court!

Neil told me that France is starting to sell 20-cent condoms.  The government is selling 10 million cheap condoms at places including hospitals and nightclubs in order to fight AIDS.  Oh, how I love social marketing.  And free condoms.

It can be hard to find an egg or sperm donor, but the internet is helping.  It's fairly unregulated, and can be somewhat lucrative, especially for young, healthy, smart egg donors.

Did we discuss that the Vatican is considering approving the use of condoms?  Apparently the idea is moving along.

There's more, but I'll save it for another time.

Today's Washington Post

Today's Washington Post covered a bunch of topics relevant to this blog.

The main one is the coverage of the Nicaragua abortion ban.  The Post starts off with a story of a woman who was 5-months pregnant who died, as did her fetus, because the ban includes abortion that could save the life of the woman.  The Post also discusses the fact that South America is bucking the global trend of liberalizing abortion law, and points to El Salvador, which has imposed penalties up to 50 years for obtaining an abortion.

Second, there's an article on childless married couples, those who are childless by choice, and those who did not plan on being childless.

Third, that Chinese activist who made allegations of forced sterilzations & abortions in China is getting a retrial.

Toll of Illegal Abortions

The Beeb has a story on the apparently new statistic that unsafe abortions are responsible for the deaths of 68,000 women a year.  The majority of the deaths are due to clandestine abortions.  The death rates are higher in developing countries that have poor access to care, and those that have made abortion illegal:

The mortality rate due to unsafe abortion in less developed nations was 330 per 100,000 abortions: in Africa, 680; in southern and southeastern Asia, 283; and in Latin America, 119 per 100,000. Most recent data on mortality due to legal induced abortion in the United States indicated less than one death (0.6) per 100,000 legal abortions.  In other developed nations, where abortion is also legal, the rates were similarly low— Canada, 0.1; Netherlands, 0.2; England and Wales, 0.4; Denmark, 0.5; Finland, 0.7; and Scotland, 1.0 per 100,000 legal abortions.

Even in the United States, illegal abortions have a much lower mortality rate than in developing countires; however, illegal abortions have a higher mortality rate than legal abortions, across the board.  Many argue that making abortion legal is the solution (warning, graphic picture), while others advocate access to contraception.  The reality is that legal abortions are regulated, and it's those health and safety regulations that make abortion safe.  Of course, there are a lot of stupid regulations, or ones that are downright harmful. 

News Round Up (Nov. 22)

News:

In the United States, 37% of children are born out of wedlock, while teen births were at a record low.  This is still the highest teen birth rate in the developed world, and US teens have a lower rate of birth control use than other western countries.

The Post had an op-ed about abortion and H.R. 6067 - Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act.  The bill is kind of a mish-mash of points of view, from granting money for ultrasounds and increasing S-CHIP (which gives money to the fetus, not the woman), to giving contraception to teens, to Medicaid coverage of contraception.  RHRealityCheck, of course, is already on top of this, as is Kaiser.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch covers a weird story about protestors and sexual abuse, but it's probably not what you think.   The cops had suspected that a man had sexually abused a minor, and contacted protestors who were taking pictures outside the abortion clinic for proof that he took her to the clinic.  The protestors had photographic evidence of him being there, and the man is now in jail awaiting trial on rape charges.

Finding donor eggs is hard, but it's even harder if you're Asian.

Adoption guidelines may be altered  in order to give women more time to make their decision and to have legally enforceable contracts regarding knowing what is going on with their children.   

Other Blogs:

Feministing tells us that condom use in Africa has increased. There are a lot of varied statistics on how many condoms are distributed per man, from 10 to  2.6, and I've heard usage is as low as 1.8 condoms per man per year, but I can't find documentation of that.

Lawyers, Guns & Money has a couple of posts on abortion.  First, Scott Lemieux talks about McCain's statement in favor of overturning Roe.  This is justified using an argument for federalism, which is further discussed in this post.

Internal Updates:

The mainstream press picked up the Nicaragua abortion ban that we've previously discussed.

The Post reports the Erik Keroack has prescribed birth control.  Slate is calling him a "loony" pick.  I can't believe we're even having this discussion.  Someone who works for 10 years as a critic of choice and birth control is now in charge of distributing money for birth control.  And his defense is that sometimes he actually does practice medicine in a normal fashion?   "Sometimes he does his job," is the defense.  I'm underwhelmed. 

Family Guy takes on Sex Ed

Part 1

"What is going on here?"
"We're all protesting the sex ed class that's being taught to our children"
...
"..The school board has voted to cancel your sex ed class"
...
"...It's because you're teaching those kids about condoms"
"What? That's ridiculous, these students have a right to information about safe sex
"These parents don't think so."

Part 2
"Sure sex is fun, but you can't have it before you're married, even if you use a condom.  Because not only do condoms fail 100% of the time, but they're majorly unsafe.  Hey, you wouldn't put a plastic bag over your grandmother's head, would you? And that's why we're going to be handing out these opal rings. These rings are a symbol of your commitment to refrain from sex until you're married.  Who wants to be joyful?  Who wants to be pure?  Who wants to be abstinent?"

"Dad, look at the facts about sex!"
"'If you have sex, your penis will fall off and land in another dimension populated entirely by dogs, who will eat it.'  Well, that changes everything!"

Part 3
"Mom, you don't understand - Doug & I are abstinent.  But if we have sex in the ear we're still pure!"

"So remember, sex is bad, immoral and wrong.  And, if you have sex, you're automatically in al-Queda"
"Kids, do not listen to this man.  He is wrong.  He is feeding you lies. Now look, it's true, you shouldn't have sex until you're ready.  You should wait until you're in love. But I mean, hey, we're all human, huh?  We all have urges, and they're perfectly natural.  And if you do make the choice to act on them make sure you protect yourself.  Use a condom."

News Round Up (Nov. 16)

My inbox is full, my bookmarks are taking over my browser, and so, maybe I will start a weekly news round up.  I'm doing one today.

Slate discusses Ireland's abortion laws.  The article points to a ruling that declares that frozen embryos do not have a right to life.  In the US, frozen embryos are considered property.  I previously did some research on Ireland's fetal rights laws, including the 8th amendment (“The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”) and totally outlaws abortion.  Amendments 13 & 14 were introduced after a horrible case came to light; these amendments allow women to travel to England for abortions, and to get information on where to get abortions in other countries.  100 women per week go to England from Ireland to get abortions.

And more from the I Hate Ohio camp: the courts upheld mandatory counseling, but struck down the one-time only judicial bypass provision.

A doctor in Germany was ordered to pay child support for a child born after the doctor implanted a contraceptive device in her uterus (an IUD?).  A few months after the implantation, the device was nowhere to be found.

The UK has released new guidelines that discourage practioners from treating super-preemies - those under 22 weeks.

Also in the UK, the first babies were born after pre-implantation genetic haplotyping (looking for cystic fibrosis).

Catholic Bishops are discussing contraception.  Married couples using artificial contraception may not be able to take communion under a propsal.   Catholics have approximately the same rates of contraception use as other Americans, and there are people who think that contraception is totally consistent with Catholicism.

Semen allergy?  Have a lot of sex.

Slate has an article about how fertility technology will allow women to  succeed in business.

Lastly, smoking harms the chances of embryo implantation.

Oh wait, now the inbox. 

AGI discusses the fabulousness of Title X family planning funding.  It's annoying pdf, so here's the blurb from the email:

Doubling the current $283 million funding level for the federal Title X family planning program could help low-income women prevent an estimated 244,000 unintended pregnancies annually, according to a new Guttmacher Institute analysis. By averting an estimated 116,000 unplanned births, most of which would otherwise be paid for by the Medicaid program, doubling Title X funding could also result in yearly net government savings of almost $800 million—a return of about $3.80 in savings for every $1 increase in Title X funding. The increase could also prevent an estimated 98,000 abortions.

And y'all know Plan B hit the shelves?  But not all pharmacies have a policy of carrying it.  You should go ask your pharmacist about it.  I won't shop at a pharmacy that won't stock it, but I have the luxury of living in a liberal area.

PP sent me an email about another Bush appointee who is anti-choice.  Erik Keroack was appointed to head up Title X (see above re: funding).  He is the medical director of a crisis pregnancy center.  Feministing did a lot of good research on him.  (Follow up: The Post has an article about this too)

NARAL is pissed off that someone on CNN said that the dems elected are pro-life.  They wanted y'all to know that it's not true.

And really for real lastly, RHRC sends me all kinds of great stuff including a post by a woman who was on the O'Reilly show when he revealed that he had access to private medical information from Phil Kline's crusade, a post on the crappy sex-ed taught in schools, and a discussion of an author who switched sides on the abortion debate.

Men's Rights

Rarely do I write about men on this site, mostly because they have incredibly limited reproductive rights.  However, yesterday a woman not far from me was killed because her child's father didn't want to pay child support.  Eric & I were discussing this, and he postulated that perhaps if the man had more involvement in the reproductive decision-making, perhaps the man wouldn't have murdered the women.  (Eric, in no way, was excusing the man's actions).  Another friend says the court creates the incentives for the man to commit murder, because as long as he doesn't get caught, he gets his "kids, belongings and future earnings back." (This unnamed friend, of course, does not condone murder, but still isn't comfortable standing by his statement.)

It is a complicated legal issue, but once a child exists, the court applies the best interests of the child standard, and has been known to do some things that seem pretty unfair.  There are the stolen sperm cases, breach of contract suits, and the recent "Roe v. Wade for men" suit (which was dismissed).  So any men's rights would have to be applied before the child is born - even contracts about child support are  generally unenforceable (see: best interests of the child), as fans of the Fed-Ex divorce will have read.

And the law reflects this - as it stands now, men really only have control over their sperm, and not even that much (see: stolen sperm).  If a man wants to not pay child support, he can use a condom, but a) they're not 100% (sorry Stephen), and b) a woman could take sperm from said condom, impregnate herself, and then the man could have to pay child support.  Honestly, I'm not sure what the answer is. 

Perhaps if men really are implanted with wombs, things will change. In that case, men will have the same legal rights as a surrogate, likely, although probably will have the responsibilities of an intentional parent.  And as long as we're talking about men, did you know they, too, have a biological clock?  It appears that this clock is truly physical, where it's my understanding that a woman's biological clock is also emotional/psychological.

Happy Hour - Terminology

I went to happy hour with a few pro-choice bloggers/activists.  Our discussion was all over the place, but one of the things we talked about was terminology.  Specifically, we discussed using the terms "pro-life" v. "anti-choice" and "the life of the mother" v. "the life of the woman".

I never use the term "pro-life".  I don't think it's ok that those who are against abortion rights are pro-life.  I like life - they don't get to imply that I hate life!  "Anti-abortion" might not cut it either, since it's opposite is "pro-abortion", which I'm not sure many people want to be labelled.  Lynn Harris wrote an excellent piece about the topic a while ago.  She writes that "choice' doesn't even cut it when it comes to reproductive rights, but that "pro-life" is just unacceptable.

But how dare they call themselves "pro-life" — and how dare we let them? As long as we stubbornly, naively keep saying "choice," as long as we keep improvising and compromising with scrappy verbal seconds, we are letting the emotional terrorists win. Sure, I've seen plenty of signs that say, "Pro-choice is pro-life," but that still sounds to me like a defensive "Am, too!" So here, I'll start. I believe that we cannot live without full reproductive freedom. Which is to say, I'm "pro-life."

Unlike Lynn, though, I think "pro-choice" is a good option.  The point is that the antis don't think you get to make your own choice about what to do with your body.  It, to me, boils down to control, and who gets to make personal decisions, and that doesn't seem frivolous to me, even if "choice" might sound less imperative than it is.

I also picked on someone when she said something about "the life of the mother" because I really think it's inappropriate to call a woman a mother when she's not, and when that's not her intention. A woman who is having an abortion is most likely a mother, but that's not the point here.  When we argue about a woman's abortion procedure, she may or may not have children already, and her status as a mother is irrelevant, if not insensitive.  She is a woman.  She is a person.  One whose life is in danger.  She is, unlike the fetus, a fully recognized human being.  It seems like a bit of an attempt at emotional manipulation to point out that she's a mother, but since 40% of women having an abortion don't have children, a large minority of these women are not mothers, and it's inappropriate to terms them so based on their to-be aborted fetus.

Thoughts?

Abortion News Backlog

Did y'all see the Missouri report that states that abortion is the cause of the shortage of American workers, and the reason for an influx of illegal immigrants?  I can't find the report right now, but if you get it, let me know. 

AGI wrote about informed consent with regards to abortion.  Informed consent is a legal doctrine requiring a patient (or guardian) to be informed about the risks and benefits of various methods of treatment, including non-treatment.  Without informed consent, medical treatment is battery.  States have laws regarding informed consent for abortion; much of the mandated information is biased and intended to discourage women from having an abortion.

In foreign news, China's One-Child policy has slowed population growth by 400 million.

Also, AGI released a report about abortion in Guatemala.  What strikes me immediately is the high rate of complications - about 1/3 of abortions require follow up medical care for complications.  On the other hand, for example, my old clinic had a complication rate less than 1/2 of 1%.  Guatemala earlier considered liberalizing its abortion laws, but as far as I can tell with a little searching, that went nowhere.  Let me know if I'm misinformed.

My friend's mom told me that quinine can induce abortions.  She said it was pretty much popular knowledge when she was younger, but apparently, the science says it's not super-effective.

Weekend Away

I was away for the weekend, and here's what you missed:

There was a lot of discussion about last week's abortion case.  Planned Parenthood has a podcast with their attorney for the case. The Post weighed in as well, supporting the precedent that protects women's health.

There was an article in the Christian Science Monitor about women opting out.  The main reason: crappy employer policies.  However, the article reminds us that most women are not opting out - they don't have that option.  They'd still like a little flexibility, as I imagine men would too.

The NYT ran an article on male contraception, and the lack thereof.  Lawyers, Guns & Money posts a common response to the option of men taking birth control: women wouldn't trust men to own that responsibility.  A good resource the Times mentions is the Male Contraception Information Project. 

A global sex survey shows that married people have more sex than singles, and that worldwide, marriage ages are rising.  Speaking of marrieds, another article points out housework, specifically, cleaning, kills a couple's sex life.  The Passion Patch might help, but I doubt it (thanks for the link Sarah).

There's more, but I have real work to do...