Reproductive Rights Blog

Dialing it in

Sorry y'all, I know I've been dialing it in the past few weeks.  I had a bit of a rough spot, but I think I'm almost back to normal (will be even better after a short course of antibiotics) and I have a WHOLE LOT of stuff to post.  Tomorrow.  Expect lots of news.

News Round Up (Mar. 18)

I know it's been a long time since I last posted.  Things have been crazy at work, and I have a little bit of a social life.  I have a ton of articles I've been bookmarking to share with you.  Hold on, it's a long one:

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that health insurance can NOT include prescriptive contraception.  “Union Pacific’s health plans do not cover any contraception used by women such as birth control, sponges, diaphragms, intrauterine devices or tubal ligations or any contraception used by men such as condoms and vasectomies,” the opinion said. “Therefore, the coverage provided to women is not less favorable than that provided to men.”

Kroger, a grocery store, had an incident where one of its employees refused to dispense the Morning After Pill.  The refusal violated Kroger policies.  Speaking of oral contraceptives, CNN posted the top 10 Pill Myths Debunked.

Tampax is starting to market via social networking, by targeting female high school atheltes on Takkle.com. I'm not joining, so I can't see the product's page (I am neither an athlete nor anywhere near high school age) but I can see the "Upgrade!" picture of Tampax Pearl.

Girls born at low birth weights have higher rates of teenage depression.

When the baby's death is inevitable, families can create a plan to care for the children as they die.  Often, these parents chose to abort, but many choose to spend the short amount of time they have with the baby.

Couples having fertility issues sometimes use alternative therapies like acupuncture and herbal remedies.   Also, gay men have their own special fertility  program.

I thought this was already introduced, since I emailed a friend at NWLC about it a few days ago, but a bill has been introduced that will forbid federal funds from being used on the HPV Vaccine.  Speaking of HPV, there is not enough general awareness of the virus.  Additionally, the legislative push back in Texas is going strong, fighting against the Governor's declaration that all girls be vaccinated in 6th grade; the bill moving forward makes the vaccine purely optional.  New Mexico may require the the vaccine.

As if we haven't heard enough about Polish abortion rights, there are new moves to limit those rights.  Attempts are being made to insert the following language into the Constitution: there is a "right to life from the moment of conception".  Nearby, the UN determined that Hungary was at fault for the non-consented sterilization of a Roma woman and that the sterilization was a violation of human rights.  Back on this side of the Atlantic, Mexico City is planning on legalizing abortion. 

Guttmacher published a study on premarital sex in Vietnam and abortion in Nigeria.

Eric told me about post-abortion e-cards. The cards express confidence in the woman's decision, sympathy for her loss, and God's love.  As I have expressed repeatedly, abortion can even be a good experience; Guttmacher recently released a report showing that women who have abortions achieve higher levels of education.

 

To end on a slightly humorous note, Neil sent me an Onion article on an actress' abortion being written into her TV show.

News Round Up (Mar. 8)

It's International Women's Day!  Find local events.

In the "I didn't think this was news" section, we start off with the already-established fact that childhood obesity leads to early puberty.  The only thing new about this study appears to be the young age at which obesity can affect development - as low as 3!

Did you know obesity was bad for you?  Well, yet another study shows obesity having a negative impact on fertility.

CNN wrote about rising STD rates, and a new way of dating online that involves requiring STD-free documentation.  I got an email about one of those sites, CheckTonight.com  To be a member of CheckTonight.com you have to get tested every 6 months; so what you do is before you start dating someone, you make sure they are on CheckTonight, or whatever website, so that you can be assured s/he is STD-free.

Male spiders leave a part of their penises in female spiders to protect their sperm and increase their likelihood of passing on their genes.  On the topic of animals, I just got back from San Diego, which was all abuzz (ok, maybe it was just me) about squirrel birth control.  I really should add an "animal" tag.

I know it's old, but I saw someone on the Metro reading a TIME Magazine article about the grassroots abortion wars.  The article starts by discussing crisis pregnancy centers, and transitions to the approach in fighting this "war".  I haven't gotten through the whole thing yet...

While Texas may not require the HPV Vaccine, the state may produce a pamphlet on the Vaccine for residents so that they can make their own informed decisions.

Metafilter pointed out that John McCain has flip flopped on abortion.  If you're reading this site you probably know this, but overturning Roe would not make abortion illegal, it would allow states to make abortion illegal.  So the question is, yes, about abortion, but it is also about states' rights, and how far fundamental freedoms expand.

Baby skeletons found in a bag in India.  We don't if they're from males or females, but I'm sure you're well aware of India's female infanticide problem.  Similar topic: dead baby found in a jar in FL; woman uses baby as weapon.

A local school district (famous for the gum chewing incident as well as pulling an old video of putting a condom on a banana) is going to introduce a sex ed curriculum that may well include the fact that there are gay people.  Next, we might learn sex just isn't for procreation!  Speaking of WaPo stories, George alerted me to RedState's coverage of the "hook up" scene in Africa.  (p.s. George points out that the author of the story is a noted plagarist - not sure that affects this piece, but it's good to know the source)Again, not getting into that whole Laura Sessions Step mess, but, RedState's take on it is that, um, it's not condoms that protect against AIDS, it's fidelity.  Marital fidelity.  I'm all for fidelity.  AND condoms.  And the Pill.  And making good decisions. 

Which is why I find myself actually not hating Fox's new "Pause" campaign.  I thought I would, but it's all for talking with your partner about sexual decisions, and using condoms (and even says if you're too embarrassed to buy condoms then you should re-think your decision to have sex, which I just love) and to get tested for STDs.  I don't, however, love the navigation.  Whatever.

And lastly, before I go do work, a German couple is fighting incest laws - the brother and sister met when they were in their early 20s and fell in love.  Brother-sister couples have a 50% chance of having a disabled baby.  I'm not sure that's all that relevant anymore, considering  the fact that people now engineer their babies to have "disabilities".

Wrongful Birth

Wrongful birth cases are one of my favorite cases, academically, of course.  In reality, the fact patterns are usually pretty sad, if not downright horrific.  Wrongful birth is a suit by the mother, usually, arguing that the child should not have been born (usually - would have been aborted); on the other hand, wrongful life cases are brought by the alleged wrong party, arguing that the plaintiff himself should not have been born.  These suits are incredibly troubling, as the court can't quite find a way to figure out how much damage was done by virtue of one's existence.  I believe it is now a cause of action unrecognized in the United States.  See a list of cases here.

Anyway, that was all intro to the fact that there's a case against Planned Parenthood because the abortion failed.  The woman remained pregnant, then went to a hospital where another doctor failed to find the 20-weeks pregnancy, and then she had a baby (we don't know if it's a healthy baby or not). 

Thank you Jonathan & George for alerting me to this story. 

Speaking!

First, it's post #500 for the Reproductive Rights Blog!  And in a few minutes I have to go talk about what feminism is to a bunch of college students.  I'm up against some real wackos, so wish me luck!

I think PostGlobal is reading my mind - the new topic is the oversexualization of girls.  Speaking of, the UN, amazing forward-moving body it is, pointed out that gender discrimination still exists.