Reproductive Rights Blog

News Round Up (Oct. 31)

Happy Halloween!  As the end of the year approaches I'm filled with thoughts of what I need to do, want to do, and have to do before the calendar rolls over.  Such an arbitrary date, but it means something to me nonetheless.  And what about the feminist movement?  What have we actually accomplished this year?  What's my role in all of this?  What do we have left to do?  And what can we get done in the next 8 weeks?

In spite of all of this, here are some news stories:

United States:
In Kansas, the investigation of Dr. George Tiller was blocked. Dr. Tiller performs abortions, and has been the target of much anti-choice maneuvering.  A report by the Denver Public School system recommends that birth control be available at schools in order to reduce the teen pregnancy rate and STI rate.  AGI publication on the role of Medicaid in family planning (.pdf)  The LA Times debunks the idea that women will substitute adoption for abortion if given information and access to services.  Teen pregnancy rates in DC dropping.

George Will has a column about abortion in America, including the make-up of SCOTUS, the Presidential election, and the majority's support for abortion.   

Foreign:
Abortion illegal in Northern Ireland.  Cardinal Corman Murphy-O'Connor pens an article about abortion in England and Wales.  He writes that he supports decreasing the time limit after which abortion is banned (from 24 weeks to 22 weeks, is the current proposal.)  Access to abortion, even in Canada, is limited.  The Pope is calling on pharmacists to stop dispensing RU-486.  Latin American abortion bans don't stop women from having abortions. 

Science/Medical:
Cellcept, an immunosuppressant drug used for transplant patients, may cause miscarriage and birth defects, warns the FDA.  Skipping the stirrups?   A study was done in Georgia on about 200 women who had pap tests either using stirrups or not; the accuracy of the pap was not affected.  Pre-cancerous lesions indicate high risk for cervical cancer up to 25 years after the lesion is removed.  Twins separated at birth for experiment reunite.

Requisite animal story: birth control for pigeons on Staten Island.

News Round Up (Oct. 26)

It's Cleaning-Out-My-Inbox time, in anticipation of the weekend, and possible crab fest, and being a Cara & Karen Cloud on all things festive.  DC Feminist Happy Hour planning in the works for an end of the year bash.

In the news:

Schoolgirls in Britain will get the HPV Vaccine.  While the vaccine has great results in clinical trials, we still don't really know how long it works.

J&J settles lawsuit over Ortho-Evra (The Patch) death.  Massachusetts is looking at wider clinic buffer zones while Oakland is thinking about instituting them in the first place.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer runs an absolutely amazing column on abortion in the UK (originally in The Independent)   It covers the idea that women "deserve" going through an abortion for "irresponsible behavior", the fact that the delay in access to abortion by anti-choice, misogynistic lawmakers contributes to later-term abortions, and the need for better information and access to contraception.  Joan Smith is my crush of the week.  Month, maybe.

Some weird news out of Florida: a surrogate mother has been told by the courts that she can keep the baby.  This is unusual, because it's my understanding that the intentional parents are usually the legal parents (e.g. those who intended to be the parent, regardless of the biological materials used) although there's no national policy.  Anyway, very interesting, and each state handles the issue differently.

Condom testers wanted.  Sex lessons part of health lessons for miners in Australia.  The influence of the Catholic Church's ban on condoms is helping HIV spread in Latin America.  South Africa is recalling million s of condoms.

Take Action on Title X Family Planning and Ovarian Cancer research. 

HPV Test Payment

Earlier this month, the press covered the results of a study that showed the HPV test being a better diagnostic tool than the Pap test for cervical cancer.  The study, as mentioned in the press coverage, did not use the Thin Prep test commonly used in the United States, so the results may not be translatable to the US population.  Nonetheless, people immediately started asking about payment for the HPV test. 

First, most insurance companies cover the HPV test.  Second, most state Medicaid programs cover the HPV test (see p.14 of the report).  Next, the HPV test is only recommended once every three years and costs approximately $70.  Lastly, Congress is planning to introduce a bill including coverage of the HPV test for Medicare beneficiaries (over 65). [p.s. that is my exciting news]

So anyway, I just wanted to share that information.

News Round Up (Oct. 22)

I have some exciting news coming out this week, but I'll probably wait until tomorrow or Wednesday to post it, because my inbox is so dang full. 

Here's what I've got:

Election News:
Hillary Clinton has released a plan to expand maternity leave, among other things, as she insists on addressing the issue that she, like so many others in this country, is a woman.  (Women, by the way, are different than men.  And not just in terms of genitalia.)  Values Voter summit has Republicans coming out in droves to denounce abortion.   Rudy Guiliani says that "values voters" have nothing to fear from him.  Many are upset that childcare isn't receiving much attention from the Candidates.  Ron Paul doesn't want abortion to be a federal issue.

Birth Control and Abortion:
Maria says that Lake of Fire is great, and I don't know anything about it, but here are some excerpts of reviews.  It's currently playing, at least by me.   FOX also has a documentary on abortion.

Size matters, at least when it comes to finding the right condoms.  Hospitals in PA will have to offer or counsel rape victims about emergency contraception.

The Economist only sometimes lets me access this article on abortion in Britain.  We've already talked about the debate in the UK about access to late term abortions, which is part of this article.  Also, "The committee is also looking at ways to make it easier for women who want an abortion to get one as soon as possible. One possibility is to relax the requirement for two doctors' signatures. Another is to allow nurses as well as doctors to carry out abortions in the first three months of pregnancy." 

Phil Kline is at it again, this time filing charges that Planned Parenthood performed illegal abortions.  The court date is November 16, I'm sure we'll hear more about it then.

Man gets 40 years imprisonment for bombing abortion clinic.

Health:
Women's health overall got an "unsatisfactory" grade from the National Women's Law Center.  No single state received a grade of "satisfactory" on women's health. 

Internationally, women still die in childbirth, which is just tragic.  So many of these deaths could be prevented with a simple birth kit, provided by the UNFPA, which the US no longer funds (I've seen these kits - there's a plastic sheet so a woman can give birth on a sterile place, a razor blade, a string to tie the umbilical cord, and a bar of soap.  Really, is this controversial?).

Even though the President vetoed SCHIP (as he said he would) and there weren't enough votes to override the veto, Democrats still sacrificed by increasing funding for ab-only education in order to get Republican votes on the bill.  Which went nowhere.  So this was either a smart move, or a dumb move, depending on whether the nod to ab-only funds means anything to you.  I'm under the impression, of course, that the ab-only funding was part of the SCHIP bill, not the Labor-H bill, which I believe the House is in no position to negotiate on as it's already passed the House.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

A woman has two babies, from two eggs, in overlapping, but not identical, intervals.  A better womb for IVF?  And I know it's only moderately related, but hearing loss risk increased from use of impotence drugs.

Foreign:
An argument that abortion in Kenya is legal and easily accessible.  I don't know, it looks illegal to me.  Indian laws on reproduction mean that some folks are making money off of the need for tubal ligations and vasectomies.  An article on EU abortion policies.  A poorly written (or introduced) article about abortion in the Philippines.  Basically: women have abortions because a) they are young, b) kids are expensive, c) want to move forward with their educations or careers.

China's missing girls.

Also, I am not changing my last name.  Are you?

   

Parental consent for contraceptives

This Maine middle school that is going to allow girls to get the Pill without parental consent is big news. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. One of the issues, besides the fact that these are young girls, is that they won’t need parental permission to get the Pill. In most schools, kids need parental consent to take an aspirin.

Reproductive health is different. Twenty five states allow minors to have access to contraception without parental consent, and all states allow minors to access STI services. Of course, AGI has a great chart, by state. Maine, the chart shows, allows minors to access contraception for health reasons, if the minor is married, or if the minor herself is a parent.

The UK allows for minors to access contraception confidentially (and free!), and the General Medical Council has released guidance on when it’s appropriate. There were some issues regarding a minor’s ability to consent to sex, and a doctor’s furtherance of that potentially being a crime, which is addressed in the Child Protection Sexual Offences Act of 2003.

In at least one study, parental consent laws increased the teen pregnancy rate, and certainly, that’s the fear. So, again, while I think most people aren’t wholly comfortable with the idea of an 11 year old getting contraception, or having sex, I think most of us would be less comfortable with the idea of a 12 year old mom.

News Round Up (Oct 18)

Cancer News:
The National Breast Cancer Coalition, which has worked hard to get federal funds for breast cancer research, has launched a site with video and text from Presidential candidates regarding their intended role in fighting breast cancer.  The group also recently released a survey on breast cancer awareness.  I'm shocked at how little people know about this common and detectable disease.  For something like ovarian cancer, I'm not surprised (although I'm not happy) at how little people know.  Illinois has expanded its breast an cervical cancer screening program, funded through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program.  People should really know about this, because what use is knowledge of the symptoms of breast or cervical cancer, without a way to actually treat it?

A subset of cancer news: HPV
Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required some health insurance plans to cover the HPV vaccine.  Via RHRealityCheck, Denmark and the UK recommend that all girls get the HPV vaccine.  Did we already discuss this?  The HPV test is more useful at finding cancer than a Pap test - at least the version of the Pap test researchers used, which is not the same one used in the US.  (Again, I'll note that my boyfriend works for the company that has the only FDA approved HPV test in the United States, as a full disclaimer).

Domestic:
Speaking of Illinois, apparently the pharmacy refusal clause issue has reached a settlement.  The Post reports "Trained technicians or store owners would contact a pharmacist at another location, then follow his or her directions for dispensing the morning-after pill."

Birth control at middle school?  There are very few 11 to 13 year olds having sex, but those that do are hopefully making informed choices, and need access to safe and effective contraceptives.  But wow, 13...does that sound young to anyone, or am I getting old?   

India:
Two Indian news stories, a country for which I have a special place in my heart.  First, unwanted sex common among married women in India.  Second, GE says it is willing to do more to reduce the use of ultrasound machines for determining a fetus' sex.  It is illegal to use an ultrasound for that purpose in India due to the high rate of sex-selective abortions.  Nonetheless, it is possible to get around this law, as is the case with most laws.  Especially in developing countries.  I did a fair amount of work on rule of law stuff, especially as it relates to human rights in developing countries, which is why I am eternally amused by the man from Ghana who wanted me to ignore Ohio's 24 waiting period for abortion, and give his wife an abortion that day, promising me that he wouldn't tell anyone.  Anyway, another story on India is the lack of affordable sanitary pads for menstruation.

Foreign:
Illegal abortions in South Africa are common.  Abortion law in the UK may be changing, lowering the 24 week legal limit.

Fertility:
Low birth weight babies born in the NYC area around 9/11 due to stress.  New birth control, for women, of course, and years away.  Egg freezing not the number one choice, as the odds aren't fabulous that the egg will survive.  Embryos and sperm, as we've discussed, fare much better.  Chinese herbs useful for menstrual pain.  Kroger offers some Pills for $4.

Men:
Chlamydia damages male fertility as well as female fertility.  Gene linked to male infertility discovered.

Feminism:
Feminists have better relationships; the feminist movement is about...blogging?

And the animal article: Geese on birth control.   

Abortion and Birth Control

Sorry all, but today I won't be able to muster up the usual vitriol I would have; I've had a death in my family.  Nothing unexpected, but sad nonetheless. 

So today Slate writes that abortion rates fall when birth control is available, based on a study by AGI.  It seems fairly obvious to me that access to contraception would decrease the need for abortion.  We know that abortion is a universal need, and that the legality of the procedure does not necessarily inhibit its performance; rather, the availability of legal abortions has an effect on the safety of abortion. 

Complications from pregnancy, labor and delivery, are common in developing countries.

And of course, we can circle back around to our domestic policies that restrict access to abortion.  Tom Tancredo, Presidential candidate, has announced that he would cut off federal funding to organizations that perform abortions, if elected.  I won't get into the rest of it now...

News Round Up (Oct. 10)

Things have been busy over here, so I apologize for not posting more.  I have limited access to the Internet, and for the next few days I'll be offline completely.  I'm also going up to New York to visit some friends!  Yay!  In any case, there's been a bit of news you should know about:

Maria's got me all interested in body image issues, especially after we watched the new Dove ad (which is getting some negative reviews because Unilever makes both Dove and Axe, and the Axe commercials are horrible).  And, recently, the fashion industry has become at least superficially (ha) concerned about the weight and health of models.  Spain, for example, has banned models that are "too thin" while London explicitly rejected Madrid's actions.  I found this timeline on about.com, which, interestingly, cites a ban by Unilever, the company that owns the Dove brand.

Not only is being too thin unattractive (we humans seem to have a very small scale of "normal" for much of anything) but it's often unhealthy.  Women who are very thin have low sex drives, miscarry, and have problems conceiving (although fat distribution also plays a large role in fertility).   Additionally, teenagers with low body fat delay the onset of menarche and puberty - often purposefully. 

The frequency of eating disorders among teenagers is not something new, at least not to me, but there has been a pronounced increase in eating disorders among older women recently.  The New York Times recently ran an article about the "mom job" which is a package of plastic surgery for those mom-age women who want to get tummy tucks/boob jobs/face lifts all at once.  Many beauty products for women are targeted at moms, like the Suave one where a woman doesn't have to choose between good hair and taking care of her family.  Or the ad for a product line I can't remember that points out that women spend more time feeding their families than on their hair (I, for one, spend more time feeding myself than on my hair).

On other topics:

Catholic hospitals in Connecticut will dispense Plan B to all rape victims.  Washington DC is getting new condoms to replace the old ones with potentially damaged packaging. 

DNA tests for HPV could find cervical cancer sooner than the Pap.  I think that looking for damaged cells is probably a better way to find cervical cancer than looking for the virus that may cause it in the future, but that's just me, and I'm not a scientist.  (Disclosure: my boyfriend works for the company that makes the HPV test). 

Slate runs an article about how sex toys can be medical devices, and I'm sure by now you know that pregnant women are once again urged to eat, rather than shun, fish. 

A woman is seeking a hysterectomy for her daughter, aged 15, who has cerebral palsy.  On the other end of the time scale, a lawsuit regarding breast cancer in post-menopausal women given HRT is being heard in Nevada.

Work news:  Having women on the Board of Directors is financially advantageous for a company.  Fewer women are seeking law degrees, realizing that the life of an attorney sucks.  Any day, men too will realize that the money isn't worth it, and the whole dang structure will come crumbling down....I can dream, right?  On a related note, TIME Magazine ran a story about the new fatherhood, the role of men in raising children, and the fact that some men are staying home while their wives are the breadwinners.

There's been some fetus-snatching going on, which is an incredibly horrific crime, as the victim, at least in this case, was alive during the...extraction.  While some are stealing babies, others are selling them.  And on a much less gruesome note, others are donating embryos for senior citizens to give birth themselves.   

I know people aren't going to be happy about this, but you all know how I feel about pharmacists refusing to give birth control or Plan B to women based on religious concerns.  Now, it seems some medical students don't want to learn about alcohol, STDs, or examine women.  And call it hegemony, but I don't think that's ok.  I'm sure it's a small number, just like pharmacists, but it's a disturbing incident nonetheless.

A UK museum wants Londoners to be thinking about sex for the next three months: it has an exhibit on sex through the ages.

And in the animal news of the week, a court has ruled that a chimpanzee is not, in fact, a person.