Reproductive Rights Blog

News Round Up (Sep. 21)

Happy Autumnal Equinox and Yom Kippur everyone.

Let's start off with the PP clinic in Aurora, IL (Chicago suburb) that's getting so much attention.  PP has a blog they've started with correspondents on the ground and a YouTube page.  At this time, the clinic will remain closed.  What happened is that PP didn't use its own name when applying for the building permit.   So now this is really about occupancy and building permits, but has, of course, turned into a huge abortion debate with the antis protesting and counter-protests and all kinds of nonsense.  PP has a petition and a ribbon campaign and whatnot, but this is going to happen all over: until we stop depending upon the courts to protect our rights, they will be eliminated.  Vote pro-choice (Democrat or Republican).  Or, run for office.

Another big issue is the potential repeal of the Global Gag Rule.  So here's what happened.  A million years before blogs ever existed, President Reagan signed the Mexico City Policy, which restricted US federal funds to foreign Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).  These NGOs, in order to receive US federal funds, could neither perform nor refer patients for abortions.  The first thing President Clinton did when he came into office was to repeal the Executive Order, and it was one of the first things President Bush did when he took office.  Anyway, there's been a lot of back and forth since then, including this summer.  Senator Boxer attached a provision that would basically repeal the GGR to an appropriations bill.  The bill hasn't yet gone to conference, and it's unlikely the President will sign, but that's how it stands.

Other news:
Lisa wants you to know that the NYT is reporting that NY refused ab-only funds.  Thanks, Lisa!  This is good news, because ab-only education --> STIs.

The HPV vaccine is more effective (works against more strains of HPV) than previously thought.  Also, you know that HPV causes cancers other than just cervical?  The link between HPV and head and neck cancers is also documented (so now we have cervical, anal, throat, oral, head, neck and vulvar cancers caused by HPV).  Catholic parents in Windsor, Canada, will be allowed to opt their daughters out of getting the HPV vaccine (they're being provided for free to girls in Grade 8).  Speaking of cancer, alcohol consumption in older women is linked to endometrial cancer.

Slovakia did not alter its conscience clause, which it had considered removing altogether.

Stem cells that make sperm can make other kinds of cells.  Baby needs a new pair of knees!  Actually, what this does is further endorse the idea that embryonic stem cells are not necessary for scientific research.  Which is good, because the US doesn't really have a whole lot of those.

The NYT and IHT have front page stories on FGM in Egypt. Funny - I did a whole project on FGM in Egypt while I was in graduate school.  My friends were horrified by just the line drawings of what it is.  As well we all should be. 

This is really part of my whole wrongful birth thing, but a lesbian couple in Australia is suing a doctor who gave them twins, rather than a single child.  I really will write more about wrongful birth and wrongful life one of these days. 

An alarmist article on tattoos and epidurals; I would mostly ignore this, but thought I should post it regardless.  I mean, really, is there anything a pregnant woman can do these days?  And I'm not getting back into the whole women should always think of themselves as pre-pregnant thing from earlier this week, because I just calmed down from it.

Arizona won't have a "Choose Life" license plate.

And that's all I have for now.  Not even a good animal story.  Have a great weekend.

News Round Up (Sep 14)

I'm moving this weekend!  It's chaos around here, and doing this news round up helps me clean out my inbox.  Which, you know, probably shouldn't be my first priority, but other cleaning involves getting up, and buying boxes and whatnot.  And I'm not moving until...tomorrow...Anyway, here goes:

Babies:
Now, I know we talked a while ago about this Russian day of procreation, and it's been all over the news this week!  Slate has a nice round up on what countries are doing with regards to procreation and population - what kind of economic or other policies can a government implement to encourage or discourage procreations?  The Beeb covered this a few months ago, which you may have read about on this blog.

In the U.S., high Latino birth rates are the main component of Latino population growth (rather than immigration).  "Nationally, Johnson calculates, there are seven Latino births for every death, compared with 1.3 white births for every death."

Gender:
The Post has a compelling piece about gender in South Asia.  This closely mirrors the recent Slate piece on how television is helping to empower women in rural India.  The Post story is about a girl in Bangladesh who is being pressured to get married at age 13.  She is the star of a TV show in which her character is urged to either drop out of school and work, or drop out of school and marry.  Gender issues in South Asia are incredibly complicated, and sex-selective abortions are rampant.  So rampant, in fact, that India banned the use of prenatal ultrasound for sex identification.  There are still lots of ads for that service, as anyone who's driven down a street in New Delhi can tell you.

A new report was released on sex trafficking (which does not just involve girls and women, but predominantly so) and how wide spread it is in the West.  Including the United States.  The full report is 172 pages of pdf goodness.

Gender discrimination suit alleges, among other things, that women were denied promotions and better accounts because they refused to take part in such "business activities" as visiting strip clubs.

And I know we just talked about this whole stay at home husband/gender roles thing, but here it is again, in New York Magazine.  "Well into feminism’s second generation, there are finally a significant number of women reaching parity with the men in their fields—not to mention surpassing them—and winning the salary, bonuses, and perks that signify their arrival...In 2001, for example, wives earned more than their spouses in almost a third of married households where the wife worked. Yet this proud professional achievement often seems to have unhappy consequences at home...Indeed, there’s little evidence to show that as women acquire financial muscle, relations between the sexes have evolved successfully to accommodate the new balance of power. Neither the newly liberated alpha women nor their shell-shocked beta spouses seem comfortable with the role reversal."  Just read the article

Science:
A clinic in the UK is offering half-price IVF if the women will donate half of their eggs for research.  Contraception (for less than 8 years) cuts cancer risk - we already knew that hormonal contraceptives protected against ovarian cancer.  South Africa recalls faulty condoms.  Ovary removal tied to dementia.

Law:
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled this week that a doctor has no duty to tell an abortion patient that the fetus/embryo is a person.  If you read this story you'll see why terminology is so important (am I a broken record, or what?)  A nurse referred to "the baby" when the embryo was only 6 weeks.  Dictionaries define baby as birth to one year, although many refer to "the baby" when having an abortion.  It's a hard concept to grasp, I'll grant you that, but one that I think should be made clear.  In my old clinic we decided to use whatever terminology the woman was most comfortable with, and using the word "baby" always made me uncomfortable.  Regardless, informed consent is an important part of medical care, and I'm not sure the doctor's assertion that the fetus was "just blood" was an accurate statement either.  In any case, the plaintiff alleged that the doctor failed to inform her that the fetus was a human being with whom she had an existing relationship (why the doctor would be the one to tell her about her relationships is beyond me) and the court sided with the doctor.  This biased counseling thing is fairly widespread, and getting worse.

Pregnancy:
Low levels of Vitamin D tied to a higher risk of pre-eclampsia.  Smoking raises risk of miscarriage. 

And the animal story: Salmon spawn trout in genetic experiment.  As a picky grammar note, young fish are not called "babies."  I know it's a complicated point, that not everything has to be anthropomorphized, but let's try?

News Round Up (Aug 24)

Politics:

RedState is debating if Reagan could have possibly been pro-choice.  George H. W. Bush (41) was pro-choice before he really made it big on the national scene, electing, instead, to embrace the party line (sound familiar?).

Maternal, Fetal and Newborn Health:

The plastic used in feeding tubes, etc., can be dangerous for a newborn, so hospitals are planning to phase out its use.  Women who are breastfeeding should watch it with the codeine.

New screening is non-invasive way to find healthy embryos for IVF.

A hospital in the UK is short on midwives, since they're all out on maternity leave.

CNN gives you 5 ways to avoid a c-section.

More on freezing ovaries to help women with cancer.

Foreign:
Russians encouraged to procreate, and given a day off to do so! 

The Anglican Church in Nigeria is encouraging couples to get an HIV test before marriage. 

Did we already cover the FGM death in Egypt? 

Also, since we know that circumcision helps prevent the spread of HIV, the U.S. government's anti-AIDS program will fund circumcisions (male). 

The Chinese are having a lot of unsafe sex, which is fueling the AIDS crisis. 

Indonesia is considering virginity tests on female high school students.  [Ed. Feministing tells us they've decided not to.]

Amnesty International is no longer abortion-neutral.  This is causing some problems with the Vatican, and, I'm sure, other groups.

Health:
RU-486 is safe.   Here's what pisses me off: some abortion clinics are not.   Seriously, not only is this a clear health and patient safety issue, but it makes me look like an asshole.

Testosterone patch increases woman's libido.  This patch, Intrinsia (made by P&G) is approved for use in Europe, and has side effects including acne and facial hair, although these are downplayed in all the US publications I've read about Intrinsia.  In the meantime, a study shows that the elderly have active sex lives.

Obesity --> truancy --> teen pregnancy.  I would think that obesity may also be related to teen pregnancies for other reasons.  One, girls who are fatter develop earlier, as estrogen is fat-soluble.   They are then physically more mature without having the accompanying mental maturity.  Two, social issues regarding being fat and being liked.  Third, behavioral issues that may have induced poor eating habits (bad decision making) or lack of impulse control I could easily see also leading to bad decision making or lack of impulse control when it comes to sex.  But I'm just speculating here.  Anyone know?

So I'm moderately obsessed with this issue, and I'm really glad that a study shows that women with lupus have higher rates of cervical cancer (that's kind of what it says).  I mean, it makes total sense that women with autoimmune diseases couldn't fight off HPV as well as others, and that they would have higher rates of abnormal paps and cervical cancer.  Right, and I've been talking about this for a few years, and saying that women with autoimmune diseases may need different screening for cervical cancer than the average woman, and maybe they should just be tested for HPV and if the test is positive then do a pap more often and I don't know exactly what my treatment protocol suggestion is, but I'm psyched regardless.

Feministe appears to be down right now, but there was this great catch they made about the mainstream press not correcting some anti's assertion that birth control doesn't work, among other falsehoods. 

Gender Stuff:
Women find that wearing the veil limits job choice. 

Some careers are male dominated, and some are female dominated, but the gender wage gap is decreasing.

Scientists have created male mice that have two X chromosomes.

Slate has in interesting article about how TV is showing rural Indian women about empowerment, inadvertently.  Slate also has a cool slideshow of the exericise of the right to vote in honor of the 19th Amendment.

The New York Times asks: Is there anything good about men?  Mostly, it goes on to say that men take risks to be chosen for reproduction, and that women don't because they need to stay home to take care of the babies and they're pretty much assured reproduction (and survival of their genetics).

Other news:
Iraqi women are taking up prostitution.

Rare identical quadruplets born in Canada. 

Only 38% of Americans think pre-marital sex is wrong, yet, 90% of Americans engage in such behavior.   

Those sneaky PP folks are opening up a clinic in Denver. 

Law Students for Choice is now Law Students for Reproductive Justice.

Apparently the singletons are getting a raw deal (seriously, Forbes?)

Sanitary pad lawsuit.  This goes back to something from the other day about skipping periods, etc, and I dug around a bit and there's apparently not a whole lot of data on historical sales of menstrual products, and even if there were I bet a lot of stuff that was used was not sold and wouldn't be captured in that data, and that as these products became more of a market item the use of the Pill was burgeoning, and women were having more menstrual cycles b/c they weren't having children as often, so I don't think there's any data on periods that I want. 

And the animal story: it's too hot and dry to get it on in Utah.

[Ed. because I am listening to the new Northern State CD and I'm digging a lot of it.  Just FYI.]

HPV - Vaccines, Developing Countries and Boys

About two weeks ago the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation held a teleconference on HPV and cervical cancer, with the aim of educating us on the HPV vaccine.  The two speakers were from Merck, a maker of one of the two vaccines, and Moffitt, a cancer center in Tampa, Florida. 

There is a lot of scientific information that I got down, but basically, here's what we know: HPV strains 16 and 18 cause 70% of cervical cancer cases, and strains 6, 11, 16 and 18 combined cause about 50% of more mild cervical changes and 90% of the genital warts cases. 

The Merck vaccine is quadravalent, and contains protection against strains 6, 11, 16 and 18.  It should be used in women who have not been exposed to HPV, so women who are not yet sexually active.  Clinical trials show that Gardasil is over 95% effective in women who have none of those four strains of HPV.  However, women who are sexually active may have at least one of those four strains - clinical trials showed that 73% of sexually active women had none of the four strains, 20% had only one type, 6% had two types, 1.2% had three types and only 0.1% had all four types of HPV in the vaccine.

While there are only about 3,000 deaths from cervical cancer a year, much of those are due to a lack of access to care.  Well, to be more specific, a failure to access federal and state funded cervical screening programs.  The lives lost from each cervical cancer case is approximately 29 years per woman, which means this is affecting fairly young women!  Nonetheless, HPV is fairly ubiquitous, and before the Pap, cervical cancer was a huge killer of women in America. 

Unfortunately, those who are already exposed to HPV will not benefit from the vaccine.  The HPV vaccine, therefore, is not to be used as a treatment, but must be used prophylactically, among women who have not yet been exposed (and preferably, not had sex).  Legislation has been introduced in at least 39 states to fund or require the vaccine, mostly for girls entering about 6th grade.  Only Virginia and Washington, DC have passed such laws.   Federal laws thus far have been focused on prohibiting federal funds from paying for the vaccine, or have been related to access or reimbursement issues.  NPR did a story on it.

We also know that some cases of cervical cancer are not caused by these strains of HPV, which is why HPV testing is not recommended as a screening tool.  It's really the effect of the virus, not the presence of the virus, that I think is the concern.  In poor areas, Pap tests are not widely available, but a much simpler test may get the job done.  The method described is part of a colposcopy, the next medical step in the U.S. for a woman who has an abnormal Pap smear.

And we're still only talking about the vaccine with respect to girls, not boys, which I think is a shame.  Obviously, males spread HPV, but faithful readers will know that men can get cancers from HPV as well.  And, a side note, you shouldn't douche anyway, but lemon juice?  Bad for cervical cancer, and I don't imagine it feels all that great either.

More on Terminology

So Ema would be really proud of me: My nurse gyn asked me when I last had my period, and I said "10 years ago."  I think she may have called me a smart ass.  I'm on the bandwagon, Ema. 

In return, I ask that we all stop referring to the "life of the mother" when we talk about abortion, but the "life of the woman."  Actually, this weekend I decided that maybe we could just say "the life of the person."  Now how much would that change the framing of the debate?  Try using it next time you want to argue about abortion safety.  The life of the PERSON.  Doesn't that sound good.  And irrefutable. 

This fetal personhood status is an interesting debate, and one I've blogged about before, but it becomes relevant in light of fetal homicide prosecutions, and federal funds for fetal healthcare.  We've talked about feticide before, most recently with respect to that wacky woman from Ocean City, MD.  There's another case in Oklahoma where a woman is being charged with first degree murder because her baby was stillborn (likely due to her drug use).  And we barely squeaked by without another federal nod to fetal personhood.

Also, ema wants you to know that she's updated her "skipped period regimens" page.  I know it's not directly on point, but y'all know how I love to get off topic to economics or marketing, and so I find the increase use of hormonal contraceptives should play a pretty significant role in "feminine product" marketing, right?  Well, for one, the manufacturers have made efforts to do outreach in developing countries.   I can't find much more data, but I know who to ask - you'll be getting an update soon.

News Round Up (Aug 14)

Domestic:

Kaiser tells us: Colorado rejects the idea that a fetus is a person, Illinois upholds pharmacy refusal clauses, and Montgomery County, MD, is still arguing over its sex-ed course.

Some young women are rebelling against the rise of raunch culture, and maybe embracing modesty. 

That guy from Dominos is going ahead with his plan to create a Christian town.

There's an Ohio notification bill that would require that the man consent to a woman's abortion.  Ugh.  This type of spousal notification law was struck down in 1992, by PP v. Casey, which is now at risk due to the recent SCOTUS ruling on abortion.

U.S. breastfeeding rates are rising even though there is no governmental support for breastfeeding.

Foreign:

FGM continues to be an issue that does not get enough political attention.  Only one of the Presidential candidates in Sierra Leone is speaking against the practice.  Norway, on the other hand, has pledged about $3.4m to the UN to fight the practice.

Feminist Majority Foundating is running a campaign to train midwives in Afghanistan.

China is trying to be more sensitive in its one-child campaign, at least with respect to slogans.

UK ab-only programs are not working.

Slightly off-topic: Marking athletic attire to women and genetic manipulation changes gender behavior.

And the requisite animal story: male fish gives birth.

News Round Up (Jul. 23)

Alright, there is a lot coming through my little inbox and in the papers.  Here's what you should know:

Babies & Such:

Bag of baby girls' bones (fetuses & newborns) found in India.  Newborn girl found in trash can behind Denny's in Anaheim.

Children of wealthy working parents are more likely to be obese.

If the baby is presenting in a breech position before childbirth, a c-section may not be necessary.

Health:

Smoking brings early menopause, as if you needed more proof that smoking is bad for you. 

The EU has approved GSK's new cervical cancer vaccine (Cervarix) for use in the EU.  US trial of microbicide underway.  US trials of Cervarix show high rates of efficacy.

Election News:

Ron Paul is anti-choice.  Mit Romney used to be pro-choice, now he's anti-choice.  I still kinda like Richardson - and he's really reaching out to women! Guiliani supports making abortion a state issue - which means overturning Roe.

Other:

Kos has an article on the lack of access to quality abortion care.  I think the article is a nice introduction to what most of you already know - I appreciate the post, but I would have liked a little more in-depth analysis or some concrete suggestions.  Kos also has a longer article on the history and politicization of abortion in the U.S.  Ms. Magazine is doing an appeal to fund investigations into deaths from illegal abortions in Kenya.  Creepy news about the anti-choicers in Kansas & the Operation Rescue gang.  Portugal abortion law takes effect.

Condom taste-test winner announced (you won't guess what the flavor is).

Funding for ab-only education at risk (which is good).  No chastity rings allowed in UK school that banned jewelry as part of its uniform policy.  Guttmacher emailed before the Post published that teen sex rates have stopped falling.

EU gender pay gap steady. "Women still earn 15% less than men on average, compared with 17% in 1995, despite being better educated."

More on egg donation in the US.

And the animal story of the week: STD vaccines (chlamydia) for koalas.

Happy Fourth News Round Up

There's a big conference in Lyon about reproductive technology, and a lot of very cool news is coming out of it.  There's plenty of other news as well, below.

Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis is actually damaging for fertility in women over 35 getting IVF. Speaking of IVF, it increases the chances of twins, even if only one embryo is implanted.

Scientists think they have discovered how twins develop in the first few days as well as how to clone sperm, which will help men with low sperm counts.  Doctors at the conference were talking about a woman who is freezing her eggs for her daughter's use - the daughter is likely to be infertile due to Turner Syndrome.

Sex pheromones make female mice brains grow - the scent of dominant male mice creates new neurons in the female mice's brains.

This sexual harassment case is crazy: allegedly, a woman was fired because she wouldn't be her boss' surrogate!   Speaking of nutty: a man apologized for trying to burn down a women's clinic when he mistakenly believed the clinic offered abortions.  He was wrong, and says that even if the clinic did offer abortions, it still would have been wrong to try to burn down the clinic.

The UK is considering lifting the requirement that a woman gets two medical approvals for a first trimester abortion.  India is seeking Mr. Condom to push for increased condom usage. Egypt, once again, outlawed female circumcision.   They did this once before, and then the practice went underground, which was more dangerous, so they  legalized it.

Ok, so a 19 year old man had a sexual relationship with an 11 year old girl.  Girl gets pregnant (yikes!).  He is being charged, but so are both of their parents, who consented to the relationship.  RHRealityCheck keeps us up to date on the whole Kansas/Tiller mess.

Fetus or fruit?  Hard to determine, apparently.

And the animal story: elephant dies of herpes.

Good News for Fertility

Israeli scientists have matured young girls' eggs and frozen them.  Frozen eggs are less viable than frozen embryos, meaning that this isn't super fabulous news in terms of future fertility, but it is a great step, especially for kids with cancer. 

On a related note, the Beeb reports that similarly, a baby was born from an egg matured in the lab, frozen, thawed and implanted.  These eggs were from adults, not children, as in the story above.

Kaiser reports that stem cells have been created from unfertilized eggs.  Using antidepressants during pregnancy does not pose a high risk to the developing fetus, although there is some risk.

This is embarassing

It's embarassing to come back to you all two weeks after my last post and have so little to show for it.  I just, you know, have this job.  And blogging isn't quite as convenient as it once was.  Not that I'm going to stop, but when things get hectic here, the blog is one of the first things to get cut back.  In any case, I'm still scanning the news for relevant stories, like these:

Domestic:

Today's NYT says that young Americans are just as anti-choice as the rest of the country: 24 percent said it should not be permitted at all, while 38 percent said it should be made available but with greater restrictions. Thirty-seven percent said it should be generally available.

Louisiana is jumping on the "partial birth" bandwagon (via KFF).  Thank you, again, SCOTUS.  Connecticut is still debating emergency contraceptives - Catholics are arguing that forcing hospitals to dispense EC is an encroachment of religious freedom.  Getting EC is hard enough in some places (like North Carolina). 

The new Senator from Wyoming has a pro-choice past.  And when you combine Catholic + politics, you get Rudy Giuliani, who, um, I guess is still pissing off the Catholics by his long-standing pro-choice stance.  Oh, and speaking of Presidential candidates, y'all know that I like Richardson, right?  You should too: he's willing to come out and say that he's going to use choice as a litmus test for SCOTUS nominees if he's elected President.  Meanwhile, Romney thinks he's awesome for switching to the anti-choice side.  Brownback says even rape victims shouldn't have access to abortions.

I still love those marriage cases - who has to give what back, who deserves what, etc.

I don't have the link, but the ab-only funding the Senate Labor-HHS bill is lower than what the President asked for, which is a good thing.  It got more than $113m last year, the President asked for more than $140m, and the Senate has offered more than $84m.

Fewer babies are being circumcised in the US. Both moms and dads want more time with their families.  Big to-do over the fact that at-risk kids were told they could get support at a Planned Parenthood. 

Y'all know I'm all over this wedding thing, right?  And not like I'm getting married or planning a wedding, but I love to hate on all that stuff.  Thankfully, other people do too.  Like, engagement rings, which I have been yelling about for years (even before my big research project into diamond pricing). 

International:

Brazil is expanding access to emergency contraception.  Abortions for everyone in Portugal!  Actually, only up to 10 weeks, after July 15, with a 3 day waiting period.  Britians are very confused about sex, but they are recommending that girls get the HPV vaccine.

The United States House moves away from the Global Gag Rule.  Aussies like their men rugged.

German red light district row over broken condom.  Police involvement.  Speaking of police involvement in condoms: are vibrating condoms sex toys or contraceptives?  India wants to know.  This is the same country that has a condom bar.  Other weird news: a man was sentenced to be single until 2010. 

Science:

Sextuplets aren't really the healthiest way to go.  I'm so sorry for their loss.  Having twins decreases a woman's fertility.  And I guess that inter-species clone thing isn't really that far off, at least for research.  Crazy.

Ruh-oh, Viagra may be bad for fertility.  Vagina surgery.