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three.5 (6 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

5 (two votes)

Many Hispanic ladies have used medications or homemade concoctions in an attempt to end their pregnancies themselves, despite the availability of safe, legal and inexpensive abortions, the New York Times reports. Based on the Times, researchers believe women who attempt to self-induce abortion do so because of a mistrust with the wellness system, fear of surgery, worries about immigration status, concerns about protesters at family planning clinics, cost and shame.

Two recent studies by reproductive health providers examined the use of medications and other substances to self-induce abortion. For one study, expected to be released in the spring, researchers from Gynuity Well being Projects and Ibis Reproductive Well being surveyed 1,200 primarily Hispanic girls from Boston, New York and San Francisco.

A second study, conducted by Planned Parenthood, involved a series of focus groups with females from the Dominican Republic living in New York and Santo Domingo. Based on the two surveys, women from these communities have employed numerous methods in attempts to induce abortion, including taking the drug misoprostol; mixing malted beverages with aspirin, salt or nutmeg; throwing themselves down stairs; being punched inside the stomach; drinking tea mixtures; and creating other homemade concoctions.

According towards the Times, many women from these communities take the prescription drug misoprostol — FDA approved to reduce gastric ulcers — to terminate their pregnancies. The drug, sold under the brand name Cytotec, also is approved to induce abortion when taken with mifepristone, or RU-486. Although some physicians use misoprostol to induce labor, it is not approved for that use, the Times reports. A spokesperson for Pfizer, which manufactures Cytotec, said the company doesn’t support the off-label use with the drug to induce abortion, adding that the drug’s label includes “FDA’s strongest warning against use in girls who are pregnant.” The warning also notes that the drug “can cause abortion,” the Times reports.

Many health care workers and community leaders have expressed concern about the effectiveness and side effects from the improper administration of misoprostol. According to the Times, girls surveyed reported a wide variety of methods for using the drug, including inserting pills into the vagina or letting them dissolve below the tongue. Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, said, “We do worry due to the fact we don’t know where females are getting the instructions” about how to take misoprostol. She added that she believes “there is misinformation about how to take it, which is why it could be a hit or miss.”

According to a study conducted in 2000 surveying 610 females at three New York clinics in primarily Dominican neighborhoods, 5% of ladies said that they had taken misoprostol and 37% said they knew that the drug induced abortions. Mark Rosing, an obstetrician at St. Barnabas Hospital who led the study, said taking abortifacients “turns abortion into a natural process and makes it look like a miscarriage.” He added, “For people who don’t have access to abortion for social reasons, financial reasons or immigration reasons, it doesn’t seem like this horrible thing.”

Daniel Grossman, an obstetrician with Ibis Reproductive Wellness, said many women from these communities attempt self-induced abortions since they “prefer to have a much more private experience with their abortion, which is certainly understandable.” Grossman added that friends and family members often recommend these alternative pregnancy termination methods, which some ladies feel are “easier” than seeking abortions in clinics and hospitals.

Carolyn Westhoff, an obstetrician at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, said, “This is not just a culture of self-inducted abortion,” adding, “This is really a culture of going to the pharmacy and getting the medicine you require.”

According towards the Planned Parenthood study, birth control is generally seen as the woman’s responsibility in many Hispanic cultures that value “machismo.” The study concluded that women from these communities “seemed to see inducing the termination of pregnancy, or abortions, as part with the reality of their lives” (Lee/Buckley, New York Times, 1/5).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Every day Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Day-to-day Women’s Well being Policy Report can be a free of charge service with the National Partnership for Females & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

5 (5 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

5 (2 votes)

Several newspapers published editorials in response to the recent HHS “conscience” rule. The rule, which will take effect Jan. 18, significantly expands the ability of wellness care professionals who receive federal grants to refuse to provide medical information and services they object to on moral or religious grounds. Summaries of the editorials appear below.

~ Hartford Courant: “The Bush administration has launched an assault on women’s rights with an eleventh-hour rule that could keep rape victims from getting emergency contraception,” the Courant writes, adding that the administration cited a 2007 Connecticut law requiring hospitals to offer EC to rape survivors when imposing the rule. However, the administration “may be imagining problems where there are none,” and it “failed to note” that the Connecticut law allows hospitals that object to EC to use independent providers to administer it, the editorial says. “The new set of rules now throws into question Connecticut’s hard-won law,” the editorial states, adding that it is “wrong to deny girls legal reproductive services” and that “government really should not throw up obstacles to such wrenching private decisions.” According to the editorial, “State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is proper to fight the federal rule that now threatens this achievement.” The editorial concludes that is it “unconscionable” for Bush to “leave behind a mess that could take months for his successor to clean up. But clean it up President-elect Barack Obama must. He really should make it a priority to reverse this disruptive regulation” (Hartford Courant, 12/26/08).

~ New York Times: “Undermining women’s reproductive rights and access to wellness care has been a pervasive theme with the outgoing administration,” a Times editorial states, noting that President Bush in his very first day in office implemented the “Mexico City” policy, or “global gag rule,” which prohibits federal funding to international family planning groups that use their own funds for abortion services or to advocate for abortion-related law. The editorial says that it is therefore “unsurprising, but still dismaying,” that HHS secretary Mike Leavitt “chose to extend that dismal record at the last minute with yet yet another awful regulation.” Based on the editorial, the rule is a “parting gift towards the far right” that “aims to hinder women’s access to abortion, contraceptives and also the information needed to make decisions about their own health. What makes it worse is that the policy is wrapped up in a phony claim to safeguard religious freedom.” The editorial continues that the “changes elevate the so-called appropriate to refuse beyond reason to an increased number of medical institutions and a broad range of well being care workers and services — including abortion referrals, unbiased counseling and provision of emergency contraception, even to rape victims.” The editorial adds, “The impact will probably be hardest on poor women who rely on public programs for their well being care.” Obama and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) — whom Obama has nominated to succeed Leavitt as HHS secretary — “can block irresponsible changes that threaten people’s correct and defy the federal government’s duty on public health” via immediate action to reverse the rule. The editorial concludes, “They must do so, and promptly follow up with a formal rule-making proceeding to rescind the regulation once and for all. And they can get rid of the gag rule” (New York Times, 12/26/08).

~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The conscience rule will “change” physicians’ oath “to put their patients’ interests first,” and “the rights of some patients will be sacrificed,” the Post-Dispatch writes. “Some poor girls, especially those who live in rural areas with limited access to care, will likely be unable to get complete information or get some prescriptions filled due to the fact with the new rule,” the editorial says. It adds, “Offering appropriate abortion counseling or contraceptives is part of the standard of care for a wide range of wellness conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and epilepsy. The new rule would allow some doctors to decide on a lesser standard,” which is “dangerous and unnecessary.” The editorial continues, “Doctors, nurses and pharmacists decide on professions that put patients’ rights initial. If they foresee that priority becoming problematic for them, they ought to choose yet another profession.” The Obama administration “can and ought to rescind the rule, even though the process will take time,” the editorial says, concluding, “Decisions about care are best made by a patient and a health care provider who places that patient’s best medical interests above any other issue” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/24/08).

~ St. Petersburg Times: Obama “will have many challenges at the start of his presidency, but reversing and repealing” the Bush administration’s “midnight” regulations “should be 1 of his initial acts,” the Times writes. The new HHS rule “was timed perfectly” to take effect before Obama takes office and is “just one of many such parting gifts the Bush administration is leaving behind for some of its favorite special interests,” the editorial continues. Obama’s options for repealing the rule are “limited” as well as the “window of opportunity is small,” but “if everyone cooperates it shouldn’t take too long to start cleaning up after the Bush administration,” the editorial concludes (St. Petersburg Times, 12/29/08).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You are able to view the entire Day-to-day Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Everyday Women’s Well being Policy Report is a cost-free service with the National Partnership for Females & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Although the “thought of yet an additional pro-choice Kennedy positioned to campaign for the unlimited appropriate to abortion is discouraging” for “faithful” Roman Catholics, abortion-rights advocates “will have just such a champion” if Caroline Kennedy is appointed to fill the Senate seat that will probably be vacated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Anne Hendershott — professor of urban studies at The King’s College in New York and author of “The Politics of Abortion” — writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. In accordance with Hendershott, Kennedy — the daughter of former President Kennedy, who was Catholic — “knows that any Kennedy desiring higher office inside the Democratic Party must now carry the torch of abortion rights throughout any race.” Hendershott adds Kennedy has “promised to work for several causes,” including abortion rights.

Hendershott writes that in response to a series of 15 concerns regarding abortion rights posed by the New York Times on Dec. 21, Kennedy said that she would oppose legislation requiring minors to notify their parents before obtaining abortion services and that she supports Roe v. Wade.

Although abortion-rights issues were “not a national concern” in the early 1960s when Kennedy’s father was president, that “all changed in the early 70s, when Democratic politicians first figured out that the powerful abortion lobby could fill their campaign coffers (and attract new liberal voters),” Hendershott writes. She adds that those politicians “began to realize” that the Catholic Church’s bishops and priests “had ended their public role of responding negatively to those who promoted a pro-choice agenda.” However, there are “signs today that some with the bishops are beginning to confront the Catholic politicians who consistently vote in favor of legislation to support abortion,” Hendershott writes. She concludes that “[u]ntil the clerics begin to counter the pro-choice claims made by high-profile Catholics” — such as Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Kennedy and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — “faithful Catholics will continue to be bewildered by their pastoral silence” (Hendershott, Wall Street Journal, 1/2).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Day-to-day Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is a cost-free service of the National Partnership for Girls & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

5 (2 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

5 (1 votes)

“One hopeful feature” of President-elect Barack Obama’s upcoming presidency is his “apparent passion for moving the nation beyond its weary cultural debates” on issues such as abortion, a Dallas Morning News editorial says. The editorial continues that “[c]ommon ground” doesn’t “magically appear” and that Obama must therefore “make hard decisions, including selecting the appropriate legislation to support as his term begins.” Based on the editorial, 1 “way forward” would be for Obama to support a bill sponsored by Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), which both “those opposed to abortion rights and those in favor of them can support.”

The bill focuses on reducing the number of abortions and providing incentives for females to carry their fetuses to term. It would “remove pregnancy from the list of pre-existing conditions insurers won’t cover, provide nursing visits to qualifying new mothers and expand the tax credit families can claim when adopting children,” the editorial states. In addition, the bill places “equally significant” emphasis on reducing unintended pregnancies, preventing teen pregnancy, expanding contraceptive education and allowing Medicaid to fund far more family planning services, based on the editorial.

The Ryan-DeLauro bill would “push both sides out of their comfort zones” as abortion-rights advocates “would end up championing bringing much more children to term” and abortion-rights opponents “would support contraceptives and other ways to prevent pregnancies,” the editorial says, adding, “[t]hat’s breaking new ground for both.” Based on the editorial, Obama’s incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel supports the bill, and he really should “persuad[e] his boss to make this legislation an early priority.” The editorial concludes that “[i]f opponents can agree on the nettlesome subject of abortion, who knows? Maybe opponents on other cultural issues can find their own common ground” (Dallas Morning News, 1/2).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service with the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

The following summarizes selected women’s health-related blog entries.

?~ “True Widespread Ground for the 111th Congress,” Kay Steiger, RH Reality Check: The increased number of abortion-rights supporters in the House and Senate of the 111th Congress is “encouraging to the pro-choice community,” Steiger writes. She adds that the addition of 14 senators endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and 177 abortion-rights advocates within the House gives Congress the “opportunity to solidify progressive legislation on reproductive rights that ensures access to common-ground measures like contraception and sexuality education whilst safeguarding access to abortion.” Steiger discusses a “flawed” bill sponsored by Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), which has been pointed to as an example of centrist abortion legislation. “While many anti-choice legislators and groups will try to push bills like the Ryan-DeLauro bill as ‘common ground,’ such bills are actually pushing the legislative agenda on choice even further towards the right” because of the inclusion of antiabortion-rights provisions, she writes. For example, the bill “allows for so-called ‘informed consent’ provisions, which provide ladies with propaganda designed to dissuade them from abortion and promote adoption,” according to Steiger. She concludes that bills such as the Prevention Very first Act supported by President-elect Obama, really should be the focus of efforts (Steiger, RH Reality Check, 1/5).

~ “26 Reasons Pro-Choice People Should Be Happy,” Nancy Keenan, Huffington Post blogs: Abortion-rights supporters have “26 new reasons to celebrate” since of the net gain of 26 abortion-rights advocates from the previous Congress, Keenan — president of NARAL Pro-Choice America — writes. She adds that “pro-choice policies reflect the public’s call for a change inside the tone with the debate over important issues” and that the “focus is on commonsense, common-ground solutions that will make a difference inside the lives of females and their families.” Keenan adds that the “pro-choice movement finds itself on the cusp of a tremendous opportunity: not only to make significant headway into reversing some of George W. Bush’s worst policies, but also to start advancing pro-choice initiatives on a national level,” like investing in a lot more family planning, providing comprehensive sex education to teenagers, ensuring the preservation of Roe v. Wade and increasing access to reproductive services for low-income women (Keenan, Huffington Post blogs, 1/5).


~ “Dominican Ladies Play (Abortion) Doctor,” Tracy Clark-Flory, Salon‘s Broadsheet: Clark-Flory “consider[s] the extreme lengths ladies will go in order to obtain an abortion” and examines a recent New York Times article about studies on women from “stridently antiabortion cultures” who terminate their pregnancies by way of “desperate and dangerous means” that “can all amount to a very dangerous game of doctor.” She mentions the illegal use of the prescription drug misoprostol, which is FDA-approved as an abortifacient when taken with mifepristone. Clark-Flory concludes that Planned Parenthood intends to use the study to develop “a new language and framework for sexual and reproductive wellness … and ultimately improve the sexual and reproductive education and wellness care that [women] receive” (Clark-Flory, Salon‘s Broadsheet, 1/5).


~ “Can You Hear Me Yet?” Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: “At this point, it’s hard to imagine how much more data the government and Congress want to collect to come towards the conclusion that just telling kids to not have sex isn’t working,” Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, writes. New reports confirm “the failure of abstinence-only sex education programs, which have been 1 with the best funded far-right programs under the Bush administration.” She cites a recent study on virginity pledges that compares “the well being outcomes for young females who pledge to remain virgins until marriage … as opposed to young females who don’t pledge.” She continues, “The data indicates that 82% of young ladies taking the pledge of virginity end up breaking the promise making them no different than their peers for engaging in sexual activity,” adding, “However, there were significant differences in the risky sexual behavior among the ‘pledge takers.’” She writes, “The much more that abstinence-only programs stress the failure rates of condoms and contraception, the much less likely young people are to protect themselves against pregnancy and infection,” noting that CDC reported that “one in four teenage girls in America has a sexually transmitted infection — and 1 in two African-American teen girls” has an STI — which “should be reason enough for Congress to end funding for a program that promotes far right ideology and at the same time gives bad or no information to help teens protect their wellness.” She concludes, “Abstinence-only [education] has been an unmitigated disaster — our New Year’s resolution as a country ought to be to take teens’ well being seriously and to invest funding in comprehensive sex education that teaches teens about abstinence as well as contraception, healthy communication, responsible decision making and prevention of sexually transmitted infections” (Richards, Huffington Post blogs, 12/29/08).

~ “Midwives Deliver,” Jennifer Block, RH Reality Check: The maternity care system within the U.S. “needs to be turned upside down,” Block writes, adding, “Midwives must be caring for the majority of pregnant ladies, and physicians ought to continue to handle high-risk cases, complications and emergencies.” The high cost of childbirth inside the U.S. “hasn’t translated into high quality,” and “we are overspending and underserving women and families,” she continues. Block writes that U.S. hospitals “aren’t following evidence-based best practices,” adding that the “most cost-effective, health-promoting maternity care for normal, healthy women is midwife-led in and out of hospital.” President-elect Barack Obama “could be, among so many other firsts, the very first birth-friendly president,” Block says, concluding that “America needs better birth care, and midwives can deliver it” (Block, RH Reality Check, 1/6).

~ “Viagra for Afghan Patriarchs, To Hell with Women,” Our Bodies Ourselves blog: The blog entry responds to a recent Washington Post story about the CIA distributing Viagra to Afghan tribal leaders, calling the action “revolting news” and “problematic.” The entry writes, “Consider the power trip” that could result from Afghan village patriarchs being told the pill could “‘put them back in an authoritative position’” (Our Bodies Ourselves blog, 12/29/08).

~ “Coitus Interceptus,” William Saletan, Slate’s Human Nature: “Apparently the men in Rome are having trouble understanding some nuances of the female reproductive system,” Saletan writes, referring towards the “Vatican’s latest pronouncement on fertility technology,” which came inside the form of Dignitas Personae — “an instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.” The document covers several topics, including 1 “that calls for rebuttal correct away” — in the “section on forms of ‘interception and contragestation,’” he writes, adding that “the problem with all the CDF’s statement” is that levonorgestrel, or the “interceptive” it refers to, “is chemically identical towards the best-known contraceptive: the pill.” He continues that “the assertion of an anti-implantation effect is theoretically unsound,” and an analysis by James Trussell — “the world’s leading expert on levonorgestrel” — confirmed that the “anti-ovulation effects wipe out any data suggesting a possible anti-implantation effect.” He writes, “The Vatican document, still referring to [Plan B], says that ‘anyone who seeks to prevent the implantation of an embryo which may possibly have been conceived and who therefore either requests or prescribes such a pharmaceutical, generally intends abortion,’” continuing, “But a woman who requests [Plan B] doesn’t necessarily seek to prevent” a pregnancy — the “actual intent is to avert a pregnancy at the earliest stages of the process, which happens to be ovulation.” Saletan concludes, “The perceptive analytical framework established by Dignitas Personae, combined together with the best scientific evidence and analysis, clearly implies that [Plan B is a] contraceptiv[e], not [an] interceptiv[e]” (Saletan, Slate‘s Human Nature, 1/5).

~ “2008 Top Ten Wins for Women’s Wellness,” Beth Fredrick, RH Reality Check: Fredrick lists ten significant “wins” in 2008 for women’s wellness advocates, including the election of abortion-rights supporter President-elect Barack Obama; a pledge by Latin American and Caribbean well being and education ministers at a Mexico City conference to invest in comprehensive sex education and strengthen the region’s HIV/AIDS response; and voters’ rejection of abortion-related ballot initiatives in South Dakota, California and Colorado. In addition, Fredrick also lists India’s introduction of the female condom and also the rejection of federal funding for abstinence-only sex education programs by 25 states (Fredrick, RH Reality Check, 12/24/08).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Day-to-day Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is actually a cost-free service of the National Partnership for Ladies & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

View drug information on Viagra.

Healthcare Prof:

Conservative Utah legislators have decided to delay movement on a bill seeking to ban all abortions in the state except in cases of rape, incest or permanent physical harm towards the woman since of concerns that the state could not afford to defend the measure in court, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

According towards the legislators, it would cost between $2 million and $7 million to defend the ban in court. State Rep. Carl Wimmer (R), who is involved inside the effort, said a private group has said it would defend such a ban in court and pay legal expenses but that Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff “would have to give up the appropriate to defend it.” Nonetheless, Paul Murphy, a spokesperson for Shurtleff, said that the Utah Constitution mandates that the attorney general defend such cases. “The attorney general is the legal officer for the state and no matter who defends it, it would have to be below the direction of the AG’s office,” Murphy said.

Wimmer said Shurtleff is “passionate” about defending the ban and has proposed a separate bill that would create a legal defense fund to defend the bill at a later date. Wimmer said, “We are looking at wanting to ban abortion in Utah, period, end of story. Nonetheless, we want to do it correctly. We’re not going to back away from abortion. We’re never going to let it die.” The legal defense fund would be open for five years, and all donations would be used to defend an abortion ban. If the fund has not received enough donations to defend a ban after five years, the funds would be used to promote adoption, according to state Rep. Ken Sumsion (R), a bill sponsor. A similar fund was established in 1991 when Utah passed a restrictive abortion law that was later overturned, the Tribune reports.

Missy Bird, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Committee, said the Legislature must focus on improving access to reproductive services for low-income females rather than defending an abortion ban. “The people would really be hard pressed to endorse a public fund that we can put millions of dollars into when the people of Utah have better priorities,” Bird said (McFarland, Salt Lake Tribune, 1/6).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You are able to view the entire Day-to-day Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report can be a free service of the National Partnership for Ladies & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

1 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

A pending University of Wisconsin plan to provide second-trimester abortions at its Madison Surgery Center is drawing criticism from antiabortion-rights groups, which are questioning the legality of the plan, the AP/Chicago Tribune reports. The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based antiabortion-rights group, sent a letter to university officials urging them to stop the plan, saying that performing abortion procedures at the surgery center might violate a state law that prohibits federal or state funds from being used to pay physicians or clinics that perform abortions. Within the letter, ADF lawyer Thomas Bowman wrote that “[m]any … employees” believe that performing abortion procedures at the center would “severely upset regular patients, disrupt the respected surgical practice that currently occurs there, decimate employee morale, require burdensome policy changes and compel direct or indirect staff participation” in the procedures. A second antiabortion-rights group, Pro-life Wisconsin, issued a statement saying that its members would regularly protest outside the clinic if it opens, adding, “We strongly urge [the university] to abandon this morally reprehensible, potentially illegal plan.”

Lisa Brunette, the university’s well being spokesperson, said that state physicians employed by the university would perform the procedures and that the procedures would be paid for by patients or insurance companies, not by public funding. Brunette also said that employees would be able to opt out of a procedure and that medical students would only be trained on the procedures if they elect to do so. Wisconsin state law prohibits employers from penalizing wellness care workers who refuse to “recommend, aid or perform” abortions since of moral objections. Brunette said the plan is awaiting final approval from the surgery center’s board, which will meet later this month. The university’s lawyers are confident that the plan is legal, she added.

The university released the plan after the retirement last month of the only second-trimester abortion provider inside the area. Planned Parenthood took over the provider’s clinic and offers abortions up to 18 weeks’ gestation. Women who are more than 18 weeks pregnant are now referred to a Milwaukee clinic. The new surgery center would offer abortion services to patients between 13 and 22 weeks’ gestation, based on the AP/Tribune. Brunette said that physicians at the surgery center “believe that there is a public wellness responsibility to provide [second-trimester abortions] as part of comprehensive reproductive wellness care,” adding that physicians also feel that the surgery center is the most appropriate facility to perform the procedures. There were more than 8,200 abortions performed in Wisconsin in 2007, the lowest number since 1974. Much more than 80% with the procedures were performed in the first trimester, the AP/Tribune reports (Foley, AP/Chicago Tribune, 1/6).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Everyday Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Every day Women’s Health Policy Report is actually a cost-free service with the National Partnership for Females & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

three.67 (three votes)

Healthcare Prof:

4.33 (6 votes)

President-elect Barack Obama “can thank the Bush administration for putting 1 much more item on his to-do list,” with all the administration’s “latest parting shot” coming in the form with the new HHS provider “conscience” rule, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial states. It continues, “Current law long has allowed doctors, nurses and others to refuse to take part in abortions if their religious beliefs dictate, but this new so-called ‘conscience protection’ is going to be extended to everyone involved in well being care, including office receptionists and volunteers.” Even though abortion is the “first procedure that comes to mind” regarding the rule, it is “not the only 1 by any means,” the editorial says, adding that contraception, HIV/AIDS testing and fertility treatments also could be affected.

“Under the cloak of protecting the religious rights of well being care workers, the new regulation potentially violates the rights of patients to appropriate and complete medical information,” in accordance with the editorial. At present, clinics that receive federal funding are required to advise pregnant women “of all options” — including abortion, adoption and carrying the fetus to term — but “[u]nder the revision, clinics that have no intention of doing so nonetheless may apply for taxpayer support,” the editorial says. It adds, “Like it or not, a woman’s correct to select remains protected below the law of the land.” The “vague language” with the rule also has “left clinic operators wondering whether or not it means they won’t be able to ask potential employees about their views in order to ascertain no matter whether they would perform their work in concert using the organization’s views and objectives,” the editorial states. After the inauguration, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) — Obama’s nominee for HHS secretary — “could restart the rule-making process and undo the Bush administration’s intention,” based on the editorial. The editorial concludes that this “seems the quickest way to offset the harm that this misguided regulation would accomplish” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/6).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Every day Women’s Well being Policy Report is actually a cost-free service of the National Partnership for Girls & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

4 (2 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

5 (1 votes)

Some Asian immigrant families are using U.S. medical technology to have sons instead of daughters, possibly because of cultural beliefs valuing sons, based on new research from two independent teams of economists, the San Jose Mercury News reports. One study, from Columbia University, indicates that immigrant families from China, India and Korea use medical technology — most likely including abortion — to select for boys. Douglas Almond, co-author of the study, said that the researchers “didn’t expect to see a male bias” and did not find 1 when looking at the very first child born to a family. However, male bias “seem[ed] to seem after a 1st daughter, and much more strongly after a second daughter,” Almond said. In addition, in a soon-to-be published study from the University of Texas, economist Jason Abrevaya located that among Indian families in Santa Clara County, Calif., that 1st had two daughters, there was a 58% chance that the next child would be a son, which is “significantly higher than the natural 51% chance of having a boy,” the Mercury News reports. Each teams identified no comparable male bias among white, black and Japanese-American families that very first had daughters, based on the Mercury News.

Although the two studies indicate that some Asian couples manipulated the odds of having male children, they do not identify the methods used for sex selection. Based on Abrevaya, the data do not indicate that female infanticide — a practice documented in India and China — is occurring within the U.S. He added, “If gender-selective abortion is the cause for the unusual Asian-Indian boy birth ratios, then the abortion rate would be 20% to 25% of female fetuses who otherwise would have been born as a third or fourth child.” One more technique used by some families to select for a specific gender is preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which involves harvesting fertilized embryos, identifying no matter whether they are male or female and implanting the desired sex. Jeffrey Steinberg, medical director of the Fertility Institutes of Los Angeles, said that his clients pay up to $18,000 for PGD services. He added that Chinese and Indian couples are a major source of his clients. Even though these clients often seek male children, Steinberg said some clients, such as Canadians, prefer to have female children. Suresh Nayak, a physician in San Jose, Calif., offers gender selection services using a different technique, which selects sperm before conception to increase the odds of having a child of a certain gender.

Some advocates are protesting gender selection by placing pressure on publications that advertise medical procedures for sex selection. Preeti Shekar, a journalist and advocate from Berkeley, Calif., known as for “consciousness-raising” among South Asian communities about the “sexist and racist consequences” of technologies such as PGD. Even though Abrevaya said he located stronger evidence for sex selection among Indian immigrants than among Chinese immigrants, he added that he is concerned much more people may begin using these techniques as they become much less expensive. In accordance with the Mercury News, the U.S. is one of “very few” countries that doesn’t prohibit the use of techniques such as PGD for gender selection (Swift, San Jose Mercury News, 1/7).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Everyday Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Every day Women’s Wellness Policy Report can be a cost-free service with the National Partnership for Ladies & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

? 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

5 (1 votes)

Analysis of post-election surveys by the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families shows that South Dakota residents want a shift in state politics away from trying to implement abortion bans toward efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies, Jan Nicolay, co-chair with the organization, said this week, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports (Brandert, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 1/8). South Dakota voters in November 2008 rejected Initiated Measure 11, which would have banned abortions except in narrowly defined cases of rape or incest or to preserve the health or life with the woman. Voters defeated the measure by 55% to 45% (Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report, 12/8/08).

South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families plans to send copies of its findings to state lawmakers. Group officials said that the report is actually a chance to educate newly elected lawmakers, who make up about half with the state House. Nicolay said the findings show that South Dakota residents “do not want government intruding into their personal medical decisions.” She added, “We just think everyone really should work together on [preventing unintended pregnancies] and not devote time with ballot concerns.” Casey Murschel, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota, said, “Constituents do not want their legislators spending this time in Pierre working on abortion bans.”

Leslee Unruh — founder with the Alpha Center and Abstinence Clearinghouse and leader of the campaign supporting last year’s ballot initiative — said opponents of such a ban are “afraid there is going to be a challenge in front with the Legislature.” In accordance with Unruh, 18 state legislatures are considering abortion-related legislation, including informed consent measures similar to a 2005 South Dakota law (HB 1166) that requires physicians to tell ladies seeking abortions that a fetus is actually a separate, whole, unique human being. Unruh added that she has no plans to contact lawmakers about proposing an additional abortion ban measure (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 1/8).

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