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Healthcare Prof:

The problem of unsafe abortion and its role in women’s well being was the focus of a four-day conference this week in Accra, Ghana, involving well being experts, policymakers and health workers from across Africa, Ghana News Agency reports. Based on the news service, the conference agenda was to include: “a review of regional and national progress in addressing unsafe abortion, lessons from research and expertise that could improve safe abortion care, post abortion care and related reproductive health care, such as preventing unwanted pregnancy, discussion of an agenda for action for the African region and ways to improve collaboration among governments, NGOs and other stakeholders” (11/9).

Addressing the forum, “Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said many commitments have been made regarding women’s well being, maternal mortality and addressing unsafe abortion, but strategies for meeting unfulfilled promises are needed,” U.N. News Centre writes. The conference builds from the growing attention with the importance of addressing the issue of maternal mortality in Africa, Ruzvidzo noted.

Pointing to data obtained by the WHO, Ruzvidzo explained, an estimated “5.5 million unsafe abortions are performed annually in Africa and the deaths from unsafe abortion account for approximately 14 percent of all maternal deaths inside the region,” based on U.N. News Centre. “On the African continent, the debate needs to address legalizing abortion and making it a safe practice,” she said (11/10).

Aissatou Gueye of the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) “told the forum that unsafe abortion is the only recourse many girls have to manage their fertility preferences, which results in high morbidity and mortality, and can be a clear violation of their human rights,” based on a UNECA press release. “Existing international and regional agreements on women’s rights and sexual and reproductive wellness and rights must be honored to improve maternal mortality and reduce the incidence of unsafe abortion,” she said, in accordance with the press release (11/10).

Ghana News Agency, in a separate article, reports that a declaration was issued at the end with the conference that called upon governments to “initiate review of laws criminalising abortion, in line with specific commitments under international and regional agreements, including specific and increased funding for reproductive health and measures to address unsafe abortion in national and health method budgets.” Additionally, the “delegates called on multilateral donor agencies as properly as international technical support agencies to direct more resources to prevent unsafe abortion and make safe legal abortion available” (11/11).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with type permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is possible to view the whole Kaiser Every day Global Well being Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

? Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Because of numerous Republican victories in the midterm elections, abortion-rights advocates are “looking at the most hostile Congress since abortion was legalized in 1973,” with at least 53 new antiabortion-rights members in the House and five in the Senate, columnist Katha Pollitt writes in The Nation. Pollitt also notes that Republicans now hold 29 governorships and both houses of 19 state legislatures.

Some of the newly elected Republican lawmakers are “particularly extreme,” including Sens.-elect Rand Paul (Ky.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Reps.-elect Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Tim Walberg (Mich.), all opponents of abortion even in cases of rape and incest, in accordance with Pollitt.

“For years pundits have been reassuring pro-choicers that conservatives don’t really want to get rid of abortion,” Pollitt writes, adding that “vows to ban abortion are just theater, in accordance with this view, meant to distract gullible rubes from the right-wing economic agenda.” Pollitt argues that she has “never believed this theory” because it “assumes that elections give voters a clear shot at each problem, that true believers could be controlled once elected, that political debts want never be paid and that promises might be forever postponed with no one the wiser.”

Most antiabortion-rights efforts are “focused on smaller measurers and take place in the states, where some 600 anti-choice bills were introduced last year,” she continues. “Add up enough small victories and eventually you’ve changed the reproductive rights landscape, both as a matter of law and on the ground, without having ever engaging in the type of wholesale ban or fertilized-egg-as-a-person legislation that energizes the opposition and that voters … have consistently rejected,” Pollitt argues.

According to Pollitt, Congress likely will see several antiabortion-rights efforts in the coming months, including an attempt to reinstate the “global gag rule” prohibiting federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortion services or information with their own money. Lawmakers also could take up issues such as the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act which, among other things, would codify the Hyde Amendment to ban federal funding for abortion services and eliminate tax breaks for employer-sponsored and other private wellness plans that cover abortion services. Abortion-rights opponents will also seek action on the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would ban all federal funds for organizations that perform abortion services or fund organizations that do in an attempt to target the Planned Parenthood Federation of America — the only provider of women’s wellness and family planning services in many parts of the country. Other issues likely to surface in Congress include increasing “conscience” protection for wellness providers, preserving the ban on abortions in military hospitals, banning Washington, D.C., from using its own revenue for abortion services for low-income women, and increasing antiabortion-rights provisions of the federal well being reform law (PL 111-148).

“Note that the official theme here is not the banning of abortion but freeing the taxpayer from having to pay for it, however tenuous the connection,” Pollitt writes. PPFA President and CEO Cecile Richards said the election “was not about choice” but about “jobs and the economy.” She added that “if you look at close races where the pro-choice candidate won, and where females knew the difference between the candidates on reproductive rights, they voted pro-choice and arguably made the difference.”

Richards believes Democrats will realize they need to have the support of pro-abortion-rights women to win, noting that the Senate continues to have an abortion-rights majority. Pollitt writes, “If that’s too optimistic for you, try this: only one of the new Republican senators thinks man-made global warming is real.” She concludes, “So by the time they’ve taken control of your womb, you’ll probably be dead” (Pollitt, The Nation, 11/10).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report is actually a cost-free service of the National Partnership for Ladies & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Ladies & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

5 (1 votes)

Antiabortion-rights groups in Iowa say they will work to block Nebraska physician LeRoy Carhart from opening a new clinic that will offer abortion services later in pregnancy, the Des Moines Register reports.

Earlier this week, Carhart announced plans to open new abortion clinics in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the suburbs of Washington, D.C., as nicely as expand services in Indianapolis. The decision was prompted by a recently implemented Nebraska law (LB 1103) prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation based on supporters’ claims that fetuses can feel pain at that stage. Carhart did not disclose the specific location of the Iowa facility and said he is still soliciting donations for its construction.

Carhart, one with the few U.S. providers who perform abortions later in pregnancy, said there is “certainly a need to have,” noting that the locations of the new clinics “are where the laws are favorable for us to do the practice that I require to do.” Iowa law allows abortion after the second trimester if a doctor determines the procedure is necessary to “preserve the life or health” of the woman.

Iowa Right to Life Executive Director Jenifer Bowen said, “Obviously, Carhart sees that as a big loophole or he wouldn’t be planning to come here.” Bowen and other abortion-rights opponents say they will push for tighter restrictions in Iowa, taking advantage of the recent influx of antiabortion-rights lawmakers elected in the state. Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans for Life, said abortion-rights opponents “have a real opportunity this session, as opposed to past years.”

In last week’s elections, Republicans regained control of the state House and former Gov. Terry Branstand (R) — who opposes abortion rights — was re-elected to the position. Democrats maintained manage of the state Senate (Leys, Des Moines Register, 11/12).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Day-to-day Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is actually a free service with the National Partnership for Girls & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Ladies & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

5 (1 votes)

A small group of antiabortion-rights advocates are hoping to recruit a presidential candidate so they can run graphic ads showing aborted fetuses for the duration of the Super Bowl, Congress.org reports.

The group hopes to employ the same tactic used in the course of the midterm elections by Missy Smith, an antiabortion-rights activist who unsuccessfully ran for Washington, D.C., delegate. Smith “took advantage of federal rules that prevent broadcasters from censoring election ads unless they defame others or violate copyright,” in accordance with Congress.org. In the early 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission and federals court ruled that graphic abortion images are not indecent.

Smith’s campaign spent $66,000 operating 225 graphic ads on TV stations inside the D.C. area. Smith plans to run again in 2012 and is recruiting candidates for the top 25 media markets. The group would require millions of dollars to fund a Super Bowl commercial.

Antiabortion-rights activist Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue who is known for his controversial tactics, said he came up with the idea to work around broadcasters’ policy of rejecting inappropriate ads. According to Congress.org, “Even viewers who agree with the message have filed FCC complaints against the ads due to their graphic nature” (Ali, Congress.org, 11/10)

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You are able to view the whole Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is really a free of charge service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

There is “no question” that the election of Republican majorities in several states “means that anti-choice legislators will more aggressively push through abortion restrictions next year,” Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup writes in a letter towards the editor of the New York Times. Northup’s letter responds to a recent Times article about state-level Republican lawmakers’ agendas for the coming year.

Each year, state legislators propose “more than 600 anti-choice bills,” including “plenty” that pass, according to Northup. “In many cases, these laws violate the Constitution, and courts enjoin their enforcement and award attorneys’ fees,” she adds. Since 2008, CRR has filed 13 cases in nine states to fight such laws, and “from Arizona to Louisiana, [the group has] succeeded in permanently or temporarily blocking enforcement of most of them,” she continues.

“States worried about wasteful government spending ought to think twice about enacting these unconstitutional laws,” Northup concludes (Northup, New York Times, 11/11).

Reprinted with kind 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 email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is really a totally free service with the National Partnership for Ladies & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Girls & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

5 (1 votes)

Unsafe abortion is one with the “biggest wellness threats to women” in Africa, where 5.5 million girls per year risk their lives trying to terminate a pregnancy by drinking bleach, inserting sharp objects into the cervix or using other dangerous methods, Guttmacher Institute President and CEO Sharon Camp writes within the Guardian‘s “Poverty Matters.” Approximately 26,000 of these women die and another 1.7 million are hospitalized, even though many others experience complications but do not seek treatment, Camp states.

“The terrible toll of unsafe abortion goes well beyond the individual woman,” Camp continues, adding, “Losing their mother and caregiver devastates the lives of children and families, and losing a healthy woman’s many contributions to society weakens her community.” Clandestine abortion also drains public wellness resources, she writes, noting that African governments spend an average of $114 per unsafe abortion case, “yet per capita spending on health care averages just $48.”

Although several African nations have relaxed abortion restrictions, 90% of ladies of childbearing age live in places with limited or no access to safe abortion services, according to Camp. Fourteen African countries ban abortion in all circumstances, including if the woman’s life is in jeopardy. However, evidence shows that restricting abortion does not lower its incidence, only its safety, Camp writes. By contrast, within the six years since South Africa loosened its abortion laws, the number of females dying from unsafe abortion decreased by 50%.

Camp argues that African governments really should focus on preventing unplanned pregnancies, as 60% of African women who want to avoid becoming pregnant do not use effective family planning methods. Providing family planning services to all girls in sub-Saharan Africa who wish to avoid pregnancy would lower the number of unsafe abortions from 5.2 million to 1.2 million and reduce the number of women suffering complications from 2.2 million to 500,000, according to Guttmacher research. Achieving this goal “will require significant financial investment from African governments and donor countries alike, but one with far-reaching benefits: fewer unplanned pregnancies, fewer unsafe abortions and fewer maternal and newborn deaths” (Camp, “Poverty Matters,” Guardian, 11/12).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You are able to view the whole Day-to-day Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Ladies & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

In the recent midterm elections, many Democrats who made abortion rights a central issue won key Senate races by attracting moderate female voters, Politico reports. The strategy contrasts with Democrats’ tactics in 2006 and 2008, when they fielded antiabortion-rights candidates in some socially conservative districts. Many of those Democrats lost their re-election bids this year.

Voters sometimes see candidates’ abortion-rights views as an indication of their positions on other social issues, Politico reports. Deirdre Schifeling, political director with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said, “Candidates’ positions on choice do serve a signaling function, in terms with the kind of person they are and if they are standing up for ladies or not.”

At the same time, abortion rights can be a deciding factor for voters who are on the fence. Schifeling said, “We go after a very targeted, specific group of voters: these swing, pro-choice women.” She added that abortion “is an problem that really cuts by way of some with the noise around other issues where candidates may not sound so different from each other.” PPAF spent a total of $2.2 million on campaigns across the U.S., sending mailers to 1.4 million households.

Abortion Issues Tip Colo, Nev., Calif., Races

The Senate race between Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet and Republican prosecutor Ken Buck in Colorado was decided by fewer than 16,000 votes, with women choosing Bennet by 17 percentage points, in accordance with exit polling. A message-testing survey by the Democratic group Project New West discovered that 24% of respondents said Buck’s antiabortion-rights views were the largest reason they would not vote for him. The poll question said that Buck “opposes abortion, even in case of rape and incest.”

Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) won his Nevada re-election campaign over challenger Sharon Angle, who also opposes abortion in all cases except life endangerment and said that some rape survivors who become pregnant were able to turn “what was really a lemon situation into lemonade.” Reid won among female voters by 11 percentage points but lost male voters by two points.

In California, incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer defeated Republican Carly Fiorina by nearly 10 percentage points. A mailer sent by Planned Parenthood stated that Fiorina’s antiabortion-views are “too extreme” for California and suggested that she would work to criminalize the procedure. A survey taken Nov. 2 by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake showed that 52% of voters who had heard about abortion inside the Senate race were unlikely to support Fiorina (Burns, Politico, 11/13).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the whole Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is actually a free of charge service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Females & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

4.5 (2 votes)

Antiabortion-rights Republicans made large gains inside the midterm elections, but “the buck still stops together with the president,” the American Prospect‘s Pema Levy writes in an opinion piece. She continues, “The real threat, though, especially inside the long term, is that the Obama administration may not stand firm in its commitment to women’s reproductive rights.”

Levy writes that the “majority of federal-level reproductive well being decisions” are made by President Obama and the executive branch, “which oversees myriad programs and directs millions of dollars toward women’s well being services.” For example, Obama and HHS “have significant manage over sex education” and have made “significant effort[s] to redirect federal funding of sex education to science-based programs.” Obama in his 2010 budget allocated $114.5 million for programs to prevent teen pregnancy, support parenting teens and research prevention programs. James Wagoner, president of the Advocates for Youth, said that “vigorous presidential leadership” could help defend against political attacks on these programs which are overwhelmingly supported by the public.

Meanwhile, the federal well being reform law (PL 111-148) “gives the administration an unprecedented chance to improve women’s reproductive health” simply because HHS “has the power to define contraception as a preventive service that insurance programs must provide to girls totally free of charge,” Levy continues. This week, the Institute of Medicine will begin drafting recommendations on women’s preventive services to help HHS determine which services health plans really should required to cover without having cost-sharing.

Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the possibility of no-cost contraceptive coverage “is huge” and perhaps the administration’s most significant opportunity for improving reproductive choice. Wagoner said the problem could rally Democratic support among female voters, making it “the ultimate line-in-the-sand for the administration.”

Although Obama supports reproductive rights, he has “earned the ire of progressives by stalling or seemingly abandoning causes,” such as health reform’s public selection and the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service members, according to Levy. “Despite enormous public support for comprehensive sex ed, government support of family planning and affordable access to contraception, there’s no guarantee that reproductive rights won’t become the administration’s next broken promise,” she continues.

The Obama administration “controls one of the most effective ways to reduce unwanted pregnancies and support women’s wellness,” Levy argues. Obama’s “defense of — or retreat from — women’s health over the next two years will reflect how he interpreted the midterm results and how he’s shaping his overall electoral strategy leading up to 2012,” Levy states. “Ceding ground will mean Obama is moving to the center,” she adds, concluding, “But if Obama uses the executive branch to counter the forthcoming attacks on women’s reproductive rights, he will reaffirm his party’s commitment to those who elected him” (Levy, American Prospect, 11/12).

The Nation Examines #ihadanabortion Twitter Campaign

Reproductive-rights advocates are anticipating an “amped-up assault on women’s rights” as a result with the midterms, although the “full extent with the damage” will not be known for months or years, The Nation reports. Antiabortion-rights Republicans picked up 53 House seats and five Senate seats inside the election.

In response to the Republican gains, reproductive-rights advocate Steph Herold started a Twitter campaign to encourage females who have had abortions to publicly speak out, using the hashtag #ihadanabortion in their tweets. The social networking site was soon “swarmed” with “first-person accounts of women’s abortion experiences,” as properly as responses from advocates on both sides of the debate, based on The Nation.

On Friday, the magazine included a discussion about the Twitter campaign with Herold and Aspen Baker, founder of Exhale, an online community for girls who have had abortions to privately discuss their experiences. Herold and Baker discussed the importance of girls openly sharing their abortion experiences, and the risks and benefits of using the Internet to raise consciousness of abortion (Douglas, The Nation, 11/12).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the whole Every 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 really a cost-free service of the National Partnership for Females & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Girls & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

1 (1 votes)

Article Opinions:1 posts
On Monday, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President Cardinal Francis George defended church leaders’ opposition towards the federal wellness reform law (PL 111-148), reiterating the group’s argument that the law will allow federal funding of abortion services, the AP/Yahoo! News reports (Zoll, AP/Yahoo! News, 11/15). George was speaking at the opening of USCCB’s annual fall assembly this week in Baltimore. The bishops will elect a successor to George, whose three-year presidential term ends this week (Burke, Religion News Service/Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/15).

During the well being reform debate, USCCB forcefully fought the law due to the fact of its provisions on abortion coverage. The law allows wellness plans participating inside the insurance exchanges to provide abortion coverage if it is paid for privately and kept separate from federal dollars. After signing the law, President Obama issued an executive order affirming that federal funds would not be used for abortion services, except inside the limited cases already allowed below federal law. On Monday, HHS spokesperson Jenny Backus said Obama “made clear” that current federal restrictions “applied to all aspects with the new law in his executive order.”

Abortion-rights opponents, including USCCB, contend that neither the well being reform law nor Obama’s executive order sufficiently prevent federal funding of abortion services. George said in his remarks, “Our analysis of what the law itself says was correct, and our moral judgments are secure,” adding, “Throughout this public debate, the bishops kept the moral and intellectual integrity with the faith intact.”

George said that bishops have the authority to speak on moral issues related to civil laws but do not speak for all Catholics. The bishops must be concerned about the “wound towards the church’s unity” from the wellness reform debate, George said, adding, “I hope, trusting in the good will of all concerned, that implies could be identified to restore the seamless garment of ecclesial communion.”

Female, Progressive Catholic Leaders Support Law

Several women’s religious orders broke together with the bishops and supported the health reform law, including the Catholic Well being Association. Sister Carol Keehan, head of CHA, said the groups had “major concern” about abortion issues but supported the law as a first step to universal access to well being care (AP/Yahoo! News, 11/15).

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director with the Catholic social justice lobby Network, said she attempted unsuccessfully to discuss the health reform law with all the bishops. She added, “It breaks my heart that we cannot put our energy into having a real conversation about applying our Catholic faith … to practical reality.” Campbell said the law is “being carefully implemented to ensure there will be no federal funding for abortion.”

Chris Korzen, executive director of the progressive group Catholics United, said despite USCCB’s claims, it and other antiabortion-rights groups have not been able to produce evidence that the law is paying for abortion services. “Until they do so, their accusations ring hollow,” Korzen added (Religion News Service/Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/15).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You’ll be able to view the whole Everyday Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Ladies & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

5 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday elected as president Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who said he would continue the bishops’ opposition towards the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) because with the group’s belief that it allows federal funding of abortion services, the New York Times reports (Goodstein, New York Times, 11/17). Dolan won the election 128-111 in a runoff against the more moderate Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tuscon, Ariz., who has served as vice president for three years (Zoll, AP/Yahoo! News, 11/16). Dolan’s victory was a “surprise” in that it marks the first time the bishops have rejected a sitting vice president, the Times reports.

The election indicates that the bishops want a “reliably orthodox voice” to reaffirm Catholic teachings and “disarm critics” who say the bishops are lacking in moral authority after the Catholic sex abuse scandals, based on the Times. Robert George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, said Dolan hosted the 2009 meetings that produced the Manhattan Declaration, a manifesto that aims to reignite and unify conservative religious opposition to abortion rights (New York Times, 11/17). The Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Woodstock Theological Center, said the vote is “an indication that bishops are going to continue to be leaders within the culture wars” (Zoll, AP/Yahoo! News, 11/16).

In a press conference after the vote, Dolan said, “My major priority would be to continue with all vigor I can muster what’s already in place” to oppose the well being reform law. Dolan also praised the work of his predecessor, Cardinal Francis George, and indicated that he would not support other Catholic leaders and organizations that break with the bishops’ positions. Earlier this year, several groups representing Catholic hospitals and nuns supported health reform, despite USCCB’s opposition (Goodstein, New York Times, 11/17).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is actually a totally free service with the National Partnership for Women & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Girls & Families. All rights reserved.