NEJM Perspectives Examine How The Next President Will Approach Issues In Reproductive Health

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 03 Nov 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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The following summarizes two Perspective pieces in the New England Journal of Medicine on the future of reproductive health.

~ "Moving Forward on Reproductive Health," New England Journal of Medicine: The late Allan Rosenfield, Wendy Chavkin of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Alta Charo of the University of Wisconsin-Madison offer suggestions to a new administration on how to improve reproductive health in the U.S. They suggest reframing the debate in terms of public health -- "a field that favors pragmatic, evidence-based approaches over ideology." According to the authors, "reproductive health requires the availability of scientifically accurate information regarding all stages of life." They write that comprehensive sex education is needed to prevent sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies, as well as to ensure that "desired pregnancies are as healthy as possible." They add that regardless of who is elected president, "reproductive services must still be legally, financially and practically accessible" and that such services "should encompass not only efforts to avoid pregnancy but also efforts to achieve pregnancy." In addition, to further improve reproductive health, "pregnancy and childbirth can and should be made safer," and the next administration must make the balance of work and family a priority. According to the authors, "Care that promotes all these aspects of reproductive health is not just good policy, it is a human right" (Rosenfield et al., NEJM, 10/30).

~ "Reproductive Freedom and the Next President," NEJM: Eli Adashi of Brown University and Darrell West of the Brookings Institution, examine the evolution of the national debate on reproductive health issues. "Once focused on abortion as the primary element of reproductive freedom" -- candidates are not addressing issues such as embryonic stem cell research, the eligibility of unborn "children" for federal health insurance, and access to family planning services and sex education. The authors also outline the dramatically different reproductive health views of presidential candidates Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). They write that even "if we were guaranteed full knowledge of a candidate's position on past and current controversies, the way in which the next president will handle issues that arise in the future is a matter of pure conjecture." Thus, "Practitioners of the life and health science who are concerned about these issues, like all Americans, will have to vote their consciences while relying on the voting records and public statements of the candidates -- and, as is often the case, a hefty dose of imprecise extrapolation," they conclude (Adashi/West, NEJM, 10/30).

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