Blogs Examine Obama Appointees, Ovarian Cancer Test, European Abortion Laws

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine;  Abortion;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 26 Nov 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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The following is a summary of selected women's health-related blog entries.

~ "Progressive and Pro-Choice: Obama's Latest Team Members," Amie Newman, RH Reality Check: Newman reports that two of President-elect Barack Obama's latest appointments to his incoming administration "offer much hope to advocates of women's rights." Melody Barnes will head Obama's Domestic Policy Council. Barnes could help the administration move away from President Bush's focus on "controversial and proven ineffective abstinence-only programs," and toward a solid, effective, evidence-based agenda, according to Newman. In addition, Ellen Moran -- former executive director of EMILY's List -- has been tapped as Obama's communications director. Although the position "does not have policy impact, [Moran] certainly has the opportunity to impact the ways in which the White House discusses and frames policy issues to the American public," Newman says (Newman, RH Reality Check, 11/24).

~ "Lack of Data and FDA Compliance Issues Halt Sale of Ovarian Cancer Test," Our Bodies Our Blog: The blog entry reports on several problems the National Women's Health Network recently highlighted related to Laboratory Corporation of America's OvaSure -- a blood test available since June that is promoted for ovarian cancer detection. The problems include a lack of data indicating that the test could detect early disease and the potential for false-positives that could lead to unnecessary procedures. The groups also noted that FDA informed LapCorp that the company has not met the appropriate approval requirements for OvaSure. While LapCorp disagreed with the agency's findings, it halted sale of the test in October (Our Bodies Our Blog, 11/24).

~ "Obama's Women's Issues Point Person, Karen Kornbluh, Gets It," Sarah Seltzer, RH Reality Check: As the press and the public "try to peer around the curtain" surrounding President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, "women's and reproductive rights advocates feel a certain confidence" in seeing Karen Kornbluh -- Obama's former Senate policy director -- as "the point person for women's issues," Seltzer writes. Kornbluh is "known in D.C. policy circles" for her essays on work-family balance and her contributions to the Democratic party's platform this year, "which included a strong affirmation of reproductive rights from contraception and comprehensive sex ed, to support for mothers and pregnant women, to solid support for abortion rights." According to Seltzer, "[b]oth 'abortion reduction' religious groups and reproductive health groups" thought the wording of the platform "was a victory, which may point to Kornbluh's ability, like her boss, to be inclusive without compromising her agenda." Seltzer writes that Kornbluh has "a clear and comprehensive prescription" for providing equal opportunities to working families and "has demonstrated the process that leads to these reforms is a nuanced one" (Seltzer, RH Reality Check, 11/24).

~ "A Reproductive Rights Snow Globe," Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: Page writes that the weeks since the election "have been a little like looking into a snow globe: after the shakeup there's a lot of important issues floating about ready to calmly settle in a new place." Page cites editorials and comments from leaders from both sides of the abortion debate reacting to the so-called "common ground movement" that encourages abortion-rights opponents and supporters to work together to reduce the need for abortions. She writes that the movement "has caused new alliances full of goodwill and potential. It has also caused lots of grief on the part of the 'pro-life' establishment which appears to have a greater stake in keeping the culture wars in full swing than coming up with solutions to the high rates of unwanted pregnancy and abortion in the United States." Page also notes that President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to reinstate U.S. funding for the United Nations Population Fund, adding, "This has placed it again in the cross-hairs of the Population Research Institute which has gotten its slander machine humming." She concludes, "We'll continue to peer in this mesmerizing globe of change and report on all the flurries and where they settle" (Page, Birth Control Watch, 11/24).

~ "Taking Stock of Abortion Laws Across Europe," Anna Wilkowska-Landowska, RH Reality Check: Abortion laws vary considerably from country to country in Europe, although abortion is legal in the vast majority of the Council of Europe member states, according to a report by the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Council of Europe titled "Access to Safe and Legal Abortion in Europe," Wilkowska-Landowska writes. She adds, "Abortion on request is -- in theory -- available in all Council of Europe member states" except Andorra, Ireland, Malta, Monaco and Poland. Wilkowska-Landowska writes that in countries where abortion access is strongly restricted, "it frequently results in women having to risk unsafe, illegal abortions, or facing financial difficulties resulting from the only available alternative: traveling to a country where abortion is available upon request." Because many women with unwanted pregnancies cannot afford to travel, they "resort to unsafe 'backstreet' abortions or will even try to terminate their pregnancies themselves, at great risk to their health and even life." Wilkowska-Landowska writes that "legal restrictions do not contribute at all to reduction of abortion rates, and, rather the opposite, very often lead to increasing numbers of unsafe abortions." She concludes that the report encourages Council of Europe member states to undertake several measures to reduce abortion rates, including decriminalizing abortion, lifting restrictions hindering access to safe abortion, ensuring access to affordable contraception and introducing "compulsory sex education for young people ... so as to avoid as many unwanted pregnancies (and therefore abortions) as possible" (Wilkowska-Landowska, RH Reality Check, 11/22).

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