Blogs Comment On Recent Studies, Abstinence-Only Programs, Reproductive Rights Under Obama Administration

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Abortion
Article Date: 12 Jan 2009 - 2:00 PST

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

~ "The Final Death Knell for Abstinence-only Programs?" David Castillo, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association blog: A recent CDC report of 2006 data that shows significant increases in teen birth rates in 26 states is "making waves in the reproductive health world today," Castillo writes, adding that the study "comes on the heels" of another study published in the journal Pediatrics that found teenagers who take "virginity pledges" are as likely to engage in premarital sex as those who do not take pledges. Although there are a "variety of reasons" for the findings of the two studies, Castillo writes that there is "one reason that is crystal clear: the federal government's insistence on exclusively funding abstinence-only programs." He continues, "Hopefully these reports won't be lost on" HHS secretary nominee Tom Daschle. "A review of this failed policy must take place or the public will just have to prepare itself for more of the same dismal numbers," Castillo concludes, adding, "After eight years of the abstinence-only love affair I just hope it's not too late" (Castillo, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association blog, 1/8).

~ "Troubling Rise in Teen Birth Rates Should Call Women to Action," Deborah Kotz, U.S. News and World Report's "On Women":The results of two recent studies -- which showed a rise in the U.S. teen birth rate and that teen virginity pledges "are useless" -- and the news that Alaska Gov. and former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's teenage daughter recently gave birth "means that whatever we're doing to prevent teen pregnancy isn't working very well," Kotz writes. The question of "what can we do, as women, to maximize the odds that our daughters don't become Bristol Palins" is a "toughie because no one exactly knows why teen births are so high," she continues, adding that what is "clear is that our daughters need stronger role models than the teens they see in the cyberworld" and that "moms of teenage daughters ... shouldn't write themselves off as insignificant." Kotz writes, "We need to find a way to foster in our daughters the self-esteem we've acquired along the path to adulthood and not simply provide them with contraception or an abstinence-only lecture." She concludes that it "would help to have reinforcement in school education programs" and that teenagers "should be given a strong moral framework and psychological tools to make smart decisions about sex -- as well as access to contraception should they decide to have it" (Kotz, U.S. News and World Report's "On Women," 1/7).

~ "How To Restore America's Position as a Leader on Reproductive Rights," Nancy Northup, RH Reality Check: It has been a "very long and destructive eight years" under the Bush administration, Northup writes, adding that "[w]hile the rest of the world has been moving forward in a growing recognition of reproductive rights as human rights, the United States has moved backwards." Through the "leadership" of President-elect Barack Obama, the U.S. has the "opportunity to again take the world stage as a leader in promoting women's reproductive health, equality and human rights," she writes, adding that there are "three positive changes that cry out for immediate action," including ending federal funding for abstinence-only sex education, appointing federal judges "committed to constitutional rights and the objective review of evidence," and repealing the Mexico City Policy, also known as the global gag rule. The U.S.' "new vision for reproductive rights and health needs to go further" than undoing Bush's policies, Northup writes, concluding that it is "not only change we can believe in, it's change we must demand" (Northup, RH Reality Check, 1/8).

~ "Obama Nominates Pro-Choice Advocate to Powerful Legal Office," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: Dawn Johnsen, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for head of the Office of Legal Counsel, "is widely known as a fierce advocate for human rights and accountability ... and also a strong pro-choice advocate," Jacobson writes in a blog entry. "Johnsen will hold a powerful if relatively obscure position within the administration," she adds, citing comments by Glenn Greenwald of Salon, who said, "Other than Attorney General-designate Eric Holder and Obama himself, there is probably no official who will have a more significant role in determining the extent to which the Obama administration really does reverse the lawlessness and legal radicalism of the Bush years." Jacobson continues, "Having advocates such as Johnsen in the Justice Department, along with Eric Holder and others, makes a strong statement about the direction Obama intends to go in promoting and protecting reproductive and sexual health and rights." She concludes, "It appears that these various reigns of terror -- on the rights of prisoners of war, on women's rights here and abroad -- perpetrated by an administration in which the department tasked with upholding justice was actively engaged in subverting justice, are about to end" (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 1/8).

~ "But Can He Talk About Sex?" Kay Steiger, RH Reality Check: Many people "have been scrambling to figure out" what Obama U.S. Surgeon General-nominee Sanjay Gupta -- a neurosurgeon and host of the CNN show "House Call" -- "stands for," Steiger writes in a blog entry. According to Steiger, "little is known about where Gupta stands on reproductive health," with "the biggest source on Gupta's public record" being the transcript archives from his show," which "reveal little" and rarely feature reproductive health issues. She adds, "Some have suggested that his ties to pharmaceutical companies are too tight and that he supported Gardasil while the jury was out on its safety." However, when consulted about over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception, Gupta "confirmed that EC is a 'high dose birth control pill' and ended "claims that [EC] causes abortion." Steiger writes, "[T]he surgeon general really serves as public health advocate in the broad sense; his or her job is to relate accurate scientific and medical information to the public to improve public health." She adds that according to Jocelyn Elders, former surgeon general under the Clinton administration, Gupta has "6,000 public health people who will be working for him who are the best in the world" on the issue of reproductive health, although "[s]he doesn't know where Gupta stands on" the issue. "Elders expects that many of the reproductive battles ahead will be on the list of battles she faced: combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, advocating for fully funding Title X to ensure comprehensive family planning and calling for public funding of abortion for women on Medicaid," Steiger writes. She concludes, "Gupta, if confirmed, might do well to remember that" (Steiger, RH Reality Check, 1/9).

~ "New HHS 'Conscience Rule' Jeopardizes End-of-Life Pain Care," Barbara Coombs Lee, Huffington Post blogs: "Under the guise of protecting those with strong religious and moral convictions from workplace 'discrimination,'" the new HHS rule "encourages zealous, sanctimonious health care workers to act out their convictions at the expense of the patients they are supposed to serve," Coombs Lee -- president of Compassion and Choices, a not-for-profit organization that aims to improve and expand choice in end-of-life care -- writes in a blog post. While "[m]ost commentary on this rule focuses on impending damage to reproductive services and access to abortion and contraception," there also are concerns in terms of end-of-life care, "especially the palliative care measures that rescue patients from unbearable agony." The rule "will surely obstruct and delay good care in many instances, increasing the suffering of dying patients and their loved ones," Coombs Lee writes. She continues, "Anyone who works in end-of-life care or health care policy, and anyone who has cared for a loved one during the final stages of terminal illness, knows we already have a problem, even without this rule." According to Coombs Lee, pain often goes untreated or under-treated, "too many people die in agony" and "the need for improvement remains great." She writes, "Now comes a federal rule encouraging workers to exercise their idiosyncratic convictions at the expense of patient care," including "discontinuing feeding tubes or respiratory support." She adds that "vehement objection" to some end-of-life care "suggests right-to-life activists may sabotage terminal sedation as a treatment option, with job security guaranteed under the protections of the new rule." Coombs Lee concludes, "Revocation of this rule should be high on the Obama administration's immediate agenda," adding, "Decency and mercy demand swift action" (Coombs Lee, Huffington Post blogs, 1/7).

~ "Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places," Judie Brown, American Life League blog: The National Center for Health Statistics at CDC recently released a report indicating that teen birth rates in the U.S. have increased in recent years, which "is a crisis, though the media does not see it that way," Brown writes. She adds that a study released in November 2008 demonstrates that "sex on television could be a leading cause for the escalating rates of adolescent sexual activity." According to Brown, the "real problem" revealed by the November study is that "there is an enormous amount of unsupervised time being spent by kids who watch television because it has become the national babysitter." She continues that parents "are not only not discussing matters of life and death with their children; they are not even there to participate in a healthy discussion in the first place, or to monitor what is being viewed." Although there are "many who argue" that promoting abstinence might have prevented the rise in teen pregnancy rates, "abstinence education these days isn't even a band-aid for the problem our children are facing," Brown writes. She also describes the recent statement by a Catholic medical official asserting that contraceptive pills pollute the environment and contribute to male infertility. She writes that "the news media dismissed this report out of hand and quoted other 'experts' to debunk the comment"; however, the report is "not the first" to describe "the pollution caused by millions of women ingesting artificial hormones." The Catholic official's statement contains "potentially life-changing information about serious matters and widespread life-threatening circumstances," Brown writes, adding that she has "never seen a warning in the mainstream media about the dangers of birth control." Therefore, the media also are "accountable for the rising rates of adolescent pregnancy because the only facts reported are those that make contraception appealing," she writes. Brown concludes that if young people continue to "experience unsupervised time for experimentation" and view "how-to lessons" on television about sex -- and "if parents do not accept their proper role first -- then we'll continue to read headlines on teen behavior such as today's, until the story itself is no longer newsworthy" (Brown, American Life League blog, 1/8).

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