Blogs Comment On Abstinence-only Education, 'Mexico City' Policy, Obama Appointees

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Abortion
Article Date: 12 Nov 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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

~ "Global Gag Rule Going Down; What About Ideological Abstinence-Only Requirements?" Emily Douglas, RH Reality Check: Even though it will be years before many of President Bush's "harmful legacies for women's health" can be undone, some of the "retrograde policies on sexual and reproductive health" can be reversed "with just the stroke of a pen" by President-elect Barack Obama, Douglas writes. One such policy is the global gag rule, or "Mexico City" policy, which "bars U.S. foreign aid from any family planning organization that so much as counsels women about the availability of safe abortion, even in countries where abortion is legal," Douglas writes. She adds that advocates for reproductive health and women's rights "hope that Obama's early reforms of Bush administration sexual and reproductive health policy won't stop with the global gag rule," but will also impact abstinence-only sex education policies and global AIDS funding (Douglas, RH Reality Check, 11/10).

~ "The Obama Payoffs He Can Make Unilaterally," Dave Andrusko, National Right to Life blogs: In response to a Washington Post article on Obama's plans to reverse many Bush administration policies, Andrusko discusses the "payoffs" the "Abortion Establishment will receive for its active role on behalf of then-candidate Obama, which will take the form of reversing administrative actions taken by pro-life President George Bush." Andrusko writes that Obama's indication that he will overturn the Mexico City policy and Bush's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research shows how "it's at moments like this that we are reminded how much difference it makes when the White House is occupied by a man whose goal is to reduce the number of babies lost to abortion, not one motivated by a desire to increase the death toll" (Andrusko, National Right to Life blogs, 11/10).

~ "The Next, Pro-Choice Cabinet?" Kay Steiger, RH Reality Check: In a blog entry that speculates on who Obama will choose to fill key Cabinet positions, Steiger writes that "it's important to remember exactly how bad the Bush years were for the sexual and reproductive health community." She continues, "[T]he past eight years ha[ve] made it clear that we have to worry about much [more] than just who fills the secretary position at the Health and Human Services," she writes, adding, "Given Bush's record, the Obama administration needs not only to undo eight years of damage in addition to taking bold strides on women's health issues." Steiger concludes, "What is important is to remember how much damage appointees -- and not just [C]abinet members, but also lower level officials that might be called upon to administer specific programs -- can do if they don't have respect for women's health and sexuality. They can also do incredible good if they can manage the departments as well. Obama's choices will resonate with women around the world for years to come" (Steiger, RH Reality Check, 11/10).

~ "Mock the Vote," Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: "This election provides further evidence that the pro-life movement has lost resonance with voters. Oddly, pro-life groups have responded to defeats by redoubling their efforts," Page writes in a blog entry. She cites the efforts of antiabortion groups who are "ignoring the writing on the wall," including Population Research Institute, known for "its mission to strop family planning in the poorest regions of the world," and the work of antiabortion groups who backed Amendment 48, the personhood amendment in Colorado. According to Page, "Amendment 48's team apparently took this lesson from the failure: if it doesn't work once, try it again (and again)." She concludes, "Such obstinacy in the face of public consensus appears to be trying the electorate's collective patience" (Page, Birth Control Watch, 11/7).

~ "Indicting Indicators: Catholic Youth for Obama," Judie Brown, Straight Talk on Life: Brown asks whether the Catholic bishops in their annual fall assembly this week will address "why so many Catholics chose to vote for the most rabidly pro-abortion presidential candidate we have seen thus far." She notes a recent Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education-commissioned survey of college students at Catholic universities that found 53% of students who identified as Catholics "agree strongly or somewhat" that abortion should be legal. Brown writes, "What troubles me most about these findings are that they suggest that those Nov. 4 exit polls, which told us that Catholics' voting patterns mirror those of the general population at large, are not far off the mark." She writes, "American Catholics are living out the crisis of truth that has been brought about by a crisis in understanding and living out the faith in word and deed. Until the Catholic bishops, as a whole, address this and actually do something about it, the indicting indicators will persist and, I fear, get much worse" (Brown, Straight Talk on Life, 11/7).

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