Blogs Comment On Brownback Letter, Obama Budget Plan, Guttmacher Family Planning Report, Other Topics

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Abortion;  Sexual Health / STDs;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 02 Mar 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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

~ "Brownback's 'Real Catholics' Insult for Real?" David Waters, Washington Post's "On Faith" blog: A "nationwide effort to oppose abortion legislation that doesn't exist has conjured a controversial antiabortion fundraising letter that shouldn't exist -- at least according to a spokesperson for Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who purportedly wrote and signed the letter," Waters writes in a blog. The letter -- written on fake Senate letterhead from Brownback's' office -- was mailed by the antiabortion group Catholic Advocate and calls the Freedom of Choice Act an "imminent threat." It also criticizes Roman Catholics in Congress who support FOCA and urges recipients to "consider sending your most generous gift to Catholic Advocate." The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee regarding the letter. Waters writes that he "suspect[s] that Brownback, a Catholic convert, will disavow the letter and apologize to his fellow Catholics in Congress." However, "what he can't or won't say is that this happens all of the time," Waters continues. "Advocacy groups (and politicians) rely on fear tactics to raise awareness, support and funds," he adds, concluding, "And it doesn't seem to matter if those fears are real or imagined" (Waters, "On Faith," Washington Post, 2/26).

~ "Obama's 2010 Budget Blueprint Raises More Questions Than Answers on Sex Ed," Joe Sonka, RH Reality Check: Sonka writes that he is "afraid that we have more questions than concrete answers" about sex education under President Obama's 2010 budget plan. The "language raises a couple of questions," including who will be provided "medically accurate and age-appropriate information" and if the "'model' programs stressing abstinence" will be "the same 'faith-based efforts' the previous administration funded," he writes, adding, "perhaps most concerning, there is no reference to 'comprehensive sex education.'" Obama has publicly stated in the past that he supports comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education for all students, Sonka writes. "For these statements, one would assume that we were in great shape" and that Obama would "eliminate federal funding" for abstinence-only sex education programs, he continues, adding that "we need to keep writing President Obama to make sure that he hears from those of us who support science-based, reality based sex education" (Sonka, RH Reality Check, 2/26).

~ "Back Us Up: New Guttmacher Data Supports Family Planning Aid," Micah Steffes, RH Reality Check: A recent Guttmacher Institute report on publicly funded family planning programs "confirms the foolishness of placing family planning aid on the back burner," Steffes writes. The report found that publicly funded family planning programs help prevent more than 800,000 abortions and almost two million unintended pregnancies annually, she writes, adding that "given the costs associated [with] childbirth, this new data spells out savings for taxpayers as a direct result of such funding." Steffes notes that there is a "conspicuous absence" of expanded eligibility for Medicaid family planning services in the fiscal year 2009 omnibus spending bill (H.R. 1105). She adds that "the report gives some real backing to what should be a no-brainer: expanding provisions for family planning is common sense in times like these." Steffes questions whether critics' "'Planned Parenthood bailout' and 'taxpayer-funded abortions' argument [is] taking too huge a toll on the progress of these issues." She continues, "I'm going to stick to my guns and hope that hope will prevail. It's too early to be losing faith in the platform that won Obama his Oval Office." She concludes, "[L]et the Guttmacher report show Congress the necessity of continuing to bring family planning aid up to bat, especially since the ranks of low-income women who absolutely need this funding will continue to expand" (Steffes, RH Reality Check, 2/24).

~ "The FundamentaList (No. 69)," Sarah Posner, American Prospect blog: Posner examines recent news related to the debate over abstinence-only sex education. She notes that a new report -- titled "Just Say Don't Know" and released by the Texas Freedom Network -- on sex education in Texas public schools found that abstinence-only education programs have a "stranglehold" on schools. She continues, "Texas has been a poster child for abstinence-only since 1995, when the state legislature designated it as the 'preferred' method for teaching sex education," adding that Texas was the "largest single recipient of federal taxpayer money for abstinence-only programs -- $18 million in 2007 alone." Posner writes that the report found that in nearly 10% of Texas school districts, "Christian teaching is a key component of the abstinence-only program." Ryan Valentine, the network's deputy director, said that although some of the programs are in clear violation of the First Amendment clause prohibiting government sponsorship of religion, "districts that include most obviously unconstitutional material tend to be rural, with homogenous, conservative populations," which lowers the chance parents would challenge the material. Meanwhile, "supporters of comprehensive sex education are looking to the Obama administration to lead the new Congress to end funding" for abstinence-only programs, which have been "scientifically debunked," according to Posner. Posner writes that supporters of comprehensive sex education are backing the Prevention First Act (H.R. 463), "which includes funding for the Responsible Education About Life Act (REAL), a comprehensive sex-education program, and which has been introduced in both houses." Posner continues that a coalition of reproductive rights advocates plans to urge sponsors of the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act (H.R. 605) -- also known as the Ryan-DeLauro Act -- to make changes before reintroducing it in the House. They are "hoping the bill's sponsors get more specific about the components of comprehensive sex education, including the benefits and risks of contraception" and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Meanwhile, Rep. Health Shuler (D-N.C.) is circulating a letter -- which 21 Democrats and more than 100 Republicans have signed -- that urges House leaders "to retain the Hyde Amendment and other riders to any appropriations measures that would maintain restrictions on reproductive-health services for low-income women." Posner writes that Shuler says he "wants women to have access to health care -- it's just that he gets to decide what kind of health care services they can have access to." Posner continues, "On the horizon, the religious right is gearing up to contest Obama's expected nomination" of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) for HHS secretary because of what they call "her 'extremist' views on abortion." Posner concludes, "This won't matter just for her nomination; access to reproductive-health services in any health care reform initiatives will be hotly contested as well" (Posner, American Prospect blog, 2/25).

~ "Abstinence-Only Funds Still Alive and Kicking in '09 Budget," Emily Douglas, RH Reality Check: "Politicians shouldn't need the storied scalpel to slice away at abstinence-only funding," Douglas writes in a blog entry, adding that the Title V, Community-Based Abstinence Education program is an "unmitigated disaster, proven ineffective in study after study." According to Douglas, comprehensive sex education advocates "are calling for a complete 'zeroing out' of all abstinence-only funds," and Democrats took a "tentative step towards eliminating the funding" on Tuesday when they cut CBAE's budget by 13%, "a $14 million reduction in their 2009 spending bill." This action is "a step in the right direction and that the 2010 budget, Obama's first, can include complete cuts," Douglas writes, noting that Title V is "set to expire in June of 2009, and advocates hope it won't be reauthorized." She continues that "it should tell you something about the unpopularity of the program that 16 states have turned down Title V funds even as state budgets reel." According to Douglas, "Eliminating abstinence-only funding is only half the battle," and advocates are "looking for Obama to take a leadership role in pushing funding of comprehensive sexuality education, as he promised during his campaign." She concludes that Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) "have committed to reintroducing the REAL Act this session, which would allocate funding for states to teach age-appropriate, medically accurate" sex education (Douglas, RH Reality Check, 2/25).

~ "Lost Your Health Insurance? Consider Planned Parenthood Clinics," Deborah Kotz, U.S. News & World Report's On Women: According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the current "hemorrhaging job market leaves an additional 14,000 Americans every day without health insurance," so it is "[n]o surprise" that "many of us are now praying that our birth control doesn't fail us," Kotz writes in a blog entry. She continues that many people without health insurance "have been swarming into Planned Parenthood clinics to get free or subsidized contraception." According to Kotz, there is "no doubt that these family planning services ... do a great service, especially as more of us find ourselves unable to afford basic health care needs like a yearly Pap [test] or monthly birth control pills." Kotz writes that in most states, women must qualify for Medicaid to obtain no-cost services from Planned Parenthood and that unemployed women are "exclude[d]" if "they're receiving unemployment benefits or have an employed spouse." She continues that Planned Parenthood employees attempt to "work with every patient to provide affordable care" by using a sliding scale based on income. The staff "exhausts all funding options -- including grants from other organizations and donations from community members -- before billing a patient directly," Kotz writes. She concludes, "Now, if only we had such a stop-gap system in place to cover the rest of our health needs, like mammograms, appendicitis operations, colonoscopies ... " (Kotz, U.S. News & World Report's "On Women," 2/24).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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