Blogs Comment On Role Of Progressives In Abortion Debate, Funding Reproductive Health Care, Other Topics

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Women's Health / Gynecology;  IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 08 Apr 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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

~ "Don't Call Yourself Progressive If You Don't Support Sexual Justice," The Rev. Debra Haffner, Huffington Post blogs: Haffner writes that people cannot call themselves "progressive" if they do not support "women's moral agency regarding abortion" or "comprehensive sexuality education that gives our young people the life-saving information they need." However, "you won't hear certain self-described 'progressive religious leaders' standing up or speaking out for these issues," Haffner writes. The "growing rift between the religious left and religious progressives ... has been brewing for a while, and sexuality is at the heart of it," she continues. Haffner writes, "There are those ... who insist that the Obama administration is promoting an 'abortion reduction' strategy. This misrepresents the administration's commitment to reducing unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion ... This may sound like semantics, but there is a huge pragmatic gap between 'abortion reduction' and 'reducing the need for abortion.'" She continues, "'Abortion reduction' is promoted by those who support restricting abortion access," although "[n]o true progressive would advocate any strategy to make abortion services more difficult to obtain," Haffner writes. "I have fought for sexual justice my entire life. It is a progressive value I hold dear," she continues, concluding, "So I say to my colleagues across the religious spectrum: Join me in supporting sexual justice, or stop calling yourself progressive" (Haffner, Huffington Post blogs, 4/3).

~ "Latinas Demand Governments Do More to Keep Promises," Susanna Smith, RH Reality Check: Smith, of the International Women's Health Coalition, discusses a statement released by a coalition of Latin American organizations at Wednesday's 42nd Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development that "reminded governments that 15 years ago, 179 nations committed to making the health and rights of women and young people central to global family planning policies." The coalition, representing at least 22 women's advocacy groups from Latin America, "pointed out that we have yet to keep these promises." Smith writes that the organizations are "united in their belief that everybody has a right to live free of violence and discrimination, to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, and to the information and services they need to be healthy." They spoke "on behalf of women and young people everywhere who are not safe in their own homes, who cannot decide when and with whom to have sex, who cannot exercise control over whether and when to marry or have a baby," Smith says. As a collective voice, "[w]ith urgency and a recognition that people's lives hang in the balance," they called on governments to "do more to make a just and healthy life a reality for people everywhere," she says (Smith, RH Reality Check, 4/7).

~ "Conceiving Common Ground," Rachel Laser, Huffington Post blogs: Abortion-rights supporters "must embrace and not fear common ground on abortion. We do not sacrifice our support for abortion rights. We add it to common ground," Laser writes. She adds that the common ground agenda "means ... reducing abortions without criminalization and without coercion" and "seeks to address the root causes of abortion and thereby reduce the need for abortion." The common ground approach has "two policy tracks" -- preventing unintended pregnancies and supporting pregnant women and new families, Laser continues. "This approach does not entail abandoning principles for either side," Laser writes, adding, "From the pro-choice perspective, it leaves in place the right to an abortion. From the pro-life perspective, it does not expand or codify abortion rights." Laser concludes, "Many of my generational peers and those willing to embrace change ... are moving solidly in this direction, opening eyes and ears to this potentially transformative third way on abortion" (Laser, Huffington Post blogs, 4/6).

~ "Preventive Reproductive Health Care Pays Off," Emilie Ailts, RH Reality Check: Health policy discussions currently taking place in Colorado "about the role of publicly funded reproductive health care services demonstrate a great step forward in accepting that health care includes family planning," Ailts writes. Debates over issues such as birth control affordability and sex education are "moot without considering the critical role government can play to empower individuals to make responsible reproductive health decisions," including support for programs like Title X and the Medicaid family planning waiver, she continues. Policymakers in Colorado can "develop common-sense strategies that ensure preventive family planning services are considered core health insurance benefits and essential components in comprehensive health care reform," Ailts writes. She concludes that Coloradans can "realize both tremendous cost savings related to reproductive health care and healthier families and communities" (Ailts, RH Reality Check, 4/4/).

Antiabortion-Rights Blog

~ "'I Think, Oprah, the Stem Cell Debate is Dead,'" Dave Andrusko, National Right to Life blog: Mehmet Oz, a physician who is a regular guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," recently made an "announcement that actually paid attention to the science, rather than bowed down to ideology," Andrusko writes. During the show's March 31 episode, Oz was speaking about the future of embryonic stem cell research and the possible cures that could result from it. He said that he "think[s] ... the stem cell debate is dead" because of developments in induced pluripotent stem cells, according to Andrusko. The "orderly and productive alternative" presented by iPS is "something we have talked about umpteen times" in the blog, Andrusko continues. The developments in iPS "ought to be exciting to anyone who values truth, honesty and candor," he writes, concluding, "This is time to dip into the tool case and go full bore with what is working -- iPS cells and stem cells from adult stem sources -- and junk the rest" (Andrusko, National Right to Life blog, 4/6).

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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