Blogs Comment On Health Reform Amendments, Cervarix HPV Vaccine

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 05 Oct 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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

• "Poll Check: A Shift on Abortion?" Jon Cohen, Washington Post's "Behind the Numbers": Advocates on both sides of the abortion-rights debate "should sit back and take a broad view before overreacting" to a recent Pew Research Center poll that suggests "a big shift in Americans' attitudes about abortion," Cohen writes. The "reason for skepticism (or at least restraint) is simple," he says, explaining that other polls from major organizations -- such as the Washington Post/ABC News, the New York Times/CBS News and Quinnipiac University -- "have not picked up such a basic reorientation on this divisive issue," Cohen writes. He concludes, "While it seems too early to declare a shift, it is possible this year's varying poll results are a sign that opinions thought settled for a decade are now in flux" (Cohen, "Behind the Numbers," Washington Post, 10/1).
  
  
• "Hatch Amendments Defeated, But Women's Health Still Hanging in the Balance," Judy Waxman, National Women's Law Center's "Womenstake": The defeat of two abortion-related amendments proposed to the Senate Finance Committee by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) "gives us reason to hope" that coverage of abortion services will not be further restricted under health care reform legislation, writes Waxman, vice president for health and reproductive rights at the National Women's Law Center. Waxman writes that her group "hope[s] that Congress will heed the resounding words" of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) who said Hatch's amendments were "offensive" to women. She adds, "At the same time, we note that women's health was here protected only by a narrow three votes" and "may very well continue to hang tenuously in the balance as the bill continues to move through markup next week and then to the Senate floor later this month" (Waxman, "Womenstake," National Women's Law Center, 10/1).
  
  
• "Bachmann Warns Against 'Sex Clinics' in Schools, Providing Abortions for Teenage Girls," Eric Kleefeld, Talking Points Memo: During a recent House debate on a provision in its health care reform bill (HR 3200) that would "authorize non-profit entities to operate health clinics in schools," Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) claimed that the provision "would lead to Planned Parenthood 'sex clinics' giving abortions to 13-year-old girls without the parents knowing about it," Kleefeld writes. Bachmann's assertion is incorrect, Kleefeld says, citing a blog post from The Hill reporting that the bill "specifically states that any medical services provided by a school-based health clinic must be in accordance with federal, state and local laws regarding parental consent." This includes the privacy protections cited by Bachmann, Kleefeld adds (Kleefeld, Talking Points Memo, 10/1).
  
  
• "The Bush Years, Redux! Abstinence-Only Education Is Back," Suzy Khimm, The New Republic's "The Treatment": Tuesday's approval of Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) abstinence-only funding amendment to the Senate Finance Committee's health reform bill could mean that President George W. Bush's "legacy will continue well past [President] Obama's first term, funding the so-called Title V block grants to states through 2014," Khimm writes. Hatch's amendment, approved 12-11, would provide $50 million in annual federal funding for abstinence-only sex education. The inclusion "deals a blow to the advocates of comprehensive sex education, who have wielded definitive evidence that ab-only education is ineffective, misleading and dangerous to the health of young people," according to Khimm. She notes that 23 states "have rejected the federal funds for abstinence-only education, even in the midst of a deep fiscal crisis, having deemed such programs to be ineffective and the regulations for using the funding onerous." The moderate Democrats and Republicans who voted in favor of the amendment "don't seem to have gotten the memo," Khimm writes, adding, "While they've gone out of their way to berate the cost of the health care bill, Hatch and his compatriots make an exception for a failed program that has amounted to an ideological prescription." Khimm applauds committee Chair Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) amendment to fund comprehensive sex education programs with discussions on contraception and HIV/AIDS, as well as abstinence lessons that are proven medically accurate. "The amendment is a step in the right direction -- but it doesn't make up for the fact that scientific evidence and the health of young people has lost, once more, to the distortions of conservative ideology," Khimm says. She concludes, "It's just another reminder of how Obama's Democratic majority can still come up short in the Senate" (Khimm, "The Treatment," The New Republic, 9/30).
  
  
• "British Cervarix Vaccinations To Resume," Thomas Maugh, Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots": Vaccination with GlaxoSmithKline's human papillomavirus vaccine, Cervarix, will resume in the United Kingdom after an autopsy of a 14-year-old girl showed that her death was the result of an underlying condition and not the vaccine, Maugh reports. GSK had proactively recalled the lot of vaccine after the girl's death. The girl's father told British authorities that she had been sick for "some time" before the shot and that the family did not believe Cervarix was responsible for her death. "The ensuing shortage may delay the immunization program until new supplies of the vaccine can be obtained," according to Maugh (Maugh, "Booster Shots," Los Angeles Times, 9/30).

Antiabortion-Rights Blog

• "'Status Quo Likely To Prevail' on Capps Abortion-Related Amendment," David Brody, CBN's "The Brody File": It "does not appear" that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "is going to budge much" on how the chamber's health reform bill (HR 3200) handles abortion coverage, Brody writes. A Democratic aide said that a recent meeting between Pelosi and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), leader of antiabortion-rights health reform efforts in the House, was "productive," according to Brody. Brody reports the aide said that House Democratic leaders "'want to listen to all members of their caucus'" but that the "'bottom line is that the status quo is likely to prevail -- no federal money to be used to pay for abortion services, as stated in [the] Capps amendment.'" Brody suggests, "Don't be surprised if the Capps amendment is tinkered with a little bit to try and satisfy" antiabortion-rights Democrats who have threatened to block the bill if tighter restrictions are not included. He concludes, "Having said that, it looks like the Capps amendment is not only not going away but it will remain largely in its current form" (Brody, "The Brody File," CBN, 10/1).
  
  

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