~ "Virginity Around the World," Silvana Naguib, American Prospect's "Tapped": After reviewing customs and cultural expectations related to virginity in Arab countries, India and the U.S., Naguib writes that "cultural emphasis on virginity hurts girls and women, placing undue emphasis on an existential state of 'purity' rather than encouraging safe behavior." She notes that in some Arab countries, a woman is expected to "physically demonstrate [virginity] by experiencing tearing and bleeding on her wedding night," leading some women to "pay thousands of dollars to modify their genitals." In the U.S., Naguib says, "[w]e still have federal funding for abstinence-only education, which emphasizes purity as the path to the greatest happiness and health." She adds that on the Internet "[w]e still have young women auctioning off their virginity to the highest bidder, receiving bids of thousands and even millions of dollars." Naguib continues, "By continuing to prize virginity, Americans support a violent narrative about young women and sex, increasing the value of their sexual purity only to gain power by depriving them of it." She writes, "Instead of focusing on virginity, we should conceive of whether people are 'sexually active,' since people go through different phases of sexual activity throughout their lives" (Naguib, "Tapped," American Prospect, 4/30).
~"Beyond Ovaries: Is There Room for Men in the Pro-Choice Movement," Feminists for Choice: The blogger, who identifies himself as "a gay pro-choice feminist, discusses Florida Rep. Janet Long's (D) comment that supporters of an antiabortion measure should "[s]tand down if [they] don't have ovaries." He writes, "I think it's important to recognize, especially as an arbiter of male privilege, that women have been marginalized in traditional legal discourse on abortion rights," but it is "problematic to assume that men have no responsibility or role in advancing reproductive justice in the United States." Because "men have traditionally occupied the social and political positions of power to authorize or limit women's reproductive choices, … it [is] perfectly understandable that many women have a problem with men dominating the conversation about women's reproductive choices," he continues. "It's important to point out this necessary distinction between 'men participating in the struggle for reproductive justice,' and 'men trying to make choices for women,'" the blogger writes. "In other words, men certainly have a place in the struggle for the right to choose; however, they have ZERO right to tell women what they can or cannot do with their bodies," he concludes (Feminists for Choice, 5/2).
~ "Oklahoma -- Not OK," Robin Lakoff, Huffington Post blogs: Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at the University of California-Berkeley, criticizes two recently enacted antiabortion laws in Oklahoma. The first law (HB 2780) "makes it mandatory for a doctor to show a woman requesting an abortion an ultrasound, along with an interpretation of it," while the second law (HB 2656) "indemnifies a doctor who has failed to inform a pregnant woman that the fetus she is carrying is defective," Lakoff writes. The two laws "deprive female human beings -- and only females -- of the ability to determine for themselves what they need to know and to be given the information they want, and only that information, in order to be in a position to make intelligent decisions concerning their bodies and their lives," according to Lakoff. She continues, "There is a presumption that women are so stupid, or so evil, that they cannot make proper use of information to which they are privy, as well as an assumption that they are too stupid or evil to have the right to determine for themselves what they want and need to know." The laws constitute a "return of 'don't bother your pretty little head about it' paternalism, only worse," she argues. "[T]hese laws should make it clear" that antiabortion-rights bills are not "first and foremost about protecting fetuses," she adds. Rather, such laws "are about returning women to age-old positions of subordination and male control, based on a biblical presumption that women are meant to be in such a status based on their inferiority to men," Lakoff writes (Lakoff, Huffington Post, 5/3).
~ "'The Estrogen Dilemma' and the Holy Grail of Menopausal Symptom Management," Patricia Yarberry Allen, Huffington Post blogs: Patricia Yarberry Allen, publisher of Women's Voices for Change, writes about a recent article in the New York Times Magazine by Cynthia Gorney exploring the "suffering experienced by some women during the perimenopausal transition" and Gorney's struggle with hormone therapy. Allen writes that "over the next few years," ongoing research into estrogen and hormone replacement "will begin to give us clues about the impact of hormone use on many clinical aspects of the lives of women who are symptomatic during some part of the menopausal transition." She adds, "Questions of benefit and risk in the use of hormone therapy will always be a part of the treatment decisions that the patient and doctor must make throughout the medical management of menopausal symptoms." While "[t]here will never be an easy answer" or a "right answer," the "conversation has been enlivened by Gorney's investigation into current hormone research and years of personal experience with the use of hormone therapy for the treatment of perimenopausal depression," she concludes (Allen, Huffington Post, 4/30).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. 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.
© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.
суббота, 29 октября 2011 г.
Blogs Comment On Cultural Notions Of Virginity, Hormone Replacement, Other Topics
суббота, 22 октября 2011 г.
Videos Discuss Health Reform Abortion Debate, Maternal Health Efforts
Maddow Tracks Reform Developments: MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Thursday discussed Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) continued opposition to the Senate health reform bill's abortion language, despite support for the bill from Catholic nuns and some antiabortion-right lawmakers. Maddow also included a discussion with Tracy Weitz of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health about current restrictions on abortion access and how the Senate bill would affect insurance coverage for abortion (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, 3/17). On Friday, Maddow featured a commentary on Stupak's efforts, as well as an interview with Melanie Sloan of CREW about the lawmaker's ties to a Christian group called The Family (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 3/12).
Clinton Discusses Global Maternal Health: In an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell about women's rights, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called attention to the Obama administration's focus on maternal and child health in its global health initiatives. Clinton said, "If women are able to survive, if they have access to family planning, they have fewer children, they take better care of those children, it's more likely those children will go to school" (Mitchell, "Andrea Mitchell Reports," MSNBC, 3/15).
Planned Parenthood Looks at Private Abortion Coverage: A YouTube video from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America describes the emotional and financial challenges a South Dakota woman faced in obtaining a selective reduction after a medical diagnosis threatened her twin fetuses. The woman's husband said the costs related to the procedure would have been thousands of dollars if the couple did not have insurance to cover abortion services (Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 3/16).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. 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.
© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.
суббота, 15 октября 2011 г.
Federal Judge Extends Temporary Restraining Order Blocking Missouri Law That Would Require Abortion Clinics To Upgrade Facilities
Ambulatory surgical centers are subject to increased regulation from the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The law would require hallways at the facilities to be at least six feet wide and doors at least 44 inches wide. The clinics must also have separate male and female changing rooms for staff and a recovery room with space for a minimum of four beds with three feet of clearance around each bed. The health department has said the law requires that three clinics in the state be licensed.
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri last month filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the new regulations are unnecessary and are not meant to improve safety, but rather to interfere with a woman's constitutional right to abortion. Smith last month issued a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of the law, which was scheduled to take effect Aug. 28. Last week, Smith ruled that physician Allen Palmer -- who operates the Women's Care Gynecology clinic in Bridgeton, Mo. -- can join the lawsuit (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/10). Smith on Monday said he would rule on issuing a preliminary injunction on the law by Sept. 24.
Hearing Comments
Donna Harrison, a gynecologist and president-elect of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, at the hearing said the regulations were reasonable steps to protect women from complications of medical and surgical abortions, the Kansas City Star reports. Paul Blumenthal, a gynecologist and professor at Stanford University's School of Medicine, said the regulations are unnecessary (Morris, Kansas City Star, 9/10). Palmer in court documents argued that the same restrictions do not apply to other private physicians who performed minor surgeries in the offices. In addition, Palmer said he performed only early-term abortions at his office (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9/11).
Architects at the hearing testified that the three clinics would incur substantial costs to comply with the new law, but they said they did not estimate the cost of renovations if the state were to waive some of the requirements. Dean Linneman, an administrator for DHSS, said it is possible the department would permit waivers (Kansas City Star, 9/10).
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
суббота, 8 октября 2011 г.
Low-Income, Minority Women Face Health Disparities In California, Report Finds
The report found that:
Statewide, low-income Hispanic women are three times more likely to be uninsured than whites;
Low-income women are four times more likely than higher-income women to be uninsured;
Low-income women between ages 18 and 64 are three times more likely than higher-income women to report that they are in fair to poor health;
Low-income women are more likely to have health conditions such as arthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, which affect their quality of life, compared with higher-income women; and
More than 20% of low-income women statewide are obese and 25.5% are overweight.
Erin Peckham, a researcher at the center and author of the report, said, "People might want to do better with their health, but the lack of money, the lack of medical care and the lack of access in low-income neighborhoods to healthy foods and safe physical activity are the things that low-income people in Fresno and the Valley areas face." She added, "Bottom line, if you're poor or a minority, you are potentially in trouble health-wise. California needs to renew its efforts at seeking a solution to our lack of health insurance overall" (Anderson, Fresno Bee, 8/7).
The report is available online.
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
суббота, 1 октября 2011 г.
Concurrent Sexual Relationships Not Uncommon Among U.S. Men, Contributing To Spread Of HIV, Study Says
The study found that the men were more likely to report that they drank and used drugs during sex and that their female partners also were involved in other sexual relationships, Reuters Health reports. In addition, men with more than one female partner were more likely than monogamous men to have sex with another man, according to the study. Black and Hispanic men were two to three times more likely than white men to have concurrent sex partners, the study found (Norton, Reuters Health, 10/30).
"The higher concurrency prevalence in various groups, dense sexual networks, and mixing between high-risk subpopulations and the general population may be important factors in the U.S. epidemic of heterosexual HIV infection," the authors concluded (Adimora et al., American Journal of Public Health, 10/30). "This study sheds light on the epidemic of heterosexually transmitted HIV in the U.S.," particularly among blacks and Hispanics, Adimora said, adding, "People, especially women, need to avoid partnerships with people who have other partners" (Reuters, 10/30).
The study is available online.
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.