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4.5 (2 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

The following highlights recent news of state actions on abortion- and sex education-related legislation.

2 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

2 (1 votes)

Several newspapers lately published editorials and opinion pieces about abortion-rights statements by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), both candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Giuliani during the first Republican debate earlier this month said he would not be upset if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that barred state abortion bans, but later he endorsed abortion rights. “It could be OK to repeal” Roe, Giuliani said, adding, “Or it would be OK also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as a precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision.” Giuliani also said that he supports public financing of abortion for poor women in New York state but added that “people can come to a different decision.”

Romney during the debate discussed his shift from supporting abortion rights during his run for governor of Massachusetts to becoming an abortion-rights opponent. “I’ve always been personally pro-life, but for me there was a great question about whether or not government should intrude in that decision,” Romney said. He added that it was the debate more than cloning in his state that influenced him to adjust his stance on abortion rights. “I was wrong and changed my mind,” Romney stated, adding, “I’m proud of that, and I won’t apologize to anybody for becoming pro-life” (Kaiser Everyday Women’s Health Policy Report, 5/4). Summaries with the editorials and opinion pieces appear below.

Editorials

Healthcare Prof:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, on Wednesday stated he would have to think “long and hard” before he would consider running with a candidate who supports abortion rights, the AP/Guardian reports. Huckabee, who opposes abortion rights, stated abortion is actually a “critical” issue, adding that the “sanctity of life is not just some peripheral political position” (Smith, AP/Guardian, 5/16). He also stated that the current debate about abortion rights among the Republican candidates is really a “healthy thing for [the Republican] party” (Daniels, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 5/17).

New York Times Examines New York Abortion, Adoption Numbers During Giuliani Administration
The New York Times on Thursday examined former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s claim that abortions in New York City decreased by 16% and adoptions elevated by 133% during his administration. Giuliani, who also is running for the Republican presidential nomination, made the statement at the Republicans’ second televised debate on Tuesday. In accordance with the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions decreased 18% during Giuliani’s administration. The Times reports that the increase in adoptions Giuliani referred to “resulted largely from [his] response” to a “foster care crisis” within the city. According to the Times, “little if anything” from public records indicate Giuliani “was promoting adoption as an alternative to abortion.” The changes in adoption and abortion numbers mirrored national trends, the Times reports. Giuliani during his tenure as mayor supported abortion rights and used city funding to provide abortion and contraception services to low-income girls. Elevated access to contraceptives for low-income females and also the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act, which offered incentives to cities with adoption programs, likely contributed towards the changes, the Times reports (Seelye, New York Times, 5/17).

Times Examines Focus of Giuliani Campaign
The Times on Thursday also examined the “strategic gamble” in Giuliani’s campaign: that his position on national security could override his positions on abortion rights and other social issues in the Republican primaries. Based on the Times, Giuliani’s aides stated they are not certain whether circumstances have “changed enough, inside the world and in the party, to allow national security to overrule social concerns.” However, a “divided and demoralized” Republican base might mean that “moderate Republicans will be critical” in determining the Republican nominee, the Times reports (Nagourney, New York Times, 5/17). In related news, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson in an WorldNetDaily online column released on Thursday said he stated he “cannot, and will not” vote for Giuliani in 2008, Reuters reports (Reuters, 5/17). Dobson described the candidate as an “unapologetic” supporter of abortion rights, the Washington Post reports (Goldfarb, Washington Post, 5/18). According to the AP/Albany Times Union, Dobson earlier this year said he would not support Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who also is running for the Republican presidential nomination, due to the fact of McCain’s opposition to a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage (Sidoti, AP/Albany Times Union, 5/18).

Broadcast Coverage

5 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

4 (1 votes)

The Salem Women’s Clinic in Salem, Ore., earlier this month filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore., against Salem Hospital alleging that the hospital is using its monopoly in the neighborhood health care system to drive the clinic out of business, the Salem Statesman Journal reports. Inside the suit, the clinic claims that hospital officials are restricting the clinics midwives from practicing by removing access to backup physicians, who are required to be present in case a medical emergency occurs during labor, according to the Statesman Journal.

The suit seeks an emergency injunction to reinstate hospital privileges for Elizebeth Harmon, director of the clinic, until an appeals hearing takes place. The hospital on Jan. 25 sent a letter to Harmon that stated her privileges were suspended because she had violated hospital requirements for reappointment towards the medical staff. The letter also cited “concerns regarding quality of patient care, behavioral issues and interpersonal relationships with members of the wellness care team” as reasons for the suspension. Harmon has requested an appeal hearing with the hospital to have her privileges reinstated, but a hearing has not been granted, based on the Statesman Journal.

According to the Statesman Journal, the clinic’s midwives have continued to practice because physicians from the hospital’s in-house obstetric group have provided backup. However, the obstetricians on April 23 told hospital officials that after the end of May they will no longer provide backup to clinic midwives due to the fact the additional patient load is placing too much strain on their practice. Sherryll Johnson Hoar, a spokesperson for the hospital, said the hospital will bring in temporary physicians to provide backup.

Harmon within the lawsuit also alleges that the hospital has refused to grant privileges to 3 new physicians hired by the clinic to take on some of her patients and alleviate the burden on Kimberly Eltzroth, the clinic’s other physician with privileges. Eltzroth has stated she will resign on June 24 simply because of the additional patient load resulting from Harmon’s suspension.

The clinic, which may be the only provider of midwife services at the hospital, delivers about 70 infants annually, based on the Statesman Journal. According to the suit, the clinic could close late next month if the midwives are not given access to backup physicians. Johnson Hoar said the hospital is “surprised” by the lawsuit, adding that it will take steps to ensure backup physicians are provided (Thompson, Salem Statesman Journal, 5/18).

Antiabortion Groups Concerned That Language in Bill Would Allow Midwives, Nurses To Perform Abortions
In related news, some antiabortion groups, including Missouri Right to Life along with the Missouri Catholic Conference, have expressed concern over language in a bill (HB 818) passed last week by the state House that they say could be interpreted as allowing any certified health professional, which includes nurses and midwives, to perform abortions, the AP/Columbian Missourian reports (Lieb, AP/Columbian Missourian, 5/17). A provision of the bill would allow any person holding “ministerial or tocological certification” to provide pregnancy-related services (Wagar, Kansas City Star, 5/17).

According to the AP/Missourian, lawmakers did not realize that state Sen. John Loudon (R), who opposes abortion rights, had added the language to the bill until after it had passed, and they are now trying to pass a second bill that omits the language before the end with the legislative session. Loudon stated that he does not think his amendment would allow people that are not physicians to perform abortions but added that he would support an amendment to clarify the language (AP/Columbian Missourian, 5/17). Based on the Star, the House has added a provision to the other bill that states that only a physician can perform an abortion, even if another law states that other well being care providers, like nurses or midwives, can provide pregnancy-related care (Kansas City Star, 5/17).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. It is possible to view the entire Kaiser Every day Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Every day Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free of charge service of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Loved ones Foundation. All rights reserved.

2.91 (11 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

3.8 (5 votes)

A current campaign in southwest China’s Guangxi province to enforce penalties, such as fines and forced abortion, for couples who violate China’s one-child-per-family policy lately prompted violent clashes among police and thousands of residents with the province, witnesses said Monday, the New York Times reports (Kahn, New York Times, 5/22).

China’s one-child-per-family policy seeks to maintain the country’s population, now 1.three billion, at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Methods of enforcing the policy, including fines and perform demotions, vary among Chinese provinces and cities. Dozens of females in southwest China last month reported being forced to undergo abortions as late as nine months into their pregnancies. Some ladies from Guangxi stated they were forced to have abortions because they were unmarried, even though other females were married and pregnant with their second child (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 4/24).

According to London’s Guardian, the Bobai county government in Guangxi lately elevated fines for people who violate the policy and have been seizing or destroying the property of people that cannot pay the fines (Watts, Guardian, 5/22). Based on the Times, many men and women have said Guangxi officials have issued fines from 500 yuan, or about $65, to 70,000 yuan, or about $9,000, on families who violated the policy at any time because 1980. Some people said the fine, known as “social child-raising fee,” was collected despite the truth most violators with the policy had already paid a fine, the Times reports (New York Times, 5/22). Based on the AP/Boston Globe, if violators failed to pay the fine within 3 days, their houses would be destroyed and their belongings seized (Chang, AP/Boston Globe, 5/22).

Residents of Guangxi attacked loved ones preparing officials, overturned automobiles and set fire to government buildings, the Guardian reports. Based on witnesses and Hong Kong media accounts, riot police entered a minimum of four towns in the province (Guardian, 5/22). Nearby government and police officials reached by telephone declined to comment, Reuters reports. An official from a neighboring county confirmed that the riot had taken place but refused to provide details (Reuters, 5/21).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the whole Kaiser Day-to-day Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Day-to-day Wellness Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of the Henry J. Kaiser Household Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

All politicians “say they want to make abortion at least rare,” but politics “precludes” them from creating campaigns that would reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, which could be the “key” to reducing abortions, Atul Gawande — a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and staff writer for the New Yorker — writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

Reducing unintended pregnancies “requires getting specific about two subjects that are perilous in politics: sex and contraception,” Gawande writes. Based on Gawande, men and women need to know that “close” relationships between parents and their teenage children can reduce unintended pregnancies; that abortion “is mainly an adult problem”; that adults are often “not using contraception properly”; and that self-education on the issue is important.

According to Gawande, an “effective national campaign” to reduce unintended pregnancies would provide “details — on television on billboards — and actively use what evidence shows works best,” but there is “not going to be such a campaign anytime soon.” The 1.3 million abortions within the U.S. annually make it “clear” that politicians “haven’t been serious” about reducing the number of procedures, Gawande writes, concluding that individuals “just have to comprehend: the effort is strictly do-it-yourself” (Gawande, New York Times, 5/19).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You are able to view the entire Kaiser Day-to-day Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service with the Henry J. Kaiser Loved ones Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Household Foundation. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

5 (2 votes)

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition last month of an argument advanced by some abortion-rights opponents that the “interests with the pregnant woman as well as the fetus are … the same” has “galvanized” antiabortion groups and has “se[t] the stage for an intensifying battle over new abortion restrictions within the states,” the New York Times reports.

According towards the Times, the “political struggle” over abortion often has been framed as a “starkly binary choice” in between the “interest with the woman,” advocated by abortion-rights supporters, versus the “interest with the fetus,” advocated by abortion-rights opponents. However, some groups — like the Justice Foundation, National Right to Life Committee and Feminists for Life — in the last decade have been building an argument that abortion is not in the “best interest” with the woman and that females are often “misled or ill-informed” about the risks related towards the procedure.

According towards the Times, many abortion-rights supporters and opponents viewed part of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in a ruling that upheld a federal law (S three) banning so-called “partial-birth” abortion as an “invitation from a newly conservative court to pass difficult new counseling and informed consent laws intended for females seeking abortions.”

Abortion-rights supporters say that the focus on females by abortion-rights opponents “is motivated by ideology, not women’s wellness,” the Times reports. “Informed consent is really a misleading way to characterize it,” Roger Evans, senior director of public policy litigation and law for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, adding, “To me, what we’ll see is an increasing attempt to push a state’s ideology into a doctor-patient relationship to force doctors to communicate more and more of the state’s viewpoint.”

Wanda Franz, president of NRLC, stated, “We think of ourselves as very pro-woman,” adding, “We believe that when you help the woman, you help the baby” (Toner, New York Times, 5/22).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You’ll be able to view the whole Kaiser Every day Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Everyday Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a totally free service of the Henry J. Kaiser Loved ones Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family members Foundation. All rights reserved.

5 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

5 (1 votes)

Recent violent clashes between police and in southwest China’s Guangxi province more than a campaign to enforce penalties, such as fines and forced abortion, for couples who violate China’s one-child-per-family policy has prompted nearby officials to ease “tough measures,” officials stated on Wednesday, Reuters AlertNet reports. Officials added that they are going to continue efforts to curb population growth (Buckley, Reuters AlertNet, 5/23).

China’s one-child-per-family policy seeks to keep the country’s population, now 1.3 billion, at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Strategies of enforcing the policy, like fines and function demotions, vary among Chinese provinces and cities. Dozens of girls in southwest China last month reported being forced to undergo abortions as late as nine months into their pregnancies. Some women from Guangxi stated they were forced to have abortions since they were unmarried, even though other girls had been married and pregnant with their second child.

The Bobai county government in Guangxi lately increased fines for people that violate the policy and have been seizing or destroying the property of people who can’t pay the fines. Many individuals have stated Guangxi officials have issued fines from 500 yuan, or about $65, to 70,000 yuan, or about $9,000, on families who violated the policy at any time since 1980. Some people said the fine, referred to as a “social child-raising fee,” was collected regardless of the reality most violators with the policy had already paid a fine. If violators failed to pay the fine inside three days, their properties would be destroyed and their belongings seized.

Residents of Guangxi lately attacked loved ones preparing officials, overturned vehicles and set fire to government buildings. Witnesses and Hong Kong media reported on Monday that riot police entered a minimum of four towns inside the province (Kaiser Everyday Women’s Well being Policy Report, 5/22). Based on Xinhua News Agency, 28 residents had been detained and are suspected of passing on particulars of the demonstration, as well as instigating and participating within the riots, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 5/23).

“Family planning is actually a national policy, and Yulin City has demanded that residents quit flouting laws and regulations,” a Bobai official — who only gave his surname, Luo — stated, adding, “There has been a great deal of pressure on officials who don’t realize family members planning perform along with the situation got out of hand, but that’s stopped now.” Luo said the objective of curbing population growth “won’t change, but the methods is going to be adjusted” (Reuters AlertNet, 5/23).

Washington Post Examines Events Leading to Clashes
The Washington Post on Wednesday examined actions taken on enforcing the household preparing policy within the region and details of the clashes. In accordance with the Post, the “brutal fine-collection drive” could be the “latest example of abusive neighborhood enforcement” with the one-child policy (Cody, Washington Post, 5/23).

NBC’s “Nightly News” on Tuesday reported on the clashes in southwest China. The segment includes comments from Carl Minzner with the Council on Foreign Relations (Mullen, “Nightly News,” NBC, 5/22). Video of the segment is offered on the web.

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Kaiser Every day Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a cost-free service of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Loved ones Foundation. All rights reserved.

3 (3 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

The following highlights recent news of state actions on abortion-related legislation.

five (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

Recent clashes between police and residents in southwest China’s Guangxi province over a campaign to enforce penalties, which includes fines and forced abortion, for couples who violate China’s one-child-per-family policy has prompted the country to dispatch officials to address complaints concerning the penalties, the New York Times reports (Kahn, New York Times, 5/24).

China’s one-child-per-family policy seeks to keep the country’s population, now 1.3 billion, at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Methods of enforcing the policy, for example fines and work demotions, vary among Chinese provinces and cities. Dozens of females in southwest China last month reported being forced to undergo abortions as late as nine months into their pregnancies. Some girls from Guangxi said they had been forced to have abortions simply because they had been unmarried, while other ladies had been married and pregnant with their second child.

The Bobai county government in Guangxi recently increased fines for people who violate the policy and have been seizing or destroying the property of people who cannot pay the fines. Several people have said Guangxi officials have issued fines from 500 yuan, or about $65, to 70,000 yuan, or about $9,000, on families who violated the policy at any time since 1980. Some people stated the fine, called a “social child-raising fee,” was collected despite the fact most violators with the policy had already paid a fine. If violators failed to pay the fine within three days, their homes would be destroyed and their belongings seized.

Residents of Guangxi recently attacked family planning officials, overturned cars and set fire to government buildings. Witnesses and Hong Kong media reported on Monday that riot police entered at least four towns in the province. Twenty-eight residents were detained and are suspected of passing on details of the demonstration, as well as instigating and participating in the riots (Kaiser Every day Women’s Health Policy Report, 5/23).

According to Huang Shaoming, chief of Bobai county, the recent violence is simply because of “backward ideas about birth control and the rule of law” among residents. He added, “It’s also possible that problems exist in the government’s birth control work, which led to the frustration of the people.” Huang pledged to address residents’ complaints and also to push for stricter enforcement of the one-child policy (New York Times, 5/24).

The Los Angeles Times on Thursday examined the situation. The post is available online.

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Kaiser Everyday Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Day-to-day Well being Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a totally free service with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Household Foundation. All rights reserved.