Author Archive
November 19th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
Bush Administration Blocks Medical Services For Immigrant Teens In U.S. Care (11/17/2008)
ACLU Seeks Documents Outlining Government Policies On Teens’ Access To Reproductive Health Services
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal court to order the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to release documents outlining U.S. policy limiting refugee and undocumented teenagers’ access to important reproductive health services, including contraceptives and abortion. The ACLU filed today’s legal papers after ACF ignored a Freedom of Information Act request from the ACLU dated August 19, 2008.
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No Comments • Posted in: Policy
November 14th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
Like anything else, Reproductive Health care must seek to be innovative, it must deliver services in ways that are responsive to client needs. At Family Planning Health Services in Wausau, Wi the clinic sought to expand its methods of delivery. It used an existing model, and delivered on the Drive Up model, making it possible for clients to receive a selection of services available through a drive up.
The Drive up has been around for more than 2 years, and services 1900 people a year, making it something that FPHS is quite proud of. In this podcast we talk to Lon Newman, the Executive Director of FPHS, and Erin Wagner one of the people who work directly in the Drive Through.
This drive up brings Reproductive Health Care into plain sight, it make the claim visually that people have access to these services.
For more information visit www.fphs.org.
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November 12th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[At Below The Waist, we think it is important to support people all over the world who work in reproductive health. We found this blog post on a Seattle area blog. Their clinic is suffering with a budget, and as a result services could possibly be lost. We think it is important to support these folks, and we would hope you write to the people in charge and remind them just how important reproductive health is.]
King County wants to ax family planning services for poor women & teens in Rainier Valley, White Center, etc. Can you help?
Many of you already know that King County is facing a major budget crisis. What you may not know is that the budget currently being deliberated by the King County Council eliminates no less than FIVE family planning clinics - including the valley’s own Columbia Public Health Center in the Genessee Business District - as well as family planning and STD services for teens in juvenile detention. The clinics on the chopping block could close as early as the end of 2008.
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No Comments • Posted in: Policy, Emergency Contraception, Action
October 29th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[From the Guttmacher Institute]
A Range of Concerns Would Need to Be Addressed
To Ensure that All Women Benefit
A growing number of women’s health advocates are urging bolder and potentially transformative steps toward greater “contraceptive convenience,” with the aim of making contraceptive use easier and more sustainable for women, according to a new Guttmacher policy analysis. These advocates argue that many of the ways in which contraceptives are made available in the United States are no longer grounded in the reality of current scientific advancements or modern women’s lives.
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1 Comment • Posted in: Emergency Contraception, STIs
October 28th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
Study Examining Complaints of Pregnancy Discrimination
In the U.S. to be Released at Event Commemorating
30th Anniversary of Pregnancy Discrimination Act
New Study Finds Sharp Rise in Complaints, Disparities by Race, Industry & State
WASHINGTON – The National Partnership for Women & Families will release a new report that looks in-depth at pregnancy discrimination complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over the last twelve years at a symposium commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) on Wednesday, October 29th. The new study finds a sharp rise in complaints, and significant disparities by race, ethnicity and industry. It includes detailed recommendations to address pregnancy discrimination and enforce the PDA, which outlaws employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.
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No Comments • Posted in: Policy
October 27th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
CDC Reports HPV Vaccine Safe [5:47m]
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This week, Executive Director Lon Newman and Director of Nursing Ellen Butts discuss the recent article in the Wall Street Journal that said adverse effects are not linked to Gardasil. The article was published on October 23, 2008, and was authored by Jennifer Corbett Dooren.
“Based on all of the information we have today, CDC and FDA have determined that the HPV vaccine is safe to use and effective in preventing 4 types of HPV,” the CDC said.
This is in direct opposition to the claims made by opponents of the vaccine.
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October 24th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[From the National Partnership for Women and Families]
No Link Between Gardasil, Adverse Events, CDC Says
[Oct. 23, 2008]
CDC officials on Wednesday said a federal study of reported deaths and serious adverse effects in girls and women who received Merck’s human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil shows that the events likely are not related to the vaccine, the Wall Street Journal reports. Gardasil is designed to protect against four strains of HPV, two of which account for about 70% of cervical cancer cases, the Journal reports. The study — which is the first post-market safety study of Gardasil since the vaccine was approved in June 2006 — was based on 375,000 doses of the vaccine administered from August 2006 to July 2008 to patients ages 9 to 26. The data were collected through CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink program, which compiles data from several managed care organizations. Researchers compared rates of possi
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No Comments • Posted in: Cervical Cancer
October 22nd, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
Response to Catholic Bishops [3:08m]
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Recently Family Planning Health Services Executive Director was lucky enough to have a letter in the Hill. The Hill is a newspaper that is distributed to members of Congress. His letter will be available soon here on Below The Waist, and from that letter The Hill received a letter from the Conference of Catholic Bishops in response to that first letter.
Lon Newmans letter to The Hill
The response from the Conference of Catholic Bishops
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October 9th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[From Guttmacher]
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) instructed its staff this month to pressure at least six African governments to withhold U.S.-funded contraceptives from London-based Marie Stopes International (MSI), one of the world’s leading providers of family planning services in developing countries. This is the latest move by the Bush administration in a progression of increasingly restrictive family planning policy decisions that put politics first and women’s needs last.
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No Comments • Posted in: Policy, Action, Birth Control
October 9th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
Falling through The Cracks [27:08m]
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On this weeks podcast I had the chance to speak to Judy Rodgers. Judy is an advocate for disabled people in the Berkley, California area. She has been doing this work for over 20 years, and has even written a book about pregnancy and disability.
Judy tells us a tale of a woman who fell through the cracks of the reproductive health care system. A woman that she worked with. It is a interesting interview in which Judy tells us what happened, and lays out ways to overcome this situation in the future.
In this podcast we hear from Susan Parrish from UNC-Chapel Hill. We had the chance to work with Susan on a presentation we did several months ago, and what she gave us as an audio statement was completely applicable to this topic.
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