September 28, 2011 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.
The HHS mandate on contraception is based on insufficient research and betrays the committee’s deep pro-contraceptive bias. Read more…
by Helen Alvaré, Gerard V. Bradley and O. Carter Snead
September 6, 2011 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.
Prenatal testing for Down syndrome should not be considered preventive medicine. Such tests cannot prevent the presence of Down syndrome in a child; but they can decrease the likelihood of a child with Down syndrome surviving beyond the womb. Expectant parents need accurate information, including the many positive outcomes, about life raising a child with Down syndrome. Read more…
by Bob Laird
Backlash continues to mount against the August 1 decision by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to mandate that contraception be fully covered as “preventive” medicine by insurance companies – and thus, “free” for consumers. Most of the criticism has thus far revolved around the lack of real conscience protections for religious employers and the fact that the decision relegates pregnancy to a disease to be prevented. An additional consequence is coming to light which raises serious ethical questions: pharmaceutical companies will now be paid full price for contraceptives that they previously had to provide at a discount due to federal regulations. Read more…
Issues Etc host Todd Wilken’s last question to me was, “If you had 30 seconds to talk to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, what would you say to her?” (This was regarding the requirement (which is simultaneously silly and offensive) that all insurance carriers provide contraception with no co-pay.) I simply said,
“You need to go to confession, girlfriend!”
I did my issues etc radio show on this today, and we talked about it on my Monday night Catholic Radio of San Diego program: “Health insurance plans must cover birth control as preventive care for women, with no copays, the Obama administration said Monday.”
Later in the article, we learn:
a government study last summer found that birth control use is virtually universal in the United States, according to a government study issued last summer. More than 90 million prescriptions for contraceptives were dispensed in 2009, according the market analysis firm INS health. Generic versions of the pill are available for as little as $9 a month. Still, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Many are among women using some form of contraception, and forgetting to take the pill is a major reason.
This new rule mandating insurance coverage of contraception with no co-pay is evidence of the condom-ist ideology, rather than a serious attempt to solve any serious problem. This culture is already saturated with low cost contraceptives. Cheaper pills will not make women stop “forgetting” to take their pills.
Many ”unplanned” pregnancies are coming about for some reason other than lack of access to contraception, like the women want their babies. The concept of “unplanned”pregnancy is meaningless.
While adolescents are not as sexually active as we are led to believe, older Americans are more active than you might think. From the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel:
Across the nation, and especially in communities that attract a lot of older Americans, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active — if not always healthy — sex life. Read more…
For those of our readers in the Kansas/Missouri area:
MARRIAGE AND CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE. This summer’s “Catholic Healthcare Identity: Medical and Pastoral Strategies” conference at Benedictine College is the NFP Outreach National Summer Institute. The conference, lasting from July 11-16, offers college credit for educators and/or continuing medical education credits for doctors and continuing education units for nurses. Keynote speakers include:
by Charlie Butts
The U.S. House of Representatives is working on making changes to ObamaCare, specifically when it comes to abortion funding.
In a 234-182 vote, the House recently approved the Foxx Amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), which would have set aside funds to be spent without congressional oversight. The amendment offered by Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina), however, would make those discretionary funds reviewable by Congress each year. Read more…
And still call it health care?
Yes, in many places. Start with Sweden.
The Swedish parliament has overwhelmingly passed an order instructing Swedish politicians at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to fight against the rights of doctors to refuse to participate in abortions. Read more…
John Hanna – Associated Press -
TOPEKA, KS – A proposal in Kansas to restrict private health insurance for abortions has cleared the Legislature.
The measure prohibits insurance companies from automatically covering abortions in their health plans, except to save a woman’s life. Individuals and employers wanting the coverage would have to buy separate abortion-only policies. Read more…
Lifestyle related chronic disease is crippling the world health systems, but there is a remedy.
On Wednesday this week, while the global village was consuming the last of its chocolate Easter eggs, a World Health Organisation forum on “the challenge of non-communicable diseases” opened in Moscow. The explosion of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer — in many cases diet-related — is “an impending disaster”, the UN body announced. “I mean a disaster for health, for society, and most of all for national economies,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan in her opening address… Read more…
from LifeNews.com:
HB 2416 bans the practice of abortion via webcam, also known as telemedicine. Considering the well-documented dangers of abortion pills, women should be able to meet in person with a doctor before ingesting a dangerous chemical… Abortion-via-webcam is just another example of how Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry are concerned with their bottom line instead of women’s health & safety.
Yesterday there was a segment on NPR titled Taming The Twin Trend From Fertility Treatments. They talked about how various forms of ART have caused an increase in the incidence of twin pregnancies:
Twins, once a rarity to marvel over, are now a common part of American culture, thanks in large part to increased use of reproductive technology. Twins are conceived naturally just 2 percent of the time; for those who get pregnant with fertility treatments the rate is more than 40 percent.
They also discussed some of the health risks associated with twins: Read more…
by Helen Alvaré
There is no need to view the matter of conscience protection in health care as a zero-sum game between conscience-driven healthcare providers and the patients they serve, particularly the most vulnerable. Opponents of conscience protection often portray the situation this way, but the opposite is true. It is by protecting conscience, and thereby elevating the value of respect for life in health care, that we are likely as a nation to serve and reflect the values of most Americans, particularly the vulnerable. There are four primary points that underscore the compatibility of conscience and care. Read more…
Many say they would like abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare”. It can never be made to be truly safe; it should only be legal to save the life of the mother; but at least we can agree on the “rare” part. The study referred to in this article shows us one way that will help us accomplish that much, anyway. (Download the study directly and read it for yourself if you like.)
JillStanek.com:
Julie Rovner, NPR health policy correspondent: Well, the conflict is really that PP keeps its statistics according to the percent of those services that are provided, not according to how many people get what… Sarah Stoesz from PP kind of misspoke when she said it was 3% of patients who come in get abortions.It is actually a little bit closer to the 10% that [Susan B. Anthony List President] Marjorie Dannenfesler suggested, because there are about 3 million patients who come in. There are about 300,000 abortions provided…
Neal Conan, host: And the difference might be that the same woman who later received an abortion also got a pregnancy test and counseling and some other services.
Rovner: Absolutely. So many of those patients are getting more than one service and who – many of the patients who get an abortion are probably getting other services as well.
“A little bit closer”? 3 million divided by 300,000 is actually 10%. Furthermore, and the bigger point, as LiveAction.org pointed out, over 35% of PP’s income comes from abortion. NPR would be fair and balanced to report that statistic as well.
Actually, almost 37% of their health center income is from abortions, in fact… Read more…
Would it surprise anyone to find out that left-wing extremists believe that religious hospitals must perform abortions?
Uh… no, I doubt very much that would surprise anyone at all.
In fact, I doubt anyone would be at all surprised to learn that, as this article points out: Read more…
One of the greatest media hoaxes of the 20th century is The Reproductive Healthcare Movement’s concern for social justice & women’s safety
Also from the article:
…history has proven this to be completely false! After 1967-73 most abortionists simply moved out from the back alley onto Main St. and little has changed to help make surgical abortion anymore safe since Roe vs. Wade.
The article speaks for itself.
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