Ex Patria

Access to Reproductive Health Care

For a German it is impossible to imagine that you could go into a pharmacy with a prescription for contraception and be denied the purchase by your pharmacist on religious grounds.  I really mean this - it's impossible to even imagine this happening.  Even though we are (co-)ruled by a party that carries a big C in its name (for "Christian") we also strongly believe that pharmacies and the church should not mix.  No, that's not right.  We don't believe this, actually.  Because that would mean we consider the possibility which we simply don't.

In the US, it seems, this distinction might be breaking up, with the consent of the law:

The Bush Administration has proposed regulations that could seriously undermine the ability of American women to get basic reproductive health care, including birth control and abortion. The regulations put politics above women’s health care needs.

As currently written, the rule leaves open the possibility that based on religious beliefs institutions and individuals can deny women access to birth control. It also permits individuals to refuse to provide information and counseling about basic heath care services.  And it expands existing laws by permitting a wider range of health care professionals to refuse to provide even referrals for abortions.

For years, federal law has carefully balanced protections for individual religious liberty and patients’ access to reproductive health care. The proposed regulations appear to take patients’ health needs out of the equation, leaving millions of Americans who depend on federally funded reproductive health care services with no protections.
Via ACLU.org

You can read the draft regulations here (pdf).  There is a 30-day comment period and you can send a comment to the HHS here (ACLU) or here (PP).  It's your basic right, make use of it!

Thank you.

On the other hand, some people are doing something

The trash really gets to me.  There are waste removal trucks but they don't come to individual houses, they only collect the trash in the dumpsters.  Those dumpsters are omnipresent, in every neighborhood, and you take your trash there and dump it in.  Theoretically. In reality, people dump their trash in the general vicinity of the dumpsters, and those are the public minded ones.  Others just leave their trash wherever they stand and go.  So the garbage collectors come, and often or not, they only take the trash in the dumpsters, not the acres of trash strewn about.

Every once in a while, someone will lose their patience with this, and end it all by setting the trash on fire.

Right.  All that plastic, all those chemicals, all that dirt, going up in flames and finding its way directly into my children's lungs.  Delightful.

I'm glad I found an organization that is trying to do something about this.  Kudos to them!

 

Check out the Armenian Women For Health and Healthy Environment's website.  These women rock!

Of course, he remains an utterly stupid idiot

Shows Disregard for the Health and Safety of Underserved Communities

Statement by Cecile Richards, President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on the Bush administration’s appointment of anti-family planning Eric Keroack, M.D. as deputy assistant secretary for population affairs

WASHINGTON, DC — “The appointment of anti-birth control, anti-sex education advocate Dr. Eric Keroack to oversee the nation’s family planning program is striking proof that the Bush administration remains dramatically out of step with the nation’s priorities. Keroack was the medical director of five so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” whose policy was not “to distribute or encourage the use of contraception.” This politically motivated appointment is certainly not in the health interest of women and families.

“Last week Americans overwhelmingly rejected an extremist agenda, and sent a clear message by choosing candidates who make women’s health care a priority. For three decades, Title X has fostered healthy families by helping millions of American women plan and space their children through access to birth control services."

Plan B, the first step

It took way too long but finally, Plan B is available for women in the US.  Planned Parenthood writes in a letter to its members:

Plan B prevails! Today, after years of foot-dragging, the FDA put politics aside and granted over-the-counter status to emergency contraception for women 18 and older.

This victory is the result of years of pressure from the scientific and medical communities and pro-choice activists, including thousands of Planned Parenthood supporters like YOU. Thank you! [You're welcome. CM]

[...]

While emergency contraception is not yet available over-the-counter — you can always get emergency contraception at your local Planned Parenthood. Celebrate this momentous decision today by picking up a package of emergency contraception to back up your birth control!

This is a huge, long-awaited success — but there is still more work to be done. In its announcement, the FDA stated it will not approve over-the-counter sales of Plan B to women under 18. It continues to deny teens the benefits of greater access to emergency contraception.

Our country has a serious teen pregnancy problem. As we all know, anything that makes it harder for teens to prevent unintended pregnancy is bad medicine and bad policy.

What's more, this age restriction means pharmacies will likely keep this safe, effective backup method of birth control behind the counter, forcing all women to ask a pharmacist's permission to access it.

We will continue to work diligently to secure over-the-counter access of emergency contraception for ALL women of ALL ages — without them needing permission from a pharmacist.

Tom Brinkman is bored

If you are a US resident, it might be a good idea to stand up now, before it is too late.  NARAL puts it in blunt words:

State Representative Tom Brinkman has introduced House Bill 228 which will ban all abortions in Ohio, without exception. [...]

House Bill 228 will make it illegal to perform any abortion on a woman, even if her life is at risk, or she was a victim of sexual assault. It would place felony penalties on anyone who attempts to coordinate an abortion for a minor, and would make it a felony to transport a woman across state lines to obtain an abortion, even to save her life. Just picture the state putting a husband in jail for 15 years just for driving her across state lines to obtain an abortion that will save her life. This is what will happen in Ohio if this law is passed.

This bill is purposefully unconstitutional, according to a Columbus Dispatch story on April 20, 2005. Anti-choice lawmakers hope this bill will be used to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in 1973. This challenge could be successful if President Bush has the chance to appoint two new justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It doesn't really stand a chance to be passed, so one has to ask oneself, why? Don't they have better things to do?  Tom Brinkman doesn't have enough to keep himself busy.