Blogs Comment on Access to Contraception, Immigration Reform, Religious Refusal, More

May 7, 2013 — We've compiled some of the most thought-provoking commentaries from around the Web. Catch up on the conversation with bloggers from RH Reality Check, U.S. News & World Report and more.

ACCESS TO CONTRACEPTION: "10 Reasons Why the Obama Administration is Wrong on Emergency Contraception," Lisa Maatz, RH Reality Check: "Once again, politics have trumped science, and it's women and girls who pay the price," the American Association of University Women's Maatz writes in a post criticizing DOJ's appeal of a court ruling ordering FDA to make emergency contraception available over-the-counter without age restrictions. DOJ's decision to appeal "ignores [women's] needs as well as the scientific consensus that emergency contraception (the so-called morning-after pill or Plan B) is safe," she argues. Maatz lists "the top ten reasons why ... the Obama administration is wrong to deny women and girls access to this basic preventive health care," such as the need to reduce unintended pregnancies, the safety of EC and calls from medical groups to make EC available OTC (Maatz, RH Reality Check, 5/3).

What others are saying about access to contraception:

~ "This is About Health, Not Politics," Susannah Baruch, U.S. News & World Report's "Debate Club."

~ "All Women Should Have Quick, Confidential Access to Emergency Contraception," Deborah Nucatola, U.S. News & World Report's "Debate Club."

~ "It's Time To Eliminate Barriers to Safe Pregnancy Prevention," Jessica Arons, U.S. News & World Report's "Debate Club."

~ "President Obama Defends Age Restrictions on Over-The-Counter Emergency Contraception," Tara Culp-Ressler, Center for American Progress' "ThinkProgress."

~ "Birth Control Prices are Higher in Some Low-Income Areas," Bryce Covert, Center for American Progress' "ThinkProgress."

IMMIGRATION REFORM: "Feminists Must Advance Immigrants' Rights as Women's Rights," Christine Pelosi, Huffington Post blogs: "[F]eminists have to join the fight" for immigration reform and "must push for the most women-friendly immigration bill possible," writes Pelosi, chair of the California Democratic Party Women's Caucus. She notes that "many women's rights advocates don't see immigrants' rights as a 'women's issue' either out of privilege or unfamiliarity," but "you cannot call yourself a feminist if you do not advance feminism for all, regardless of color or class or creed or immigrant status." For example, she calls for policy changes to ensure "good-paying jobs for all workers" and sanctions on "exploitative employers," as well as "a path to citizenship with equal rights for [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] Americans and visas [for] battered women promised during the debate over the Violence Against Women Act" (Pelosi, Huffington Post blogs, 5/6).

ADOLESCENT HEALTH: "Elizabeth Smart Says Abstinence-Only Education Made Her Feel Like a Chewed-Up Piece of Gum," Maya Dusenbery, Feministing: Dusenbery highlights comments by Elizabeth Smart -- who was kidnapped at age 14 "and raped and held for nine months by her captor" -- during a recent forum on human trafficking. Recalling a lesson in an abstinence class that compared a woman who has had sex to a piece of chewed gum, Smart said that she felt like her life had "no value" after she had been raped and could understand why someone wouldn't try to escape a captor. Dusenbery writes that "this is yet another example" of how "[a]bstinence-only education contributes to the shame many rape survivors feel" (Dusenbery, Feministing, 5/6).

What others are saying about adolescent health:

~ "Fox News Commentator: Stop Abortions by 'Celebrating' Teen Pregnancy," Aviva Shen, Center for American Progress' "ThinkProgress."

RELIGIOUS REFUSAL: "When Health Care Providers Refuse Care, Whose Rights Are At Stake?" Marianne Møllmann, RH Reality Check: Møllmann writes that an appeals court in Scotland recently ruled that anyone involved in abortion care has a right to object to the procedure and a "wide range of services" related to abortion, unless a woman's life is in danger. The "underlying problem" with most debates over "conscientious objection clauses" is that "abortions are seen as separate from other medical care (which they are not), and that abortion providers are considered different from other medical providers (again, not true)," Møllmann writes. "[I]nternational human rights standards do not protect our right to express" objections to abortion "in a manner that infringes on other people's human rights," she continues, concluding, "Ultimately, if you don't want to provide the obstetric or gynecological services your patient needs -- which may include an abortion -- maybe you should choose another field of specialty" (Møllmann, RH Reality Check, 5/6).

PLANNED PARENTHOOD: "Nope, Abortion is not Planned Parenthood's 'Central Purpose,'" Amanda Marcotte, Slate's "XX Factor": Marcotte criticizes Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, for a Politico opinion piece that tried to "hoodwink his audience into believing that abortion is the sum total of Planned Parenthood's work." Lowry, commenting on President Obama's recent speech to the group, "claim[ed] that liberals who talk about 'women's health' or 'reproductive health' are always and forever referring to abortion," Marcotte writes. However, she points out that "97 percent of Planned Parenthood's services are not abortion" and that -- because federal money cannot be used to fund most abortions -- attacks against the organization "are, by definition, largely attacks on non-abortion services," such as contraception and cancer screenings. She adds, "In fact, the group prevents over 200,000 abortions a year" through family planning services "and could do much more if the right quit attacking [it] for fulfilling [its] actual mission: dispensing routine gynecological care at a reasonable price" (Marcotte, "XX Factor," Slate, 5/6).