Obama Outlines Plan To Pass Health Reform
February 5, 2010 — President Obama on Thursday at a Democratic National Committee fundraising reception presented his most clear-cut strategy to date for passing health reform, the New York Times' "Prescriptions" reports.
Obama said that after lawmakers work out the differences between the House and Senate reform bills (HR 3962, HR 3590), he wants to meet publicly with Democrats, Republicans and independent experts to consider the measures and clarify particular reform provisions. Obama said lawmakers and the independent experts would then hold a debate on the overhaul proposals before Congress decides whether to pass a reform bill.
Obama also said he wants to work through the proposals "in a methodical way, so that the American people can see and compare what makes most sense." He added, "And it may be that if Congress decides ... we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not."
Obama pledged to refute false statements and misunderstandings about reform proposals throughout the debate, as well as to always consider alternate ideas from Republicans (Herszenhorn, "Prescriptions," New York Times, 2/5). He also said that lawmakers should "take [their] time" in evaluating a final bill (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/4).
Obama also admitted to several setbacks during his first year in office but asked Democrats to remain focused on the party's legislative goals, including health reform, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports. He said, "I know some of you might feel discouraged because changing the ways of Washington is hard. … Don't give up" (Elliott, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/4).
Biden Says Obama Will Meet With GOP on Reform
Vice President Biden on Thursday said the Obama administration will meet with Republicans in the coming days to discuss GOP reform proposals. Biden said, "Look, the president meant what he said when he said in the State of the Union that he's open to suggestions." He added, "I'm confident that the president is going to invite the Republican leadership to come down and sit with us and have a serious discussion" (Rushing, The Hill, 2/4).
Pelosi, Hoyer Mum on Reform Progress
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) did not report any details on reform efforts after meeting with Obama at the White House on Thursday, though both Hoyer and Pelosi noted that the discussion mostly focused on job creation (Frates, "Live Pulse," Politico, 2/5).
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Overseas U.S. Military Facilities To Begin Stocking Emergency Contraception
February 5, 2010 — Defense Department officials on Thursday announced that emergency contraception will be available at all military hospitals and health clinics around the world, the Washington Post reports. The decision was made on Feb. 3 after the Pentagon accepted a recommendation from its Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, which voted in November 2009 to include the brand-name EC pill Plan B and the generic Next Choice on the list of drugs that all military facilities should stock, according to a DOD spokesperson.
The same panel made a similar recommendation in 2002, but the policy was never put in place, the Post reports. According to the Post, the decision marks the Obama administration's latest reversal of a Bush administration women's health policy. The Obama administration previously lifted restrictions on federal funding for international family planning groups; proposed the recission of a federal regulation that would have expanded the ability of health care workers to refuse care based on moral or religious objections; and eased federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research (Stein, Washington Post, 2/5). DOD spokesperson Cynthia Smith said she did not know when the new EC policy would be implemented (Hefling, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/4).
Nancy Keenan of NARAL Pro-Choice America said the decision could affect more than 350,000 women serving in the military. "It's a tragedy that women in uniform have been denied such basic health care," Keenan said in a statement, adding, "We applaud the medical experts for standing up for military women."
EC consists of higher doses of a hormone found in standard birth control pills. Plan B and Next Choice can prevent pregnancy when taken up to 72 hours after sex, the Post reports (Washington Post, 2/5).
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Obama, Sec. Clinton Speak at National Prayer Breakfast
February 5, 2010 — President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other policymakers and religious leaders on Thursday spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast about various issues involving faith and politics, the Washington Post reports. During his remarks, Obama discussed the "erosion of civility" in Washington politics, saying, "Those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should." He added, "At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another, to have at once a serious and civil debate" (Fletcher, Washington Post, 2/5).
Obama also denounced a controversial anti-homosexuality bill currently under consideration in the Ugandan legislature. He said that it is "unconscionable to target gays or lesbians for who they are," adding that the bill is "odious" (CNN [1], 2/4). According to MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," Clinton also criticized the bill during her remarks, saying that religion "is used as a club to deny the human rights of girls and women from the Gulf to Africa to Asia, and to discriminate -- even advocating the execution of gays and lesbians" (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 2/4). CNN reports that Clinton also expressed a personal preference for adoption over abortion and told the audience a story of opening a home for children born as a result of unintended pregnancies (CNN [2], 2/4).
During an appearance on Maddow's show, Bishop Gene Robinson said that he is "so glad" that Obama and Clinton "took this opportunity to highlight" the issues involved with the Ugandan legislation. He said that lesbian women "are almost routinely raped in order to cure them of their homosexuality" ("The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 2/4).
Former University of Florida football player Tim Tebow, who has been in the spotlight over an antiabortion-rights Super Bowl commercial for Focus on the Family, delivered the closing prayer at the event (CNN [2], 2/4).
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New Program Sends Text Messages To Promote Maternal, Infant Health
February 5, 2010 — The White House on Thursday announced a new health education program that will deliver pregnancy advice to women via text messages, the Los Angeles Times' "Technology" reports (Guynn, "Technology," Los Angeles Times, 2/4). The program -- called "text4baby" -- is sponsored by the federal government, the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, wireless providers and several health industry companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, WellPoint and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.
The campaign is reportedly the first national no-cost health education program using cell phones, which are owned by 90% of U.S. residents, sponsors say. Paul Meyer, president of Voxiva -- which operates health texting programs in Africa, India and Latin America -- said that cell phones are particularly effective for reaching low-income people (Perrone, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/3).
According to The Hill's "Hillicon Valley," text messaging was chosen as the medium for the program because of its popularity among women of childbearing age and minority women (Hart, "Hillicon Valley," The Hill, 2/4). Voxiva will provide the wireless platform for the text4baby service ("Technology," Los Angeles Times, 2/4). AT&T, Sprint and Verizon have agreed to allow no-cost texts for women who use the service.
Under the program, women who text the word "baby" to the number 511411 will receive weekly text messages timed to coincide with their expected delivery date (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/3). Messages will also be available in Spanish by texting the word "bebe" ("Hillicon Valley," The Hill, 2/4). The messages -- which have been approved by government and not-for-profit health officials -- focus on topics like nutrition, immunization and birth defect prevention.
Reducing Preterm Births
The program is intended to reduce premature births. Certain maternal behaviors -- such as smoking, drinking alcohol and poor nutrition -- can contribute to early births. Roughly 500,000 infants are born preterm in the U.S. each year, and 28,000 infants die before their first birthday, according to HMHB. The U.S. ranks 30th worldwide for infant mortality, behind many Western European nations, HMHB Director Judy Meehan said (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/3).
"Text4baby represents an extraordinary opportunity to expand the way we use our phones, to demonstrate the potential of mobile health technology," Aneesh Chopra, the nation's chief technology officer, said in a statement ("Technology," Los Angeles Times, 2/4). The White House Office of Science and Technology and HHS will collaborate with the other sponsors to operate the program ("Hillicon Valley," The Hill, 2/4). Researchers from George Washington University will evaluate the program's effectiveness by measuring health trends for women and newborns (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/3).
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Focus on the Family Buys Super Bowl Pregame Ads
February 5, 2010 — Focus on the Family plans to air a second television advertisement four times during the Super Bowl pregame show that will also feature former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam Tebow, USA Today reports (Horovitz, USA Today, 2/5).
The organization is sponsoring a yet-to-be-seen in-game commercial featuring the Tebows discussing Pam's personal story of contracting amoebic dysentery while pregnant with Tim and ignoring doctors' recommendations to have an abortion (Women's Health Policy Report, 2/1). According to Focus on the Family CEO Jim Daly, the original advertisement was rejected after CBS executives said that Pam Tebow's line, "Both of our lives were at risk," was "too much" (USA Today, 2/5).
Opposition Continues
The Tebow spot has "been the subject of one of the most intense tugs-of-war over an ad in many years," with abortion-rights supporters and opponents both up in arms, the New York Times reports. In response to the Tebow ad, Planned Parenthood Federation of America released its own online ad featuring Olympic gold medalist Al Joyner and former NFL player Sean James supporting a woman's right to make her own "decision about her health and her family" (Elliott, New York Times, 2/5).
The New York-based Women's Media Center -- which is leading a coalition of abortion-rights organizations -- has called on CBS to pull the ad. On Wednesday, Women's Media Center urged supporters to call NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. According to Women's Media Center President Jehmu Greene, the ad "has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year -- an event meant to bring people together" (Kadaba, Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/5).
Editorials, Opinion Pieces Comment on Ad
~ Los Angeles Times: Women's Media Center's call for CBS to cancel the Tebow ad is "a shame, and CBS is to be congratulated for standing up to the pressure," a Los Angeles Times editorial states. "We're solidly for abortion rights, but the campaign against the ad is a misguided attempt at censorship," according to the editorial. It adds that CBS' recent reconsideration of its policy on advocacy ads is "a sensible move," as long as "the network applies this policy fairly to groups across the political spectrum" (Los Angeles Times, 2/5).
~ Katha Pollitt, The Nation: "[P]art of me was thrilled to learn that Focus on the Family was paying" $2.5 million on a thirty-second Super Bowl ad because "[e]very dollar [the group] spends messaging the fans is a dollar not available to pay the electricity bill or keep staff on payroll," Pollitt, an author, writes in an opinion piece. She says it is "maddening that the people who want to take away women's right to choose have annexed 'choice' to their own cause," noting that if the law required women to continue troubled pregnancies "there would be no heroism in doing so." Pollitt continues, "In retrospect it was probably a mistake for pro-choice and feminist organizations to demand that CBS cancel the ad." However, the "trouble is, much of the abortion-rights case is about averting damage, and it's harder to tell those stories," she says (Pollitt, The Nation, 2/4).
~ Lisa Miller, Newsweek: The controversy over the Tebow ad is "a case in point" of how "Americans like values, but they don't know which values they like best," Newsweek religion editor Miller writes in an opinion piece. She also questions how abortion-related ads are different from product ads, saying, "What's the difference … between 'selling' an ideology on TV and selling a hamburger?" According to Miller, "In a working democracy, with a capitalist economy and protected free speech, there is none." She writes, "Isn't promoting one idea over another the foundation of free debate -- and, more crassly, the business of advertising?" (Miller, Newsweek, 2/4).
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Senate Democrats Considering Recess Appointments for Obama Nominees
February 5, 2010 — Faced with the loss of a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate, congressional Democrats on Thursday began to discuss using recess appointments to advance some of President Obama's stalled nominees, such as Dawn Johnsen, who has twice benn nominated to head the Office of Legal Councel at the Department of Justice, CQ Today reports. The Senate is scheduled to begin its Presidents Day recess at the end of next week.
According to CQ Today, the election of Republican Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.) will make it difficult for Democrats in the Senate to gather the 60 votes needed to limit floor debate. In addition, the GOP "displayed newfound resolve" on nominees Thursday when Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted against National Labor Relations Board nominee Craig Becker, despite having previously supported his nomination.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he may have no choice but to recommend the president use recess appointments unless some members of the GOP allow the chamber to proceed without requiring 60 votes. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican, cautioned Democrats against using recess appointments, adding, "Nominees that are controversial need floor time and debate."
Johnsen is a "target" for Senate Republicans, who have been critical of her past work for abortion-rights groups and her position on various national security issues, CQ Today reports. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are expected to oppose Johnsen if her nomination is taken up next week, as they did last March when she originally was nominated. However, Johnsen's home-state senator, Republican Richard Lugar (Ind.), supports the nomination.
According to CQ Today, some Democrats may join Republicans in opposing the nomination, including Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who said he is concerned about Johnsen but has not decided how he will vote (Stern, CQ Today, 2/4).
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Okla. Lawmakers To Reconsider Abortion-Rights Laws Deemed Unconstitutional
February 5, 2010 — Hundreds of antiabortion-rights protesters gathered at the Oklahoma Capitol on Wednesday as lawmakers began work on more than 2,500 bills in the state Legislature, including bills related to abortion rights that have been struck down by state courts, the AP/Stamford Advocate reports. The protesters were marking the annual Rose Day rally, during which they distribute roses to lawmakers' offices and ask them to support antiabortion-rights legislation.
The measures state lawmakers are expected to revive include bills that would affect regulation of a drug used in medical abortion and that would require women seeking abortion procedures to receive an ultrasound, listen to a physician's description of the fetus and fill out a lengthy questionnaire, among other measures. Oklahoma courts ruled that the laws violated a state constitutional requirement that bills deal with only one subject, the AP/Advocate reports. Oklahoma already has some of the most restrictive laws regarding abortion rights in the U.S., according to abortion-rights advocates (Murphy, AP/Stamford Advocate, 2/3).
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Gene Variants Linked to Risk of Preterm Birth
February 5, 2010 — Gene variants in a woman and her fetus can make them more susceptible to an inflammatory response to infections inside the uterus, which can increase the risk for a preterm birth, according to a study presented at a meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Reuters reports. Preterm delivery is a leading cause of infant mortality and disability, according to Reuters.
For the study, researchers in Chile analyzed 190 genes and more than 700 DNA variants from 229 women and 179 preterm infants -- those born before 37 weeks' gestation. The genetic material of the preterm group was compared with that of 600 women who delivered at full term. Lead researcher Roberto Romero of NIH said, "What we found was there were some DNA variants in the fetus that were associated with the occurrence of premature labor and delivery, and there were some genes in the mother that also increase the risk of premature labor and delivery."
For the infants, the largest gene influence was the interleukin 6 receptor, which is related to the body's response to inflammation. For women, researchers looked at a gene that affects structures in the cervix and uterus that dissolve at the beginning of labor. According to Romero, if an infection develops, the combination of these two genetic variants raises the risk of preterm labor as the body tries to preserve the health of the woman and fetus. Romero said this suggests that preterm delivery is an evolutionary mechanism designed to protect the woman and fetus.
Infants born preterm face a 120 times greater risk of death than infants born at full term. They are more likely than full-term infants to develop breathing difficulties, bleeding into the brain and neurological handicaps. About 500,000 U.S. infants and more than 13 million infants worldwide are born preterm annually, according to Reuters (Steenhuysen, Reuters, 2/4).
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Blogs Comments on Haitian Earthquake, Super Bowl Ad, Other Topics
February 5, 2010 — The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries.
~ "We Can't Overlook Reproductive Health Needs in Haiti," Sharon Camp, RH Reality Check: Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, writes that the Haitian earthquake has created "displacement" within the culture, where "the health and lives of Haiti's women and girls -- many of whom were already in a precarious situation because of poverty or low social status -- are threatened by severe living conditions, including the virtual absence of reproductive health services." According to Camp, "Most immediately, there is an urgent need for clean delivery kits to ensure that childbirth is safe for mothers and their newborns." She continues, "Likewise, displaced women and girls are especially vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation, and proper care -- including emergency contraception and HIV prophylaxis -- must be made widely available to any victims of sexual violence." She also writes that "many Haitian women who find themselves cut off from their usual sources for family planning services and supplies, including condoms, must be provided with free contraceptives." According to Camp, "A failure to address these needs heightens the risk for unwanted pregnancy and botched abortion, HIV and other [sexually transmitted infections] and high-risk, life-threatening pregnancies and childbirth." She adds, "The U.S. government's response to the Haitian earthquake has been both swift and strong. But Haiti's women also need the United States to reassert a leadership role in ensuring that sexual and reproductive health care is a core component of the humanitarian response to the crisis" (Camp, RH Reality Check, 2/5).
~ "'Friday Night Lights' Abortion Plotline Must-See TV," Sarah Seltzer, RH Reality Check: "Two weeks ago, DirecTV aired an episode of 'Friday Night Lights' that very quietly made a mini-kind of television history" by depicting a character's struggle with whether or not to obtain an abortion for an unintended pregnancy, Seltzer writes. The show "depicted a character having an abortion in a very nonpolitical, personal way," Seltzer notes. The season will be re-broadcast by NBC in April, Seltzer reports, adding, "It's going to be very, very important to keep an eye on how this series is treated by NBC and whether it garners protests, because [the] abortion will really be momentous if it gets depicted on a major network." Seltzer describes the series as "humane" for examining the "moral potential of women who have abortions and help each other have them, and while that shouldn't be remarkable, it is" (Seltzer, RH Reality Check, 2/5).
~ "CBS Helped With Tebow Ad," Tracy Clark-Flory, Salon's "Broadsheet": Clark-Flory highlights responses to news reports that CBS coordinated with Focus on the Family in developing its antiabortion-rights Super Bowl commercial. National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill called the collaboration "appalling" and "extremely, extremely disturbing," Clark-Flory says. Focus on the Family said that it worked with the network to fine-tune the ad's wording and that the process was "very cordial, very professional," according to an organization spokesperson. CBS says that it often works with advertisers on their ads' scripts and that Focus on the Family did not receive "special treatment," according to Clark-Flory. "The vetting process for Super Bowl ads has always been controversial," Clark-Flory writes, adding that this year, "CBS has simply pumped up the volume by changing its policy to allow advocacy ads." Clark-Flory exhorts opponents of the Focus on the Family ad to "disagree with the policy change, call for fair representation, respond with a competing message, criticize the ad's content, skewer CBS for irresponsibly airing a dishonest and misleading ad -- assuming that actually turns out to be the case." However, she says that "calling for opposing views to be censored … just doesn't seem pro-choice to me" (Clark-Flory, "Broadsheet," Salon, 2/3).
~ "Breaking News on Emergency Contraception," Kristin Koch, NARAL Pro-Choice America's "Blog for Choice": Koch, deputy director of communications for online advocacy strategies for NARAL, writes that the Department of Defense's new policy of making emergency contraception available on every overseas military base is "a major victory for women's health and women's rights." According to Koch, "It's probably not surprising that the Bush administration" overruled a similar proposal "without explanation." She writes, "To add insult to injury, anti-choice groups ... have since opposed efforts by members of Congress to fix this problem." Koch continues, "Fortunately, unlike his predecessor, President Obama supports the decisions of medical experts and policy recommendations based on science, not politics." She writes, "Now we just need to make sure that anti-choice ideologues don't threaten military women's access to emergency contraception again" (Koch, "Blog for Choice," NARAL Pro-Choice America, 2/4).
~ "A Blueprint for High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care," Maureen Corry, WBUR'S "Commonhealth": A "well-planned roadmap toward health care nirvana" already exists for maternity care, according to Corry, the executive director of the not-for-profit research and advocacy organization Childbirth Connection. She says, "Maternity care is the sweet spot for what we all want: high-quality, high-value care," adding that it is "one of the only sectors of the health care industry where less care often means better care." Corry notes two recent reports released by her organization that "lay out the values of and recommendations for a maternity care system in which women receive high-quality evidence-based care at an appropriate cost." The first report -- called 2020 Vision for a High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care System -- presents "a shared view of fundamental values, principles and attributes that constitute a high-quality maternity care system," she writes. The second report -- called Blueprint for Action -- includes "detailed recommendations and action steps" and outlines specific strategies in 11 critical areas, such as performance management, disparities, clinical controversies and consumer choice, according to Corry. "The reports are only the first step in a concerted effort to transform maternity care," she writes. Corry calls on hospitals and health plans that have successfully implemented quality improvement programs to share their knowledge and experiences. She concludes, "Health care reform offers many opportunities, but with or without it, there's work to be done to ensure optimal care for women and newborns" (Corry, "Commonhealth," WBUR, 2/3).
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Videos Reflect on Tiller's Legacy, Spotlight N.Y. Senate Primary, Comment on Super Bowl Ad
February 5, 2010 — The following summarizes selected women's health-related videos.
 NARAL Pays Tribute to Tiller: At its annual luncheon, NARAL Pro-Choice America presented the family of murdered abortion provider George Tiller with a lifetime achievement award to recognize the doctor's service. The presentation came just days after a Kansas jury convicted Scott Roeder of first-degree murder for shooting Tiller in the doctor's church last May. During the luncheon, NARAL showed a video tribute to honor Tiller's legacy (NARAL Pro-Choice America, 2/2).
Rachel Maddow on Roeder Trial: On Tuesday's "The Rachel Maddow Show," host Maddow recapped the Roeder trial and previewed the sentencing, which is scheduled for March 9. Maddow also highlighted statements from Tiller's family and the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is calling on the Department of Justice to investigate whether Roeder collaborated with other antiabortion activists (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 2/1).
Colbert Grills Ford on Abortion Position: Former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) -- who plans to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic primary -- on Monday appeared on Comedy Central's "Colbert Report," where fake news anchor Stephen Colbert questioned his shifting positions on abortion rights and same-sex marriage (Colbert, "Colbert Report," Comedy Central, 2/1). Later in the week, Ford met with NARAL Pro-Choice New York officials, who said that the former House member's muddled track record on choice solidified their decision to endorse Gillibrand.
Richards on Antiabortion Super Bowl Ad: In a YouTube video, Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, discusses Focus on the Family's planned antiabortion-rights Super Bowl ad. The ad is expected to feature college football star Tim Tebow and his mother discussing her decision to continue her pregnancy with Tim, despite serious health threats. Richards notes that Pam Tebow was able to make a personal medical decision in private, without government interference -- as PPFA believes all women should be able to do (Richards, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 2/2).
CNN on Reaction in Wichita: A CNN multimedia feature focuses on the history of the abortion debate in Wichita, Kan., including perspectives of local residents. According to CNN, after years of constant antiabortion protests outside Tiller's clinic, some residents are hoping that Roeder's conviction will bring an end to the town's reputation as the epicenter of the debate. The feature also includes excerpts of Roeder's testimony and comments from Tiller's colleagues (Grinberg, CNN, 2/1).
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