This post first appeared on the Huffington Post.
Yesterday an article by Dan Gilgoff appeared in the U.S. News World Report titled "Bishops Demand Universal Healthcare Without Abortion." Does anyone else see the irony in the U.S. bishops wanting to define universal health care as covering everything except for what they don't support? Under this theory, I suppose women are supposed to wait to see just exactly how the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops comes down on a variety of health care needs to understand what in fact will be considered universal. Since when does universal health care mean denying comprehensive reproductive health care supported by the majority of Americans?
Under a "God & Country" header, Mr. Gilgoff's article reports on the ongoing demands by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to eliminate the legally protected right to abortion from the American health care system, but doesn't bother to mention all the other positions of the U.S. Conference: the bishops agree with Pope Benedict that condoms can worsen the AIDS pandemic in Africa; that contraception should not be covered under most health plans and that it is not basic health care; and argue that emergency contraception will not reduce either the need for abortion or unintended pregnancy. Seems that, if the U.S. Conference had its way, the national health care system would make American women second-class citizens and deny them access to benefits they currently have.
The danger, of course, is not simply that the bishops are pushing to erode decades of legal access to contraception and abortion in America. Their hard-line opposition to women's rights also endangers millions of women around the globe -- where women also need universal health care access. The effort to criminalize access to safe abortion endangers most women in the developing world -- the very women that you would think the bishops would be concerned about. Each year, an estimated 19 million women -- primarily in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean -- resort to unsafe abortions. Globally, an estimated 68,000 women die each year as a consequence, and more than five million each year suffer temporary or permanent disability -- including the inability to have a future healthy pregnancy.
The root cause of unsafe abortion is unintended pregnancy, a result of the lack of affordable and accessible contraception for women. The correlation between higher contraceptive use and lower maternal mortality is well established.
We have an opportunity this year to fundamentally address serious health care issues for women and young people in America, and we stand ready to partner with President Obama and Congress to find solutions to our most pressing health care issues. The United States continues to have some of the highest rates of unintended and teen pregnancy among the world's most developed countries, and now epidemic rates of sexually transmitted infections among our teens. If we did our job right in expanding access to contraception, we'd see a lower abortion rate in America, just like in most other developed nations.
I'd welcome the bishops' commitment to focus on these "universal"' problems, rather than continue to fight to diminish a woman's right to make personal decisions that should be kept between her and her doctor.
We call upon Congress and the White House to continue to stand firmly on the side of women in health care reform. Women are needed to pass health care reform - and we are not going backwards and we are not going away. ]]>As a mother of three, including two teenagers, I’ve come to realize that the whole concept of “responsibility” for young people is simply part of growing up, and it’s an uneven, back-and-forth process. Each year parents give their kids more and more room to take responsibility: for their studies, for what they wear, for how they spend their time, and for how late they stay up, and how late they sleep. It’s exciting, but it’s also a bit overwhelming because teenagers seesaw back-and-forth between childhood and adulthood for many years. And then one day, you look up and they are totally grown.
Watching out for one’s health and the health of others is just another aspect of growing up and becoming responsible. But it may be the most complicated one. As teens, you have all kinds of impulses: to do what others are doing, to fi t in, to seem cool and mature — even when it means doing stuff that isn’t really in your best interest. These impulses defi nitely include having sex before you’re really ready whether physically or emotionally. So you have to be responsible for protecting yourself — or your girlfriend or boyfriend — from getting into circumstances that can lead to unhealthy situations.
A recent online survey of young people asked what they were most concerned about related to their health and wellness. Three of the top four concerns were contracting a sexually transmitted infection, having or causing an unplanned pregnancy, and becoming involved in an unhealthy relationship. While the solution for young people may not always be defi ned as being more “responsible,” it’s clear that the concerns we have as parents are shared by our kids.
I believe that responsibility for sexual health is a two-way street. It is both in the teaching and in the taking. As parents we hope and expect that our kids will take responsibility for having healthy relationships, for waiting to become sexually active until they feel they are ready, and for using birth control and condoms to prevent unintended pregnancy and to keep from getting or spreading an STI. But that means we parents have responsibility, too — for talking to them openly about sex and taking the shame, stigma, and confusion way from something that is a natural and healthy part of life. We also have to take responsibility for insisting that our public offi cials support policies that provide young people with age-appropriate sexual health information and education. We have to take responsibility for supporting open, honest conversations about sex, sexuality, and sexual health from our living rooms to our churches, temples, and mosques, and in our schools.
Young people are looking for our support as parents, teachers, adult friends, and role models. And, even when everyone is teaching and preaching responsibility, our kids make mistakes — and, frankly, so do we. If we do our jobs as parents and adults, then we can hope that our kids, or any kid, can turn to us when they need help, when they are in crisis, or simply when they are struggling to sort through their sexual health concerns and relationships. In the end, the most important responsibility is our resonsibility for each other.
]]>So imagine the champagne corks popping today, as we mark the first 100 days with President Obama -- there is no way to overstate the revolutionary change that is taking place. Regardless of your passion -- the environment, civil rights, living wage, or, like those of us at Planned Parenthood, the health and well being of women and young people -- this administration is a tonic for whatever ails you.
As progressives, we can nearly always find something to complain about, but now more than ever, it's time to celebrate this new direction and saddle up for the work ahead. For we've also seen in these first three months that there are plenty of agin'ers (in Texas, these are folks who are against everything) who aren't embracing the change this country so desperately needs and wants. But before we get back to work, let's just take a quick look at the Top Ten great things President Obama has done for American women and families, Planned Parenthood-style!
Planned Parenthood's Top Ten List for the First 100 Days:
10. Repealed the global gag rule: With
the stroke of a pen, President Obama overturned the global gag rule and
once again allowed millions of women around the world to access
critical reproductive health care services.
9. Moved to overturn the HHS midnight regulation: The administration took immediate action to rescind this rule, which jeopardizes women's health by denying them access to complete and accurate health care and information.
8. Supporting teens' health over ideology: The president, in his budget, called for evidence-based, medically accurate sex education, in contrast to the failed abstinence-only policies .
7. Expanding access to family planning: In
the president's budget, he included a commonsense Medicaid waiver to
expand family planning under Medicaid, increasing acces for more women
in need.
6. Restored affordable birth control: The
president signed legislation to restore access to affordable birth
control for millions of college students and low-income women,
especially important in these tough economic times.
5. Formed the White House Council on Women and Girls: President Obama established this council to focus on a wide range of issues facing American women and their families, including the high rate of unintended pregnancies and the alarming number of sexually transmitted infections.
4. Nominated strong women's champions to key cabinet posts: The president nominated Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who understands that improving the status of women is not simply a moral imperative; it is necessary to building democracies around the globe. He also nominated HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a longtime champion of women's health and a strong advocate for health care reform.
3. Expanding access to Plan B: Under the Obama administration, the FDA now supports over-the-counter sales of Plan B (emergency contraception) to women 17 years and older.
2. Focusing on AIDS outreach: President Obama has made a strong commitment to developing a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy to reduce the number of HIV infections, increase access to care, and reduce HIV-related health disparities to address the growing HIV/AIDS crisis among women and girls in the United States.
1. Committed to health care reform: President Obama has laid down the law that we'll have health care reform this year -- making access to quality, affordable health care one of his key priorities. Hallelujah -- not a moment too soon!
So -- we are off to an incredible start. Though as everyone involved in improving the long-term health of our nation knows, it's not just about the last 100 days -- it's about the 100 after that, and the 100 after that. It's about making the health of women and young people a priority every day, and in every policy decision. This is the moment we've all been waiting for, and we can't let the president down. At Planned Parenthood, we are suited up and on the field, ready to play -- it's going to be a great season. An A for the first 100 days.
]]>With a new tone in Washington, we can finally begin addressing the health care crisis in this country, and take the politics out of women's health.
In these difficult economic times and with more than 45 million Americans currently uninsured, it is critical that we work to increase, not limit, access to health care. When a patient walks into a hospital, pharmacy, or any health care center, she should be confident she will receive complete and accurate health care information and services.
Under the current rule, issued at the last minute by then-President Bush, that is not the case. Insurance companies, hospitals, and pharmacies, as well as doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel, are allowed to simply withhold services and information about, for example, contraception and HIV testing and treatment. The rule allows health care providers to deny any basic health care service based on their personal biases.
In order to overturn the Bush
administration rule, President Obama issued a new proposal in March
that has to undergo a period of public review. Tens of thousands
of Planned Parenthood supporters
have already submitted comments in favor of President Obama's commonsense
fix to this unnecessary midnight regulation that jeopardizes patients'
access to complete and accurate health care information and services.
But the opportunity to add
your voice and speak out in support of President Obama's reversal
of the current dangerous policy ends on Thursday.
With more and more families
losing their health insurance and having difficulty accessing health
care at all, and with at least one in four teenage girls having a sexually
transmitted infection, Bush's HHS rule that limits access to health
services is unconscionable. We must all speak up for patients' rights.
Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of women's reproductive health care in the country, providing preventative health care to more than three million patients through a network of nearly 880 health care centers. Ninety-seven percent of the services we provide are preventive, ranging from cancer screenings to providing the HPV vaccine and contraception.
And, in these difficult economic times, Planned Parenthood health centers are seeing more women entering our doors. Our Northern California affiliate has had a 21 percent increase due to women losing their jobs and health benefits. Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa now signs up five or six new patients each day when it used to sign up that many in a week. A recent article in US News and World Report sheds light on the impact that the economic downturn has had on women's health. The article reports that many people who have lost their health insurance have been "swarming into Planned Parenthood clinics to get free or subsidized contraception."
Yesterday, in a break-out session moderated by the White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes, I was thrilled to be asked the first question about how, as a health care provider, Planned Parenthood sees the need to reform health care. To me, it was a signal that this president was serious about making women's health a priority. I took the opportunity to try and shed some light on what women in this country need to strengthen their health and the health of their families:
In the closing session, the president addressed head on the elephant in the room - health care reform has been tried time and time before and failed. And, with the economic woes plaguing the nation, can we really afford to spend time on such a difficult challenge?
And the overwhelming response was deafening - we simply can't afford not to act, especially in light of these devastating economic times. Failure to act is no longer an option.
Senator Whitehouse from Rhode Island captured the feeling in the room, saying that in the last go around of health care reform, it was Harry and Louise. But this time, it's more like Thelma and Louise, headed over the Grand Canyon. And as President Obama aptly noted, this time, we're not going there. Working together, we can succeed.
Yesterday was an incredible beginning - and by all accounts we are moving fast. On behalf of the 1 in 4 women in America who have been to our health centers, Planned Parenthood is glad to be not only along for the ride, but a willing and able driver to victory for desperately needed reform. We are proud to have a president who has made women's health a priority.
]]>Cross posted on Huffington Post.
This sort of "take the drapes on your way out" approach is the final chapter of an administration that has prized political ideology over health care for their entire eight years -- and the rule issued yesterday, with little more than 30 days left in office, is the ultimate holiday gift to the extreme right.
Under this new rule, doctors and health care workers of all kinds can deny patients vital health care information and services, without the patient even knowing. No patient is exempt from the reach of this rule: sexual assault victims could be denied information about emergency contraception that could prevent unintended pregnancy, moms hoping to time their pregnancies can be denied contraception at their local pharmacy, young adults hoping to be tested for sexually transmitted infections could be denied treatment by health care employees who oppose premarital sex.
In short, this rule is likely to create total chaos in an already stressed health care system, and for low-income women and families, this rule may spell the end of the few available health care options. Essentially, any patient that utilizes health care at a provider that receives any federal funds will be subject to the luck of the draw in terms of what kinds of reproductive health care they are offered. This might seem far-fetched, until you realize that groups like Pharmacists for Life have campaigned nationally to have pharmacies refuse to provide women birth control prescribed by their physician.
If you had any doubt that this rule is about politics, not health care, just watch the high-fives among the far right. "This is a huge victory for religious freedom and the First Amendment," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
The bottom line in health care has always been that patients' health comes first; this regulation turns that basic tenet on its head. In fact, they failed to address the basic questions of patients' rights lodged by hundreds of thousands of Americans during that period.
For months, Planned Parenthood has spoken out against the proposed regulation. When a draft version of the rule was leaked last summer, we were the first out of the gate to point out the damage this regulation could do to women's health care. And, in the days and weeks to come, we will work with the new administration and Congress to overturn this disastrous rule. Our goal has always been to expand -- not limit -- patients' access to full health care information and services. If you want to help, please sign our petition.
And count your blessings that this administration is almost finished.
]]>Today, the incoming administration will generate another celebration by women all around the world when President-elect Obama names Hillary Clinton as our next Secretary of State. The selection of Senator Clinton represents an important first step down a new path for American foreign policy -- an enormous shift represented by the selection of a champion of women's health and rights to be in charge of American foreign policy.
As first lady and as a U.S. senator, Hillary Clinton visited more than 80 nations, but for a majority of the world's population, her unique quality may be her gender. Senator Clinton understands that improving the status of women is not simply a moral imperative; it is necessary to building democracies around the globe. Improving the status of women is key to creating stable families, stable communities, and stable countries. Women's ability to control the size of their families, regardless of economics, nationality, or culture, has a direct impact on their economic well-being and that of their children. Senator Clinton understands that women's quality of life directly affects the major issues confronting the globe: national security, environmental sustainability, and global poverty.
In a speech that, by the standards of the Bush administration, sounds positively radical, Clinton addressed the Cairo Plus Five Forum at the Hague in 1999, saying, "Women's reproductive health and empowerment are critical to a nation's sustainability and growth ... we now know that no nation can hope to succeed in the global economy of the 21st century if half of its people lack the opportunity and the right to make the most of their God-given potential. No nation can move forward when its women and children are trapped in endless cycles of poverty; when they have inadequate health care, poor access to family planning, limited education."
What a new day it will be when we can quit fighting with our government over the need to bring health care, education, and equality to women in every country -- including our own. Let's hope for a swift confirmation for our new secretary of state and celebrate her taking on this enormously important assignment. To Njeri and the thousands of women like her who see the impact of U.S. policy every day -- it is the true beginning of the 21st century.
]]>Exit polls reveal that 54 percent of Catholic voters supported President-elect Barack Obama, despite entreaties from Catholic leadership to vote against Senator Obama because of his support for abortion rights.
While this may come as a surprise to Catholic bishops who are meeting this week to discuss the election, it is consistent with what we know about the attitudes of Catholic voters.
In a poll commissioned by Planned Parenthood last year, Catholic voters were asked to name their largest concerns around the issues of abortion and family planning.
The number-one response was that there are "too many unwanted children in America whose parents can't take care of them."
Second, they said government was too quick to interfere with people's personal lives and private decisions.
And third, government was not doing enough to provide education and resources to help people make responsible decisions about sexual behavior and pregnancy.
In fact, Catholic voters are more likely to support comprehensive sex education in schools (78 percent) than the general public (76 percent). And 86 percent of Catholics favor launching a major effort to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by both increasing the availability of contraception for low-income women and by providing teens with comprehensive sex education.
Put simply, Catholic voters, just like the rest of America, want government to focus on solving problems for American families, such as increasing access to affordable health care and helping children stay healthy and safe and not become parents before they are ready.
And that is why President-elect Obama was elected by a majority of Americans -- because he has a commonsense agenda to bring people together, expand health care access, and focus on prevention.
The U.S. leads the world's most developed nations in teen pregnancy rates and last year teen birth rates rose for the first time in 14 years. At Planned Parenthood, we work to prevent unintended and teen pregnancy. We provide more than 2.4 million women each year with family planning services -- but nearly another 15 million go unserved due to lack of affordable access.
It's time all of us, including elected leaders and religious leaders, listen to the voters, and get back to promoting the health of women and young people -- healthy families make a healthy America. One would hope this is an agenda that everyone, regardless of religious beliefs, could rally behind. ]]>But what Sarah Palin told the American public last week was a stark confirmation of where they stand.
During an interview that Focus on the Family founder and anti-choice leader James Dobson conducted with Palin, he brought up the Republican Party platform's position on choice, identifying it -- in his own words -- as, "the strongest pro-life, pro-family document to come out of a political party." [The Republican platform seeks a constitutional amendment banning all abortions -- with no exceptions for rape and incest, and no exception to save the life of the woman.] To me, that's not pro-family -- that's pro-government in women's lives.
Not only did Palin express her support for the platform's principles, but when she was asked if McCain also "strongly supports those views" and whether she believes he will "implement it," she responded, "I do, from the bottom of my heart."
With that statement, Palin affirmed our fears that she, along with John McCain, is on board with the platform's most severe anti-woman principles. Apparently women's health is not only "extreme," but it's not even up for discussion.
If McCain upholds the Republican Party platform while in office, where will this leave the teenager who is impregnated as a result of rape? Where will this leave the woman who might die if she doesn't receive abortion services? Shouldn't these women have the right to make these personal decisions about their health, about their lives?
Regarding the principles of the Republican Party platform, Palin said: "[T]hey are there, they are solid, we stand on them and again I believe that it is the right agenda for the country at this time. Very, very clear and contrasted tickets in this election, November 4th."
That last sentence is the one thing Sarah Palin and I can agree on. And there are only eight days left to go. Governor Sarah Palin is assuring Americans that a McCain/Palin administration will implement the very harshest of anti-woman policies -- meaning no choices, and no exceptions. Next week when you're at the polls, use your vote wisely; don't put the government in control of women's health and lives. ]]>At this point, the weight of the evidence cannot be ignored, and under the glare of a congressional inquiry policymakers will have to answer tough questions about why we continue to waste millions of dollars a year on a policy that has failed to keep teens healthy and safe.
At this hearing, two young adults told the congressional panel about their experiences with abstinence-only programs. Max Siegel, who now works with the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth, and Families, said that "the abstinence-only message did not prepare me for life, and I contracted HIV from the first person with whom I consented to having unprotected sex. I was still in high school."
In addition, public health expert John Santelli, M.D., M.P.H., testified before the committee about numerous independent studies, including federally funded evaluations, that have concluded that abstinence-only programs do nothing to delay teenage sexual activity and do not adequately prepare young people to make responsible health decisions.
Recently, the CDC found that at least one in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted infection (STI), and that the teen birthrate is on the rise for the first time in 16 years.
The moving testimony by the two young people who shared their personal stories exposes the stark reality that abstinence-only programs are failing our teens. It's time to put our money toward real solutions that will help prevent sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies among teenagers.
To date, 17 states have refused to accept federal funds for abstinence-only programs.
Planned Parenthood is a leading advocate for school education programs that will keep teens healthy - by including information about abstinence as well as about contraception, healthy communication, responsible decision making, and prevention of sexually transmitted infections.
Planned Parenthood has the nation's largest network of sex educators, who teach young people in schools and communities nationwide, every day, how to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.
In our affiliates' 860 health centers across the country, our providers and educators see firsthand the price that young people pay when they are denied access to medically accurate, comprehensive sex education that could help them protect their lives and their futures. That's why today we submitted a statement for the Congressional Record urging Congress to work with those of us in the reproductive health community to find commonsense solutions to put an end to this public health crisis.
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Cecile Richards is president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Accountability, for you, for me, for us. That's the theme for World AIDS Day 2006 and there couldn't be a more appropriate time to spread a more important message. Twenty-five years into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, infection rates are at record levels and are still rising. We must hold ourselves accountable and we must take action.
The numbers are sobering, and worth repeating: Forty million adults and children are currently infected with HIV/AIDS around the world - that's the entire population of Spain. And in the last year alone, more than four million men, women, and children were infected, and three million died.
HIV/AIDS does not discriminate - that much we know. But it does destroy families, weaken communities, and affect economic growth and security. And right now, the rates of HIV infection are spiraling higher in certain populations, particularly women and youth, the most vulnerable among us. In countries such as Thailand or Uganda, where HIV/AIDS was thought to be on the decline, the epidemic is resurging. This is unacceptable, especially because we can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
]]>Cecile Richards is president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Accountability, for you, for me, for us. That's the theme for World AIDS Day 2006 and there couldn't be a more appropriate time to spread a more important message. Twenty-five years into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, infection rates are at record levels and are still rising. We must hold ourselves accountable and we must take action.
The numbers are sobering, and worth repeating: Forty million adults and children are currently infected with HIV/AIDS around the world - that's the entire population of Spain. And in the last year alone, more than four million men, women, and children were infected, and three million died.
HIV/AIDS does not discriminate - that much we know. But it does destroy families, weaken communities, and affect economic growth and security. And right now, the rates of HIV infection are spiraling higher in certain populations, particularly women and youth, the most vulnerable among us. In countries such as Thailand or Uganda, where HIV/AIDS was thought to be on the decline, the epidemic is resurging. This is unacceptable, especially because we can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
We have made considerable headway in fighting HIV/AIDS, but we still have a long way to go. And to make this disease a thing of the past, we all must be accountable, you, me, and us.
We must be accountable on a personal level - being sexually responsible, knowing our HIV status, and talking about HIV/AIDS to increase awareness and decrease stigma. And every little bit counts. Wear a red ribbon - the international symbol of HIV/AIDS awareness. Get involved. Raise awareness. Challenge the prejudice that those living with HIV/AIDS face every day.
And we must hold the highest levels of government accountable. I've said before and I will say again - there is no room for politics to get in the way of good medicine. We must demand that our elected leaders use tried-and-true prevention strategies that include education and condoms and do away with unproven abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
We need to tell our representatives to support legislation like the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act of 2006, which would do away with the abstinence-only requirements of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and take concrete measures to halt the rapid spread of HIV infection among women and girls.
Six years ago, leaders from around the globe came together and pledged to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. Toward that end, the World AIDS Campaign has adopted a simple message: Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.
At Planned Parenthood, part of our promise is carried out by our international programs, which support comprehensive reproductive health services and HIV prevention programs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Here in the United States, Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers provided more than 280,000 HIV tests last year alone, and our education programs are committed to teaching young people about prevention.
As we look ahead to a new year, Planned Parenthood once again promises to do its part around the world. All we ask is that you do yours: Be Accountable.
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