Lynda Waddington's blog

Iowa Has Record Number of HIV Diagnoses

2008-05-02T09:34:21-04:00

The number of Iowans diagnosed with HIV infection last year rose to its highest level since reporting began in 1998.

In 2007, the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) reports that there were 127 diagnoses, up from 113 in 2006 and the previous high of 117 in 2005. Of concern to state officials is the number of individuals who have been infected with HIV for months or years, but only recently underwent testing.

"Although Iowa has a relatively low number of HIV infections when compared with other states, the upward trending is something we take very seriously," said Tom Newton, director of IDPH. "We want to encourage testing because early diagnosis means early treatment and a better outcome."

In Iowa, men accounted for 83 percent of the 2007 diagnoses. This group increased for the fourth consecutive year. Of the 106 men diagnosed in 2007, 68 reported having sex with other males. Men having sex with men remains the number one risk factor in the state for HIV infection. Randy Mayer, the department's HIV/AIDS and hepatitis program director, said it's important for good prevention and education messages to be brought to that segment of the population. The department currently funds several prevention projects targeting men who have sex with men.

The Johnson County Public Health Department conducts formal outreach with a team of men who go to locations frequented by gay men to promote prevention. The program, dubbed "moMENtum," also includes peer-led group discussions.

The AIDS Project of Central Iowa is a Polk County group program for black men who have sex with men. Cultural, social and religious factors specific to African-American men and how these factors affect risk behaviors are a part of the discussions.

Mayer said the department would like to see more outreach and educational programs of this type.

More than 8,000 people were tested for HIV in 2007 via IDPH and affiliated organizations. In addition, more than 8,600 people were reached through community-level prevention programs, and intensive individual-level programs were delivered to 20 people.

HIV diagnoses among people age 45 or older have more than doubled since 2003. The median age of diagnosis was 40 for men and 37 for females. Iowa had no pediatric HIV diagnoses in 2007.

Diagnoses among black, non-Hispanic persons continue to be disproportionate to the size of the population. Blacks are roughly 3 percent of Iowa's population, but accounted for 20 percent of new HIV diagnoses in 2007. Overall, diagnoses among black persons were up 32 percent from 2006, but lower than the group's peak in 2002. Blacks are 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than are white, non-Hispanic persons in Iowa.

Hispanics are also overrepresented among those diagnosed with HIV -- roughly three times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white, non-Hispanic Iowans. The group comprises roughly 4 percent of the state's population, yet accounts for 8 percent of the 2007 diagnoses.

Despite the population disparities among blacks and Hispanics, the largest proportion of the HIV and AIDS diagnoses in Iowa continued to be among white, U.S.-born persons. Such individuals accounted for 70 percent of HIV diagnoses and 65 percent of AIDS diagnoses last year.

If there is a silver lining in the statistics released by the IDPH it is that AIDS diagnoses declined by 18 percent last year. There were 66 AIDS diagnoses in 2007, down from 80 in 2006 and below the state average (from 2002 to 2006) of 75.

As of Dec. 31, 2007, a total of 1,910 people living with HIV or AIDS were believed to be residents of Iowa. The vast majority of those cases, similar to general state population distribution, are believed to be living in Polk, Scott, Johnson, Linn, Pottawattamie, Black Hawk and Woodbury counties. While deaths among persons with HIV/AIDS declined slightly in 2007, a departmental review of vital records data expected to be completed this summer may identify additional deaths.

Family Planning Funds Nixed by Iowa House

2008-04-24T09:42:21-04:00

Iowa lawmakers are met yesterday in an effort to reconcile the 2008 health and human services appropriations bill, a necessary and traditional piece of legislation considered controversial this year because of the implementation of a new fund to address family planning.

The fund, which allocated up to $750,000 before House lawmakers stripped it from the bill and re-allocated the funds to county mental health services Tuesday, was a strategic goal of Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa through the Healthy Families project. The money would be used to aid low-income and under-served women in Iowa in obtaining contraceptives and accessing family planning programs that seek to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Reducing and preventing unplanned pregnancy is typically a goal that can be embraced by both political parties serving in Des Moines. When it came to this particular fund, however, Republican lawmakers -- at the urging of conservative groups such as Iowa Right to Life -- became more focused on Planned Parenthood's proximity to the proposed fund instead of the end goal. Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, offered an amendment that left the appropriated funds, but changed the language so that Planned Parenthood (or any agency offering abortion services) would not be eligible for distributions. In effect, Johnson's failed amendment would have limited the funds to crisis pregnancy centers, the only family planning centers that receive Iowa Right to Life and National Right to Life approval.

"It's so Orwellian to see this project being called a healthy families initiative," Johnson told the Daily Iowan. "... Healthy families is certainly not the way I would characterize anything associated with Planned Parenthood."

As the appropriation was originally written, a portion of the funds would be available for use by Planned Parenthood. The funds would also be available to many other family planning services throughout the state.

Rep. Ro Foege, D-Mount Vernon, put forth an amendment in the Iowa House of Representatives to dismantle the fund and re-allocate the money to county mental health services.

"I offered that amendment for a number of reasons," Foege said in a telephone interview this morning. "First, [the appropriation for family planning] was new money, and we hadn't really addressed the mental health issue and the county shortfalls. Secondly, for me it was like we hadn't worked hard enough on putting up that new money in a way that could be leveraged. In other words, the question I had was if any of that money could be placed in the Medicaid system for family planning and receive a possible federal match. I wanted to stretch our dollars more, and that question had not been answered.

"The third reason -- which is more of a political reason -- is that in the Iowa House it would have been turned into a two- or three-hour abortion debate, even though these funds aren't about abortion -- that's what this would have become. We were basically able to avoid a lengthy debate when we're trying to shut the place down."

In addition, Foege, who is one of the lawmakers assigned to the conference committee that will reconcile the House and Senate version of the appropriations bill, said he wasn't certain that there were the numbers in the House to ensure passage of the bill if the family planning appropriations remained.

"We could have lost it," he said. "I don't know if we would have had the 51 votes needed. You simply don't take something to the floor without knowing you can win."

Throughout the past few months, Iowans have been bombarded by marketing in relation to this fund. Bulk mailers, paid advertisements and phone banks have been just a few of the ways that Planned Parenthood has both educated the public and pushed supporters to rally around the proposed fund. The marketing plan has been labeled as aggressive by some Democratic lawmakers, but a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman said it was a solid marketing push and what was needed in this instance.

"Basically what we were trying to accomplish with this was public education to identify people who agree that there is a need for additional support in this area for low-income women," said Julie Stauch, vice president of governmental affairs for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa. "To me, what we did was meet the necessary threshold of what you do in order to get through to people who may not understand this issue, but would support it if they did. We think it was actually what a good program should be. Ask any marketing expert and they will tell you that a certain amount of repetition is needed."

If the fund survives the conference committee, it will be difficult to argue that the marketing campaign, which Foege described as a "political onslaught," was effective.

"It's like [those running the Healthy Families project] hadn't done their homework," Foege said. "... Having said all that, we've sent the message to them, and I anticipate that money will be restored."

True Reality Television: Where's Abortion?

2008-04-23T09:48:21-04:00

It would be difficult to imagine the reaction if Americans turned on their television sets tonight and watched their favorite sitcom's leading characters debate and then decide, without regrets or "lucky" miscarriages, on an abortion. No doubt the various advocacy groups would draw their political swords, some calling for boycotts and federal regulation while others praised the modernization of television programming.

The abortion debate, for better or for worse, is one of the most divisive in America. But, to be honest, it hasn't always been that way. The debate and the divisiveness is by design.

In the 1916 silent movie "Where Are My Children?" a woman dies after a botched abortion. At the same time a sentimental district attorney, who loves children, discovers that his wife has had an abortion in order to preserve her social life. Despite all of this, however, the word "abortion" is never uttered.

That was probably the first time prior to the Sixties -- a time when overlapping organizations of women, medical professionals, public health administrators, legal scholars and religious leaders successfully convinced a third of all states to liberalize abortion statutes -- that abortion was featured in film or on television. The next time a semi-open segment on the topic happened was during the soap opera "Another World" in 1964. Fictional character Pat Matthews became pregnant by her tomcat boyfriend. He persuades her to have an abortion, although the word was never used. As the characters discuss the "illegal operation," the woman realized that the boyfriend never intended to follow through with his agreement to marry her. Matthews is driven mad and, in a fit of rage, murders the boyfriend.

Eight years pass between that soap opera storyline and the next time abortion is addressed on television. This time, however, the word is used and there is no dramatic aftermath of the decision to end a pregnancy. In the prime-time sitcom "Maude," the lead character, played by actress Bea Arthur, realizes she is pregnant in her late forties. Although the episode aired prior to the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the sitcom was set in New York, where abortion was already legal. The family -- Maude, her husband and grown daughter -- have frank and thoughtful discussions about the decision.

"When you were young, abortion was a dirty word. It's not anymore," says Maude's daughter as she encourages her mother to have the abortion.

In the second part, when Maude decides not to continue the pregnancy, her husband Walter assures her, "In the privacy of our own lives, you're doing the right thing."

The sitcom, developed as a spin-off of the often thought-provoking "All in the Family," has remained possibly the only time the American public has had an opportunity to watch a realistic conversation about pregnancy and abortion.

As Rachel Fudge noted in a 2005 feature story, the episode of "Maude" was groundbreaking, but it also "inadvertently galvanized the anti-choice movement." It was that episode's unabashed treatment of the issue that led those who oppose abortion to petition the Federal Communications Commission for equal time under the Fairness Doctrine. Although the group did not win their case, the arguments began what many now feel is the application of the Fairness Doctrine, which was abandoned in the 1980s, on entertainment programming.

Once the episode of "Maude" aired, those opposed to abortion had their first flag to rally around. Although the two-part episode had been scheduled to rerun six months later (after Roe had been handed down), letters of protest pushed many CBS affiliates to refuse to re-air it.

In contrast, about 20 years later when similar, although unmarried, sitcom character Murphy Brown faced an unplanned pregnancy, the word abortion was never mentioned. The "dirty word" status was back in full force for television programming, a place it continues to reside to this day.

After Roe v. Wade, the abortion debate became more focused and public. Although both groups discuss the same things, they each choose their exact words carefully. It's a comparison so easily made that those few television shows that do enter into fringe discussions about abortion have ready made pluck and drop stereotypes for their actors.

Most television characters either spontaneously miscarry or discover a false positive pregnancy test. Two shows -- ABC's soap opera "General Hospital" and the Canadian produced "DeGrassi" series -- have had characters who actually opt for abortion. On "General Hospital," the character receives a moral lecture about the decision from nearly every other character on the show, including the mobsters who make a living by the barrel of their guns. It remains to be seen if the woman who had the abortion will be forced to suffer untold consequences of her decision.

"DeGrassi: The Next Generation," on the other hand, allowed a young woman to have an abortion without regret and without a "God's gonna get ya" follow-up storyline. The character says that she's just trying to make "the best decision." Networks in the U.S. found the story to be so potentially offensive to American audiences that the episode has never aired in this country.

No doubt there is something to be said about the June and Ward Cleaver days of television. Families today are often greeted with images of sexual violence, general violence, infidelity, alcoholism and drug abuse when watching nightly television programming. But throughout all of the changes, despite all of the "awakenings" that have been carried forward by civil-rights movements, abortion continues to be the only truly boycotted discussion on television and in film. When part of a storyline, it is rarely mentioned by name and even more rarely carried out as a solution. More offensively, the other possible pregnancy outcomes -- false positives, miscarriage, birth and adoption -- are placed before viewers in neat, pretty packages. Rarely do viewers witness the guilt and grief that follow miscarriage. I don't know of any television programs that have placed a woman in grief counseling after giving a child up for adoption.

On television we can watch as our neighbors devour bugs and worms for money. We can see what happens when a person is asked to answer personal questions in front of friends and family while connected to a lie detector. We can peek in the windows of biracial or homosexual couples. We can be an operating room observer as various surgeries are performed. Through our television sets, it seems, we get nearly every possible opinion and viewpoint on nearly every possible topic. Just not abortion.

Iowa Law Won't Protect Kids from Sex Offenders

2008-04-17T09:43:21-04:00

Was the opinion issued Friday by the Iowa Supreme Court an expansion or a clarification of the state's existing residency requirements for sex offenders? At the end of the day, according to some members of law enforcement, it doesn't matter one way or another.

"The law does little to protect children and young adults," said a veteran Iowa Sex Crimes Task Force leader who requested a name not be used. "It was a 'warm fuzzy' law that made lawmakers look good, and let parents breathe easier. All it really does is provide a false sense of security. It's a farce that's difficult to enforce and probably has the end result of making the general public less safe."

On Friday the Iowa Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the state's residency law for sex offenders that requires those convicted of crimes with a minor to live at least 2,000 feet away from a school or child care facility. The case involved Polk County resident Floyd Wright, who was convicted of statutory rape in 1977. Wright served his sentence but never had to be listed on the state's sex offender registry because his offense took place nearly 20 years before the registry existed.

When the building Wright lived in was sold, he was forced to move to a new location. Since he was on probation for driving while barred, Wright informed his probation officer of the address change. It was the probation officer who informed Wright that the 1977 offense would prohibit him from moving to the new location, which was within the 2,000 foot buffer.

Wright filed suit in district court on the grounds that the residency restriction did not apply to him because he was never required to be on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry. He also argued that the residency requirement violated his constitutional right to find adequate and reasonable housing.

The district court ruled that the vague law included all who had ever been convicted of sex crimes with a minor. The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the district court ruling on appeal and added that Wright's constitutional claims were moot, given that he could live in areas not covered by the residency restrictions and continue to engage in many community events and activities.

"In my experience the sex offender residency restrictions have had the opposite of the intended affect," the officer said. "Our best defense against individuals with a higher re-offense risk assessment is to know where they are within the community. Because the residency requirement often severely limits available housing, many sex offenders -- even some required by law to be on the registry -- are choosing not to report their current location."

Because the law was written to include all sex offenders, even those who were convicted several years ago or those who have been dropped from the registry, the officer said that landlords and law enforcement are left with few tools to enforce the residency restriction.

"Anyone can view the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, and I know many landlords within the required buffer zones do check for potential renters on it," the officer said. "How does a landlord or a parent check if the offender isn't required to register? When we do find offenders living in restricted areas, it is often a result of a secondary offense -- drug possession, disorderly house."

When asked who could be held liable if someone convicted of a sex crime against a minor moved into a restricted area and then committed another offense against a minor, the officer couldn't provide an answer.

"I don't know," the officer said. "The perp, of course, would bear the criminal burden. But, I don't know if there is grounds for a civil suit against the property owner or against local jurisdiction. That's another question for the court."

It was many of these same types of concerns that led Iowa County Attorneys Association Executive Director Corwin Ritchie to issue a statement against sex offender residency restrictions in December 2006. Citing statistics that 80 percent to 90 percent of sex crimes against children are committed by a relative or acquaintance; research showing no correlation between residency restrictions and reduction of sex offenses against children; and observations by law enforcement that residency restrictions cause offenders to become homeless, change residences without notice, register false address or disappear, Ritchie argued that the restriction should be replaced with "more effective measures that do not produce the negative consequences that have attended the current statute."

The more effective measures, according to the ICAA statement, are:

A statute creating defined protected areas that sex offenders would be prohibited from entering except in limited and safe circumstances. Such areas might include schools and child care facilities. Entrance to these areas would be allowed only for activities involving the offender's own child and only with advance notice and approval.
The restriction should cover offenses against "children" (under age 14) rather than "minors" (under age 18).
The statute should specifically preempt local ordinances that attempt to create additional restrictions on sex offenders.
Any restriction that carries the expectation that it can be effectively enforced must be applied to a more limited group of offenders than is covered by the current residency restriction.
Sex offender treatment both inside and outside of prison should be fully funded and improved.
Measures should be enacted that aim at keeping all young people safe from all offenders. This should include programs that focus on the danger of abuse that may lie within the child's family and circle of acquaintances.
Recognize that child safety from sex offenses is not amendable to simple solutions by creating a Sex Offender Treatment and Supervision Task Force to identify effective strategies to reduce child sex offenses.

"These observations of Iowa prosecutors are not motivated by sympathy for those committing sex offenses against children, but by our concern that the legislative proposals designed to protect children must be both effective and enforceable," Ritchie wrote. "Anything else lets our children down."

Parents who worry about sex offenders harming their children should do at least two things, according to the Sex Crimes Task Force officer: "Parents need to consider that sex offenders don't just sit, looking out their front window, and waiting for a child to walk by. They are members of the community and are perfectly capable of getting in a car or on public transportation and traveling to places throughout the city or neighboring city. Parents also need to understand that people who sexually abuse children don't have 'a look' or 'a way' about them. Most children aren't snatched from a public place. Unfortunately, most sexually abused children suffer the crime at the hands of someone known to them."

While the Supreme Court action clarified which sex offenders are restricted by the current residency requirements, it did not impact those sex offenders who lived within the "safe zones" prior to the law being passed. Those sex offenders, under "grandfathering," can continue to live at their current residences, regardless of proximity to protected facilities.

Mandatory HPV Vaccine Moves Forward in Iowa

2008-03-27T09:45:21-04:00

Only two steps remain in Iowa's legislative quest to require insurance companies to provide coverage of vaccinations for the human papillomavirus, the major cause of cervical cancer.

The proposed bill was passed by an 81-16 vote of the Iowa House last week and referred to the Senate Human Resources Committee. All 16 House members opposing the measure were Republicans, six of them women.

Tuesday morning, the Senate committee, chaired by Assistant Majority Leader Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, approved the measure and sent it on to the full Senate floor. The bill will need to pass through the Senate -- something that is considered likely -- and will need to be signed by Gov. Chet Culver. The law would take affect for third-party payment provider contracts, policies or plans delivered, continued or renewed in the state after Jan. 1, 2009.

"Cervical cancer is preventable," Bolkcom said. "The HPV vaccine is the best defense. This bill will ensure that health insurers make the HPV vaccine available and affordable to Iowa women. I expect the Senate to approve this bill soon."

The bill, the successor to HSB 566, is supported by the Iowa Osteopathic Medical Association, Child and Family Policy Center, the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians, the Family Planning Council of Iowa, the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, the Iowa Medical Society and the American Cancer Society. It is opposed by Golden Rule Insurance, the Iowa Christian Alliance and Iowa Right to Life.

For the most part, insurance companies -- many of which already provide coverage for the vaccine -- have remained neutral about the bill.

"Really this is about the state making a long-term commitment to women," said Kyle Carlson, staff attorney for PPGI. "This is the state saying that it is going to prevent cervical cancer as a matter of policy rather than leaving it to market forces."

Genital HPV infection is a sexually transmitted disease that is caused by human papillomavirus, a group of viruses that includes more than 100 different strains. The disease is spread by genital contact. All types of HPV can cause mild Pap-test abnormalities that do not have serious consequences. Roughly 10 out of the 30 identified genital HPV types can lead to development of cervical cancer.

In June 2006, the first vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases in females caused by HPV was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vaccine protects against four HPV types, which altogether cause 70 percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of genital warts. The vaccine was subsequently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in girls and women between the ages of 9 and 26. The vaccine is given through a series of three shots during a six-month period.

While there is no doubt the vaccination could save the lives of girls if it is provided before they become sexually active, social conservatives have argued that immunizing teens could encourage sexual activity and provide a false sense of protection against other sexually transmitted infections.

"I think we can reassure [those who worry about promiscuity] that there isn't a cause-effect relationship," said Dr. John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. "To put it in another way, the threat of getting cancer has not prevented people from engaging in sexual activity. More importantly, we've found that if you want people to take up an effective measure, you don't ram it down their throat. You provide it and educate people."

Iowa 17th State to Refuse Federal Ab-Only Funds

2008-03-06T08:07:20-05:00

Iowa has become the 17th state to refuse Title V, Section 510 funding for abstinence-only sex education.

Courtney Greene, press secretary for Gov. Chet Culver, said the decision has been made and federal monies will continue to be refused unless changes are made to the program. Iowa currently receives roughly $319,000 in matching funds from the federal funding stream.

FutureNet, an Iowa network for adolescent pregnancy prevention, parenting and sexual health, held a policy briefing Thursday morning that took aim at the abstinence-only funding. Last Friday, Rhonda Chittenden, executive director of the organization, applauded Culver's decision to dismiss the funds.

The funding received by Iowa is administered by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Title V abstinence-only funds required states to provide three dollars (or the equivalent in services) for every four federal dollars received. In addition to disseminating the funds to regional groups, the IDPH also conducted a statewide campaign dubbed "I am" or Iowa's Abstinence Mission. At least one of the program's outreach efforts -- a billboard featuring a pregnant woman without a wedding ring and the words "Wait for the bling" -- drew the ire of both feminist and comprehensive sex education advocates.

IDPH has provided Title V funds to eight Iowa organizations. The awards for fiscal year 2006 are as follows:

Allen Memorial Hospital (Women's Health Department), $31,149
Bethany Christian Services of Northwest Iowa, $48,114
Community Opportunities, Inc. (doing business as New Opportunities, Inc.), $15,052
The Crittenton Center, $10,214
North Iowa Community Action Organization, $25,491
University of Iowa, $45,000
Webster County Health Department, $14,525
Young Parents Network, $23,371

In addition to the Title V abstinence-only funds, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States reports that two Iowa organizations receive Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) non-matching grants. Bethany Christian Services was announced as a recipient of a $600,000 grant last fall. Sexual Health Education, Inc. (doing business as Equipping Youth) also has received a $600,000 grant. Since this federal funding stream is not administered by the state, today's decision by Culver will not impact these two programs.

In Iowa, Some Progress on LBGT Inclusion

2008-03-03T00:16:21-05:00

Although the 2007 school-climate survey released by the advocacy group Iowa Pride Network doesn't reflect the impact of mandates made by the Iowa Legislature last year, IPN Director Ryan Roemerman said there is evidence that just the open conversations leading up to those changes made a difference in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth across the state.

"We did see some improvement from 2005 to 2007," Roemerman said. "One of the reasons for that was the fact that we had the discussions going in the state about the need to protect LGBT students and help them have a successful future. I think because of that, students are reporting that they are talking to their teachers more about LGBT issues, that they felt more comfortable having those conversations. There was also a 10 percent increase in students reporting that when they did speak with teachers, it was a positive experience. We found that students feel resources and support systems in schools are getting stronger."

The organization's first school-climate survey was completed in 2005. At that time, the survey indicated that a majority of Iowa schools were failing in relation to providing a safe learning experience for LGBT students. The discovery that over 60 percent of the state's LGBT youth reported not feeling safe at school because of violence and harassment linked to their sexual orientation was combined with other survey findings to prove to lawmakers that the plight of gay and lesbian students in Iowa was something that had to be addressed.

"As an organization serving high school and college LGBT youth, we really wanted to know what the students were experiencing," Roemerman said. "Also, when we began to speak with legislators about the need for safe-school policies, we were getting feedback that LGBT students didn't exist in Iowa, that this was a West or East Coast problem. All the data that we really had at that time was from the coasts or from other parts of the nation. There had never been an Iowa school-climate survey. We set out to do so, and, of course, the results were very disheartening."

The data from the 2005 survey was one of the things that prompted lawmakers to make changes last year to both the Iowa Civil Rights Act and school anti-bullying policies to include references to sexual orientation and gender identity. While IPN's 2007 survey wasn't completed in time to reflect the full impact of the changes, many of the gathered statistics point to improving conditions for gay and lesbian students.

In the 2005 survey, 33.6 percent of Iowa LGBT students reported some incident of physical harassment, such as being pushed or shoved, because of their sexual orientation. In addition, nearly 18 percent of students two years ago reported some incident of physical assault, such as being punched, kicked or injured with a weapon, because of their sexual orientation or gender expression. In 2007, students reporting physical harassment rose slightly to 36 percent of all respondents, but the incident of physical assault dropped to 16 percent.

Anti-harassment and non-discrimination policies with enumerated categories such as "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" do work to end bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools, according to survey findings. In schools with inclusive policies, students were three times more likely to report never being verbally harassed. Students have also found support through gay-straight alliance organizations. Students who have such organizations in their schools report decreased absenteeism as well as lower rates of name-calling, harassment and assault.

Despite the gains, the IPN director says, Iowa's LGBT students continue to feel unsafe in school and face verbal and physical harassment or assault daily. Nine out of ten students, or 91 percent of those completing the 2007 survey, reported hearing homophobic remarks frequently in their schools.

"There has definitely been some progress made in certain areas," Roemerman said. "The areas I would highlight would be the change in LGBT resources and support. That has been a key improvement area. Also, there has been a positive change in relation to the incident of homophobic remarks in which other students intervene on behalf of other students. Some of the negatives are, of course, safety -- a lot of students are still not feeling safe at school -- and there are still teachers who are not intervening. Those are some things that need improvement.

"While there has been some positive change, there's still more to go and, in 2009, we are going to be checking to make sure that things are continuing to move in this positive direction and that the laws are working. These two surveys -- 2005 and 2007 -- have provided the Iowa Pride Network with the baseline data so that we can know whether or not the changes that have been made are working on behalf of Iowa students."

Iowa Teens Make Case for Comprehensive Sex Ed

2008-02-29T13:59:10-05:00

It isn't unusual for Iowa high school students Stacey Hoch and Venessa McDole, both peer advisors, to speak with their classmates about sensitive subjects. Thursday morning, however, they took their advocacy one step further by speaking in front of policymakers at a meeting hosted in Des Moines by FutureNet, an Iowa network for adolescent pregnancy prevention, parenting and sexual health. The goal of their talk was to request that Iowa youth be given adequate information to make informed personal decisions about sexual activity.

"[It was important to come today] just so we could keep adults informed," McDole, a junior at North High School in Des Moines, said. "There just aren't very many teen voices. We don't have a voice in the community. We don't have a voice for anything. Adults go and make decisions for us. So, coming here gives us a voice."

Hoch, a senior at Scavo High School in Des Moines, nodded her head as McDole spoke about the importance of allowing Iowa's youth a voice in the sex education policies that affect them.

"Also, there is so much more than just teen pregnancy prevention," Hoch said. "We also need to pay attention to sexually transmitted infection [STI] prevention. That's something that abstinence-only sexual education doesn't really cover, because it doesn't cover anything except 'be abstinent.' It's important for [Iowa teens] to know that there are STIs that can be really dangerous and really deadly."

McDole and Hoch spoke to an audience of advocates, policymakers, state elected officials and other interested parties.

When asked to provide an estimate on the number of their classmates who were already sexually active, both teens were hesitant to respond. McDole said she didn't think she could provide an accurate estimate. Hoch provided an estimate with a qualifier.

"I would say half, if not more, of our total school population," she said. "But, we have a lot of teen parents at my school also."

McDole nodded in agreement before adding, "At my school, there are a lot of teen parents, there's a lot of freshmen coming in and not knowing -- there's a lot of everything at my school. You have some kids that will shy away from [sexual activity]. But then you have other people who are coming into this new environment and it's a big environmental shock for them. ... Many of them end up doing what the crowd does without realizing that, as a teenager, they are making very crucial decisions. It's a decision of whether or not you're going to get pregnant, whether or not you're going to get an STI, or even whether you are going to college or not.

"Teens are making these very important decisions. When a wrong decision is made, unfortunately, they usually can't go back and reverse it. For instance, if you contracted HIV, you can't just go back and say 'Well, I shouldn't have done that and I take it back now.' So, when adults make these decisions for us, when they think they know what is best for us without asking us, it doesn't make any sense. We're the ones who are going through this. We want our own voice."

During their public remarks, the two young women encouraged adults to trust Iowa students with the truth about a wide variety of topics.

"We deserve to have all the information we can," Hoch told those in attendance. "We need that information -- all of that information -- if we are going to be able to make appropriate and good choices."

In addition to comments by the two teens, those in attendance were given an overview of a study completed by Doug Kirby, an adolescent health researcher commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Of the 48 programs included in his study, he said the only programs that had strong evidence for delaying sexual initiation were comprehensive programs.

FutureNet staff members now plan to work with various state agencies to encourage Gov. Chet Culver to make Iowa the 17th state to refuse Title V, Section 510 (federal) monies for abstinence-only sexual education. Currently, the Iowa Department of Public Health administers roughly $319,000 in matching funds from that funding stream.

The Feminist Daily News reports that Iowa Governor Chet Culver has agreed to reject federal abstinence-only funds.

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Lynda Waddington, Iowa Reconsidering Abstinence-Only Funding

Iowa Reconsidering Abstinence-Only Funding

2008-02-29T08:48:21-05:00

At a state policy briefing on Thursday morning, Iowa legislators and other state officials were asked to end federally funded abstinence-only sex education in the state. The move would make Iowa the 17th state to reject Title V abstinence-only funding.

Rep. Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, sponsored and floor managed a bill during the 2007 session that required all sexual education taught in accredited Iowa schools to be medically- and scientifically-based. Signed into law last spring, the bill did not necessarily put an end to abstinence-only sex education teaching in Iowa, but it did ratify standards and guidelines that directly conflict with those associated with federal funding streams.

"There's been discussion on whether or not we should be accepting these federal monies at all because the criteria for abstinence-only programs at the federal level is not medically accurate," said Mascher, who is sponsoring Thursday's policy briefing. "The standards that [organizations] have to abide by for the federal money do not call for scientifically-based information. In essence, [the guideline conflicts] would prevent schools from getting those monies. They could still teach abstinence-only sexual education, but they can't use the federal dollars in order to do it."

Representatives from FutureNet, the Iowa Network for adolescent pregnancy prevention, parenting and sexual health, are scheduled to speak at the briefing and to call for the complete refusal of Title V abstinence-only education funding. Iowa currently receives roughly $319,000 from the program, which is administered by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Prior to Bethany Christian Services of Northwest Iowa being awarded a $600,000 non-matching grant last September from the Administration of Children, Youth and Families (part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), the Title V monies were the only such federal abstinence education funding in the state. Nationally, Title V provides more than $40 million a year in matching funds to states.

"Iowa must end this poor fiscal and public health policy now," said Rhonda Chittenden, executive director of FutureNet. "There is no reliable evidence to date that these abstinence-only programs impact the long-term behavioral outcomes at which they aim, such as the delay of sexual initiation and reduction of adolescent pregnancies and STI/HIV infections."

Chittenden's sentiments regarding abstinence-only education were echoed by Mascher.

"I've been a classroom teacher for the last 30 years," Mascher said. "I taught sex education programs in the Iowa City School District for most of those years. One of the things that I think is critical in anything that we do with kids is being honest and accurate. If we expect to have credibility, I think it is extremely important that information we give them be scientifically and medically accurate.

"It comes down to best teaching practices. We know that scare tactics don't work with young kids and that, if anything, it has a very limited kind of effect. What you want to do is give them good information, and be able to help them with decision-making skills. Those are the problem-solving skills that we want kids to be able to develop at an early age so that when they get to the age where they are making those kinds of choices, they're making good choices. Of course, we would like all kids to be abstinent until they are ready and mature enough to be able to handle those types of relationships."

Doug Kirby, an adolescent health researcher commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, will present his findings on the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs versus comprehensive sex education in reducing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections in adolescent populations. Of the 48 programs included in his study, the only programs that had strong evidence for delaying sexual initiation were comprehensive programs.

"We know that a lot of the programs that are out there are very much religious based and may not have a scientific base to them," Mascher said. "That leads to doubts on whether the information is accurate, and whether it will withstand the test of time in terms of helping kids make good choices. We examined a lot of curriculum and found that some of them are using scare tactics. Some of them are using outdated information. Things are changing so rapidly in the medical world and I think one of the things we want is to be able to give the best information possible and the most current."

Planned Parenthood to Iowans: $1 Now or $4 Later?

2008-02-12T08:44:11-05:00

When it comes to making family planning services available and accessible to low-income women, Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa has a question for Iowa officials and taxpayers: "Do you want to pay $1 now or $4 later?"

Iowa has roughly 100,000 low-income women -- 12.3 percent of all women of childbearing age -- who need, but are not receiving, publicly assisted family planning services. The lack of access has been costly to Iowa, a state where half of all pregnancies are unintended. Planned Parenthood is advocating for the development of a state fund that would be used in conjunction with Medicaid, the Medicaid Waiver, Title 10 and other federal funding streams to provide low-income women with the birth control they need.

Kyle Carlson, staff attorney for PPGI, says that creation of the fund is the agency's No. 1 legislative priority.

"Iowa ranks 39th in terms of state assistance and 48th in terms of access to birth control for low-income women," he said. "As we've known for a while, that just isn't good enough."

The legislative priority received a boost at the beginning of the legislative session when Gov. Chet Culver tentatively earmarked $1 million for the fund. With legislators poised to tighten the state's belt, the climate in Des Moines is not necessarily conducive to new appropriations.

"We looked at other states around us and found many of them already had these types of state funds," Carlson said. "The interesting thing about this program, and the programs we've modeled it after, is that they are showing a significant return on investment."

Neighboring Minnesota, according to Carlson, has determined that for every dollar placed in the family planning fund, the state experiences a $4 Medicaid cost savings. Similar programs have also met with success in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.

"Whenever I'm approached and told that the state has a really tight budget, I say that the governor has given us $1 million to help make this fund happen, and, if we're successful, we're going to get you four back," Carlson said. "It's actually a cost-saving mechanism for the state. It's just a question of whether we want to pay a $1 now or $4 later. We know we could significantly save a lot of Medicaid spending by putting this money into prevention."

The hope is that the family planning fund, once created, would be a pool that would grow over time. With the initial $1 million from the governor, an additional 2,500 Iowa women could be served -- $6 million could serve 15,000 women.

"Our goal is to progressively increase the fund over time as much as we can," Carlson said. "For now, however, getting the fund created is a step in the right direction."

Planned Parenthood is also advocating on behalf of a bill that would require health insurance companies to provide coverage for the human papilloma virus vaccine.

"We are incredibly optimistic about the HPV insurance language because it is moving in the House and it is moving fast," Carlson said. "It came through the House Human Resources Committee before Feb. 1. I believe that is very telling about the type of support behind this."

For the most part, insurance companies have remained neutral about the bill. Carlson says this stems from the fact that most insurers who cover vaccinations have already included the HPV vaccine.

"Really this is about the state making a long-term commitment to women," he said. "This is the state saying that it is going to prevent cervical cancer as a matter of policy rather than leaving it to market forces."

While other states have used such measures as one stop along a path to mandating the vaccine for girls attending school, Carlson said that is not the case in Iowa.

"I know that there are some other places where that approach has been taken," he said. "That has never been an approach for us."

Zero Percent Reporting in Arkansas for Clinton?

2008-02-05T20:42:26-05:00

Chris Matthews on MSNBC just moments ago: "The polls have just closed in the state of Arkansas... and we're predicting Hillary Clinton to be the winner there."

At the end of his words, a pretty graphic flipped and spun into the middle of the screen showing an outline of the state and photo of Clinton with a checkmark at her side. In smaller text at the bottom "0%" -- as in, zero precincts reporting.

MSNBC is projecting Hillary Clinton to be the winner in Arkansas before a single vote has been counted and reported. Hasn't the media learned anything since Florida in 2000? I guess, at least this time, the network doesn't have to worry about a competitive network making the opposite call for a Republican.

Huckabee Wins WV, Team Romney Ignores

2008-02-05T15:51:48-05:00

The presidential campaign for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney must be stinging a bit on the news that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee carried West Virginia today, but you wouldn't know it from the latest supporter email.

Just a few moments ago, the Romney campaign sent out an email message to supporters highlighting the differences between its candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain. While McCain, who has been downing the poli-vitamins sans water since his Straight Talk Express was nearly pronounced dead-on-arrival in Iowa last summer, is arguably the Republican frontrunner and deserving of Team Romney's scrutiny in these final hours, the email is notably silent when it comes to Huck. He's not mentioned.

The loss of all of West Virginia's 18 Republican delegates has to hit the Romney Campaign hard as it struggles to sustain viability - especially since the candidate himself addressed the convention. Those on the ground in West Virginia are reporting that McCain supporters, following a miserable first-round showing, threw their support to Huckabee in an effort to deny Romney the delegates.

Here in Iowa, a national loss by Romney, the Republican candidate who tossed millions of campaign dollars and untold hours of time into the state, to McCain, a candidate who largely ignored Iowa, doesn't bode well. The same holds true on the Democratic side of the coin if New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is named the Democratic nominee. The conventional wisdom is neither Clinton nor McCain would be strong supporters of Iowa's traditional role as first-in-the-nation.

Oh No, Not Again

2008-02-05T09:42:55-05:00

Oh, no! Not again.

It's been a month since the Iowa caucus and I was foolish enough to believe I was over the hump - that the curse had been broken. It should have been. Yet, this morning while waking up to the Good Morning America crew, it all came flooding back.

The camera panned the crowd at Times Square. I realized a moment too late that the sign warriors were out in force. Even knowing what was coming, my feet refused to move away from the screen.

"Obama! Obama! Oh-oh-oh-Obama!"

"H - I ... H-I-L-L-A-R-Y. Hillary! Our nominee!"

Finally, my legs began to move away from the television and out of the room. But it was too late. The chants I'd heard so often and for so long here were reverberating in my head. I'm like a junkie getting a whiff of her preferred smack.

40 Years On, Women's Health Group Still Educating

2008-02-04T08:49:00-05:00

A great deal has changed in our nation and world during the nearly 40 years since a group of women met at a conference in Boston to talk about their medical experiences and share knowledge about their bodies. While the women associated with the group have never changed their primary focus of educating women about their own bodies and health, the changes -- both outwardly and inwardly -- have had an impact on how they approach their task.

"[When we started,] we were all younger," said Judy Norsigian, executive director and one of the founders of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, which now does business under the name of their best-selling series Our Bodies, Ourselves. "No one had gone through menopause. ... Of the group that incorporated in 1971, there were 12 of us and I was, at that time, 23 and one of the women was almost 39. She's now 75 and just about to be 76. It has grown with us and it is partly because we became older that we became interested in menopause and issues beyond the early years."

The original booklet, which put women's health in a new political and social context, was published in 1970 on newsprint, and quickly became a success. Three years later, the first commercial edition was published by Simon & Schuster. Since then, the book has undergone several revisions and has been translated into numerous languages. In 2006, the group published a new book focusing on menopause. Another book, this one with a focus on pregnancy and birth, is scheduled for release in March.

Norsigian came to Iowa on Saturday to serve as keynote speaker for the 2008 annual Choice Dinner in Iowa City, an event that benefits the Emma Goldman Clinic. She agreed to sit down for an exclusive interview following the event.

"I think, over the years, the controversies have really varied too," she said. "We didn't have as much awareness of what the drug industry was doing early on. It has definitely grown in both its influence and its power. That's why we focus on things like advertising hype -- whether it is drug or surgical procedures -- and the importance of getting balanced information."

The Internet, she says, has opened many new avenues for women to learn about their health -- not all of them necessarily good.

"There's a lot of bad stuff on the Internet, but there is also a lot of good stuff," she said. "You have to know the source of the information. Is it credible? Find out who is funding the website. Things like that can help you in deciding if the material really makes sense. We take no funding from the pharmaceutical industry. So do a number of other women's health groups like Breast Cancer Action in San Francisco and the National Women's Health Network in [Washington,] D.C. As such, you know there isn't a conflict of interest.

"There are some women's groups who do pull punches when it comes to being honest and open and calling a spade a spade. That's because they don't bite the hand that feeds them. So, that is a problem. Even groups who think they would never do that ultimately do. We know that about human nature and that's why we created this policy, even though that means it is harder to survive. You have less source of corporate money. We are very committed to keeping evidenced-based, commercially-free information that's not driven by corporate bias."

Even as the group has expanded to include specific areas of interest to women of certain age groups, Norsigian said they are also now re-focusing on some of the issues they struggled with from the beginning.

"We've been very concerned about a lot of the issues that we championed early on -- midwifery, options for childbearing," she said. "We got them for awhile, and then they started to really reverse direction. For instance, breastfeeding rates and breastfeeding promotion was on the rise, and now -- except in some places -- there has actually been a trend in the wrong direction. There's this fear that women have that their breasts are going to look terrible if they nurse, so they won't nurse because of that. Or they are given these 'goodie bags' by the hospital that contain infant formula."

When considering what can be done to reverse the breastfeeding trends, Norsigian points to Portland, Ore.

"The one city that finally got rid of [hospital 'goodie bags'] is Portland," she said. "Also, last year Oregon passed the strongest breastfeeding legislation in the entire country. It's a real model for everyone else. That was a primary example of activists working together."

Working with other organizations and individuals -- even those that may not be considered friendly -- was a topic Norsigian discussed both in the interview and when she gave her keynote address. While speaking to the group, Norsigian recalled the story of a young woman from the evangelical community who wrote the front page article in The Nation that outlined the specific purpose assigned to Dr. W. David Hager when he was appointed to lead the Food and Drug Administration's Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs. He was put there by the Bush administration for the sole purpose of ending emergency contraception, something which is now widely credited as a reason for the nation's reduced abortion rates.

"It was something that couldn't be proven until [Hager] inadvisedly admitted it at a speech he gave in Kentucky," she said. "It was taped and this young researcher got ahold of it and ended up meeting with [Hager's] wife and finding out a number of sordid details about their life as well. This became a big story, and he was not re-appointed to the committee. Those kinds of things happen -- where you have to sort of lock hands with people who care about integrity, of the scientific process, people's personal integrity."

Norsigian also told the group about how a family friend, a priest, was given information that caused him to reconsider some of his previous actions.

"Working with groups and collaborating with groups, building coalitions, is extraordinarily important and it requires a certain amount of training," she said near the end of her public remarks. "Don't take it lightly, I think all of us need this kind of training in working with groups, working with people, developing listening skills and understanding that the people we disagree with -- even powerfully disagree with -- may have some important things we need to hear.

"I remember a long and extraordinary conversation with a priest, who was very close to my family. He didn't like abortion and he preached against it every year. A woman in his congregation came up to him and told him that she had an abortion and told him why his sermon made her feel horrible and why she thought it was wrong, morally wrong. I won't give you the details, but I want to tell you that he listened and he heard her. He told me that he wasn't giving that sermon ever again. His last words were, 'Don't get me wrong, Judy, abortion is still killing, but now I know abortion can be the right and the moral thing to do.' I don't know who that woman was, but that's the kind of intervention that makes a difference."

Brownback Uses Roe Anniversary as Money Pitch

2008-01-24T08:45:14-05:00

In his first direct email to supporters since leaving the race for the White House, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, has used the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade as a fund-raising catalyst for his political action committee (PAC).

The email, prepared and paid for by the Restore America PAC, a group identified as Brownback's "leadership fund," describes the ruling "that haunts us to this day" as being perpetrated by "activist judges."

"Like many of you, I pray for the day that the highest court in the land overturns that decision, and this long dark night of abortion on demand comes to an end," reads the message.

Brownback says in the email that he has faith Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito would be "a vote on the side of life." Because of that belief, Brownback says the court is just one vote away from overturning Roe.

The email, after outlining the need for both a Republican president and U.S. Senate majority, makes a direct money pitch for the PAC.

"We have all been focused on the first goal [of electing a Republican president] -- the primary season has been wild and unpredictable thus far. However, the second goal is just as important. If the Democrats maintain control of the U.S. Senate in 2008, no pro-life nominee to the Supreme Court will be confirmed," he writes. "I have decided to commit my time and energy this year to achieving these two goals. However to do so, I need your help."

The email contains five donation links in all, the final two suggesting a $51 amount -- to elect 51 Republicans to the U.S. Senate. The money donated, according to the email, will be used to elect anti-abortion candidates to the U.S. Senate and to allow Brownback to travel and speak on behalf of such candidates.

In 2008, of the 10 Senate races highlighted by The National Journal as being hotly contested, eight are seats currently held by Republicans. Even in the traditional Republican strongholds of Alaska and Nebraska, the Republicans are expected to have to launch real campaigns if they want to hold on to existing seats.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, the Restore America PAC began 2007 with just over $10,000. It ended the third quarter with just over $1,000 in cash. In the past, however, Brownback has used PAC funds to support Iowa candidates. Contributions of $1,000 were made to congressmen Steve King and Tom Latham and former state Sen. Jeff Lamberti during his unsuccessful bid for Congress.