Healthcare Prof:

Elena Kagan — who made history as the first female solicitor general as well as the first female dean of Harvard Law School — received Senate confirmation Thursday to become the third woman on the current Supreme Court and the fourth female justice in U.S. history, USA Today reports. Five Republican senators crossed party lines to support Kagan, who won confirmation on a 63-37 vote.

Through his two Supreme Court nominations, President Obama — who last year selected Justice Sonia Sotomayor for a seat on the court — has doubled the number of women ever to serve on the court and ensured that, for the very first time in history, one-third with the justices on a single court will be girls. Kagan will serve alongside Sotomayor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female justice in history (Kiely, USA Today, 8/6).

Obama called Kagan’s confirmation “a sign of progress that I relish, not just as a father who wants limitless possibilities for my two daughters, but as an American proud that our Supreme Court will be more inclusive, a lot more representative and more reflective of us as a people than ever before” (Hulse, New York Times, 8/5).

Kagan will join Obama at the White House Friday for a ceremony celebrating her confirmation. On Saturday, Chief Justice John Roberts will swear her in as the nation’s 112th justice, although Kagan will not formally be installed as a justice until the court starts its new term on Oct. 1 (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/6). Since of her role as solicitor general in the Obama administration, Kagan already has identified 11 cases on the court’s docket from which she will recuse herself (New York Times, 8/5).

Kagan’s confirmation is not expected to alter the court’s ideological balance simply because she will replace Justice John Paul Stevens, a liberal. Kagan’s supporters hope that she will be able to build strong bonds with Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered the swing vote on a court with four solid conservatives and four solid liberals, according to the Washington Post. It will be “intriguing” to watch Kagan’s relationship with Roberts develop since Kagan, age 50, and Roberts, age 55, are the two youngest members with the court and most likely will serve together for decades, the Post reports (Barnes/Kane, Washington Post, 8/6).

Bond, Brown Oppose Kagan

Republican Sens. Christopher Bond (Mo.) and Scott Brown (Mass.) — who had been considered potential Republican supporters of Kagan — announced Thursday that they would vote against her confirmation. Brown cited Kagan’s lack of judicial experience as a reason for his opposition.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) voted against Kagan, becoming the very first Democrat to oppose a Democratic president’s nominee since 1968. Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Richard Lugar (Ind.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) crossed party lines to support Kagan (Stern, CQ Today, 8/5).

Throughout her confirmation process, Kagan dodged some with the most intense scrutiny cast on previous nominees, as public and political attention focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the war in Afghanistan and other issues, the Post reports (Washington Post, 8/6). Kagan’s critics largely focused on her of lack of experience as a judge and accused her of holding liberal views on abortion rights and gun control (USA Today, 8/6).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Every day Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is really a free of charge service with the National Partnership for Women & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Ladies & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Kenya on Thursday announced that voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, despite objections from religious leaders over abortion rights and other issues, the New York Times reports. The final results of Wednesday’s referendum showed that 67% of Kenyans supported the constitution (Gettleman, New York Times, 8/6). Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki must now sign the document into law.

The constitution reduces the power with the presidency and devolves power to local areas, changes that many hope will reduce the dominance of one tribe “that has been a staple of [Kenyan] politics” since 1963, the Washington Post reports. The document also grants Kenyans more civil liberties and includes several provisions related to land ownership reform.

Church Leaders Fight Abortion Provision

Although the constitution had broad support, some church leaders staunchly opposed it, arguing that a clause could be interpreted as promoting abortion, the Post reports (Raghavan, Washington Post, 8/6). The language preserves Kenya’s existing abortion ban and outlines exceptions if “in the opinion of a trained wellness professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health with the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law” (Women’s Health Policy Report, 5/17). The church leaders claim the language will lead to “abortion on demand,” the Times reports (New York Times, 8/6).

On Thursday, several church leaders and some politicians said that they will continue to urge the government to amend the constitution’s abortion language, as well as other provisions they oppose (Washington Post, 8/6). Despite the criticism from Kenya’s religious leaders, Nairobi-based constitutional scholar Yash Pal Ghai stated Wednesday’s election showed that ethnic identities now hold much more influence than religious ones for Kenyans. For example, Catholics and evangelical Christians in the Luo and Kikuyu areas largely ignored religious leaders’ calls to vote against the constitution, instead listening to their tribal leaders, who had been in favor with the document. However, in the Kalenjin areas where religious leaders hold much more sway than political leaders, the people voted against the constitution. Ghai stated, “This was largely an ethnic vote, but not absolutely,” adding, “Kenyans are getting far more conscious of these things” (New York Times, 8/6).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Every day Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report is a free of charge service with the National Partnership for Women & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Ladies & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

On Friday, six abortion clinics filed a federal lawsuit challenging two Louisiana abortion laws, including one (SB 528) that requires ladies seeking abortions to receive ultrasound exams and another (HB 1453) that prevents doctors who perform elective abortions from obtaining medical malpractice insurance, the AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Both laws were overwhelmingly approved by the state Legislature last session, marking the latest development in an “annual ritual” lasting nearly two decades whereby lawmakers typically pass at least one law imposing abortion restrictions and abortion-rights supporters challenging it in court, according to the Times-Picayune.

Previously, Louisiana state law required ultrasounds for women seeking abortion services with pregnancies beyond 20 weeks’ gestation. Under the new law, all ladies looking for abortion services must receive an ultrasound exam, and the ultrasound technician must offer ladies a chance to hear a description with the image, to receive a photograph of it and to view it on a video screen.

The suit argues that the ultrasound law is “unconstitutionally vague” because it does not clearly state whether the person performing the ultrasound must try to compel a woman to accept an envelope containing the ultrasound picture. In addition, the law could violate a patient’s confidentiality by exposing private patient info to a third party, the suit states.

The suit also contends that the law banning medical malpractice coverage for doctors who perform abortions improperly treats abortion providers differently from other health professionals and denies them equal legal protection. According to the suit, the law is intended to deter doctors from performing abortions, which would impose “a substantial obstacle in the path of women looking for abortions.”

Attorney William Rittenberg and also the Center for Reproductive Rights filed the suit in federal court in Baton Rouge. The suit names state Lawyer General Buddy Caldwell, the state wellness secretary and people who serve on two medical boards charged with enforcing the laws as defendants.

Rittenberg said that no “state is close to Louisiana in the number of statutes that have tried to restrict Roe v. Wade,” and he noted that he has filed similar suits every year since the 1990s. The attorney general’s office and the wellness department have not received official copies of the suit and did not comment (AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune, 8/7).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You are able to view the whole Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service with the National Partnership for Females & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Females & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Article Opinions:1 posts
MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” lately examined the increasingly “extreme” antiabortion-rights positions of Republican Senate candidates, a topic Maddow calls a “sleeper issue” in this year’s campaigns. According to Maddow, Nevada candidate Sharron Angle, Kentucky candidate Rand Paul and Colorado candidate Ken Buck have said abortion should not even be allowed in cases of rape and incest. Paul and Buck have stated they would consider exceptions if the woman’s life is in danger.

The candidates’ position was “beyond the pale even in fringe antiabortion politics not very many years ago,” Maddow stated. She added that the candidates are campaigning “as small government conservatives,” but “all maintain that government should be big enough that it should monitor every single pregnancy in the country to ensure that every single woman who becomes pregnant is forced by the government to carry that pregnancy to term.”

The segment also included a discussion with Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University professor and columnist for The Nation, who stated that “every time we move more aggressively against women’s reproductive rights, the more we will see the consequences show up in everything from well being care policy to … potentially actually moving towards reducing the opportunities for ladies to … find healthy, safe termination services.” When asked by Maddow why Democrats “have been gun-shy” about discussing the positions of some candidates, Harris-Lacewell said that “it’s very important to take those who have a religious and moral objection to abortion very seriously when they say that they believe that a pregnancy termination is murder.”

In addition, Democrats “just haven’t done a very good job about redefining ethical questions and normative questions from a progressive agenda perspective,” Harris-Lacewell stated. She added that Democrats “continue to type of cede this ground to conservatives. It is still much more of the same work we’ve been needing to do for a decade” (Maddow, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” MSNBC, 8/5).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. It is possible to view the entire Day-to-day Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report can be a free service with the National Partnership for Women & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Workers at crisis pregnancy centers in Toronto, Canada, frequently supply women who have unintended pregnancies with misleading or inaccurate data about abortion — such as that it causes breast cancer, infertility or emotional trauma — according to an investigation by the Toronto Star. The article explains that CPCs are pro-life agencies that “describe themselves as non-judgmental sources of support for females with unplanned pregnancies but use misleading info to discourage [women] from choosing abortion.” A Star reporter, posing as a woman who was six weeks pregnant and considering abortion, visited eight CPCs in the Toronto area. The paper later returned to contact leaders of the CPCs, who either defended their practices or did not comment.

At one CPC the Star visited, a counselor falsely purported that having an abortion was much more risky than carrying a pregnancy to term and that clinics sell “pieces of babies” for medical research. Some CPCs used images to create a “terrifying description” of an aborted fetus with “limbs lying in a bloody mess,” the Star reports. The centers also warned of supposed psychological problems and reactions — such as “abortion trauma syndrome” and “anniversary grief” — that are not legitimate medical conditions.

CPCs outnumber abortion clinics in Canada, with 197 centers and 151 abortion facilities operating in 2008, according to Canadians for Choice, a reproductive-rights group in Ottawa that tracks abortion services nationwide. Most CPCs are affiliated with the Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services in Alberta or Birthright International in Ontario.

Agathe Grametz-Kedzior, program manager at Canadians for Choice, said, “The greatest concern that we have … is that crisis pregnancy centers are offering misleading info to girls who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy.” Canadians for Choice has established a helpline, which often receives calls from girls are upset about details they received from a CPC (Smith, Toronto Star, 8/7).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the whole Every day Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is actually a free service with the National Partnership for Females & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Ladies & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

The following summarizes selected women’s health-related blog entries.

~ “None of Your Business: Bus Driver Refuses To Bring Women to Planned Parenthood,” Micole Allekotte, National Women’s Law Center’s “Womenstake”: Allekotte, a health fellow at NWLC, writes that a Texas bus driver is suing a transportation company that allegedly fired him since he refused to drive women to a Planned Parenthood affiliate. The driver “claims that the employer must accommodate his religious beliefs against abortion by allowing him to refuse to do his job,” Allekotte states. She continues, “The driver’s prejudice against Planned Parenthood and the ladies who go there is especially egregious because Planned Parenthood performs many services in addition to abortion, including routine gynecological exams, cancer and [sexually transmitted infection] screenings, family planning counseling, birth control distribution, and men’s sexual wellness screenings.” Ultimately, “[i]t is none of a bus driver’s business where his passengers are going or why,” Allekotte writes, adding, “We should all promote the principle that each person is entitled to make his or her own medical decisions totally free of imposed impediments from those who disagree” (Allekotte, “Womenstake,” National Women’s Law Center, 8/6).

~ “Republicans Plan To Exploit Abortion Issue To Defund Health Law,” Igor Volsky, Think Progress’ “Wonk Room”: Conservative critics of the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) “are now focusing on defunding some with the most unpopular provisions” of the legislation through the appropriations process, Volsky writes, adding that a recent American Spectator article by Philip Klein shows that “the idea is picking up some serious traction.” According to Volsky, Republicans might attempt to add abortion-related language to the defunding amendments to “peel off the votes of several old members of the so-called Stupak coalition” — antiabortion-rights Democrats who opposed related provisions with the law until the last minute. Klein wrote that this tactic “would provoke a fight in which pro-choice Democrats would once again have to choose between” the reform law and limiting private coverage of abortion services. Volsky continues, “Depending on how the midterm elections turn out, some of these strategies may, in fact, prove successful,” he cautions that if Republicans do attempt this strategy “it’s far from certain that they’ll succeed.” He notes that Gail Wilensky, a CMS administrator under President George H.W. Bush, stated lately that “it has been very difficult historically to do this type of a starving unless you have a very large majority behind you” (Volsky, “Wonk Room,” Think Progress, 8/9).

~ “Little Women: Early Puberty and What It Means for Girls,” Melanie Abrahams, International Women’s Well being Coalition’s “Akimbo”: “In recent years, the transition from girlhood to womanhood has seemed to come faster” and placed “the sexual maturity of young girls in the spotlight,” Abrahams writes. A new study showing that U.S. girls are reaching puberty at younger ages “complicates the issue,” she continues. While “there’s been a lot of brouhaha over naming the culprit of early physical maturation of girls,” Abrahams argues that “instead of pointing fingers, we need to face the facts and focus on the changing need of girls in our lives and around the world.” She writes that the urgency of providing “early, age appropriate and comprehensive sexuality education” is “far greater when a girl is already menstruating and could be at risk for early pregnancy, or is having to negotiate sexual pressures.” In addition, “early puberty illuminates the crucial need to fight child marriage on a global scale,” she argues, noting that in some countries, puberty is considered the benchmark for when girls are ready for intercourse. “People might not like the idea that little girls are, physically speaking, growing up faster — but that doesn’t mean we can afford to just stick our heads in the ground or focus only on how to stop early maturation,” Abrahams states, concluding, “Puberty is scary and confusing at any age — and as girls face it earlier and earlier, it is our responsibility to offer them any help we can” (Abrahams, “Akimbo,” International Women’s Well being Coalition, 8/9).

~ “Unmasking Fake Clinics: The California Edition of ’12th and Delaware,’” Alexa Cole, RH Reality Check: The premiere of the HBO documentary “12th and Delaware” “gave vivid examples of threats [crisis pregnancy centers] pose to women’s freedom and privacy,” Cole writes. Although the documentary was filmed in Florida, Cole writes that a NARAL Pro-Choice California Foundation investigation into CPCs “demonstrate[s] that the pro-choice state of California is under attack from the ‘fake clinic’ arm of the anti-choice movement.” According to Cole, 91% of California counties have at least one CPC, while only 59% of counties have an abortion provider. “What’s happening in Florida, as seen in ’12th and Delaware,’ is not only happening here in California but all over the country,” she continues. The investigation “highlights that though California has long been considered the top state for respecting women’s reproductive privacy, it is not immune to the threats that are being documented around the country” (Cole, RH Reality Check, 8/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You’ll be able to view the whole Every day Women’s Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report is really a free of charge service with the National Partnership for Females & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Abortion rights have become a critical issue in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial primary between former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel — a “relatively centrist Republican” — and former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a far more conservative candidate, the Wall Street Journal reports. Handel leads by five percentage points in the polls heading into today’s primary.

According to the Journal, the race mirrors many GOP contests this election. Some candidates are moving far to the right to secure the support of various Republican leaders and tea party groups, but they risk alienating far more moderate GOP and independent voters, who could be necessary for victories in the November general elections.

Handel has battled charges from staunch conservatives that she does not sufficiently oppose abortion rights due to the fact she believes in exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the woman. In addition, Handel opposes limiting the number of embryos that physicians can produce for in-vitro fertilization procedures.

Deal opposes abortion rights in all cases except endangerment to the woman’s life. Georgia Right to Life leaders have endorsed Deal and said Handel should not refer to herself as “pro-life.” They also stated her views on IVF are skewed because she is “barren,” a reference to her public comments that she can not have children. The group’s comment prompted Handel to call for its leadership to resign. Deal said he endorses some limits on the number of embryos created for IVF, if the decisions were made with physician input.

While Deal has strong support from many conservative legislators, Handle recently received an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who stated Handel is a “pro-life, pro-Constitutionalist with a can-do attitude” (Blackmon/Bauerlein, Wall Street Journal, 8/9).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. It is possible to view the whole Every day Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Ladies & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Since Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner took office in 2007, her administration has eroded protections for reproductive rights, including a reversal of the government’s intention to guarantee access to legal abortion services, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch, the New York Times reports.

Abortion is “strictly” limited in the predominantly Catholic nation, with exceptions only in cases of rape or physical or mental risk to the woman, the report stated. Despite the restrictions, an estimated 40% of pregnancies in 2005 ended in abortion, most of which had been illegal and unsafe. Unsafe abortion is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the country, contributing to far more than 20% of deaths recorded as a result of obstetric emergencies in 2008, according to government figures cited in the report.

Marianne Mollmann, the report’s author, wrote that opponents of abortion rights continue to influence policy decisions. In July, the Well being Ministry “backtracked on its declared intention to guarantee access to legal abortion” soon after strong questioning by the Argentine press, the report stated (Barrioneuvo, New York Times, 8/10). At the time, Well being Minister Juan Manzur said that he never approved new guidelines on how doctors should comply with exceptions to the abortion ban. “We have said this before: We are against abortion. The president has said the same thing,” Manzur said (Huber, AP/San Francisco Examiner, 8/10). However, earlierthat month, a ministry official said Manzur had signed a resolution supporting the guidelines, which would have allowed doctors to carry out abortions for rape survivors without securing a police report.

Access to Contraception

The report also noted that Argentine females continue to face “barriers to making independent decisions” about their reproductive health, such as domestic and sexual violence, and economic barriers that the government has failed to address.

The country’s Congress in 2002 enacted the National Law on Sexual Wellness and Responsible Protection, which ended an 11-year ban on the use and sale of contraceptives and called for universal access to contraception and data on reproductive well being. However, “[l]ittle has changed for the women and girls who depend on the public health system,” the report stated. Public officials who failed to uphold the law have not been penalized by the government, the report said (New York Times, 8/10). Mollmann said, “It really is just about providing information and contraception to give women real choices. That’s not happening.”

The report said Argentina has made improvements in two areas since HRW’s last report in 2005: Sex education is now mandatory in public schools, as well as the country has removed obstacles for women who seek sterilization (AP/San Francisco Examiner, 8/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. It is possible to view the whole Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is actually a totally free service with the National Partnership for Ladies & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

Crucell And Harvard To Test Experimental AIDS Vaccine In Uninfected Adults

The pharmaceutical company Crucell, in collaboration with Harvard University, “plans to test its experimental AIDS vaccine in the U.S. and in Africa, advancing the quest for a protective shot against” HIV, Bloomberg reports. The trial will test the vaccine in uninfected adults “to assess its safety and ability to prompt an immune response … the company stated in a statement.” Bloomberg continues, “The vaccine combines shots … in a so-called prime-boost approach that’s designed to each kill infected cells and prevent HIV from entering those that are uninfected” (Bennett, 8/11).

IPS Looks At Use Of Abortion-Inducing Drug In Pakistan

Inter Press Service examines the use of the WHO-approved drug misoprostol, which can be used to induce abortion, in Pakistan. “Laws covering abortion are ambiguous in this predominantly Muslim nation, where public hospitals shy away from performing it. … Abortions are thus often performed clandestinely in unhygienic conditions, resulting in high morbidity and mortality,” IPS writes. The article reports on a new hotline that counsels women who want to use the drug to induce abortion and concerns that this may impact the drug’s primary uses to save women’s lives from post-partum hemhorraging (Ebrahim, 8/10).

Russian Wheat Export Ban Could Cause Hunger For Millions, WFP Warns

Russia’s ban on wheat exports, scheduled to go into impact August 15, could cause “millions with the world’s poorest people [to] go hungry,” by reducing the amount of food delivered to developing countries, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned, according Dow Jones Newswires. The organization is searching for an exemption from the ban, which was imposed amid severe drought in the region. The news service reports that “68% of the 550,000 tons of wheat purchased by the WFP came from Russian origin,” and a spokesperson stated the program would be “a bit wary of being over-reliant on Russia” for grain in the future (Henshaw, 8/10).

Uganda Revises Counterfeit Goods Bill, Activists Still Not Convinced

“The Uganda office with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and also the country’s National Drug Authority are satisfied that the new version of the controversial Counterfeit Goods Bill does not threaten the importation and production of generic drugs by conflating them with fake drugs, as the first draft of the bill did. But health rights activists are not convinced,” Inter Press Service reports. The bill was amended by the Ugandan government “after pressure from civil society organizations” about parts of the draft that could “restrict access to affordable generic medicines, which currently make up the bulk of drugs used in the East African country’s wellness sector,” the news service writes. Of specific concern, according to wellness rights lawyer, Sandra Kiapi, is that the latest version with the bill still neglects to clearly define counterfeit drugs or “separate intellectual property issues from the issue with the quality of medicines” (Kagumire, 8/10).

Los Angeles Times Examines How Redevelopment Plans In Cairo Might Affect The Poor

The Los Angeles Times reports on redevelopment plans in Cairo which, some observers fear, “will only push the poor further to the fringes to benefit developers and the rich.” The country’s housing ministry is expected to have development plans for its cities, which includes Cairo, by 2012, but “[t]he concern … is that the city’s remaking will turn into an exercise in reshuffling the poor to the fringes to benefit developers along with the rich,” the newspaper writes. The article includes comments from Mustafa Madbouli, director of Egypt’s urban planning office, Mamdouh Hamza, former advisor of the country’s anti-slum program and people living in Cairo’s slums (Fleishman, 8/9).

PEPFAR To Support Namibian Program That Fights Gender-Based Violence

The Namibian government and development partners will receive assistance from PEPFAR to “fight widespread gender-based violence (GBV) in the country,” New Era/allAfrica.com writes. The two-year program will “address male norms and behavior along with the increase in women’s legal rights and protection.” Specifically, the news service reports, the initiative aims to strengthen nearby capacity, increase community awareness and improve legal services. “According to recent studies, nearly 50 percent of Namibian females and nearly 30 percent of men have experienced gender-based violence,” and a “large number” of Namibians are unaware of legal protections (8/9).

This data was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You are able to view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for e-mail delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

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Healthcare Prof:

Continuing its campaign against antiabortion-rights House Democrats who voted for the federal well being reform law (PL 111-148), the Susan B. Anthony List on Tuesday launched a bus tour through 23 cities in swing states to rally support from social conservatives, the Washington Independent reports. The bus — dubbed the “Votes Have Consequences Express” — will travel to Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. According to former U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, project director for SBA List, in the districts the bus will visit, “more than three-quarters with the voters say they oppose taxpayer-funded abortion.”

Antiabortion-rights advocates’ arguments concern a decision by a bloc of House Democrats to vote for the well being reform law soon after President Obama pledged to issue an executive order reiterating that federal funds would not be used for abortion services. Although legal and well being care experts — and even some Republican lawmakers — say the reform law will not supply taxpayer money for abortion services, Musgrave and other abortion-rights opponents maintain that the restrictions are too lax. They argue that a provision in the law requiring private money for abortion coverage to be kept in a separate account from federal dollars is an “accounting gimmick,” according to the Independent. The groups say that the executive order could be rescinded in the future and does not carry the same weight as a law.

Timothy Jost, a health law expert and law professor at Washington and Lee University, stated that the groups targeting Democrats who voted for the law “have a political agenda, and it’s a partisan political agenda, and they’re not particularly interested in the truth.” He added, “What they want to do is elect Republicans” (Zwick, Washington Independent, 8/11).

Reprinted with type permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You are able to view the whole Daily Women’s Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is really a totally free service with the National Partnership for Girls & Families.

? 2010 National Partnership for Females & Families. All rights reserved.