Blogs Comment On Health Care Reform Legislation, Congressional Funding For D.C., Other Topics

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

~ "Just the Facts, Sir: The False Dichotomy of Catholics vs. 'Pro-Choice' on Common Ground," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: In anticipation of the release of the White House's "common ground" proposal to reduce the need for abortion and help prevent unintended pregnancies, "numerous members of the male pontificator commentariat are trying to spark anxiety by claiming Obama will have to make a choice between 'the Catholic vote' and 'the pro-choice community,'" Jacobson writes. However, "[n]othing could be further from the truth," she states, noting that Obama received the majority of the Catholic vote in the election and that a "majority of Catholic voters approve of [his] performance to date." There is "no danger" of Obama losing Catholic support "on this particular issue, as long as the administration makes clear its values and principles and goals and objectives, and as long as it sticks to the facts," Jacobson continues. She lists several steps that the White House should take with its proposal, including making it clear that the administration is "committed to evidence-based policies in public health" and that "the best way to reduce unintended pregnancies, and hence the need for abortion, is to provide universal access to prevention services." By focusing on evidence-based public health policies, the Obama administration "can, in the long run, actually bring profound change to this debate," Jacobson writes. She concludes that "evidence-based policies put into practice will achieve many of the goals we seek and take the air out of the ideological fight in which we have been engaged" (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 7/2).

~ "Is Denying Women Abortions the Price of Bipartisanship?" Igor Volsky, Think Progress' "The Wonk Room": Volsky writes that Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Republican colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee reportedly are pushing health care reform legislation that would require insurers participating in a new national health insurance exchange to exclude coverage for abortion services. According to Volsky, the committee's version of the bill would be the only piece of health care reform legislation "that specifically prohibits -- takes away, rations, if you will -- a medical service." Meanwhile, health care reform legislation being considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the House's three committees that govern health care "leaves the coverage decisions -- the design of the so-called essential benefit packages" -- to the HHS secretary or an expert committee. Volsky notes that approximately one in three U.S. women will have an abortion by age 45 and that private insurers usually cover the procedure. He writes, "As Republicans often argue, Congress should leave benefits decisions to the medical professionals." He adds that "if denying abortion services to women is the price of bipartisanship, then perhaps winning those one or two Republican votes isn't worth the price of jeopardizing women's health and well-being" (Volsky, "The Wonk Room," Think Progress, 7/6).














~ "House Moves To Lift Bans On Abortion Funding, Needle Exchange, Domestic Partnership and Medical Marijuana in D.C.," Choice Words: The fiscal year 2010 appropriations bill currently under review in the House "would lift a number of reproductive justice-related funding bans" in the District of Columbia, including a ban on using locally-raised funds for abortion, the blog entry states. "Access to abortion in D.C. has been severely limited by anti-choice Congresspeople playing politics with the district," the blog says, noting that Congress has "supreme authority" over the district's funding. The bill also would end bans on using funds for certain other purposes, such as domestic partnership registration and benefits, according to the blog. The blog concludes that the "fight to lift these funding bans is just beginning" and is an "important first step towards protecting reproductive and sexual health in the U.S. capital" (Choice Words, 7/1).

~ "Ohio Supreme Court Prohibits Off-Label Use of RU486 and Denies Release of Clinic Records," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: The Ohio Supreme Court's recent declaration that a state law regulating the use of mifepristone -- which is used in medication abortion -- prohibits doctors from issuing off-label prescriptions of the drug, despite the "common" use of off-label prescriptions, Jacobson writes. FDA's approval of the drug in 2000 was "based on clinical trials involving patients no more than 49 days pregnan[t]," Jacobson writes, adding that Ohio clinics "were using the drug for terminations of pregnancies of longer duration based on additional clinical evidence, but not approved by FDA." Jacobson also discusses the specifics of the court's decision in the blog entry (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 7/1).

~ "State-Level Anti-Choice Efforts Target Pharmacies and Provider Conscience Laws," Kay Steiger, RH Reality Check: Provider "conscience" protection bills are "becoming an increasingly popular mode of anti-choice legislation," Steiger writes. Louisiana's Legislature recently passed such a bill and 12 other states introduced similar measures during this legislative session, according to Steiger. Although the Louisiana Legislature compromised to "protec[t] religious freedoms and protec[t] the rights of patients as consumers by ensuring access to care" in its bill, "not all states will result" in a similar compromise, Steiger continues. For example, Arizona's bill allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception and requires a 24-hour waiting period before abortion procedures. However, Wisconsin's bill -- the Prescription Protection Act, which is included in the state budget -- requires pharmacies to have a staff member on duty who is willing to fill birth control prescriptions during business hours, Steiger writes. She continues that the "best way to fight pharmacist refusal bills is to approach these from a consumer protection perspective," adding that few pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions unrelated to women's reproductive health. Bills that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill reproductive health-related prescriptions are "unfairly targeting women as consumers," Steiger writes. She concludes that women "deserve access to birth control and emergency contraception, just as other consumers deserve access to heart disease or other medications" (Steiger, RH Reality Check, 7/3).

~ "Operation Rescue Founder Launches 'Defeat Sotomayor' Roadshow," Ian Millhiser, Think Progress: Millhiser reports that Randall Terry, founder of the antiabortion-rights group Operation Rescue, has announced a 12-city tour intended to convince senators to filibuster the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice because she likely would not vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Terry in a flier promoting the event states, "'We must stop permitting this hypocrisy, cowardice and treachery in our midst.'" Millhiser writes, "Sadly, such rhetoric is relatively tame by Terry's standards," noting that Terry refused to condemn the murder of abortion provider George Tiller (Millhiser, Think Progress, 7/6).

Antiabortion-Rights Blog

~ "President Obama Promises a 'Robust Conscience Clause,'" David Brody, The Brody File: In a recent discussion with religion reporters to discuss his upcoming meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, President Obama "went a little farther" than his past statements by "saying that conscience clause protections on abortion coming from the White House will be strong and 'robust,'" Brody writes. Brody includes a transcript of Obama's comments to reporters. According to Brody's transcript, Obama said that the "only reason" his position on conscience clauses might "appear unclear is because it came in the wake of" the Bush administration's "last-minute" HHS rule. Obama said that he thinks "there have been some who keep on anticipating the worst from us, and it's not based on anything I've said or done, but is rather just a perception somehow that we have some hard-line agenda that we're seeking to push." The administration is in the process of reviewing the Bush policy, Obama said. He added that when the review is complete, "there will be a robust conscience clause in place" and that his new rule "will certainly not be weaker than what existed before the changes were made" (Brody, The Brody File, 7/2).


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