Tag: sex education

Tonight on ABC News at 10 p.m. a program called "What Would You Do?" will air. The aim of the show is to measure the responses by real customers in a pharmacy waiting area who overhear an actress, playing a teen seeking birth control, being denied contraception by the actor pharmacist for "moral" reasons.

ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper interviewed the executive director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, who facilitates the "adoption" of frozen embryos, and questioned why those against embryonic stem cell research are supportive of IVF technology when the majority of embryos used in the process do not result in a live birth.

Despite assumptions that Obama would place restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, limiting federal funding to cell lines made from discarded embryos at fertility clinics, the decision of what embryos will be used in research will largely be left to the National Institutes of Health: (via Washington Post).

Huffington Post writer Kirsten Moore responds to a column written by William Saletan which said that women need to take more responsibility in using contraception in order to prevent abortion, saying Saletan is pointing his finger at women and failing to compassionately understand why they need more education and a better sense of self-ownership.

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon.com agrees, taking Saletan to task for an interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews, and arguing that his desire to lecture women about birth control is an attempt to find "common ground" with misogynistic conservatives who want to lecture women about sex in general.

Sex education advocate Shelby Knox writes about New York's lack of statewide standards that leaves sex education up to individual teachers, noting that the Healthy Teens Act would create a grant program to fund comprehensive sex education but may very well be vetoed by the governor due to dire financial straits: (via RH Reality Check).  

Today is National Woman and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and groups are organizing in New York City in order to draw attention to the alarming rates of HIV among women in NYC, where 1 in 3 who have the disease are female and 90 percent of HIV-positive women are either Black or Latina: (via Newsday).

President Barack Obama has created a new post within the administration for an ambassador of international women's issues, and appointed Melanne Verveer to fill the position under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: (via AP/Google).

The Australian government has decided to repeal their own version of the global gag rule, which prevented overseas aid from being used for abortion advice, and to allocate an additional $9.5 million for family planning services over the next four years: (via Reuters).

A new survey by YWCA and the National Women's Law Center finds that while Americans are still divided on abortion, the vast majority of self-identified Republicans and Independents want greater access and affordability for contraception and prefer that schools teach comprehensive sex education over abstinence-only education.

John Young, columnist for the Waco Herald-Tribune, writes about his excitement over the end of a heavily government subsidized abstinence-only era, hoping that by signing the repeal of the global gag rule President Obama has shown his commitment a common-sense approach to family planning and sex education: (via Seattle P-I).  

An article on Huffington Post addresses the protest of Senate Republicans over the $335 million in the stimulus package for disease control and prevention, including for STDs, and says that much of the money would go to floundering state health departments that need the resources in order to keep jobs and crucial programs.

An article by Amy Benfer on Salon.com discusses a recent Newsweek article on the compromises being struck between groups that support abortion rights and groups that oppose them, including legislation to help pregnant women, but also notes that legislation sponsored by anti-choice groups often leaves out reasonable approaches, such as increased contraception access.

In this week's provincial elections in Iraq, 4,000 women are seeking office and about 1/3 should be guaranteed a seat under an electoral quota system: (via CNN.com).

The Seattle P-I editorial board writes in support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, saying passing these laws would be "restoring average Americans' right to justice".

As a result of a major donor, Picower, being defrauded by the Madoff scheme Planned Parenthood Federation of America had to lay off about 20% of its headquarters' staff, but says the reductions will not impact health services offered at Planned Parenthood clinics: (via Crains New York).

The New York State legislature is considering two bills this session on reproductive health, one called the Healthy Teens Act would set up a grant to fund medically accurate sex education and the other, called Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act, would establish a woman's fundamental right to make decisions about contraception and pregnancy: (via Poughkeepsie Journal).

The Philadelphia Daily News calls on Obama to maintain his campaign promise of purging ineffective federal programs from the budget by eliminating funding for abstinence-only education, which costs taxpayers $200 million a year and has failed to curb teen pregnancy and STD rates.

Wyoming lawmakers are trying to pass legislation that would increase the penalty for the intentional murder of a pregnant woman after a bill that would make it a double homicide to kill a pregnant woman and the fetus was vetoed by the governor, who thought the law would create unnecessary controversy over abortion: (via Billings Gazette).

Three Utah lawmakers are putting on hold their attempt to ban abortion in the state, due to Utah lacking funds to defend such a law in court, but are instead attempting to create a law that would set up a legal defense fund for supporters to donate money for the eventual court battle that would follow a statewide abortion ban: (via Salt Lake Tribune).

Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn addresses the recent media attention to the Johns Hopkins Study that found virginity-pledging teens were no more likely to abstain from sexual behavior than like-minded peers, noting that much of the media focus has left out a crucial part of the study, that more conservative and religious teens did in fact delay sexual activity, but that the "pledge" made no significant difference in behavior.

A University of Wisconsin clinic may begin to provide 2nd trimester abortions following the recent retirement of the area's only provider of 2nd trimester abortions, though the anti-choice groups Alliance Defense Fund and Pro-Life Wisconsin are protesting the decision and threatening legal action to prevent the clinic from performing the procedure: (via Chicago Tribune).

New research from UC Berkeley suggests that pregnant women who take maternity leave before they give birth are four times less likely to require a costly Caesarean section when they go into labor: (via Contra Costa Times).

Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna plans to ask lawmakers to approve an increase in prison sentences for domestic violence perpetrators that have a record of misdemeanor abuse: (via Tri City Herald).

Planned Parenthood of Idaho has merged with organizations in Washington and Alaska to create Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest; no jobs were lost in the merger which was reportedly done to allocate more resources to health care centers: (via Seattle Times).

RH Reality Check explores what the appointment of former Senator Tom Daschle to Health and Human Services Secretary for the Obama administration means for the reproductive health care community.

The Catholic church of the Philippines says it has the support to defeat the family planning bill being decided by the Philippine Congress, which includes promoting sex education and use of contraceptives, and will introduce its own bill to limit the sale of contraception and condoms: (via Yahoo.com)

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette editorializes against the Bush administration's decision to implement the "provider conscience" rule, saying the decision takes rights away from patients and that fears over the implications of the rule are "warranted".

Zita Lazzarini writes in the New England Journal of Medicine on how the South Dakota "informed consent" law, which requires abortion providers to tell patients they are terminating "the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being", is a breach of First Amendment rights and violates the patient-physician relationship by requiring doctors to provide misinformation.

A blogger for The Atlantic, Conservative Ross Douthat, writes in support of many anti-abortion measures, but also calls on the anti-choice movement to stop fighting access to contraception, especially as more evidence shows birth control pills and similar contraceptives do not work by preventing implantation.

Democratic strategist Laura K. Chapin says in a U.S. News and World Report article that the wedge issue of abortion is dead in the western states after the defeat of three abortion bans this election.

The California Supreme Court has decided to hear arguments on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and will answer questions on the legality of the marriages between 18,000 same sex couples who were wed prior to the passing of Prop. 8: (via NY Times).

A review of sex education in the newest edition of the journal Sexuality Research and Social Policy has found that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs offer no benefits to recipients, and may violate human rights principles for young people, whereas most comprehensive sex education programs positively affected the sexual behavior of students: (via RH Reality Check).

Amanda Marcotte discusses the small role embryonic stem-cell research has played in this election, compared to 2004, and outlines the candidates' positions, noting why differences between McCain and Palin may be significant.

The European Union has outlined indicators for monitoring the well-being of female children; a group it calls "the most invisible entity", and has suggestions for improving the lives of this group through sex education, bodily self-esteem, and accomplishments in science and math: (via RH Reality Check).

A review of sex education in the newest edition of the journal Sexuality Research and Social Policy has found that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs offer no benefits to recipients, and may violate human rights principles for young people, whereas most comprehensive sex education programs positively affected the sexual behavior of students: (via RH Reality Check).

Amanda Marcotte discusses the small role embryonic stem-cell research has played in this election, compared to 2004, and outlines the candidates' positions, noting why differences between McCain and Palin may be significant.

The European Union has outlined indicators for monitoring the well-being of female children; a group it calls "the most invisible entity", and has suggestions for improving the lives of this group through sex education, bodily self-esteem, and accomplishments in science and math: (via RH Reality Check).

The Washington Post reports on Sarah Palin's interview with ABC's Charles Gibson, and asks how Palin can reconcile her understanding of abortion as a 'personal issue' with her view that choice should be taken away from women.

Former Planned Parenthood attorney Roberta Riley writes that John McCain and George W. Bush are identical and abysmal on every issue of concern to women, and points out that our next president's views really do matter because contraception - which most voters take for granted - is at risk (via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

The New York Times reports that both Presidential campaigns are trying to highlight the issues they think will draw more support from women, with Obama emphasizing pay equity and abortion rights and McCain continuing to erroneously portray himself as a `maverick'.

Cass Sunstein, professor of law at Harvard Law School, writes that Roe v. Wade should be seen not only as a case about privacy, but also as involving sex equality, and that a decision to overrule what has been established law and culture for the past 35 years would disrupt and polarize the nation (via the Boston Globe).

The Seattle Times describes John McCain's misleading campaign ad misrepresenting Obama's position on sex education as "an insult to public intelligence and dignified political debate".

The FDA has approved expanding the use of Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil to protect against cancers of the vagina and vulva (via MSNBC).  

During a televised appearance on Tuesday McCain surrogate Lieutenant Governor Margaret Farrow of Wisconsin said that McCain supports equal pay for women "in concept", despite voting against measures to ensure women equal pay several times: (via WisPolitics.com).

Seattle Times columnist Joni Balter says independent women voters may be wary of Sarah Palin claiming to be a "tough-talking Westerner ready to shake up the government" when she would use the government to tell women how to live their lives and deny them choice.

John McCain's latest attempt to discredit Barack Obama in a TV ad which claims that he supports sex education for kindergarteners, only proves how out of touch he is with the majority of states that not only support age-appropriate comprehensive sex education but have also rejected federal funding for abstinence-only programs (via The Bellingham Herald).

RH Reality Check says that while political candidates frequently declare their support for or against comprehensive sex education, they do not spend enough time explaining what's involved, leaving it to pro-choice voters to defend and promote age appropriate comprehensive sex education within their communities.

Amanda Marcotte dispels the myth that Sarah Palin's affiliation with the anti-choice organization `Feminists for Life' can be equated with support for women's rights, pointing out that any organization supporting the idea that women are incapable of making their  own decisions is inherently anti-feminist (via RH Reality Check).

A disturbing new report by Child Trends says that approximately 18 percent of women aged 18 to 24 years old report having experienced forced sexual intercourse at least once in their lives, and that an increasing number of these assaults involve reproductive coercion where the woman's partner prevents her from using birth-control (via Know More Say More).

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden tells NBC's "Meet The Press" that, as a Catholic, he believes life begins at conception, but would not impose his personal views on others, and will continue to vote against restricting abortion rights or criminalizing abortion.

New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow writes that United States' teenage birth and abortion rates are due to a failure of our puritanical society to accept and deal with the facts and encourages the creation of a sex education infrastructure that acknowledges reality and protects children from unwanted pregnancies and disease.

The British Columbia Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld a 1995 provincial "bubble zone" law that prevents antiabortion advocates from protesting within 50 meters of abortion clinics, rejecting an appeal made by abortion-rights opponents who claimed the law violated their freedom of expression (via Reuters)