Here is what we are up against:

28 Republican Senators have written to protest that the HHS decision to cover contraception as a preventive health care service interferes with the constitutional right of your religious employer to dictate whether or not you use birth control. (Technically, whether it should be a covered benefit and therefore affordable.)

That’s right:  these Senators are distressed because your employer, if it has a religious
affiliation, should have a constitutional right to mandate your personal sexual behaviors and to trample on your reproductive health choices.

The signers include, for example, David Vitter.  His known use of the public funds that pay his salary for the support of sex workers might seem to contradict his right to
dictate your own behavior.

Some on our side say these loony extremist statements rile up the Republican base and turn out their vote. We should keep our powder dry and ignore them, because smart pro-choice voters are motivated more by economics and other issues.  Seems to me it’s time to connect the dots:  Our human, economic and reproductive rights are our rights, and no elected official will stand up for us until we stand up for ourselves. The extremists are attacking our economic wellbeing  and our freedoms at every
level.  What do you think?

Johanns letter on contraception:

In addition to Sens. Hatch and Johanns, the letter to Secretary Sebelius was signed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), Dan Coats (R-Indiana), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John McCain (R-Arizona), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), and Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), David Vitter (R-Louisiana), Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma).

San Francisco moved forward on Monday to protect consumers from deceptive ads by anti-abortion “clinics.” At a hearing before a committee of the Board of Supervisors on the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance, proposed by Supervisor Malia Cohen, advocates, doctors, and patients testified that one such San Francisco “clinic,” First Resort, places paid ads so that its name shows up in a search for “abortions San Francisco” on Google and elsewhere.

NARAL California and the Bay Area Coalition for Reproductive Rights (BACORR) presented the results of months of research revealing misleading or coercive practices by First Resort. They further illustrated that the group’s website is riddled with misinformation.  Testimony by Trust Women/Silver Ribbon is online here. First Resort staff affirmed that they do not provide abortions, and did not deny placing the misleading ads.

The ordinance would require such phony “crisis pregnancy centers” to desist from deceptive ads. Supervisor Eric Mar supported the measure as a co-sponsor. Women would make the right choices if given accurate information, he said; this ordinance would help. The measure will go to the full Board for a vote.

The lies have real consequences: abortion is more complicated if delayed, and a visit to First Resort can push back the date of actual treatment by weeks. Low income women have five times the rate of unintended pregnancies compared to others, and are most likely to be harmed by this diversion from the care they determined they wanted, having to hassle time off from work, child care, and transportation.

Please email the Supervisors immediately with your views (San Francisco residents: find your district and Supervisor here). Just write in the subject line: “I support the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance.” If you live in San Francisco, mention that in the text. And when you write to Eric Mar, thank him for voting yes! (Copies would be great to Supervisor Cohen and to the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign: megan.hamilton@sfgov.org, ershaffer@gmail.com)

Phony clinics are popping up around the country. A hard-hitting video records staff at various clinics telling clients that an abortion will increase the chance of breast cancer by 100% (the real number is zero), and of suicide; one woman claims her abortion turned her into a crack whore. Abortion is still legal, but the war on women is raging.

Measures in New York and Baltimore that addressed the misleading information conveyed during visits to so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” were struck down on free speech grounds, and are on appeal. But the San Francisco ordinance is more tightly targeted. It deals entirely with protecting the public from deceptive commercial advertisements by phony clinics.

Testimony by Dr. Ellen Shaffer to SF Board of Supervisors

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors will hear a proposal at 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 26, to limit the deceptive practices of First Resort, an anti-abortion organization that falsely advertises itself as offering abortions. The group’s director states in an op ed in the SF Chronicle that they do no such thing. OurSilverBlog did a First Resort Google search 9-24-11, and also looked at their website. The first quote on their webpage reads:

Abortion “I really thank you for all your help and support. The decision I made isn’t a pleasant one but I received good advice so that I wouldn’t have to go through this again.” – Client who chose to terminate her pregnancy

The search for “abortion San Francisco” also found a paid ad by First Resort, and several search results.

This video clip shows like fake “clinics” baldy lying to women, that abortion increases their risk for breast cancer by 100% (the real number is zero): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jvzJ35zhvQ

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/22/EDH81L86C5.DTL#ixzz1Ytfoqth0

Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) advertise abortion services, yet offer none and misinform their patients about the risks of birth control and abortions. They operate under deceptive public health practices. According to a Congressional study, 87% of these fake clinics provide inaccurate and misleading information by claiming that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, infertility, drug addiction and mental illnesses – including suicide.

San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen has introduced a bill that makes it illegal for CPCs to falsely advertise pregnancy-related services as abortion services to lure in women and manipulate them. This is a bill about consumer protection and truth-in-advertising.

When passed, this legislation will clarify the services CPCs provide. Women will no longer be tricked into going to these fake clinics nor subject to delayed essential medical care.

1. Sign this petition to tell the SF Supervisors to stop fake advertising by fake clinics!

2. Please join the Bay Area Coalition on Reproductive Rights (BACORR), a Silver Ribbon partner, this Thursday, Sept 22nd at San Francisco City Hall at 9:15 am to deliver signatures to Supervisor Cohen & the rest of the SF Supervisors!

3. Be sure to wear your Silver Ribbon pin, keychain and Chico bag to show that you Trust Women!

Many thanks to Sara Levin, MD, for passing this along.

Substantial Progress Among Higher-Income Women Contrasts with Dramatic Increases Among the Poor
 
A new analysis from the Guttmacher Institute shows that following a considerable decline between 1981 and 1994, the overall U.S. unintended pregnancy rate has remained essentially flat—about 5% of U.S. women have an unintended pregnancy every year.  However, the rate has increased dramatically among poor women, while among higher-income women it has continued to decrease substantially, according to “Unintended Pregnancy in the United States: Incidence and Disparities, 2006,” by Lawrence B. Finer and Mia R. Zolna.
 
In 1994, the unintended pregnancy rate among women with incomes below the federal poverty line was 88 per 1,000 women aged 15­–44; it increased to 120 in 2001 and 132 in 2006—a 50% rise over the period. At the same time, the rate among higher-income women (those with incomes at or above 200% of the poverty line) fell from 34 in 1994 to 28 in 2001 and 24 in 2006—a 29% decrease. Poor women’s high rate of unintended pregnancy results in their also having high—and increasing—rates of both abortions (52 per 1,000) and unplanned births (66 per 1,000). In 2006, poor women had an unintended pregnancy rate five times that of higher-income women, and an unintended birth rate six times as high.
 
Analyzing U.S. government data from the National Survey of Family Growth and other sources, Finer and Zolna found that of the 6.7 million pregnancies in 2006, nearly half (49%) were unintended. Although some unintended pregnancies are accepted or even welcomed, more than four in ten (43%) end in abortion. Unintended pregnancy rates are elevated not only among poor and low-income women, but also among women aged 18–24, cohabiting women and minority women. It is important to note, however, that poor women have high unintended pregnancy rates nearly across the board, regardless of their education, race and ethnicity, marital status or age.
 
In contrast to the high rates among certain groups, some women in the United States are having considerable success timing and spacing their pregnancies. Higher-income women, white women, college graduates and married women have relatively low unintended pregnancy rates (as low as 17 per 1,000 among higher-income white women—one-third the national rate of 52 per 1,000), suggesting that women who have better access to reproductive health services, have achieved their educational goals or are in relationships that support a desired pregnancy are more likely than other women to achieve planned pregnancies and avoid those they do not want.
 
“These data suggest that women who lead stable lives—women who are older, more affluent and better-educated—tend to have better reproductive health outcomes, while women whose lives are less stable, such as younger, poorer or less educated women, have higher rates of unplanned pregnancies, unwanted births and abortions,” said Finer. “They also show that marriage is not, in and of itself, a solution to the problems women have in controlling their fertility: In fact, poor women who are married have unintended pregnancy rates more than twice as high as those of higher-income women who are unmarried or cohabiting.”
 
In commenting on the study, Guttmacher Institute President and CEO Sharon Camp said: “The growing disparity in unplanned pregnancy rates between poor and higher-income women—which reflects persistent, similar disparities across a range of health and social indicators—is deeply troubling.  Addressing them all requires not only improved access to reproductive health care, but also looking to broader social and economic inequities.  At a minimum, however, we must ensure that all women, and particularly those who are most vulnerable, have access to the education and range of reproductive health services and counseling they need in order to plan the pregnancies they want and prevent the ones they don’t.”“

“Unintended Pregnancy in the United States: Incidence and Disparities, 2006”   is currently available online and will appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal Contraception.

For more information on the impact of unintended pregnancy on public policies and programs, see “Wise Investment: Reducing the Steep Cost to Medicaid of Unintended Pregnancy in the United States,” by Rachel Benson Gold.
###
 
The Guttmacher Institute—www.guttmacher.org—advances sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education.

Ellen Shaffer, SF Chronicle: Domestic Violence Spotlighted

OPEN FORUM: On Women’s Health
Domestic violence spotlighted
By Ellen R. Shaffer
Her husband described the abuse: “I would hold her hostage and terrorize her.” The Kaiser patient reported how she finally decided to leave: “I’ll never forget the office visit when my physician said, ‘I’m afraid if your husband doesn’t kill you, the stress will.’ ” This week’s groundbreaking decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to require health plans to cover domestic violence counseling without requiring a co-pay will give women and their health care providers an important new incentive to call out the distress signals of abuse, and to take action.

Domestic violence is a widespread, harmful and expensive public health issue. Public awareness campaigns, advocacy groups and laws offer support and a way out, but too many individuals remain isolated and stigmatized. Every year, 2 million women experience domestic violence, more than new cases of breast cancer or deaths from cardiovascular disease. 

…Studies show that health care professionals can help to effectively break the cycle by bringing the problem to the surface and offering resources. In one study, women who talked to a health care provider about abuse were nearly four times more likely to use an intervention such as calling a support hotline. On follow-up, they reported fewer threats of violence and assaults. The majority ended their relationships with violent partners and did not re-enter an abusive relationship.

San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2011  p. A 14

 The Voice of the West
Founded in 1865 by Charles and M.H. deYoung
A HEARST NEWSPAPER

EDITORIAL San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Tuesday, August 2, 2011 | A9

On Federal Health Care Rules :A birth control option

Access to affordable birth control is lacking for too many American women, resulting in a high rate of unintended pregnancies. That is changing. Following a recommendation from the nonprofit, independent Institute of Medicine, the federal government said Monday that it will require insurers to drop deductibles and co-pays for FDA-approved contraception drugs and devices, including “morning after pills.”

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government will require health plans to cover preventive services without cost-sharing beginning next year. Preventive services, which keep us healthier and reduce long-term health care costs, are not as well used as they might be because of their cost.

Those already approved include childhood immunizations, screenings for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and smoking-cessation programs. But left undecided in the rollout last year of the Affordable Care Act (what Republicans derisively call “Obamacare”) was what would constitute preventive care for women.

The institute made eight recommendations (see box) and on Monday the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it was adopting all eight with the amendment that religious institutions that offer health insurance could determine what contraception they would cover for their employees. The department will collect comments on the policy for 60 days.

The move to include contraception is a much-needed bow to reality long missing from the national conversation about women and public health. That discussion has fallen hostage to abortion politics to the point where ideology trumps science, marginalizing the health concerns of most women.

“We are regaining the place we deserve as full participants in policy decisions about our own health,” says Ellen R. Shaffer, director of the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign in San Francisco.

Policy debates fail to acknowledge these realities:

49 percent of pregnancies are unintended in the United States, as compared with other developed nations (e.g., France, 33 percent; Scotland, 28 percent).

63 percent of Catholics support health insurance coverage for family planning.

Affordable access to birth control reduces abortion and saves lives.

We welcome a government stamp of approval on sciencebacked public policy that improves American families’ health and economic well-being.

The federal health care reform law now requires health plans to cover without additional cost: Birth control (religious institutions may determine coverage for their employees) Screening for gestational diabetes Breastfeeding support and counseling Counseling on sexually transmitted diseases Screenings for HPV, a cause of cervical cancer.

Counseling and screening for HIV Well-woman visits Counseling to detect and prevent domestic violence

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services