Newspaper Clipping Service

National Documentation Centre (NDC)

Women Health

The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries (Medical News Today:15 June
2010)

~ "Environmental Justice and Reproductive Justice: Stop Scapegoating Women," Jill Morrison, National
Women's Law Center's "Womenstake": The environmental and reproductive justice movements "go hand-in-
hand" and share common goals, "such as improving global health, identifying and mitigating structural
inequalities, and finding solutions that empower traditionally marginalized people," Morrison, senior counsel for
NWLC, writes. Members of both movements "must work together" to fight the notion, proposed by some
antiabortion-rights advocates, that the estrogen in birth control pills harms the environment, Morrison adds. In
reality, "[b]irth control pills barely contribute to the amount of estrogen in the environment," she writes, noting
that "99% of the estrogens excreted by humans have nothing to do with contraceptives." The environmental
justice movement holds potential solutions to reproductive health problems, she continues, adding that infant and
maternal mortality can be reduced by improving environmental conditions and raising access to birth control to
help women better space childbirths. Both movements are "committed to fighting against population control
programs that blame women and aim to limit their reproductive freedom," she writes (Morrison, "Womenstake,"
National Women's Law Center, 6/8).

~ "The Female Obama," Dayo Olopade, Daily Beast's "Blogs & Stories": Kamala Devi Harris, the district
attorney for San Francisco, may be "the most interesting woman to watch" following the victories of several
female candidates in Tuesday's primaries, Olopade writes. Harris' "Democratic primary win puts her on course to
become the first African-American and Asian-American woman elected attorney general in California," Olopade
writes, adding that Harris' challenge in the November election "is to break through one of the last glass ceilings in
California." She notes that PBS anchor and author Gwen Ifill has described Harris as the "female Barack Obama."
According to Olopade, Harris "shares Obama's ... progressive politics." Jonathan Parker, political director for
EMILY's List, has called Harris "a superstar of the future," Olopade notes. Following her Tuesday primary win,
Harris next faces "tough competition" from the Republican nominee -- Los Angeles County District Attorney
Steve Cooley -- in the general election, Olopade writes (Olopade, "Blogs & Stories," Daily Beast, 6/9).

~ "Why Republicans Should Give Up on California," Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect: In
California's 2010 Republican primary contests for governor and U.S. Senate, "the Republicans have had to run so
far to the right that they have rendered themselves unelectable in November," Meyerson writes. He notes that
none of the "major Republican candidates" for either position -- including eventual winners Meg Whitman in the
gubernatorial race and Carly Fiorina in the Senate race -- "came to the race with a rabidly right-wing pedigree."
To triumph in the Republican primary, there "is, apparently, no position too far right for Republican candidates to
embrace," Meyerson writes, adding that Democrats have begun using some of Whitman's conservative
advertisements from the primary against her in the general elections. "When the Democratic strategy for winning
in November is to rerun the ads that the Republicans ran to win their primary, it becomes clear that the biggest
obstacle to Republican victories in California is Republican voters," Meyerson writes (Meyerson, The American
Prospect, 6/8).
~ "Facts vs. Fiction on the Military's Abortion Ban," Amanda Simon, American Civil Liberties Union's "Blog
of Rights": Simon clarifies "misleading and unfortunate" claims made in a recent Washington Times article about
an amendment in the Senate defense authorization bill (S 3280) that would lift a ban that currently prohibits
nearly all abortion services at military hospitals, even if paid for with private funds. Simon states that the
amendment "would simply repeal the dangerous ban on abortions in military facilities and allow U.S.
servicewomen to use their own money to get the health care they need." The measure would not require the
federal government to fund the procedure, and it would allow health professionals to refuse to perform abortions,
contrary to claims in the Times article, Simon writes. She states, "Even when stationed in countries where
abortion is legal, servicewomen frequently do not have access to abortions for a number of reasons, including
lack of adequate local health facilities, lack of trained medical personnel or being stationed in remote or hostile
areas." She also notes that "women who travel for abortions must ask their commanding officer for permission to
travel and detail the reasons for leaving the base." In addition, many servicewomen "are afraid to say they have
been raped for fear of reprisal from their unit." Simon concludes, "Comprehensive medical care should not be
denied to any member of our armed services, including those stationed far from home. We must no longer
prohibit our women in uniform from exercising their fundamental right to make health care decisions for
themselves simply because of their military service and where they have been stationed" (Simon, "Blog of
Rights," American Civil Liberties Union, 6/10).

~ Blogs Comment on 13-Year-Old's Self-Induced Abortion Attempt: Feministe reports that a 13-year-old
Pennsylvania girl who was impregnated by a 30-year-old man attempted to self-induce an abortion using a pencil.
The girl was hospitalized, and the man was placed in jail. Commenting on the incident, the Feministe blog post
states, "[T]his girl obviously needed access to safe abortion care; if she had such access, she wouldn't have had to
self-induce abortion with a lead pencil" (Feministe, 6/7). According to RH Reality Check's Robin Marty, the case
is "a stark reminder of what happens when a desperate women (or in this case child) gets pregnant and will do
anything to end the pregnancy when there are no safe means available." She adds, "As a parental consent state,
Pennsylvania does not have legal access to abortion for a young teen" (Marty, RH Reality Check, 6/8). Roxann
MtJoy writes in Change.org's "Women's Rights" that the "young girl is an unfortunate poster child for abolishing
parental consent laws." The state's parental consent law put the girl "in a horrible position," MtJoy adds. She
urges readers to "tell Pennsylvania lawmakers that [the state] should not interfere with any female's private
reproductive choices and to repeal harmful parental consent laws" (MtJoy, "Women's Rights," Change.org, 6/8).