Reproductive health and rights organizations present blueprint for change

After years of policies limiting access to reproductive health, advocates and health care provider organizations have presented the new Obama Administration with a blueprint for moving forward: Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration: Steps for Improvement and Change. In this comprehensive 55-page document, the signing organizations “urge the next President to articulate and implement a vision for a new, commonsense approach to the nation’s and the world’s pressing reproductive health needs.” View the full document.

A fight over the right of health care workers to deny reproductive health care

In late 2008, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidelines expanding protections for a wide range of health care workers to deny access to and information about any and all reproductive health care to which they have a moral objection. Legal challenges to these new rules have been made by legal organizations and several state attorney generals. Learn more about these new rules and the challenges to them.

Data debates over the effect of abortion on the long-term mental health of women

Opponents of abortion have long sought to develop a body of published literature on the health consequences of abortion. Most of these studies suffer from serious methodological flaws. In 2008, the American Psychological Association reviewed the published literature and issued a report of their findings.

For additional background and resources on this topic, see our suggested reading list under mental health and abortion.

ACOG issues new statement on the importance of abortion access

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a new Committee Opinion on Abortion Access and Training (424, January 2009). “The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports education in family planning and abortion for both medical students and residents and abortion training among residents. In addition, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports availability of reproductive health services for all women, including strategies to reduce unintended pregnancy and to improve access to safe abortion services.” Copies of the new statement can be found at: ACOG Committee Opinion No. 424: Abortion Access and Training. Obstet Gynecol 2009;113(1):247-50.

How people discuss abortion on-line

The Reproductive Health Technologies Project (RHTP) recently commissioned MotiveQuest, an online research, anthropology and social analysis firm, to use their cutting-edge tools to harvest blogs, groups, forums, social media and social networking sites for conversations about abortion and related topics. After listening to more than a million online conversations over a one-year period, they were able to analyze what people are saying about abortion and what is motivating and driving these online discussions. The research not only looks at what discussions are taking place and why, but also examines the terminology and lexicon people use online and the sources of authority they draw on when cultivating an opinion. Copies of the report can be obtained from RHTP.

HPV vaccine becomes a requirement for immigrants

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in 2007 recommended that Gardasil, the only FDA approved HPV vaccine, be administered to females ages 11 to 26 in the U.S. This recommendation became an automatic requirement for those applying for immigrant visas or adjustment to permanent residency status when the government updated its vaccination list in July 2008. U.S. citizens are currently not required to receive the vaccination, and yet it is mandatory for prospective immigrants. Get more information on efforts to lift this rule.

Teen pregnancy rates up nationwide but state level estimates unreliable

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) indicate that teen birthrates are on the rise. Using data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, NCHS reports a 3% national increase between 2005 and 2006 and declines in both teens’ contraceptive use and their delaying of first sex. Get the full report.

The Guttmacher Institute issued words of caution in interpreting this nation-wide data at the state level. They explain that, although the new NCHS data are accurate at the national level, interpreting changes at the level of individual states is more complicated. The NCHS uses population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau in its calculations which it does not update annually. These revisions in population denominators have little impact on national rates but can have a significant impact on rates for relatively small subgroups (such as teenagers) at the state level. Read the Guttmacher analysis.

Shaping our Legacy: Reproductive Health and the Environment

In 2007, the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) and The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) co-hosted a Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility. A new report, Shaping Our Legacy, produced from this summit provides a nontechnical summary of the latest science on how exposure to chemicals may impair our reproductive health. It also outlines what we can do to create environments that are healthier for fertility and reproduction. Get more information.

See also our notes on what’s new at ANSIRH. And join the Bixby Center distribution listserv to receive notifications of new developments in reproductive health.