Newspaper Clipping Service

National Documentation Centre (NDC)

Women Health

Blogs Comment On Breastfeeding, Emergency Contraception, Other Topics (Medical News

Today:24 June 2010)

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

~ "Peaceful Revolution: Breastfeeding -- A Secret Weapon To Save Billions of Dollars," Mary Olivella,
Huffington Post blogs: Recent research in the journal Pediatrics determined that the U.S. "could save $13
billion annually" and "prevent over 900 infant deaths" if "90% of families were able to comply with
medical recommendations to breastfeed exclusively for six months," Olivella, vice president of
MomsRising, writes. One obstacle to achieving the 90% goal is that the U.S. does not have a law
providing all workers with paid family leave, Olivella writes, noting that the Family and Medical Leave
Act provides unpaid leave and does not apply to all workers. She writes that support for paid family leave
legislation "is gaining across the ideological spectrum with a majority of Republicans as well as
Democrats saying that businesses should provide paid family and medical leave." According to Olivella,
"Everyone wants healthy babies, and we all sure would like to bring down our country's health care
costs." She adds, "Breastfeeding is a powerful bridge to connect these twin goals," and "one of the main
paths for ensuring that mothers have a real choice in initiating and maintaining breastfeeding is paid
family leave" (Olivella, Huffington Post, 6/21).

~ "The Borking of Elena Kagan," Steve Kornacki, Salon's "War Room": "There is plenty of irony" in
Robert Bork's plans to join a press conference Wednesday to publicly oppose Elena Kagan's confirmation
to the Supreme Court, Kornacki writes. President Reagan nominated Bork to the court in 1987 to replace
retiring Justice Lewis Powell. During the confirmation battle, "Bork and his supporters railed against what
they saw as [a] concerted effort by liberal interest groups to demonize him and poison the public against
him," Kornacki writes. Bork refused to withdraw his nomination even after "it became clear that more
than 50 senators would vote to reject him," claiming that if he withdrew, the campaign against him
"would be seen as a success and it would be mounted against future nominees," according to Kornacki.
"Twenty-three years later, Bork will now be joining one of the public campaigns he warned about,"
Kornacki concludes (Kornacki, "War Room," Salon, 6/21).

~ "Lawmakers Should Be at Least as Thoughtful About Abortion as Women Are," Tracey Brooks,
Huffington Post blogs: Antiabortion-rights state lawmakers "have the mistaken belief that placing one
more hoop, one more barrier, between a woman and abortion care will prevent abortions," but "by the
time a woman seeks abortion care, her decision has already been made," Brooks, -- the CEO and president
of Family Planning Advocates of New York State -- writes. Research shows that "increasing restrictions
on access to abortion care" results "in later and more costly care and sometimes force[s] women to put
their health at risk to carry out their decisions," she notes. Brooks adds, "Enabling women to access
comprehensive reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, prenatal and maternity care,
respects women's circumstances and their ability to make thoughtful, moral decisions on their own
without government interference." All states "should value women and families enough to have strong
reproductive health care policies," she writes, adding, "A decade into the 21st century, it should not be so
difficult -- or impossible -- for all states to ensure women have access to the full range of reproductive
health care without unnecessary barriers" (Brooks, Huffington Post, 6/21).
~ "Roundup: Anti-Choice Bemoan Ella Approval, Demand Useless Pregnancy Tests," Robin Marty, RH
Reality Check: Last week, an FDA panel recommended that the agency approve a new emergency
contraceptive -- ulipristal acetate or "ella" -- that "can offer a wider time frame for preventing pregnancy
after" sex than the EC pill Plan B, Marty writes. Ella has been shown to be more effective over a longer
period of time in preventing pregnancy after sex -- up to 120 hours after sex, compared with 72 hours for
Plan B. "Sadly, the extended period of possible use seems to reflect exponentially on how outraged the
anti-choice crew is over advances in reproductive freedom," Marty writes. For instance, U.S Conference
of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities Chair Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said the drug
"might act not only to prevent ovulation but also to prevent implantation of the developing embryo."
Marty added, "No existing pregnancy test can exclude the possibility that a new life has been conceived"
in the first five days after sex." Marty writes that it "seems that Cardinal DiNardo's solution would be for
the woman to wait until after she sees if she's pregnant before she takes the drug, since no test can exclude
that early that she in fact is not." DiNardo also "seems to have forgotten developmental biology -- an
embryo is at least 21 days post-fertilization," she continues, noting that "[b]efore that, you have a
blastocyst or a zygote" (Marty, RH Reality Check, 6/18).

~ "Another Contraceptive Pill, Another Abortion Debate," Bonnie Erbe, Politics Daily's "Woman Up": In
commenting on religious conservatives' concern over the potential for FDA approval of ulipristal acetate,
a new emergency contraceptive drug, Erbe writes, "Europe has consistently led the United States on
matters of reproductive rights and unwanted pregnancies." Erbe writes that European countries "know
how to separate religious mores from public policy." The U.S., on the other hand, has "upended the goals
of our Founding Fathers and foisted religion on ourselves, in a big way." European countries "wast[e]
little time and energy on fights over reproductive rights," while the "abortion battle here consumes us,"
Erbe says. She concludes, "What do we get in return: a much higher teen pregnancy rate, which in turn
produces higher costs and greater need for social services" (Erbe, "Woman Up," Politics Daily, 6/18).