Equalogy

Posts Tagged ‘Health Care’

The World Health Organization (WHO) conducted the first ever study of women’s health around the globe.  In a press release, they summarized some of the main points:

1.  Women provide the bulk of health care but rarely receive the care they need

2.  Women live longer than men but these extra years are not always healthy

3.  Despite some biological advantages, women’s health suffers from their lower socio-economic status

4.  Policy change and action is needed within the health care sector and beyond

The study also concluded that HIV is the leading cause of death and disease of women ages 15-44

From the NYT:

In its first study of women’s health around the globe, the World Health Organization said Monday that H.I.V. is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44. Unprotected sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries for these women of childbearing age; others include iron deficiency and lack of access to contraceptives, said the W.H.O., a United Nations agency. Throughout the world, one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to unprotected sex, the agency said. The data was included in a report intended to highlight the unequal health treatment a woman faces from birth to death.

I’m not as into health care coverage as I should be (considering I’m a new college grad), but I thought I’d present a smattering of blogs and news sites that are telling the truth and making some great points about whether or not abortion will have a future in health care reform.

First the lies:

Amanda Marcotte at RH Reality Check found Fox News spewing lies about how if health care plans include abortion, providers will be forced to perform them.

Planned Parenthood says, not true.

Current law already protects individuals from having to perform abortions if doing so violates their religious or moral beliefs. There is nothing in any of the health care reform proposals that would change current law or would require an individual health care provider to perform abortions.

Jamison Foser at Media Matters debunks the myth that tax-payers will be funding abortion (or why it shouldn’t matter if they do).

The idea that taxpayers shouldn’t pay for insurance that covers medical services they don’t support is fundamentally incompatible with the very concept of insurance. If every interest group wields veto power over the medical care insurance can cover, insurance simply can’t work. If there is a reason to grant such veto power only to those who would use it to prevent insurance coverage of abortions, reporters like Matthews haven’t explained it. (And, no, public opinion does not present such a reason, as recent polling showing strong public support for women’s reproductive health coverage makes clear.)

Everything I have read so far points out over and over again that the majority of health care plans DO cover abortion, and taking that away, will take away a huge part of women’s reproductive rights.

This summary by Jodi Jacobson of where abortion stands in health care was by far the best on catching me up to speed.  She explains how some republicans can’t make the connection between contraception and fewer abortions, and how some pro-choice democrats will allow abortion to be used as a “bargaining chip” which Jacobson translates to: “Women get thrown off the bus.”

Looking for comic relief in this situation? You won’t get any.  Fox also plans to ban an upcoming episode of Family Guy that deals with abortion.

“20th Century Fox, as always, allowed us to produce the episode and then said, ‘You know what? We’re scared to f–king death of this,’” MacFarlane said.

On the bright side, there is plenty going on in terms of grassroots action.  Here are a few that RH Reality Check reccomend.

Planned Parenthood Action Center

National Women’s Law Center

NARAL Pro-Choice America

National Partnership for Women and Families