Blogs Comment On Catholic Church, Autism Research, Other Topics

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

~ "Senator Wants HHS Website To Drop New Breast Cancer Screening Recs," Katherine Hobson, Wall Street Journal's "Health Blog": In her post, columnist Hobson addresses a question that arose after Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) last week sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting that the agency remove from its website the controversial breast cancer screening guidelines issued by the United States Preventive Services Task Force last year. According to Hobson, the new USPSTF recommendations say that routine mammography screening for women under age 50 is not supported by the evidence and should be done "on a case-by-case basis." She asks, "[D]oes the health care overhaul bill require HHS to take down the recs?" In an e-mail with "Health Blog," Joel DiGrado, Vitter's communications director, says it does not, but notes that Vitter wants them removed anyway because he "believes that we should at the least keep the former guidelines that encourage more breast cancer screening to catch the disease early." Hobson adds that the American College of Radiology applauded the letter in a news release; however, she notes that ACR lobbied for the health reform law's mammography requirement using money from companies that manufacture equipment for the screening (Hobson, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 5/21).

~ "Autism MAY Be Linked to Infertility Treatments," KJ Dell'Antonia, Slate's "XX Factor": This week, Time magazine published an article -- one of its "most e-mailed" stories -- about two studies suggesting possible associations between autism and infertility treatments, Dell'Antonia writes. She adds that the studies provide "no conclusions," just "tiny arrows pointing researchers in certain directions." One study suggests "a correlation between [certain] infertility drugs ... and the incidence of autism, and the other find[s] an association between autism and [in-vitro fertilization]," she states. "We want to prevent autism," and "[w]e want to find treatments, and finding root causes may help with that," Dell'Antonia states. "But most of all, we want some kind of assurance that this particular bolt of lightning won't strike us, and I suspect that's a larger part of why we pounce on these inklings of information with the relish that we do and then invest them with so much more meaning that they deserve," she continues. "That's not to suggest that the research shouldn't be reported on, or that it wasn't properly filled with the appropriate caveats," Dell'Antonia writes. She adds, "But we're hard-wired to take an increase in risk more seriously than the real numbers and probabilities surrounding it would merit, particularly a risk that feels out of our control, ... and that's something we should consider every time we read (or e-mail) an article like this one" (Dell'Antonia, "XX Factor," Slate, 5/21).














~ "Rebel Nuns," Michelle Goldberg, Daily Beast's "Blogs & Stories": "The Catholic Church has claimed that it lacked the resources to properly investigate its sexual abuse epidemic," but "[w]hen it comes to nuns" the church is "somehow able to act with alacrity," Goldberg -- an author and correspondent for the American Prospect -- writes. The recen excommunication of an Arizona nun who participated in the authorization of an abortion to save a woman's life at a Catholic hospital is "just the latest example of strain between nuns and the Catholic Church's male religious hierarchy," Goldberg continues, noting that the Vatican is investigating U.S. nuns for "straying from church orthodoxy" and that "nuns famously broke with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in supporting health care reform." The "real-world implications" of Catholic hospitals' abortion restrictions "go beyond extreme cases like the one in Phoenix," as "[r]esearchers have documented a number of situation in which women suffering miscarriages have received improper treatment at Catholic hospitals because of an overemphasis on the life of the fetus," Goldberg adds. The "blurry" distinctions between rules for various interventions means that "people who work at Catholic hospitals often have to make discerning judgments," according to Goldberg. "Their wrangling over theological minutiae ends up having a profound effect on the lives of patients whether they're Catholic or not," she writes, concluding that the "pressure placed on nuns" has "repercussions for all of us" (Goldberg, "Blogs & Stories," Daily Beast, 5/21).

~ "Anti-Choice Woman-Hating Goes Mainstream," Carole Joffe, RH Reality Check: In the blog, Joffe begins with a quote referencing a situation in Arizona where a woman received an abortion to save her life at a Catholic hospital. Joffe writes that Rev. John Ehrich, medical ethics director for the Diocese of Phoenix essentially stated "that a gravely ill" mother of four "should have been left to die," rather than permitted to have an abortion. Joffe then discusses what she perceives as an "upsurge of blatant-woman hating in the antiabortion world." While all antiabortion-rights laws have the goal of making abortion harder to obtain, recent legislation involves "blatant cruelty," such as forcing a woman seeking an abortion to hear a description of her ultrasound and "be told terrifying lies about supposed links between abortion and breast cancer." Joffe considers why "this increase in undisguised misogyny" has taken place and notes that "part of the answer is the election of Barack Obama." Antiabortion-rights advocates have been "both enraged and energized by the Obama presidency," she says. "Another explanation lies in the considerable success" that the antiabortion-rights movement "has had in stigmatizing abortion and, therefore, those who both receive abortions and provide them," Joffe writes. She adds, "As the overall number of abortion patients drop, and as poor women of color disproportionately comprise the population of abortion patients, it has become far easier for mainstream actors in the [antiabortion-rights] movement to see a split world, in which good women do the 'right thing' when faced with an unwanted pregnancy and bad women don't" (Joffe, RH Reality Check, 5/25).

~ "The Right Wing Alleges Kagan Hates the Constitution," Jocelyn Fong et al., Media Matters: "The right-wing smear campaign against Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan soldiered on this week, with media figures repeating the falsehood that Kagan 'doesn't like the Constitution' -- the first, second, fifth and 14th amendments, in particular," Fong, Brian Frederick and Brooke Obie write. Other false claims include the assertion by "[d]e facto GOP leader Rush Limbaugh" that Kagan "has said the government can ban books and pamphlets," the authors write. They note that Kagan, "in her position as solicitor general, ... argued that the government could penalize corporation and unions -- not individuals -- for distributing political pamphlets that advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate, which, she argued, would protect individuals from 'distortion of the electioneering that is done by corporations.'" The authors add that "legal experts" and at least one employee of Fox News "agree that Kagan's views on free speech are in the mainstream" (Fong et al., Media Matters, 5/21).

~ "One Year Later: Honoring Dr. George Tiller," Nancy Keenan, Change's "Women's Rights": As the one year anniversary of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller's murder approaches, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Keenan writes that it "makes me angry when I think about how" Tiller's shooter Scott Roeder "sat through hi trial without showing any remorse for his actions." She continues, "It's equally infuriating that the same people who spent years harassing Dr. Tiller and his patients outside his health center showed no remorse," adding that they "rejected the notion that their pattern of inflammatory rhetoric could lead to violence by the more extreme elements of their own anti-choice movement." Abortion-rights supporters "must be vigilant about telling our friends and family that what happened in Kansas was not an isolated incident," but "part of an ongoing campaign of threats ... to make it more difficult and dangerous for women to access abortion care," Keenan writes. "We can -- and will, I have no doubt -- pay tribute to Dr. Tiller, his family and the women he served by speaking openly and honestly about our pro-choice values," she continues, concluding, "As we speak out, let's always remember to use the two powerful words that guided Dr. Tiller's work: Trust Women" (Keenan, "Women's Rights," Change, 5/24).

~ "The Life Changing Impact of 40 Cents a Day," Concillia Muhau, Huffington Post blogs: Muhau, a 27-year old, HIV-positive woman from Zambia, writes that she is "alive today because [she has] access to lifesaving treatment" for about 40 cents a day through organizations such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and (RED). Muhau notes that "many are not so lucky," adding, "People all over the world should know that many people are still suffering and that they can help -- that 40 cents can give another person the [antiretroviral drugs] that will help them live." Muhau, an HIV/AIDS peer educator at the Kanyama Clinic in Zambia, and three other Zambians are featured in the film The Lazarus Effect, which was produced by (RED) and HBO (Muhau, Huffington Post, 5/24).


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