Blogs Discuss New UNFPA Head, Reproductive Law Training, Other Topics

The following summarizes select women's health-related blog entries.~ "Women's Rights Advocates Applaud New Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund,"Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: Women's rights and reproductive health advocates "applauded" the recent appointment of Nigerian physician Babatunde Osotimehin as executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, Jacobson writes. Osotimehin is a professor of medicine at Nigeria'sUniversity of Ibadan and the African spokesperson for thePartnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. Osotimehin previously worked as both minister of health and director general of Nigeria's National Agency for the Control of HIV and AIDS, where he "advocated strongly for evidence- and rights-based policies, even as his own government ... turned toward failed abstinence-only-until marriage programs to secure United States funding," Jacobson writes. Several women's health advocates noted Osotimehin's previous advocacy work on behalf of women, children and reproductive rights. Osotimehin "has made clear his own commitment to these issues," Jacobson writes. She quotes Osotimehin, who said, "We must invest far more in comprehensive reproductive health services, including those that address problems of HIV, in order to reach the girls and women who are not likely to use separate HIV services for fear of stigma and violence" (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 11/19).

~ "Breastfeeding on Capitol Hill," Jessica Dweck, Slate's "XX Factor": A recent blog post by Rachel Campos-Duffy, wife of incoming-Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), discussed her experience breastfeeding in the Capitol's "nursing room," describing the incident as bipartisan moment. However, Dweck writes that "there is nothing bipartisan about it at all," adding, "After years of GOP leadership, a progressive Democratic woman [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)] took the initiative to use government funds to better accommodate new mothers and transform Congress into a more family-friendly work environment." Dweck continues, "Campos-Duffy's husband himself is part of [the] new batch of tea party-backed conservatives dispatched to D.C. to slash funding for extraneous government programs." She concludes, "While we don't yet know how Duffy will vote on these issues, with the Republicans' long history of hostility toward women and families, it's not hard to predict which kinds of programs and services will be deemed unnecessary when it's time to balance the budget" (Dweck, "XX Factor," Slate, 11/19).

chool for 2011 - www.aiuwa.org/

~ "When Politics Trump Science, Women Lose," Emily Sullivan, RH Reality Check: In March 2009, a U.S. District Court directed FDA "to lower the over-the-counter age restriction" on the emergency contraceptive Plan B from 18 to 17, as well as to "re-review existing scientific evidence to decide whether an age restriction is even necessary," Sullivan writes. FDA has failed to carry out the order, and "[o]ne and a half years later, America's women are still waiting," she continues. "But we are not waiting silently," as the Center for Reproductive Rights last week "filed a motion of contempt of court against the FDA for failing to proceed in a timely manner," she writes. Sullivan argues, "As women's health advocates, we cannot accept the inaction of the FDA," adding, "Women, regardless of age, should not be denied an important and time sensitive contraception option." She concludes, "For the sake of women's health and for the sake of scientific integrity, the FDA must act now and reconsider its age restriction" (Sullivan, RH Reality Check, 11/22).

~ "Defending Your Rights? Study Finds Few Law Schools Offer Training in Reproductive Justice," Liz Kukura, RH Reality Check: A new study by Law Students for Reproductive Justice found that the "vast majority of law students ... lack any opportunity to study reproductive-rights legal issues formally," LSRJ's Kukura writes. The study found that 18% of law schools offered a reproductive-rights law course sometime in the past seven years, leaving a "significant gap in training for future legal advocates," she adds. The study shows that most law schools do not see reproductive rights as "a legitimate subject," she argues. However, schools have been slowly adding instruction on reproductive rights, with 41% of courses introduced in the past two years. One-third of courses on reproductive rights resulted from student advocacy, which demonstrates that students greatly influence changes in legal education, Kukura says. The study should serve as "a call to action" for law students to push for courses to "prepare them to be effective reproductive rights and justice advocates," Kukura writes (Kukura, RH Reality Check, 11/23).

~ "Woman Jailed for Getting Pregnant Dies from Medical Neglect," Alex DiBranco, Change.org's "Women's Rights": DiBranco writes that Amy Lynn Gillespie was jailed for becoming pregnant in violation of her probation in Allegheny County, Pa. "Yet this story comes to an even more tragic ending, because Gillespie died while in custody from advanced pneumonia," DiBranco adds. She argues that Gillespie should not have been jailed in the first place, because "to imprison a woman for becoming pregnant is a violation of her human rights, and should not be a condition of probation." DiBranco continues, "To then neglect her, when the very pregnant condition she was locked up for meant that she needed extra medical attention, is horrifying." Gillespie's mother has filed lawsuits against the jail warden, Allegheny Correctional Health Services, the country and a few other individuals. Meanwhile,New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice is organizing a march to take place on Nov. 23 (DiBranco, "Women's Rights," Change.org, 11/22).

~ "Quick Hit: Birth Control in a Gel?" Serena Freewomyn, Feminists for Choice: The blog discusses Nestrogel, a "hormone cream that women can rub on their skin to get a dose of nesterone and estrogen, the hormones that control whether an egg is released each month." Although the cream "gives women one more option for the mode of delivery for their daily dose of hormones," Freewomyn notes that Nestrogel "has a few downsides that need to be addressed." To start with, the gel must be applied daily, she writes, adding, "If you're the type who doesn't want to take the pill every day, this might not be the best method of birth control for you." In addition, "creams have a risk of being absorbed by an unintended recipient," such as pets or partners, according to Freewomyn. "Consequently, patients using birth control cream need to make sure that the cream is applied in an inconspicuous area, so that dogs and/or partners aren't accidentally getting their own dose of birth control," she writes (Freewomyn, Feminists for Choice, 11/19).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of theNational Partnership for Women & Families. 

© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.