Mapiex Aero about Depression – Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Help

Healthcare Prof:

The Washington Post on Monday examined how antiabortion-rights advocates are pressing state legislatures to approve measures designed to restrict access to abortion and compel women seeking the procedure to reconsider. The Post reports that the election of President Obama, who supports abortion rights, and the Democratic majority in Congress have made it less likely that there will be new federal restrictions on abortion or an overturning of Roe v. Wade. In response, antiabortion-rights groups have pushed to enact more state-level restrictions, such as parental consent for minors and waiting periods. According to the Post, state legislatures in 2008 considered around 400 measures to restrict abortion. Gretchen Borchelt, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, said, “The states are the battlegrounds and certainly the testing grounds of new kinds of restrictions.” She added, “State legislatures can be more creative in what they’re trying to push and see what works.”

The restrictions — known as Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws — include measures such as requiring a woman to visit a clinic twice at least 24 hours apart before obtaining an abortion, severely limiting public funding for abortion, mandating consent from both parents or a judge’s signature before minors can obtain abortions and requiring that women view ultrasounds before abortion procedures. The ultrasound laws are aimed at making women reconsider the decision to have an abortion, while the waiting period laws “have the added effect of raising the obstacles and the costs,” particularly for low-income and working-class women, who are most likely to have unintended pregnancies, the Post reports.

Terri Herring, head of Mississippi’s Pro-Life America Network, said, “We tried every which way, and we were successful in the state way.” She added, “All-or-nothing means nothing. Incremental means something.” Herring’s next goal is enacting a law in Mississippi requiring clinic staffers to report the identities of the sexual partners of minors. The Post reports that Mississippi, which has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, has become a model for antiabortion-rights groups in other states. According to Herring, the “greater goal, even in legislation, is to influence the culture.” Felicia Brown-Williams, a Planned Parenthood staffer in Mississippi, said, “We’ve got a glut of bills we fight every year. We spend the first two months in sheer and utter panic that one of these bills is going to get past us” (Slevin, Washington Post, 6/8).

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 the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Phentermine is considered the most normally recommended doctor prescribed appetite suppressant, comprising 50% from the prescription medications. Much of this reason is because it really is significantly less expensive than the opposite significant FDA-approved diet plan medications. Phentermine primary been given approval in the Fda (FDA) in 1959 as being an appetite suppressant to the short-term therapy for weight problems. Phentermine material became for sale in north america in 1959 in addition to Apettite supressant Hydrochloride was developed 70′s.In america, Apettite supressant is currently distributed in the brands Ionamin (Medeva Medication) in addition to Adipex-P (Gate Medication). Additionally it is available to be a commonly used treatment, referred to as apettite supressant. Previously, it absolutely was distributed under the name Fastin (earlier created by King Medication to get SmithKline Beecham). Within Dec 1994, SK-Beecham withdrew Fastin in the marketplace. Seeing that Phentermine is surely an older medicine, absolutely no new usefulness studies are actually performed. One noteworthy exemption, are several studies for the mixture of Apettite supressant in addition to Fenfluramine was developed in addition to mid 90′s. Common apettite supressant Hydrochloride (HCL) is sold for losing fat. It is in the Sympathomimetic group of appetite suppressants (used for the short-term therapy for exogenous weight problems.) Any time included in addition to diet plan, exercise, in addition to habits treatment method, apettite supressant will let you to shed pounds as long as you’re learning new ways to try to eat and exercise. Apettite supressant operates stimulating the hypothalamus gland in addition to impacting on specific neurotransmitters to diminish cravings. The hypothalamus will be the district from the mind of which handles the autonomic nerves, unsafe effects of sleep rounds, temperature, cravings, etc. Phentermine ought not to be used as a substitute to get proper dieting or maybe exercise. For max consequences, it included in addition to a new reduced-calorie diet plan and/or exercise. Any modifications to what you eat, activity levels, in addition to habits should be designed in addition to persisted long-term so as to proceed losing weight and prevent the dropped excess weight coming from coming.

Healthcare Prof:

In the wake of the shooting death of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, columnist Ellen Goodman writes in the Boston Globe that she “can’t help wondering whether rhetoric can justify a crime in the mind of a fanatic.” She continues, “Can’t words provide the sort of perverse moral platform that jihadists stand on and the alternate universe in which a ‘lone nut’ can find a home?” Goodman writes that she does not blame Tiller’s death on “everyone who checks a pro-life box on the pollster’s chart,” but it is “well past time for the antiabortion movement to denounce those who are in the profession of inflaming passions.”

Tiller “was a doctor of last resort for many women, especially those women for whom the sonogram did not bring joy but tragic tidings,” Goodman writes, adding, “He refused to be cowed. At the very least, he should be buried with truth.” In his recent commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, President Obama asked, “As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?” Goodman writes, “One way is for those who truly ‘denounce the murder’ to take on the chorus, the back-up singers, who still provide the doo-wop for the next deranged soloist.” She concludes, “You see, this suspect was not such a lone gunman. And no, I am afraid, this was not an isolated incident” (Goodman, Boston Globe, 6/5).

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 the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

The Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com examines abortion in Zambia and efforts to reduce maternal mortality. “Unsafe abortions are one of the top five causes of maternal mortality in Zambia,” writes the newspaper, which adds they are one factor keeping the country from meeting the U.N. Millennium Development Goal target of reducing maternal mortality.

“At the moment, Zambia’s maternal mortality rate stands at 591 for every 100, 000 live births and it is estimated that up to 30 percent of these result from unsafe abortion,” according to Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com. In 1998, the health ministry introduced post-abortion care services. In collaboration with IPAS Africa Alliance, the government is now planning to introduce and expand services, which will also include the Government Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) program.

The Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com reports, “In this endeavour, the Government is encouraging integrated packages including CAC, which is an integration that seems to have scored some gains, especially as the country has managed to reduce maternal mortality so far.”

Next month, the government is expected to issue “standards and guidelines” to ensure that “women prevent unwanted pregnancies and those with unwanted, unintended, or risky pregnancies get appropriate services to prevent the occurrence of unsafe abortion and associated morbidity and mortality,” according to the newspaper (Zulu, Times of Zambia, 6/8).

Survey Examines Abortion In Kenya

In Kenya, three out of 10 pregnancy-related deaths are the result of “botched abortions,” according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the NGO Ipas, the Standard reports. Public hospitals spend more than 18 million shillings – or about $231,000 – to treat abortion-related complications, according to survey results.

However, the numbers “could be much higher” and the financial cost could be “much bigger” because the survey only includes cases that were reported from public health facilities, B Kigen, the health ministry’s deputy head of the Division of Reproductive Health, said. According to Kigen, 1 percent of women who are treated for abortion complications in public hospitals die.

Kigen said the government has launched a health worker training program on “proper abortion care.” The WHO, UNPF, USAID and others are supporting “the programme [that] aims to address among other things post abortion care, strengthen family planning programmes especially targeting adolescent people in the reproductive age,” he said (Okoth, Standard, 6/4).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post recently published opinion pieces responding to the shooting death of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller. Summaries appear below.

~ Suzanne Poppema, Los Angeles Times: “We must turn [Tiller's] terrifying end into the beginning of a new era when doctors can save lives without risking their own,” Poppema, a former abortion provider and current board chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, writes in a Times opinion piece. Poppema, a friend and colleague of Tiller’s, writes that the state and local police, the FBI, the state of Kansas and the federal government all “should have done more to protect” Tiller, who since the 1970s had endured bombings, a nonlethal shooting, harassment of his family and other threats. “We can all pay tribute to [Tiller's] legacy by treating abortion providers as physicians, not pariahs, and by explaining and openly supporting their work as doctors,” Poppema writes, adding, “Wherever women’s access to abortion is in danger, our government, our medical institutions and the public must step forward to protect it.” She continues, “A show of strength and support will give courage to doctors who have the training to provide abortions but are afraid to use it.” Poppema writes that Tiller “trained hundreds of doctors in abortion procedures,” concluding, “We must erase fear as the reason young physicians won’t enter the field that George found so rewarding. … We owe it to George to let them practice” (Poppema, Los Angeles Times, 6/6).

~ Rozalyn Farmer Love, Washington Post: Deciding to terminate a pregnancy is “a very private, intensely personal decision,” Farmer Love — a University of Alabama-Birmingham third-year medical student studying obstetrics and gynecology — writes in a Post opinion piece. Farmer Love writes that she was raised in a conservative Christian household and used to “believe that abortion is wrong,” but now supports abortion rights and hopes to eventually provide abortion services as part of her ob-gyn practice. She adds that she formerly felt that abortion in the third trimester of pregnancy “crossed a line,” but she “began to see late-trimester abortions in a very different light” while working in a research job in graduate school. In a case involving a fetus with a lethal congenital abnormality, Farmer Love says she learned how the woman and her partner “needed a caring and compassionate physician to help them through this dark moment, and if they chose not to continue the pregnancy, they also needed a physician who was both skilled enough and brave enough to provide them with the care they needed. They needed Dr. Tiller” (Farmer Love, Washington Post, 6/7).

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 the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Prof:

1 (1 votes)

The family of murdered Kansas abortion provider George Tiller is expected to decide this week whether his Wichita clinic will reopen, NPR’s “Morning Edition” reports. Tiller’s clinic is one of the few in the U.S. that performs abortions later in pregnancy, and many abortion-rights advocates are concerned whether women in need of abortions in the second and third trimester would be able to obtain care if it were not reopened. LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska abortion provider who worked with Tiller at his clinic for four years, said that although it is a difficult time for abortion providers, he hopes that the family will reopen the clinic. “This is a job that we took, and we were well-aware of the risks when we started, as was Dr. Tiller,” he said. Providing abortion services in the second and third trimester is “a service that’s so needed that it’s worth the risks,” he added (Lohr, “Morning Edition,” NPR, 6/9). Carhart also said that although no decision on Tiller’s clinic has been made, he “want[s] to assure the press and the women of America … that we will somehow, somewhere continue to provide abortions later in gestation” (Duin, Washington Times, 6/9).

According to Carhart, there are only about 10 providers in the U.S. who perform abortions in the second and third trimesters, including a few hospitals that do not advertise the services. “Morning Edition” reports that most women’s health care providers either are not trained or do not want to receive training to perform the procedure later in pregnancy. Providers who do tend to be older and face extreme pressure from antiabortion-rights advocates. Data from the Guttmacher Institute show that about 1% of all abortions performed in the U.S. occur after 21 weeks’ gestation. Elizabeth Nash of Guttmacher said that 37 states have laws that limit access to abortion after a certain point in pregnancy, “usually around 24 weeks, which is at the end of the second trimester.” She added that most of those states only allow abortions to save the life of the woman or if her physical health is in jeopardy. Pratima Gupta, an ob-gyn in California, said that she is concerned about what will happen to Tiller’s patients. Gupta said Tiller “had patients that were scheduled for Monday morning. What happened to those patients for the rest of the week, the rest of the month? Those patients are the ones who need us” (“Morning Edition,” NPR, 6/9).

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 the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

1 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

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

~ “Obama’s True Colors: Appointee Opposes Abortion and Birth Control,” Bonnie Erbe, U.S. News & World Report‘s “Thomas Jefferson Street”: President Obama’s appointment of Alexia Kelley, founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, as director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships at HHS “doesn’t surprise me at all,” Erbe writes, adding that Obama is “merely feeling comfortable enough to show his true self, rather than staying true to promises he made to his supporters prior to being elected.” Erbe includes an excerpt from Frances Kissling’s Salon opinion piece in which Kissling questions whether Kelley will follow through with the Obama administration’s pledges to implement policies that help prevent teenage pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion. Erbe concludes, “[A]s the evidence mounts that winning re-election is more important to this president than anything else, his supporters should re-examine their votes in 2012″ (Erbe, “Thomas Jefferson Street,” U.S. News& World Report, 6/8).

~ “This Weekend is the International Demonstration Against Birth Control,” Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: “This weekend marks the second year of ‘The Pill Kills’ campaign,” which its antiabortion-rights organizers are calling the “‘International Demonstration Against Birth Control’” that they say will “‘expose the tragic effects’” hormonal contraception has on women, Page writes. She writes that while last year’s campaign focused on convincing women that birth control pills and other common contraceptives “were really abortion methods,” this year’s campaign “is trying to scare women” from using birth control “by claiming it will kill them.” The campaign “targets the regular birth control pill in particular,” Page says, adding that “it appears impossible to find a single instance in which any pro-life group has anything good to say about any birth control method except natural family planning — a technique most notable for its high failure rate.” She notes, “Even the lowly condom disturbs them.” According to Page, David Grimes, “one of the world’s leading experts on contraception,” said that “‘some antiabortion groups describe a subtle blend of fake claims and real, but exaggerated, risks to frighten women,’” and only “‘those very knowledgeable can tease out which are which.’” Grimes also noted, “‘Ironically, the net effect of this campaign to discredit contraception is more unplanned pregnancies and, of course, more abortions.’” Page writes, “One can safely say” that the American Life League — lead organizer of “The Pill Kills” campaign — has a “desire to ban birth control [that] is equally intense as its campaign against legal abortion.” As evidence of this, she cites the group’s efforts to defeat legislation offering contraception coverage for federal employees and its distribution of anti-contraception literature. She adds, “Not only does ALL promote” that “birth control is abortion,” but it “also put[s] forth that any attempt to prevent pregnancy during sex is tantamount to having an abortion.” Page concludes, “In actuality,” efforts by ALL and similar groups “punish people for having the type of sex they define as contrary to God’s wishes. Pregnancy is, according to them, what sex is for” (Page, “Birth Control Watch,” 6/5).

~ “The Next Generation of Providers: One Doctor Shows the Way,” Sheila Bapat, RH Reality Check: The recent murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller “brings into sharp relief the gravity” of women’s health care providers’ decision to perform abortions, Bapat writes. She profiles an ob-gyn — a “young woman in her early 30s” — who holds a faculty position at a university hospital in a southern, conservative state and also is “one of just a handful of abortion providers in the South.” Bapat writes that the “low number of abortion providers” in the U.S. is the result of several factors, including fear of violence and political issues. Additionally, “there is the professional factor: abortion is often marginalized within major medical institutions and teaching hospitals,” according to Bapat. She adds that many medical schools do not include abortion in their curricula, and providing training for the procedure “does not ensure that ob-gyn programs will yield abortion providers,” as 52% of residents who express interest at the start of their residencies in becoming an abortion provider actually become providers. She continues, “Defying these odds requires a deep commitment to reproductive freedom and health care.” Bapat describes the ob-gyn’s experiences with deciding to become an abortion provider, including how “[d]ifficult challenges permeate her personal life.” According to Bapat, “Providers often grapple with questions like, What will my family think if I become an abortion provider?” (Bapat, RH Reality Check, 6/9).

~ “Health Reform Can’t Come Soon Enough: New Findings on Medical Bankruptcy,” Brigette Courtot, Womenstake: The findings of a new study on medical bankruptcy –in whichindividuals who file for bankruptcy list medical bills or illness as factors — are “dismal, disheartening,… nearly any gloom-inspiring adjectives will do,” Courtot, a political analyst at National Women’s Law Center, writes. She adds that the report found that 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 had a medical cause. “Fortunately, though, there’s some exciting news to balance these depressing new findings,” as Congress prepares to announce its “plans to fix our fragmented and failing health system,” Courtot writes. NWLC is “advocating for the types of health reform that will guarantee that women and families won’t go bankrupt when they need health care,” she adds, concluding that the new study “reminds us that health reform is about peace of mind; for the millions of Americans living in fear of losing their homes/savings/kids’ college funds because of medical bills, reform can’t come soon enough” (Courtot, Womenstake, 6/8).

~ “New Religious Left Skirmish: Catholics for Choice Attacks Obama Pick,” Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News & World Report‘s “God and Country”: Gilgoff reports that President Obama’s appointment of Alexia Kelley, founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, as director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships at HHS has drawn “a withering attack” from Catholics for Choice, despite that Kelley is not “a hard-core conservative.” Catholics for Choice President Jon O’Brien criticized Kelley’s “apparent support for some abortion restrictions,” Gilgoff writes. He continues that O’Brien issued a statement saying that Kelley directed CACG “‘to ignore the question of access to abortion and reframe the debate in terms of reducing the number of abortions,’” which “‘should be a huge red flag to anyone who believes in and seeks to defend a woman’s right to choose.’” O’Brien also said, “‘While evidence-based prevention methods can go a long way towards reducing the need for abortion, some women will always need access to safe and legal abortion, and we must recognize that and ensure public policies support that access.’” In response, Chris Korzen, president of the more progressive group Catholic United, issued a statement supporting Kelley and calling O’Brien’s statement “‘a roadblock to progress.’” Gilgoff comments, “This is an unusual situation,” adding, “Can you remember the last time a liberal group attacked a Democratic president’s political appointment as too socially conservative?” He concludes, “With the Obama administration moving quickly to develop policies aimed at reducing demand for abortion, however, Catholics for Choice’s attack may auger more liberal defections in the relatively near future” (Gilgoff, “God and Country,” U.S. News & World Report, 6/5).

~ “House Passes Paid Leave for Some New Parents,” Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon‘s “Broadsheet”: On June 4, the House approved a bill (H.R. 824) that would offer federal employees four weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child, Mieszkowski writes. “The vote went down mostly along party lines, and if it clears the Senate, President Obama is expected to sign it into law,” she adds. Mieszkowski continues that, as quoted in the Washington Post, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the bill’s lead sponsor, said, “‘Today we show that this Congress doesn’t just talk about family values — it values families. As more families are relying on just one paycheck in these times, we can’t afford not to help them in this way.’” Mieszkowski writes, “Some Republicans didn’t see it that way,” adding that critics “charged that the bill sends a bad message since it increases federal employees’ benefits at a time when many American employees are having their benefits cut.” She also notes that although the Family and Medical Leave Act allows most U.S. employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave after the birth or adoption of a child, employers are not required to offer any pay during the leave. According to Mieszkowski, “In the military, mothers already get six weeks paid time off to care for a new child, and fathers get 10 days.” However, the U.S. remains “one of only four countries that does not offer paid leave more broadly to new mothers,” she adds. Mieszkowski concludes, “The federal government is the United States’ largest employer, and supporters of the bill are hopeful that it’s the first step toward future legislation that would extend the leave to employees in private companies, too” (Mieszkowski, “Broadsheet,” Salon, 6/5).

~ “Right-Wing Protestors: Birth Control Will Kill You,” Jeff Muskus, Huffington Post: “Unable to turn the public against sex, the pro-life movement will be on the march Saturday trying to convince women that birth control pills will kill them,” Muskus reports in the Huffington Post. He adds, “The right-wing American Life League and a handful of regional organizations will stand around outside U.S. pharmacies and Planned Parenthood chapters this weekend for the second annual ‘Protest the Pill Day.’” ALL “blames birth control — all birth control, conflating the pill with less time-tested contraceptives — for abortions and a wide variety of deadly health problems,” and ALL’s Web site also “helpfully provides a nationwide map to facilities and protests,” Muskus says. In addition, “More ominously in the wake of George Tiller’s murder,” the site “includes some ambiguous language about who should use it,” he continues. Muskus writes that the site says, “‘As the national group focused on grassroots efforts to defeat Planned Parenthood, American Life League hopes the information presented will be helpful to all in this battle.’” Muskus reports that Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said that ALL and similar groups are lobbying state and local governments to cut women’s access to birth control and emergency contraception and support “fetal personhood” laws. Gandy said, “‘It’s sad to say, they are targeting young women who, after eight years of ‘abstinence-only’ sex mis-education, are particularly vulnerable to their propaganda. We know that the greatest danger to women’s lives comes from a lack of access to good reproductive health care, including birth control and abortion — and scientifically accurate information’” (Muskus, Huffington Post, 6/5).

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 the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

5 (2 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

A New York City law that will go into effect in July could make it easier for antiabortion-rights protesters to be arrested for restricting access to abortion clinics or harassing people trying to enter the facilities, the New York Times reports. Current law allows authorities to make arrests only if the person directly affected, such as a woman entering a clinic, is willing to press charges. However, the new law would allow third parties, such as clinic workers, to press charges if they witnessed the activity, the Times reports. New York City’s Dr. Emily’s Women’s Health Center and NARAL Pro-Choice New York spearheaded efforts to pass the legislation in response to antiabortion-rights demonstrators who target women on their way to clinics and attempt to persuade them to carry their pregnancies to term. Clinic workers report that the protesters also have harassed women as they left the subway or surrounded them as they walked to the clinic. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the law in April. Joan Malin, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City, said the group is “not against people demonstrating. But there is a line between freedom of speech and harassment and bullying” (Bosman, New York Times, 6/6).

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 the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

1 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

The case of George Tiller, the Kansas abortion provider who was recently murdered, “helps explain why so many people believe that abortion should be available at any stage of pregnancy,” New York Times columnist Ross Douthat writes. Because Tiller provided abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy, he “inevitably … handled the hardest of hard cases,” according to Douthat. He continues that since Tiller’s murder, “there’s been an outpouring of testimonials, across the Internet, from women (and some men) who lived through these hard cases.” Douthat adds that these patients’ experiences “help explain why so many Americans defend [Tiller's] right” to perform abortions later in pregnancy.

However, “such narratives are not the only story about George Tiller’s clinic,” as he “was a target of protests — and, tragically, of terrorist violence — because he performed late-term abortions, period,” Douthat writes. According to Douthat, Tiller’s critics claim that he performed abortions later in pregnancy “not only in truly desperate situations, but in many other cases as well.” Although a final determination about “how many of George Tiller’s abortions were performed on healthy mothers and healthy fetuses” might never be made, “most abortions in the United States bear no resemblance whatsoever to the hardest third-trimester cases,” according to Douthat. He continues, “Yes, many pregnancies are terminated in dire medical circumstances,” but “these represent a tiny fraction of the million-plus abortions that take place in this country every year,” and the “same is true of the more than 100,000 abortions that are performed after the first trimester: Very few involve medical complications of any kind.”

Douthat writes, “The argument for unregulated abortion rests on the idea that where there are exceptions, there cannot be a rule.” He adds, “As a matter of moral philosophy, this makes a certain sense,” as a fetus either “has a claim to life or it doesn’t,” and the “circumstances of its conception and the state of its health shouldn’t enter into the equation.” However, he continues, “the law is not a philosophy seminar. It’s the place where morality meets custom, and compromise, and common sense,” and “it can take account of tragic situations without universalizing their lessons.” Douthat also writes that the “argument that some abortions take place in particularly awful, particularly understandable circumstances is not a case against regulating abortion.” He adds, “It’s the beginning of precisely the kind of reasonable distinction-making that would produce a saner, stricter legal regime.”

According to Douthat, “If abortion were returned to the democratic process, this landscape would change dramatically,” and “[a]rguments about whether and how to restrict abortions in the second trimester — as many advanced democracies already do — would replace protests over the scope of third-trimester medical exemptions.” Douthat concludes, “The result would be laws with more respect for human life, a culture less inflamed by a small number of tragic cases — and a political debate, God willing, unmarred by crimes like George Tiller’s murder” (Douthat, New York Times, 6/9).

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 the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

5 (1 votes)

Healthcare Prof:

4 (4 votes)

The family of murdered Kansas abortion provider George Tiller announced on Tuesday that his Wichita clinic will not re-open, leading some abortion-rights advocates to voice concern about access to the procedure, the New York Times reports. Tiller was one of a handful of abortion providers who performed the procedure in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, and women for decades have traveled to the clinic from across the U.S. and other countries. The clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, also was Kansas’ only clinic outside the Kansas City area (Davey, New York Times, 6/10). The Tiller family said in a statement that the clinic will be “permanently closed” effective immediately. The family also said it does not plan to be involved “in any similar clinic” but will “honor Dr. Tiller’s memory through private charitable activities” (Slevin/Stein, Washington Post, 6/10).

While abortion-rights advocates expressed empathy for the family, some added that they also are concerned that the clinic’s closure could have devastating effects for women who learn of fatal health problems late in their pregnancies, the Times reports. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said, “It is unacceptable that antiabortion intimidation and violence has led to the closing of Dr. Tiller’s clinic.” She added, “Not only have we lost a fearless defender of women’s fundamental health and rights in Dr. Tiller’s murder, but the closing of his clinic leaves an immediate and immense void in the availability of abortion” (New York Times, 6/10). Suzanne Poppema, board chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health and a retired ob-gyn who performed abortions, said that abortions later in pregnancy would still be available, including through university hospitals that do not advertise the service. The closing is “not going to stop people who want to provide the service, but it will slow them down,” she said. Marla Patrick, Kansas coordinator for the National Organization for Women, said abortion-rights advocates are working to open another Wichita-based clinic that provides abortions later in pregnancy (Bello, USA Today, 6/10). The AP/Yahoo! News reports that Kansas state law permits abortion after 21 weeks’ gestation only if continuing the pregnancy would endanger the woman’s life or cause a “substantial and irreversible impairment” of a major bodily function, which courts have interpreted to include the mental health of the woman (Hegman/Hanna, AP/Yahoo! News, 6/9).

According to the Times, some abortion-rights advocates had hoped other abortion providers would take over Tiller’s work at the clinic. LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska abortion provider who also worked with Tiller, said he is “currently exploring every option to be able to continue to make second- and early, medically indicated third-trimester abortions available.” Warren Hern, a Colorado abortion provider who performs procedures later in pregnancy, said, “Where does it end? The antiabortion fanatics got exactly what they wanted” (New York Times, 6/10).

According to the Wall Street Journal, abortion-rights opponents’ response to the closure was “subdued.” Some expressed concern that antiabortion-rights extremists would think that violence “gets results where legal protest doesn’t,” the Journal reports (Simon, Wall Street Journal, 6/10). Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said that while the group is “thankful” that the clinic is closed, they “wish it would have come through the peaceful, legal channels that we were pushing” (New York Times, 6/10).

Broadcast Coverage

MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Tuesday reported on the clinic’s closure and included a discussion with Susan Hill, president of the National Women’s Health Organization, about violence against abortion providers and an increase in the hostility of protesters outside abortion clinics since Tiller’s murder (Maddow, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” MSNBC, 6/9). NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Tuesday also reported on the clinic’s closure (“All Things Considered,” NPR, 6/9).

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