Spotlight on....

January 9, 2013

Leadership Training Academy Fellow Andrea Jackson, MD, wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle about a young patient who hopes to break her family's cycle of teen pregnancy.

"Recently a 17-year-old high school student came to me for contraceptive counseling. She told me of her hopes of continuing her education after high school, but she was scared that an unintended pregnancy would stop her from achieving this, just like it did the other women in her family.

"At the end of our discussion, she decided to use the intrauterine device for birth control. Since she was covered by Family PACT [a California program], she was able to get this highly effective contraceptive method that would allow her to delay her entrance into motherhood until she was ready and to achieve her educational goal—to be the first one in her family to go to college."

January 3, 2013

President Obama has signed the Department of Defense authorization bill into law, which means that, finally, members of the military will be able to use their health insurance to cover abortions in instances of rape and incest. Today, we celebrate this long-overdue reversal of a policy that hurt rape survivors in the United States military.

PRCH physicians worked with Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and our colleague organizations to attach the Shaheen Amendment—which allows the coverage for abortion in cases of rape and incest—to the Defense Department bill.

On December 18, we had great reason to hope that the Shaheen Amendment would become law: the conference committee from the House and Senate charged with the Defense authorization bill decided to let the amendment remain in the legislation. In a press statement, PRCH board chair Douglas Laube, MD, MEd, who served in the U.S. Navy, commented: "Since 1981, female soldiers who have been raped have been denied insurance coverage if they become pregnant and decide to have an abortion. These women are forced to pay in full for that care—a financial burden added to the trauma of sexual assault."

Thank you to the current class of Leadership Training Academy Fellows and the many other PRCH physicians and supporters who have helped PRCH advocate for the Shaheen Amendment and servicewomen's well-being.

December 20, 2012

In an American Independent article about medication abortion restrictions under consideration in Texas, former Leadership Training Initiative Fellow Lisa Perriera, MD, MPH, explained how similar limits in her home state, Ohio, have hurt her patients' health.

For instance, the Ohio law requires women to take misoprostol on site when they receive it, rather than allowing them to take it later at their convenience. As a result, Dr. Perriera's patients have had side effects occur on the drive home: “We have patients that have to travel as far as five hours in a car while the abortion process starts—that’s just not fair.”

After Texas governor Rick Perry declared his hopes for a ban on abortions after 20 weeks in pregnancy, PRCH board member Curtis Boyd, MD, wrote in the Houston Chronicle: "Such laws are dangerous to the health of women. I see [the women needing abortions after 20 weeks] every day and hear their stories. There is no one better qualified to make decisions regarding her body and life than the pregnant woman in consultation with her doctor and family."

Dr. Boyd then stated his unequivocal support for his patients in the face of legislation meant to "burden and punish women" and "intimidate" physicians: "I have provided abortion care for over 40 years. I will not back down now."

Former Leadership Training Academy Fellow Erin Hendriks, MD, published a letter in the the Detroit Free Press, objecting to a bill passed by the Michigan legislature that would allow health care providers to deny patients medical services, including abortion and contraception, according to the providers' religious or moral beliefs. Dr. Hendriks wrote: "This bill ultimately seeks to limit access for women to reproductive health care. As a doctor, I cannot think of anything I object to less than a woman seeking to responsibly plan pregnancy." Her letter is the third on the page.

Board chair Douglas Laube, MD, MEd, spoke to the Wisconsin State Journal about a lawsuit against recently passed legislation that has made it nearly impossible for Wisconsin women to access medication abortion. Among the multiple reasons women deserve the option of medication abortion, Dr. Laube noted that surgical abortion isn't an option in the early weeks of pregnancy, and without medication abortion, some women must now wait longer to end their pregnancies. Read the article here.

December 18, 2012

PRCH board chair Douglas Laube, MD, MEd, submitted public comments in opposition to the federal rule excluding immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy from the expanded health insurance coverage options available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Dr. Laube wrote: "All women, including immigrant women, need access to reproductive and sexual health care services. DACA individuals deserve access to the important preventive and pregnancy-related programs of the ACA. ... PRCH physicians believe that DACA individuals should be considered 'lawfully present' for purposes of health coverage eligibility." Read his full comment.