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February 3, 2012

Today, the Susan G. Komen Foundation reversed its decision on funding breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood and will reinstate its grants to the organization. PRCH is relieved that the foundation will continue to help Planned Parenthood meet women's health needs.

Yesterday when the Komen Foundation was still planning to cut off Planned Parenthood funding, our board chair, Douglas Laube, MD, MEd, expressed PRCH's disappointment in a press statement:

“The Komen Foundation has given in to anti-abortion pressure my colleagues and I have faced for years. … [W]e have resisted and continue to resist the anti-choice movement’s attempts to separate certain women’s health needs from others, as if some were more worthy of [physicians'] attention.”

Dr. Laube continued, “Planned Parenthood, too, treats women’s health as a whole, and this vital institution allows many of us to help women stay healthy. We are proud to stand with Planned Parenthood and their supporters.” Read his full statement.

February 3, 2012

Leadership Training Academy Fellow Jennifer Tang, MD, published an opinion piece in the Charlotte Observer in support of contraceptive coverage for all women, including employees of faith-based institutions: "I am thrilled that the new insurance rules will bring relief to most women whose employers don't provide birth control coverage....I look forward to the day when every employer understands that women need a full range of preventive health services, including birth control, to have healthy and productive lives."

In her letter to the New York Daily News, Leadership Training Academy Fellow Erin Hendriks, MD, pointed out that arguments against requiring faith-based institutions to cover employees' contraception co-pays overlook the fact that many women use contraception for medical reasons, such as fibroids: "I am tired of politicians and clerics with no medical education trying to influence decisions that should remain in the exam room."

Leadership Training Academy Fellow Tracey Wilkinson, MD, MPH, was interviewed by ABCNews.com, My Health News Daily, and Betty Confidential and about teens’ access to the emergency contraceptive Plan B. Dr. Wilkinson is the lead author of “Access to Emergency Contraception for Adolescents,” a Journal of the American Medical Association study that documents barriers preventing young women in low-income areas from obtaining emergency contraception.

Dr. Wilkinson et al. found pharmacy employees giving customers inaccurate information about Plan B, including telling them that it can’t be sold over the counter to 17-year-olds. (In 2009, the FDA lowered the age requirement for over-the-counter Plan B from 18 to 17.)

On ABCNews.com, Dr. Wilkinson said: "[I]f the FDA is going to leave regulations as they are now, we're going to have to figure out a way to combat this misinformation." Read that story here.

Leadership Training Academy Fellow Lori Gawron, MD, published a letter in the Chicago Tribune about the importance of contraception and abortion services: "[All women] deserve to stay healthy, space their pregnancies and support the children they already have. Our government should not get in the way of their options."

In the Albany Times Union, former Leadership Training Academy Fellow Renee Mestad, MD, advocated for the Reproductive Health Act, a New York State bill that would "protect New York patients' access to abortion at a time when Congress is hammering away at access to women's health care."

January 24, 2012

PRCH medical director Anne Davis, MD, MPH, was interviewed by Reuters about a new Obstetrics & Gynecology study, which found that, in the U.S., "[t]he risk of death associated with childbirth is approximately 14 times higher than that with abortion. Similarly, the overall morbidity associated with childbirth exceeds that with abortion."

Dr. Davis told Reuters that the study’s findings could help dispel myths about abortion’s risks and give patients confidence "… that the medical care they're having is safe, long-term and short-term."

January 24, 2012

In an interview on the Hairpin PRCH board member Nancy Stanwood, MD, MPH, spoke extensively about why women have abortions and why she meets that need as part of her work as an obstetrician/gynecologist. "If a woman doesn’t feel ready to have the child of her abuser, she shouldn't have to. If a woman doesn’t feel prepared for the rigors and responsibilities and joys of motherhood, she shouldn't have to do that if she's not ready. … [Motherhood] should be voluntary as opposed to drafted."

Dr. Stanwood also commented on the recent increase in restrictions on abortion access: "[M]aking abortion less available doesn't stop it from happening, it just means that more women suffer and die." Read more from this wide-ranging interview.