What would you do if your access to birth control and certain personal health care services was threatened??

What would you do if your access to birth control and certain personal health care services was threatened?How would that make you feel?

Read this op-ed by Jeffrey R. Lewis. Then, share your thoughts by leaving a comment here on the TellThem! Blog.


OP ED: Stop the undeclared war on family planning

BYLINE: Jeffrey R. Lewis

One in seven Americans currently is living without health insurance. That’s 45.7 million people, equivalent to the combined populations of California and Ohio. With our nation in the middle of a health care crisis, one might expect the Bush administration to be working with Congress to ensure health care access for American families who are struggling to make ends meet. Instead, it is creating new roadblocks to health care that could deny millions of men and women access to mainstream family planning services and contraception.

The administration has proposed a new set of regulations that it says will protect doctors, nurses and health care workers who object to abortion from having to participate in providing care they find objectionable. The new conscience clause will require health care agencies and clinics to certify that they will not discriminate against individuals or organizations that refuse to offer — or even provide referrals to — family planning services that disagree on personal, moral and religious grounds.

If workers or organizations declare that the pill, intrauterine device (IUD) or emergency contraception are contrary to their beliefs, they can deliberately withhold both services and information from patients. The proposed regulation affects any hospital, clinic, doctor’s office or pharmacy that receives federal funding, directly or indirectly, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The new rule is a carefully crafted ruse to obstruct public access to contraception methods that are used by more than 37 million American women and men to act responsibly, stay healthy and plan for strong families. Federally funded comprehensive family planning programs — such as those implemented by states, municipalities and community health centers — could start refusing to offer women and men education on responsible sexual behavior and access to contraception.

Comprehensive family planning programs have helped low-income families get the education and contraception they need to act responsibly. They prevent an estimated 1.3 million unplanned pregnancies and 630,000 abortions each year. Every dollar spent on them saves an estimated $4.02 in pregnancy-related and newborn care costs to Medicaid.

These health centers also provide screenings for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, identifying thousands of cases that would otherwise go undetected and untreated. And they address women’s broader health needs by conducting millions of breast screenings and Pap tests. Over two decades, they have detected 55,000 cases of invasive cervical cancer, saving lives and money.

By law, federally funded services cannot provide abortion. What they provide is age-appropriate sex education, counseling and contraception that are effective in preventing unplanned pregnancies and the need for abortion.
A look past the lofty rhetoric reveals a policy guided by ideology, not science, and an aggressive, 11th-hour attempt to redefine contraception as abortion — an extremist view that few Americans in either party support.

The real target of the new rule is mainstream contraception — the pill, IUDs and emergency contraception — all of which have been deemed safe, effective and legal. None of these methods
cause abortion by any scientifically accepted definition of the term.
The rule would directly affect the 37.3 million Americans living in poverty who can’t afford the cost of contraception, especially those who live in small communities where federally funded hospitals or clinics could refuse to support comprehensive family planning.
It would affect all Americans, because the federal government sets the standard for private health care benefits and practices. The new rule is so vaguely written that hospital systems, HMOs and insurance programs could refuse to fill prescriptions or provide coverage for the pill and IUDs.

Health providers could refuse emergency contraception to victims of rape or incest, compounding the trauma of sexual violence. And they could refuse to educate men and women about the safe and legal methods of contraception that have prevented 20 million unintended pregnancies and averted 9 million likely abortions during the past two decades.

The administration quietly has made the first move in a new, undeclared war on contraception — a war that is tragically out of step with the will of the American people.


• Jeffrey R. Lewis, a former staffer to former U.S. Sens. John Heinz and Bob Packwood, is
president of the Heinz Family Philanthropies.

The State Newspaper addresses South Carolina HIV epidemic

This week, The State Newspaper publishes a series of stories about an epidemic that sweeps our state. HIV/AIDS affects thousands in South Carolina. In 2006, it was calculated that roughly 14,000 people in this state are living with HIV.

The series, "HIV in South Carolina," is written by Czerne Reid, health and science reporter for The State Newspaper. Reid has interviewed people like Bambi Gaddist, Executive Director for the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council, Dr. Robert Ball, who found the first case of HIV in Carolina, Dayshal Dix, a 14-year-old living with HIV, and many others whose lives have been impacted by the disease.

It is true that HIV/AIDS has been a been a tragic blow to our community. But, it is commendable that we are now more educated and aware of its impact--and that we are actively raising awareness and utilizing our resources in order to take action.

Visit The State Newspaper website to see the many faces of "HIV in South Carolina," and visit TellThem! to find out what you can do to make a difference.

How do you feel about the epidemic in South Carolina? What should be done to help solve the problem? Leave your comments here.