abortion down, contraception up

Abortion Down, Contraception Up: Recipe for Health Reform? - On Women (usnews.com) Abortion Down, Contraception Up: Recipe for Health Reform?
October 14, 2009 04:49 PM ET | Deborah Kotz |
Global abortion rates are down?from an estimated 45.5 million in 1995 to 41.6 million in 2003, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research center that supports abortion rights. A key reason for that drop, the report said, was that the proportion of married women using contraception worldwide increased from 54 percent in 1990 to 63 percent in 2003 as pregnancy prevention methods became more available and socially acceptable.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that unsafe abortions kill 70,000 women a year, mostly in poorer countries with strict antiabortion laws. African countries, where only 28 percent of married women use contraception, have some of the highest rates of unsafe abortions. Most of these are performed by women themselves or by untrained traditional healers. The report included the story of a Nigerian woman who first tried to induce an abortion by drinking an herbal concoction, then consulted a healer who inserted leaves in her vagina, causing internal injuries. It's reminiscent of the wire-hanger attempts to terminate pregnancy in this country before abortion was legalized nationwide in 1973.

The Guttmacher report also found that total abortions occurred at "roughly equal rates" in countries where they are legal and where they are highly restricted, which means that laws outlawing abortion are serving only to drive women to have the procedure in riskier places and with riskier methods. But at a news conference in London, Guttmacher president Sharon Camp cited the Netherlands as an example for all other countries to follow. It has the lowest abortion rate in the world: about 1 percent of women have had an abortion in the past year compared with a worldwide average of about 3 percent.

The Dutch? With their legalized prostitution and ultraliberal abortion laws? How can that be? I did a little research and found out that the Netherlands has not only the lowest abortion rate but the lowest rate of teen pregnancy. In fact, the country has held this distinction for decades. Researchers credit strategies like sex education in schools, discussion of sexuality in the mass media, and easy access to contraception. One study pointed out that "acceptance of contraception preceded liberalization of abortion" and that Dutch citizens accept "abortion only as a last resort."

Also a biggie: inclusion of family planning services as part of the Dutch medical system. Hmm. Full coverage for birth control pills, IUDs, and vasectomies? Sounds like a must in our healthcare reform bill. In fact, I'm wondering if all of the raging arguments concerning abortion coverage in health reform aren't a little misguided. Perhaps pro-choice and antiabortion activists should unite to wage a push for comprehensive family planning services. After all, both groups say they want to lower the rate of abortions, and research suggests those programs, rather than restrictive laws, are the way to achieve that goal.
Do you think contraception coverage should be included in health reform?

I don't believe I have any right to tell a woman what she can or can't do with her body. I also feel taxpayers have the right to fight against their money going towards something which they are both adamantly and morally opposed to. Why not add family planning services as an option that you can elect to pay for yourself?

But at a news conference in London, Guttmacher president Sharon Camp cited the Netherlands as an example for all other countries to follow. It has the lowest abortion rate in the world: about 1 percent of women have had an abortion in the past year compared with a worldwide average of about 3 percent.

The Dutch? With their legalized prostitution and ultraliberal abortion laws? How can that be? I did a little research and found out that the Netherlands has not only the lowest abortion rate but the lowest rate of teen pregnancy. In fact, the country has held this distinction for decades. Researchers credit strategies like sex education in schools, discussion of sexuality in the mass media, and easy access to contraception. One study pointed out that "acceptance of contraception preceded liberalization of abortion" and that Dutch citizens accept "abortion only as a last resort."

Also a biggie: inclusion of family planning services as part of the Dutch medical system. Hmm. Full coverage for birth control pills, IUDs, and vasectomies? Sounds like a must in our healthcare reform bill. In fact, I'm wondering if all of the raging arguments concerning abortion coverage in health reform aren't a little misguided. Perhaps pro-choice and antiabortion activists should unite to wage a push for comprehensive family planning services. After all, both groups say they want to lower the rate of abortions, and research suggests those programs, rather than restrictive laws, are the way to achieve that goal.
Do you think contraception coverage should be included in health reform?

And classify ED exams/drugs the same way.

(That howling sound you hear is the pharma companies screaming bloody murder at the concept....)

I just don't understand people who are morally opposed to family planning. I know, I know, the Catholic Church still stands squarely against it, and that's one of the things I don't like about the Church.

I can list other things that I am morally opposed to, and many people are, but you don't hear us trying to go through any health care bill with a fine-toothed comb to insure that our tax dollars will never go towards, under ANY circumstance, EVER:

-Breast implants for anyone under the age of 18
-ED drugs
-Antidepressants for people who have good reason to be depressed
-ADHD drugs for 80% of the kids who get them
-Antidepressants for anyone under the age of 18, under ANY circumstance

Anything else that anyone else wants to say is morally wrong and ruins lives?

I can hear someone saying that breast implants and ED drugs are about quality of life issues - so is family planning.

And really, let's call it birth control, OK? Giving it a euphemism isn't going to make the Pope any happier.

I am talking about PREVENTATIVE and HEALTH measures like the pill, IUDs etc. not abortion.

And I'll let people legislate MY MEDICAL CARE based on THEIR "morality" when they follow all of their Church's teachings as strictly as they want me to, instead of picking and choosing.

So to spell that out, that rules out anything beyond 2nd base before marriage, premarital sex, BJs, divorce, co-habitation before marriage, outdoor weddings..................... and results in a huge family that the husbands will have to raise after their wife exhausts or kills herself producing a litter.

You're supposed to get married in a church according to some churches.

what is healthcare to the church other than potentially new churchgoers?

I am talking about PREVENTATIVE and HEALTH measures like the pill, IUDs etc. not abortion.

And I'll let people legislate MY MEDICAL CARE based on THEIR "morality" when they follow all of their Church's teachings as strictly as they want me to, instead of picking and choosing.

So to spell that out, that rules out anything beyond 2nd base before marriage, premarital sex, BJs, divorce, co-habitation before marriage, outdoor weddings..................... and results in a huge family that the husbands will have to raise after their wife exhausts or kills herself producing a litter.

It's a very slippery slope to pick and choose EVERYONE'S medical care based on SOME religious beliefs. There are many procedures that certain groups have a problem with ................ but are completely okay with other groups.

Should I be unable to get a porcine valve or graft, or get medicine with a pork or beef ingredient because of Jewish or Muslim or Hindu beliefs? (Over 1000 medicines use pork or beef derived gelatin or stearic acid as inert ingredients.)

Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in blood transfusions. Should those not be covered by insurance?

What about stem cell research?

Should we get rid of organ transplants because some religions forbid cutting onto the body after death or burying only part of the corpse?

Masturbation is forbidden by Islam - should all sperm testing, invitro fertilization etc. not be covered?

Should we stop burning medical waste because some religions don't believe in cremation?

How is 40+ million dead babies part of the "good news"?

The Dutch? With their legalized prostitution and ultraliberal abortion laws? How can that be? I did a little research and found out that the Netherlands has not only the lowest abortion rate but the lowest rate of teen pregnancy. In fact, the country has held this distinction for decades. Researchers credit strategies like sex education in schools, discussion of sexuality in the mass media, and easy access to contraception. One study pointed out that "acceptance of contraception preceded liberalization of abortion" and that Dutch citizens accept "abortion only as a last resort."

Also a biggie: inclusion of family planning services as part of the Dutch medical system. Hmm. Full coverage for birth control pills, IUDs, and vasectomies? Sounds like a must in our healthcare reform bill. In fact, I'm wondering if all of the raging arguments concerning abortion coverage in health reform aren't a little misguided. Perhaps pro-choice and antiabortion activists should unite to wage a push for comprehensive family planning services. After all, both groups say they want to lower the rate of abortions, and research suggests those programs, rather than restrictive laws, are the way to achieve that goal.
Do you think contraception coverage should be included in health reform?