Attacks on Planned Parenthood and Title X threaten women’s health care

Using a crisis as cover to achieve a controversial policy goal is a tried and true political tactic. That seems to be the game plan of the GOP House leadership, which under the guise of reducing the deficit has launched an attack on Planned Parenthood, a major provider of family planning services for women in this country.

The organization has long been a target of anti-abortion groups because about 3 percent of the health services it provides nationwide at more than 800 clinics involve abortion. Federal law prohibits the expenditure of public funds for abortions, and Planned Parenthood officials say no state or federal money is used for abortion procedures. Opponents counter that the federal funding frees up private donations that are used for abortions.

A bill passed by the Republican-controlled House last week would cut $75 million in funding to Planned Parenthood that is spent for family planning assistance. A broader, related assault would totally eliminate Title X, a $317 million family planning program enacted in 1970 and signed by President Richard Nixon. Neither proposal is likely to make it through the Democrat-controlled Senate.

In response, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards denounced the measures as the most dangerous legislative assault on women’s health in Planned Parenthood’s 95-year history.

According to Richards, “It is difficult to understand why people who say they are opposed to abortion would do so much to undermine the family planning and contraception that helps prevent the need for it.”

Although the alleged motive for the cuts is deficit reduction, a clear aim is to cripple a leading provider of abortion services — and at high cost of essential medical care for Houston-area women.

Here’s what we’d lose if the House majority gets their way. Last year Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which serves Southeast Texas and Louisiana at 12 health centers, provided for more than 110,400 health care visits. Services dispensed included tests for sexually transmitted diseases, cervical cancer screenings and family planning counseling. The agency estimates that more than 18,000 unwanted pregnancies were prevented through contraceptives.

On a national scale, Title X services are credited with preventing 973,000 unintended pregnancies and 406,000 abortions each year. Family planning is the most effective way to reduce abortions.

According to estimates of the Guttmacher Institute, a research center focused on sexual and reproductive health, a dollar spent on family planning saves taxpayers more than $4 down the road. That’s why the effort to cast these bills as deficit reducers is such a bad joke.

In recent weeks, an anti-abortion group, Live Action, has attempted to smear Planned Parenthood’s operations with a series of video stings in which a man posing as a sex trafficker attempted to solicit advice on getting abortions for underage prostitutes. Despite making more than a dozen visits to clinics, they have produced only one inappropriate exchange with an employee, who was later fired by Planned Parenthood.

Agency officials said that a number of the visits were reported to state and federal authorities before it became clear that they were a politically motivated sham.

Such tactics must not be allowed to justify an ideologically based effort to shut off essential federal funding for Planned Parenthood clinics as well as other health care sources for millions of American women who cannot otherwise afford family planning services.

Diabetes Risk in Older Women not Linked to Vitamin D Levels

Low vitamin D levels are not linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in Diabetes Care. In the study Dr. Jennifer G. Robinson, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at the University of Iowa, and researchers followed women participating in the Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Trials and Observational Study (a racially and ethnically diverse population of postmenopausal women) who were free of diabetes. Diabetes was defined as self-report of physician diagnosis and receiving insulin or oral hypoglycemic medication.

Of 5,140 women who were free of type 2 diabetes at the start of the trial, 6 percent developed the disease over an average of 7 years.

The researchers found no clear link between the women’s blood levels of vitamin D at the outset and their risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on.

Women with mental health issues not seeking help

A Newcastle University study has found women with lower incomes and education levels are less likely to seek help for mental health issues.

The report in the Medical Journal of Australia shows despite improvements in mental health services, women with depression were unlikely to seek counselling or psychotherapy.
The study of almost 15-thousand women across Australia is part of a 20-year nation-wide investigation into women’s health.

Lead researcher, Professor Julie Byles says while it seems there is still a stigma attached to mental health, it’s likely women think they’re too busy to seek help.

“I think sometimes we don’t like to admit we need help” she said

“I think sometimes it’s an issue of the pressures on our lives as well and taking time out to go and talk to someone about your problems might seem to be too tall an order when we’ve got a lot of pressure on our lives”

Professor Byles says women who are socio-economically disadvantaged are even less likely to seek help.

“Their knowledge of whether these services are available, how they’re feeling about accessing counselling.” She said

“Maybe women who have higher levels of education are more open to talking about their problems with people whereas other people might not feel it’s so easy to express how they’re feeling”

Family Health History is Important Screening Tool

Washington, DC — All women should have a family health history on file and it should be reviewed and updated regularly, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (The College). Family history screening is especially important in reproductive planning.

“Our goal is to help improve our patients’ health by promoting family history as a screening tool,” said W. Allen Hogge, MD, chair of The College’s Committee on Genetics. Certain diseases and conditions run in families, such as breast and colon cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, and thrombophilias (blood clotting conditions). “If we know about the family history, then we can better help our patients identify their own risk factors, decide on certain screenings, and modify their lifestyle to prevent or minimize the problem.

“When a woman is planning a pregnancy, it’s an ideal time to review her family history as well as her partner’s,” said Dr. Hogge. In addition to obtaining the family and medical history of the woman and her male partner, it’s also important to include their ethnic backgrounds, any family or personal negative pregnancy outcomes they’ve had separately or together, such as miscarriages, preterm birth, or birth defects, and any known causes for infertility. Some couples may decide against pregnancy after genetic counseling and testing, choose to use donor sperm or eggs, or opt for preimplantation genetic testing of the embryos.

There are a couple of standard methods that physicians can use to obtain family health histories: a questionnaire or checklist, and a family pedigree. A common screening tool is the family history questionnaire. Patients can fill them out at home which gives them extra time to contact family members and provide more accurate information. The other family history tool is known as a ‘pedigree’ that ideally goes back three generations. The pedigree indicates the ages, health histories, and ethnicities of each family member, as well as dates and causes of death. Of course, family history screening tools can be difficult or impossible to obtain for adopted individuals and their usefulness may be limited for people with very small families.

Although many adult-onset health problems have complex genetic and environmental interactions, obtaining that information in a family history can help patients modify their diet, lose weight, or exercise to improve their outcome or delay the onset of symptoms. “For instance, if you are at high risk for developing heart disease, then you need to watch your blood pressure and keep your cholesterol levels in the healthy range,” said Dr. Hogge.

Committee Opinion #478, “Family History as a Risk Assessment Tool,” is published in the March 2011 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

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The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is the nation’s leading group of physicians providing health care for women. As a private, voluntary, nonprofit membership organization of approximately 55,000 members, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists strongly advocates for quality health care for women, maintains the highest standards of clinical practice and continuing education of its members, promotes patient education, and increases awareness among its members and the public of the changing issues facing women’s health care.