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Blogs Comment On Need For Abortion Providers, Antiabortion-Rights Protests, Other Topics

The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "Obama"s True Colors: Appointee Opposes Abortion and Birth Control," Bonnie Erbe, U.S. News & World Report"s "Thomas Jefferson Street": President Obama"s appointment of Alexia Kelley, founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, as director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships at HHS "doesn"t surprise me at all," Erbe writes, adding that Obama is "merely feeling comfortable enough to show his true self, rather than staying true to promises he made to his supporters prior to being elected." Erbe includes an excerpt from Frances Kissling"s Salon opinion piece in which Kissling questions whether Kelley will follow through with the Obama administration"s pledges to implement policies that help prevent teenage pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion. Erbe concludes, "[A]s the evidence mounts that winning re-election is more important to this president than anything else, his supporters should re-examine their votes in 2012" (Erbe, "Thomas Jefferson Street," U.S. News & World Report, 6/8).~ "This Weekend is the International Demonstration Against Birth Control," Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: "This weekend marks the second year of "The Pill Kills" campaign," which its antiabortion-rights organizers are calling the ""International Demonstration Against Birth Control"" that they say will ""expose the tragic effects"" hormonal contraception has on women, Page writes. She writes that while last year"s campaign focused on convincing women that birth control pills and other common contraceptives "were really abortion methods," this year"s campaign "is trying to scare women" from using birth control "by claiming it will kill them." The campaign "targets the regular birth control pill in particular," Page says, adding that "it appears impossible to find a single instance in which any pro-life group has anything good to say about any birth control method except natural family planning -- a technique most notable for its high failure rate." She notes, "Even the lowly condom disturbs them." According to Page, David Grimes, "one of the world"s leading experts on contraception," said that ""some antiabortion groups describe a subtle blend of fake claims and real, but exaggerated, risks to frighten women,"" and only ""those very knowledgeable can tease out which are which."" Grimes also noted, ""Ironically, the net effect of this campaign to discredit contraception is more unplanned pregnancies and, of course, more abortions."" Page writes, "One can safely say" that the American Life League -- lead organizer of "The Pill Kills" campaign -- has a "desire to ban birth control [that] is equally intense as its campaign against legal abortion." As evidence of this, she cites the group"s efforts to defeat legislation offering contraception coverage for federal employees and its distribution of anti-contraception literature. She adds, "Not only does ALL promote" that "birth control is abortion," but it "also put[s] forth that any attempt to prevent pregnancy during sex is tantamount to having an abortion." Page concludes, "In actuality," efforts by ALL and similar groups "punish people for having the type of sex they define as contrary to God"s wishes. Pregnancy is, according to them, what sex is for" (Page, "Birth Control Watch," 6/5).~ "The Next Generation of Providers: One Doctor Shows the Way," Sheila Bapat, RH Reality Check: The recent murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller "brings into sharp relief the gravity" of women"s health care providers" decision to perform abortions, Bapat writes. She profiles an ob-gyn -- a "young woman in her early 30s" -- who holds a faculty position at a university hospital in a southern, conservative state and also is "one of just a handful of abortion providers in the South." Bapat writes that the "low number of abortion providers" in the U.S. is the result of several factors, including fear o

Taxing Fatty Foods Or Health Insurers Gains Traction

Lawmakers are considering two new taxes to help pay for a health care overhaul: a tax on fatty foods and taxing insurers on so-called Cadillac plans. Both proposals were scrutinized in news articles.