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via Yahoo News US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on Tuesday recalled one million packets of birth control pills over a packaging error that could put women at risk of unintended pregnancy. The pills, about half of which were the brand name Lo/Ovral-28 and the other half were generic norgestrel and ethinyl estradiol tablets, may be improperly … Continue reading
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post The number of abortions performed in Illinois fell to a 37 year low in 2010, according to new data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. While both abortion opponents and pro-choice advocates believe the decrease in abortions is a good thing, the groups disagree on why the state saw such … Continue reading
via Jessica Arons, ThinkProgress Yesterday, in a huge victory for women’s health, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that most employers will be required to cover contraception in their health plans, along with other preventive services, with no cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles. This means that after years of trying to get … Continue reading
via Chicago Tribune Today the Tribune editorial page endorses swearing. Loudly. (We endorse swearing loudly, that is; our endorsement itself is sotto voce.) Oops. Sorry, we forgot to mention one condition: Go ahead and scream that curse … to relieve physical pain. British researchers report in the Journal of Pain (no, we didn’t make that … Continue reading
via Kevin Drum, Mother Jones In theory, any woman 17 or older can buy the Plan B emergency contraceptive over the counter. Younger teens can’t, and the Obama administration’s recent decision on Plan B keeps it that way despite the unanimous recommendation of an FDA panel. But at least 17-year-olds have easy access to Plan B, … Continue reading
via Hindustan Times With the profile of HIV-AIDS undergoing transformation from a life-threatening emergency to a manageable chronic infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged South-East Asian countries to focus on eliminating the infection, particularly among children, by 2015. “We are coming out of a transformative decade for the HIV-AIDS epidemic. With innovative treatment regimens, improved … Continue reading
via Adam Liptak, The New York Times The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a challenge to the 2010 health care overhaul law, President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, setting the stage for oral arguments by March and a decision in late June as the 2012 presidential campaign enters its crucial final months. The decision to hear the case prompted confident … Continue reading
via James Oliphant, Chicago Tribune The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the … Continue reading
via Nedra Pickler, The Huffington Post A conservative-leaning panel of federal appellate judges on Tuesday upheld President Barack Obama’s health care law as constitutional, helping set up a Supreme Court fight. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a split opinion upholding the lower court’s ruling that found … Continue reading
via Softbox Films
Aging and Healthcare: via Peter G. Peterson Foundation
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) proposed a bill on Thursday that would force women in the early stages of pregnancy to have a physically invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasound procedure before they can legally consent to having an abortion. The “Heartbeat Informed Consent Act” requires doctors to … Continue reading
A federal judge refused Thursday to block enforcement of a new Kansas law that restricts insurance coverage for abortions. U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown rejected a request from the American Civil Liberties Union for a temporary injunction while the group challenges the law in court. Brown said the ACLU, which filed its lawsuit in August, … Continue reading
Spanish scientists at the National Biotech Centre in Madrid say a new vaccine could reduce HIV to a “minor chronic infection.” The researchers report that 90% of participants given the MVA-B vaccine showed an immune response to the virus and 85% kept the immunity a year later. According to a press release from The Spanish … Continue reading
The Obama administration Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to settle the constitutional question over the 2010 health-care law this term, meaning that the decision will probably come next summer in the thick of the presidential campaign. The Justice Department asked the justices to review the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th … Continue reading
There has been no shortage of liberal discontent with the path pursued by President Barack Obama during his first few years in office. But when the discontent manifests itself (as it occasionally does) in talk of a primary challenge in 2012, the chatter usually succumbs to political reality. For all the Democratic base’s tiffs with … Continue reading
President Barack Obama is back in the good graces of progressives. For now. Hours after Obama delivered a fiery speech demanding that the wealthiest Americans “pay their fair share” in taxes as part of his $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan, MoveOn.org launched a new television ad on Monday hammering in the president’s message and ripping Republicans … Continue reading
The decision by the Republican controlled House to back and pass a plan authored by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan that would turn Medicare into a voucher system is regarded by many Democrats as a strategic error of colossal proportions. And so, it was not by accident that when President Obama addressed the need to reform … Continue reading
Republicans who are mainly interested in making sure their party wins the 2012 presidential election would seem to face a catch-22. The man who currently leads the GOP race in national polls, Rick Perry, has a history of making reckless and inflammatory statements about Social Security — enough to raise serious questions about whether nominating … Continue reading
Texas Gov. Rick Perry bristled at accusations during Monday’s GOP debate that he had done the bidding of a corporate donor by ordering schoolgirls to use a new vaccine. “The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them,” Perry said. “I raised about $30 million. And if you’re … Continue reading
The participant’s in last night’s GOP presidential debate once again took the opportunity to pretend that the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) put a massive dent in Medicare by cutting $500 billion from the program. Michele Bachmann told us that “We know that President Obama stole over $500 billion out of Medicare to switch it over to Obamacare.” … Continue reading
With her standing in the polls slipping, Michele Bachmann needed to find a way to capture the spotlight she held earlier this summer. She just may have done that tonight at the Tea Party Express/CNN debate in Tampa, Florida. Bachmann, the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in the House, knew her audience well and … Continue reading
A battle over Social Security launched last week between the top two GOP presidential contenders doesn’t show any signs of quieting down as candidates prepare for round two at the first-ever CNN/Tea Party Republican Debate on Monday night. The debate, being held at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, will also give the six other … Continue reading
While men lost more jobs in the recession than women, women have been slower to recover, losing nearly 300,000 jobs since the economic “recovery” began in 2009. Some women’s organizations were concerned that President Obama’s jobs plan was going to focus on boosting male-dominated industries, such as construction and manufacturing, to the exclusion of the … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 