Women with painful uterine fibroids may not know there is an alternative to hysterectomy, says a University of Toronto researcher.The University of Toronto's teaching hospitals are all equippe
Regardless of sexual orientation, unmarried women ages 40 to 75 voiced reluctance to undergo routine cancer screening tests, feeling out of place or misunderstood in health care settings, according to the first wave of information from a five-year Brown Un
The largest North American breast cancer prevention trial ever undertaken, the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR), reached its goal of enrolling 19,000 women to the trial in June 2004, a month earlier than originally expected. Women still
A group of prominent experts on treatment of the menopause today issued advice for doctors on the use of hormone therapy.Under the auspices of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ob
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered evidence of pelvic floor nerve injury after routine vaginal birth. Their findings are reported in this month's issue of Obstetrics an
A new long-term study finds over 20 years, only one in five women who have mammograms every two years will have to undergo follow up evaluation for a false positive finding. Only one in 16 will have an unnecessary invasive procedure over two decades.
African-American women are less likely to be treated with breast reconstruction after mastectomy than women of other races, independent of age and clinical and socioeconomic factors. According to a new study published August 23, 2004 in the onl
The injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) appears to increase a woman's risk of acquiring the sexually transmitted infections chlamydia and gonorrhea by approximately three fold when compared to women not using a hormonal co
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Brigham and Women's Hospital and
Breast cancer may be harder to detect and exclude among women with certain personal and lifestyle characteristics, according to research published in this week's BMJ.Women aged 50-64 years, who we
Date: Thursday, 23-Nov-2006
Although "[t]aking substantial steps to reduce the abortion rate will not settle the larger ethical argument over the practice," the "election of a new congressional majority" for the 110th Congress should "open the way for a better approach to the abortion question," Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes in a Post opinion piece.The "bitter political brawling" over abortion during the past 30 years has caused an "unproductive stalemate" that has left antiabortion groups "frustrated," abortion-rights supporters "in a constant state of worry" and U.S. residents "who hold middle-ground positions feeling that there is no one who speaks for them," Dionne writes.
However, "the politics of abortion began to change" in September with the introduction of a bill (HR 6067) sponsored by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who opposes abortion rights, and abortion-rights supporter Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) (Dionne, Washington Post, 11/21).
The measure would require states to cover contraceptives for women with annual incomes of up to 200% of the federal poverty level, establish grants for sex education programs and require programs with a focus on abstinence to include thorough instruction on contraceptives.
The legislation also would increase funding for health care for low-income women with children, provide no-cost visits from nurses to teens and women who have given birth for the first time, expand a tax credit for adoption and fund child care services for parents in college (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/20).
There are "moral and practical reasons" for Democrats, Republicans, abortion-rights supporters and abortion-rights opponents to support the bill, Dionne writes. "Why shouldn't both sides embrace broader steps that, without coercion, could cut the abortion rate by much larger numbers?"
Dionne asks, concluding that if Congress acts to curb the abortion rate, "it could show that politicians are capable of living up to their highest calling, which is to seek practical forms of moral seriousness" (Washington Post, 11/21).
This article is republished with kind permission from our friends at the The Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery of in-depth coverage of health policy developments, debates and discussions. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for Kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Copyright 2006 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.