Stand Up For Women's Health

Here are a few of the stories we’ve been paying attention to:

New York:

• Mayor Bloomberg honored PPNYC’s own Daphne Hazel on World AIDS Day: http://www.mayorsandcities.com/usa-canada/mayor-bloomberg-commemorates-world-aids-day
• PPNYC talked to the Uptowner about how STD rates are on the rise uptown: http://theuptowner.org/2011/11/29/sexually-transmitted-diseases-on-the-rise-uptown/
• And also to El Diario about HIV/AIDS, and the stigma attached to testing: http://www.impre.com/noticias/2011/12/1/persiste-el-tabu-cultural-sobr-284862-1.html
• PPNYC was quoted by the NY Daily News about Siri’s anti-abortion ‘glitch’: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/apple-siri-app-bloggers-fails-reveal-location-abortion-clinics-a-glitch-article-1.985372
• Activist Nicole Clark reposts our Thanksgiving talking tips: http://www.nicole-clark.com/post/13287327765/in-case-you-missed-it-11-21-11
• Fordham University students are operating a renegade birth control clinic after the University health plan refused to offer it: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2011/11/28/catholic-university-students-organize-own-birth-control-clinic
• Students there can even incur an extra fee for going off-campus to get birth control: http://jezebel.com/5863023/fordham-students-protest-hidden-anti+birth+control-policy

Emergency Contraception:

• Although the FDA determined that emergency contraception was safe enough to sell over the counter and without an age restriction, HHS blocked the decision: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57338551/fda-decision-on-teens-morning-after-blocked/
• The decision was Kathleen Sebelius’ http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/12/us_denies_young_teens_easy_acc.html
• Determining that there shall be no change to existing regulations of EC: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/07/us-teva-planb-fda-idUSTRE7B61V120111207
• This is the first time ever that HHS has made such a move to overrule the FDA: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/07/us-teva-planb-fda-idUSTRE7B61V120111207
• Obama agrees with the decision: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/us/obama-backs-aides-stance-on-morning-after-pill.html?_r=1&hp
• Though he asserts he did not get involved in the process: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/us/obama-backs-aides-stance-on-morning-after-pill.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y
• The Washington Post delves into the political history: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/plan-bs-complex-political-path/2011/12/07/gIQAMgKucO_blog.html
• Michelle Goldberg says it was politically motivated: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/07/obama-s-restrictions-on-morning-after-pill-are-politically-driven.html
• And the NYTimes editorializes about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/opinion/politics-and-the-morning-after-pill.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
• Not many are happy with the decision: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/plan-b-decision-draws-strong-and-mixed-reaction/2011/12/08/gIQA2UjagO_story.html
• Including Cecile Richards: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cecile-richards/the-right-plan-for-plan-b_b_1139184.html
• Four ways the decision especially hits women of color the hardest: http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/12/four_ways_obamas_birth_control_fail_hurts_young_women_of_color.html

HHS Decision:

• And President Obama still has not decided on whether or not to expand the religious exemptions under the HHS rule that contraception be provided by health care: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70036.html
• Keli Goff asks, when will Obama “man up” and stand up for women: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keli-goff/obama-birth-control_b_1117583.html
• NPR points out that many of those opposing the decision already offer contraceptive coverage: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/02/143022996/catholic-groups-fight-contraceptive-rule-but-many-already-offer-coverage

World AIDS Day:

• CNN reports that 3 out of 4 people who have HIV in the US don’t know it: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/29/hiv-out-of-control-in-most-u-s-patients/?hpt=hp_t1
• A roadmap for achieving an HIV-free generation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-blumenthal/world-aids-day_b_1120968.html
• Obama is stepping up the fight against HIV/AIDS: http://www.impre.com/noticias/2011/12/1/persiste-el-tabu-cultural-sobr-284862-1.html

Iphone:

• The iphone is misleading women who need emergency contraception and reproductive health services: thinkprogress.org/health/2011/11/29/377484/is-the-iphones-siri-misleading-women-who-need-emergency-health-services/
• Salon is questioning if it’s on purpose: http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/is_apples_siri_anti_choice/
• The NYTimes talks to the original creator of the app: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/siri-struggles-to-serve-up-certain-results/?hp
• Though Apple says the oversight is not deliberate: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/apple-says-siris-abortion-answers-are-a-glitch/
• Cecile Richards writes about why this is important: http://www.impre.com/noticias/2011/12/1/persiste-el-tabu-cultural-sobr-284862-1.html
• And the Daily Beast points out this may have to do with anti-abortion manipulation of the internet: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/03/are-pro-life-groups-behind-apple-siri-s-abortion-problem.html
• Then things the iphone will help you find instead of an abortion 10 things Siri will help you find instead: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/29/10-things-the-iphone-siri-will-help-you-get-instead-of-an-abortion/

Sex Ed:

• Abstinence education does not reduce teen pregnancy: http://jezebel.com/5863659/new-sex-ed-study-bound-to-hurt-conservatives-feelings
• Nor does it even promote abstinence: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2011/12/01/researchers_find_that_abstinence_only_sex_education_does_not_in_fact_promote_abstinence.html

National News:

• Somehow, the Catholic vote is still up for grabs: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/10/catholic-vote-in-2012-why-either-political-party-could-win-it.html
• On Americans’ reluctance to define a fetus as a person: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/on-abortion-and-defining-a-person/?ref=opinion
• Kirstin West Savali writes: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. supported Margaret Sanger, so why won’t you? http://yourblackwoman.blogspot.com/2011/12/dr-king-supported-margaret-sanger-and.html#more
• Media Matters reiterates: Abortion has no link to breast cancer: http://mediamatters.org/research/201112010016
• Also, abortion does not raise your risk of mental illness: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45603029/ns/health-mental_health/#.TuaRjVYRJ8W
• Teen birthrates have plummeted because girls can actually access birth control: http://jezebel.com/5864477/teen-birthrate-plummets-because-girls-can-actually-get-birth-control
• Republicans are racializing the abortion debate (again) http://www.theroot.com/buzz/republicans-racialize-abortion-debate
• Amanda Marcotte writes about Concerned Women for America and the reproductive rights of women in the armed services: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2011/12/04/cwa-takes-stand-against-raped-service-women
• And the NYTimes editorializes about how women in the Armed Services are facing unfair restrictions over abortion: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/opinion/an-injustice-for-women-in-uniform.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
• There is a new Keith Herring condom: http://nylonguysmagazine.tumblr.com/post/13593578965/the-keith-haring-foundations-new-condoms-for
• Teens don’t actually sext as much as we think they do: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/science/sending-of-sexual-images-by-minors-not-as-prevalent-as-thought-study-finds.html?_r=2
• 8 Anti-abortion groups who practice a scorched-earth policy: http://www.alternet.org/sex/153351/meet_8_right-wing_groups_practicing_scorched-earth_anti-choice_nuttery_against_women
• Yaz and Yasmin will get more strict warning labels: http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/09/fda-calls-for-clearer-risk-labeling-for-yaz/