…the global evidence is clear: If you want to reduce the number of abortions, making them illegal won’t work. Making modern contraceptives widely available is far more effective. And, as a not insignificant side effect, this is also a strategy that puts women more firmly in charge of their own bodies and health, saving tens of thousands from death and millions from illness each year.
Tennessee Bill Strips Abortion From Exchange, Could Deny Coverage For Contraceptives
Last night, the Tennessee House of Representatives approved HB 2681, a measure that would prohibit insurers from offering abortion services within the exchange and could possibly deny coverage to common contraceptives. Sponsors of the abortion measure maintained that their bill would only prohibit tax dollars from funding abortions in the exchange, but the measure’s broad language — it says, “No health care plan required to be established in this state through an exchange” — would deny women the right to purchase coverage for abortions (including Hyde-exempted abortions) with private dollars in the exchange and could significantly disadvantage women who need to obtain an abortion in instances of rape, incest or if their life is in danger.Oh, Tennessee… always on the cutting edge.
Here are some statistics from the Guttmacher Institute for context (you should read all of the stats they have on Tennessee for the full picture):
Pregnancies and Their Outcomes
- In Tennessee, 114,530 of the 1,253,020 women of childbearing age become pregnant each year. 70% of these pregnancies result in live births, and 15% result in abortions; the remainder end in miscarriage.
- Tennessee has the 18th highest teenage pregnancy rate of any state. Of the 17,070 teenage pregnancies each year in Tennessee, 67% result in live births and 18% result in abortions.
- Tennessee’s teenage pregnancy rate declined by 20% between 1992 and 2000.
The Need for Publicly Supported Services
- In Tennessee, 640,950 women are in need of contraceptive services and supplies. Of these, 333,180 women need publicly supported contraceptive services because they have incomes below 250% of the federal poverty level (236,170) or are sexually active teenagers (97,010).
- In Tennessee, 19% of women aged 15–44 have incomes below the federal poverty level, and 17% of all women in this age-group are uninsured (i.e., do not have private health insurance or Medicaid coverage).
- In Tennessee, 17% of women aged 15–44 are enrolled in Medicaid.
Canadian International Development Minister Bev Oda confirms safe abortions, and even contraception, will not be part of the Conservative push on maternal and child care
A BCer in Toronto cites a recent article in Embassy Mag (actual article behind subscription firewall):
Oda says no abortion, contraceptives support
But the WHO reports that lack of both contributes to unnecessary deaths.
CIDA Minister Bev Oda says the government’s child and maternal health strategy will not address unsafe abortions in developing countries or support access to family planning and contraceptives. Rather, she said that to ensure the aid agency remains effective, “it’s the lives of mothers and babies that we are focused on.”
But with nearly 15 per cent of all maternal deaths being attributed to such abortions, and up to 40 per cent of maternal deaths preventable with access to family planning and contraception, experts and critics say support for these areas is essential.
On Jan. 28, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that rallying support for maternal and child health would be a major focus of Canada’s G8 presidency. In developing countries, more than 500,000 women die each year in pregnancy and 9 million children die before the age of five.
(snip)
When asked about support for contraceptives and family planning in an interview last week, Ms. Oda said: “In order to maintain our focus, again our focus is on maternal and child health and mortality rates.
“We want to make sure that mothers, pregnant women, are healthy and can have safe births, and that the birthing process is made safer because if you look at the number of births during the actual birthing process, that’s where a number of maternal deaths happen,” she added.
“We also want to make sure when babies are born, they are born as healthy as possible so that they can live through their early age, up to the age of five, with as strong and good health as possible.”
BCer in Toronto continues:
The decision by the Harper Conservatives to not include addressing abortion safety as part of their effort would seem to question just how sincere their effort to address maternal and child care really is, not to mention how effective it would be, according to the experts:
A recent report from the New York-based Guttmacher Institute found that 20 million unsafe abortions are performed in developing countries each year, and World Health Organization spokeswoman Olivia Lawe-Davies said 68,000 women die because of unsafe abortions.
