I Might as Well Contribute to the Politicization of Mother’s Day - Planned Parenthood and Abortion

The blogosphere (certain portions of it) has been all atwitter this week about Planned Parenthood’s Mother’s Day fundraising campaign, in which the organization asks that you “make your gift in honor of someone you love for Mother’s Day.”

A representative of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign stated, “The irony of Planned Parenthood asking for Mother’s Day donations in honor of mothers and daughters hardly needs pointing out.” I suppose if you assume that the women who have abortions are not mothers, will never be mothers, then you might not need the irony pointed out. Some do seem to assume this, as a local blogger called Planned Parenthood “the organization that turns would-be mothers into non-mothers.”

In fact, the CDC reports that in 2004, of the women who had legal induced abortions, “40% were known to have had no previous live births, and 32% had two or more previous live births. The abortion ratio was highest for women who had three previous live births and lowest for those who had one previous live birth.”

In other words, 60% of women who have abortions are already mothers, and women with more children have a higher rate of abortion than those with fewer children. Aside from which, Planned Parenthood offers other reproductive health services that women (including mothers) may very well need throughout their lives. A woman may choose not to carry a particular pregnancy to term, but that does not mean that none of these women are mothers. Say what you want about the “appropriateness” of a Planned Parenthood Mother’s Day fundraising drive, but vanishing 60% of the women who have abortions just because they don’t fit a stereotype or useful narrative simply isn’t truthful.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. It’s all your fault/to your credit that I mouth off when I should have the “decency” to keep quiet (but we can totally blame Dad if you prefer).

Update: The Archcrone is talking about a Mother’s Day “funeral for unborn babies” organized by a church in Knoxville, TN and their comparison of women seeking abortion to 9/11 terrorists (with links to related commentary).

Happy Earth Day - Alternative & Reusable Menstrual Products

Of course I was going to bring up reusable menstrual products on Earth Day - what other women’s health-related topic fits so neatly? There are definitely environmental issues associated with your choice of menstruation product, considering how often we need such items over our lifetime. I haven’t touched on this in a while, so I thought it might be time to revisit your earth-friendly and earth-friendlier options.

Some women like traditional, disposable pads and tampons but are concerned about production issues of more familiar brands such as the use of agricultural pesticides and genetically modified crops to produce the items. Natracare is probably the best known provider of organic/natural versions of tampons and pads; I used these when I lived in the co-op, because that’s what we bought for the house. Seventh Generation also offers organic cotton tampons.

Other women, like myself, are concerned about the cost, shipping, and disposal of so many products that simply get thrown away or flushed. In this case, you have several options, including absorbent cloth pads and cup-like devices, each of which can also be washed and reused.

If you prefer using pads, reusable cloth pads are an options, and can be purchased in a variety of patterns, sizes, and absorbencies (some allow an insert for heavier days). Lunapads and GladRags are probably the best known among cloth pad providers. Sckoon, which I wasn’t aware of until I started this post, sells cloth pads in some lovely colors and patterns. LunaPads also offers the all-in-one LunaPanties, where the cloth pad is basically part of a pair of panties rather than a separate item. Both of these companies also sell DivaCups/Keepers/Moon Cups, which we’ll get to shortly.

To be truly frugal and earth-friendly, you could just make your own cloth pads from things you already have. If you have old flannel pajamas around, that would probably do the trick. There are several websites that provide instructions, and the Cloth Pads Wiki has links to patterns and instructions, but you can find more online if needed (such as this very detailed page from the Hillbilly Housewife). If somebody comes up with a pattern for an all-in-one period panty like LunaPads sells, please let me know, because that is just cool.

I love the idea of these (I never could stand the irritation of “normal” pads), but I haven’t gotten around to trying to make them myself. If you’re not so handy, you can buy homemade pads on Etsy and perhaps elsewhere and support a crafter in the process. Some of the creations on Etsy are so damn pretty I want to buy them and not even use them.

Now for the cups! There are basically three products out there: the Keeper, the Moon Cup, and the DivaCup. They’re all basically the same thing - a flexible cup worn internally to catch menstrual flow that you just dump/rinse and reuse. When I say “reuse,” I mean you buy one and keep it for about ten years. I use a Keeper myself, and I absolutely love it. The Moon Cup and Diva Cup are the same, except they’re made of silicone for those with latex allergies, while the Keeper is latex. Don’t be alarmed by the stems on these things - you can cut them to whatever length is comfortable to you, and I’ve removed mine entirely.

If you’re really serious about this, some women do “free bleed,” or use none of these products for protection. I also found someone suggesting rolled up baby socks as makeshift reusable tampons. There are a lot of earth-friendlier options out there - choice is yours.

ThinkGeek April Fools’ Product: USB Pregnancy Test

ThinkGeek always has fun April Fools’ Day faux tech goodies, including my personal past favorite, the “Grow Your Own 1UP Mushroom. Among yesterday’s slew of silly products, though, was this gem - PTeq, the USB Pregnancy Test. Pee on one end, plug the other into a USB port, and “the LCD display on the device itself will light up and show you the symbol of a baby, no baby, or multiples and your Estimated Delivery Date based on the concentration of hCG, hCG-H, and LH in your urine. So you can clear your calendar in advance.”

The copy on this fake pee stick is pretty amusing, with lines like, “you don’t have to worry about this thing busting you for that ‘poppy seed bagel’ you had yesterday,” “We recommend the use of horizontal USB drives for this product to prevent accidental moisture transference,” and the suggestion that there’s a mass spectrometer inside a USB stick. Heh.

Events for Boston Readers on Breast Implants and Maternal-Fetal Conflicts in Pregnancy

Thursday, March 13, 6:00 pm - Free lecture by David Haig, Maternal-Fetal Conflicts in Human Pregnancy
Harvard Museum of Natural History
24 Oxford Street in the Geological Lecture Hall
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php

Pregnancy is the most intimate of human relationships and, just like any other relationship, there is potential for both cooperation and conflict. In this lecture, Dr. Haig, Professor of Biology at Harvard, will discuss the various genetic conflicts that transpire within the human womb, and visit the assumption that what’s good for the mother is also good for the fetus. Haig will consider evolutionary conflicts over the amount of maternal blood flowing to the placenta, and use this perspective to consider the causes of preeclampsia.

Friday, March 28, 6:30 pm - Free screening of the film Absolutely Safe and Q&A with the director
Boston University: Sargent College, Room 101
635 Commonwealth Avenue

Excerpts from the press release:

Millions of women around the world have breast implants. In the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of women get breast implants every year. Today, breast augmentation surgery is the number one cosmetic procedure in the U.S. and a multi-billion dollar industry. But, at a time when more women than ever are getting breast implants, fewer voices than ever seem to be asking “Why?” And, fewer still are asking “Are they safe?” The new 83 minute documentary ABSOLUTELY SAFE asks serious questions about this popular cosmetic surgery.

ABSOLUTEY SAFE is directed and produced by Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, executive produced by acclaimed filmmaker
Jennifer Fox, edited by Emmy-Award winning Editor Vincent Stenerson, and features the music of renowned composer Miriam Cutler. For more information on the screening contact: info at absolutelysafe dot com or (212)868-9780. Visit the film’s website www.absolutelysafe.com

Microbicides 2008 Conference Happening Now in New Delhi

For links to information on microbicides for HIV prevention and early releases from the conference, see my post today at Our Bodies Our Blog.

Raising Women’s Voices: A Health Care Reform Conference I’d Love to Attend

I first learned of the Raising Women’s Voices conference through a contact at MergerWatch, an organization that is working in part on issue of mergers between religious and secular hospitals, and fighting for women to retain access to reproductive health services when such mergers occur. The MergerWatch website is well worth a look if you’re interested in how religious health restrictions affect not just reproductive health, but end-of-life decisions, HIV/AIDS care, LGBT care, medical research, and other issues.

MergerWatch has joined with The Avery Institute for Social Change and The National Women’s Health Network for the Raising Women’s Voices Initiative, a national initiative “committed to raising women’s voices in state and national debates over health care reform, so that women’s perspectives about their health care needs and those of their families can be powerfully articulated, genuinely considered and incorporated into health care reform plans.”

The groups are hosting a conference this spring in Boston. The invitation:

Hear us Now! Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need

 

Join the National Women’s Health Network and more than 300 other activists, mothers, daughters, sisters, caretakers, consumers and community leaders for this national conference to learn and strategize about how we can get quality, affordable health care for all. Together we will discuss and plan for health care reform that will meet the needs of women and families.

 

Featured Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Joycelyn Elders
Former Surgeon General

 

Miriam Yeung
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum

 

Byllye Avery
Avery Institute for Social Change
Black Women’s Health Imperative

 

This conference will launch a network of trained and outspoken women who are mobilized to work for a health care system that:

 

• Includes comprehensive reproductive health services
• Meets the needs of diverse women and our families
• Bridges the inexcusable gaps in services and care that we face in the current system
• Provides quality health care that is affordable and accessible for women and our families across the life-span.

 

To get the health care debate to reflect women’s issues and concerns, we must join the conversation!

 

Thursday & Friday, April 17 and 18, 2008
Hosted by: Simmons College
Boston, Massachusetts

 

Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need is a joint project of
The Avery Institute for Social Change
National Women’s Health Network
MergerWatch Project

 

Go to www.raisingwomensvoices.net for more information on the conference.

 

REGISTER NOW FOR EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION RATES!
Questions? Give us a call! 866-210-3114

“Happy VD!”

I received an email yesterday with the above subject, and as evidence that I’ve been reading about sexually transmitted infections recently, my first thought was, “happy venereal disease?”

As usual, there are V-Day events, especially performances of The Vagina Monologues, happening all over to raise funds to fight violence against women - find one here.

Over at Feministing, they’re also talking about V-Day, including a Vagina Monologues ad the Seattle Times refused to print for its stylized vulva-ness. They also note the V-Day 10th anniversary site’s use of a “vulva emoticon,” ({}) - debate ensues in the comments as to whether this is the best possible version. Other, more complete suggestions included ({^}) and ({¡}) - take your pick.

Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Visit blackaidsday.org (warning: video with sound launches immediately each time you go to the home page). A schedule of events is available (note that you must select your state after selecting a region), including many HIV testing events, as is information on getting tested.

Panel Discussion Tonight on Public School HPV Vaccine Mandates (Nashville, TN)

I’m going to have to pass on this due to the election, but Vanderbilt is hosting a forum discussion of HPV vaccine mandates in public schools tonight from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Flynn Auditorium of the Vanderbilt Law School. The discussion “will focus on the debate over efforts by several states to mandate the inoculation of public school students with Gardasil, which protects against certain types of the human papilloma virus, or HPV.”

According to the release:

The panel is moderated by Josh Perry, adjunct professor of law and assistant professor of medical education and administration at Vanderbilt Medical Center, and features: Dr. Todd Callahan, assistant professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine specialist at Vanderbilt; Jessica Farrar, a Texas state representative who authored legislation to enact an HPV vaccine requirement for Texas girls entering the sixth grade; Linda MacDonald Glenn, a faculty member at the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical Center; Dwayne Hastings, vice president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; and Hedy Weinberg, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

Live streaming video will be available online, and should be archived shortly thereafter for those of us busy doing our civic duty.

Update: The video is now available.

Go Vote!

I’m serious. If you live in a Super Tuesday state, stop reading blogs and get your behind to the polls.

As for me, election day is like a holiday. I know some people like the convenience of early voting, but I love to get in line at the polling place on election day. My plan is to vote as soon as possible after work, pick up Chinese take-out, and head home to watch the results roll in.