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New restrictions on abortion coverage have women turning to "do-it-yourself" methods.

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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-25-10 10:20 PM
Original message
New restrictions on abortion coverage have women turning to "do-it-yourself" methods.
Sounds like we are going back to the dark ages before Roe V Wade. That's dangerous for women, and it going to affect the poor and needy women who can't afford that child in their world right now. The decision was made for them...there is no abortion coverage available in the new health care bill.

From RH Reality Check blog:

Lacking Health Insurance, More Women Turning to Do-It-Yourself Abortion

When President Obama imposed restrictions on abortion care in health reform, reproductive health advocates expressed alarm, arguing that reducing access to safe, legal, and affordable abortion care for poor and uninsured women not reduce abortions but instead either increase financial burdens on poor women or put them in physical peril, or both.

Now, experts note, we are beginning to see women take matters into their own hands to obtain a needed abortion. One example is increasing use of misoprostol.

..."The cost of even early abortion care is so high relative to the income levels of poor and uninsured women that some are already resorting to even more dangerous do-it-yourself procedures, according to ABC. Women will be putting themselves at even greater risks in order to obtain abortions, with the burden lying on low-income women to find a way to either fund the procedure or potentially sacrifice her health and potentially her life.

Or, as former NARAL Pro-Choice President Kate Michelman stated during a panel discussion in July, "We are going to have a Roe v. Wade legal moment with poor women before we can ever get (rights to terminate a pregnancy) back."


The blog links to the ABC coverage on this issue.

Ban on Federal Funds in Obama Health Care Law Means Poor, Uninsured Women are Marginalized, According to Experts

At first, the cramping pain and bleeding was "like a bad period" -- but later "it got worse" and even the painkiller hydrocodone didn't help. But Kelly could deal with the emotional event in the privacy of her own home and at about half the cost of a surgical abortion..

Kelly induced a miscarriage with misoprostol, sold under the brand name Cytotec, an FDA-approved drug for treating stomach ulcers. But it also has an off-label use that is a both a blessing and a curse. Safe and effective, the drug is used globally to prevent women from post-partum hemorrhaging and is widely prescribed in combination with RU-486 in the United States to induce miscarriage.

But for some low-income women, misoprostol has become a do-it-yourself abortion tool.

That wasn't the case with Kelly. An ultrasound revealed her fetus had no heartbeat and she would eventually miscarry. But like many women, she elected a medical rather than a surgical procedure because it was cheaper and carried a lower out-of-pocket cost -- about $20 for the prescription.


More about the drug.

Health experts say illicit use of the drug underscores the barriers that many women face when trying to access reproductive care, particularly immigrants and women of color. They worry that the amendment in the passage of the new health care law to ban the use of federal funds in Medicaid and insurance exchanges for abortion could further marginalize women's access to reproductive care.


After the health care bill passed, President Obama signed an executive order which really was the icing on the cake for anti-abortion activists.



President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order that reaffirms the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion, in the Oval Office, March 24, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The signing of the executive order on abortion.

From the White House website:

Executive Order -- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's Consistency with Longstanding Restrictions on the Use of Federal Funds for Abortion...Section 1

Section. 1. Policy. Following the recent enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the "Act"), it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), consistent with a longstanding Federal statutory restriction that is commonly known as the Hyde Amendment. The purpose of this order is to establish a comprehensive, Government-wide set of policies and procedures to achieve this goal and to make certain that all relevant actors -- Federal officials, State officials (including insurance regulators) and health care providers -- are aware of their responsibilities, new and old.

Executive order


From the ABC article...more on the topic.

"Forever, women have used things to end an unwanted pregnancy, and misoprostol is a new solution to an old problem," said Dr. Daniel Grossman, a San Francisco obstetrician gynecologist and a researcher with Ibis Reproductive Health.

...""The important issue here is to look at why women do this," said Grossman. "It really comes down to barriers women face accessing abortion care. Restrictions we put on abortion access, like parental consent and denying public funding, end up forcing some women to kind of take matters into their own hands."


This is not about what is best for women, it is about keeping the religious "right" happy because their votes seem vital.
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pleah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-25-10 10:32 PM
Response to Original message
1. K&R I am so disgusted about the health care bill. n/t
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dflprincess Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-25-10 10:34 PM
Response to Original message
2. But but but the defenders of the bill said this changed nothing
it would be the same rules we've operated under since the Hyde Amendment passed. (Except for that part that said women couldn't even use their own money to purchase policies that covered elective abotion if they were part of a high risk pool or exchange.)

I sure hope all those votes he gets from the right :sarcasm: was worth risking women's lives.
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niyad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-25-10 10:38 PM
Response to Original message
3. should we start buying stock in knitting needles again?
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DesertFlower Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-27-10 06:39 PM
Response to Reply #3
12. yes. we might have to.
Edited on Fri Aug-27-10 06:40 PM by DesertFlower
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amborin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-25-10 11:35 PM
Response to Original message
4. knr
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msanthrope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-25-10 11:51 PM
Response to Original message
5. Ibis Reproductive Health--who you quote--DID NOT find DIY abortion becoming more common.
Edited on Thu Aug-26-10 12:22 AM by msanthrope
They clarified, in the comments, the mis-perception that there was an increase in DIY abortion.....



"We appreciate that this post (and the ABCNews.com article it discusses) highlights how abortion access may be further reduced under national health reform and how low-income women continue to lose out under a health system that refuses to define abortion care as a routine health service.


As a point of clarification, the research conducted by Ibis Reproductive Health and Gynuity Health Projects did not aim to measure the prevalence of self-induced abortion and we have no evidence that it is becoming more common. A manuscript based on our research findings is currently under review and we look forward to sharing our results soon."


http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/08/17/banning-federal-funds-abortions-yourself-versions-could-rise
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-26-10 11:41 AM
Response to Original message
6. The comments after the ABC article are pretty upsetting.
Makes me wonder how one group has been so successful in their demands about controlling women's reproductive systems.

Then I realize it is because there was no party opposing them, in fact many times they were enabled. Groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL have fought and tried hard, but the other side is too organized.

In the name of God they want to control women's bodies. And they are.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-26-10 07:02 PM
Response to Original message
7. The names of Democrats attending the unpublicized signing.
Senator Bob Casey

Representative Bart Stupak

Representative Kathy Dahlkemper

Representative Marcy Kaptur

Representative Nick Rahall

Representative Jerry Costello

Representative Chris Carney

Representative Steve Driehaus

Representative Charlie Wilson

Representative Jim Oberstar

Representative Alan Mollohan

Representative Brad Ellsworth

Representative Henry Cuellar

Representative Mike Doyle

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/seafan/3799
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nightrain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-26-10 09:10 PM
Response to Original message
8. that's a very dangerous trade Obama....
Disgusting behavior on Obama's part.
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StClone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-26-10 09:12 PM
Response to Original message
9. Why not ads for home Abortion kits?
With home pregnancy tests, feminine hygiene product, male erectile dysfunction meds why not an FDA approved, proven, safe self-abortion kit? Wouldn't that be the free market at work. Wouldn't you like to see the anti-abortion Jihadists react to that?
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DesertFlower Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-27-10 06:41 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. that's a great idea.
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beforeyoureyes Donating Member (289 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-27-10 07:49 AM
Response to Original message
10. Tried to recommend, this should have been top of the greatest
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MedicalAdmin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-27-10 10:22 AM
Response to Original message
11. I am so going to get flamed for this.
But in terms of medicine, Obama's stands and policy positions remind me of Bush in minstrel face paint singing Mammy. (use of alegorical language is for policy comparison only. any other comparison is only in your mind).
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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-27-10 10:48 PM
Response to Original message
14. Another late K&R ... we need more time to REC threads . . .
was this UN'ed at all?

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