Completely Unnecessary

In  September, the Bush Administration proposed new rules for Health and Human Services. These were an update from the previous rules they tried to push through in July. I wrote about it earlier, so I’m not going to rehash the whole thing.

The upshot is that it would radically change the list of procedures that health care providers are allowed to opt out from due to ‘conscious objections’.

Or rather, it obscures the definitions so as to make them both meaningless and so broad as to include everything from birth control to sterilization to IUDs.

In September, Planned Parenthood - among others - collected protest signatures and the Admin stopped moving forward. As they’re not supposed to make any new rule changes after Nov 1, it seemed as though they had given up on the rule changes.

Not so much!

Officials at the Health and Human Services Department said they intended to issue a final version of the rule within days. Aides and advisers to Mr. Obama said he would try to rescind it, a process that could take three to six months.

To avoid the usual rush of last-minute rules, the White House said in May that new regulations should be proposed by June 1 and issued by Nov. 1. The “provider conscience” rule missed both deadlines.

Under the White House directive, the deadlines can be waived “in extraordinary circumstances.” Administration officials were unable to say immediately why an exception might be justified in this case.

Unable to say ‘immediately’ or just unable to come up with a reason that might legitimately excuse this craven, 11th-hour move?

These 63 days until inauguration are seeming longer and longer.

How I miss the days when transition pranks consisted of Amy Carter leaving a two week old, half-baked cake in a White House oven for the Reagans to find.

Rather than, you know, fucking over women in all 50 states.

Vaguely Related

• Palin on Contraception
• Colorado Initiative Would Grant Personhood to Embryos

The Bush Administration is proposing changes to the way Health and Human Services deals with definitions, abortion and access.

Specifically, the new rules would require anyone receiving federal funding for health care to allow employees to refuse services to which they object.

The obvious target here is abortion. Or is it?

Senator Clinton and Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, point out in a NYT op-ed last week that the ‘obvious’ target masks the real concern.

Rules allowing medical professionals to opt out of abortions have been in place for 30 years.

The new rule would go further, ensuring that all employees and volunteers for health care entities can refuse to aid in providing any treatment they object to, which could include not only abortion and sterilization but also contraception.

This document is the update from the July version, which defined birth control IUDs as abortificants, but the wording is no so vague as to be the same thing.

Health care professionals are allowed to decide what is meant by ‘abortion’ - and would be allowed to refuse care on the basis of their own definitions.

The rules would also allow federal funding for so-called ‘pregnancy crisis centers’, which are established for the specific purpose of keeping women from having abortions.

(You know how they functioned in Minnesota when I was working up there? At least one ‘clinic’ was showing women fake ultrasounds and telling them they were too pregnant to an abortion.)

Public comment on the new rules are open until 25 September at midnight. Please click this link and add your name to the petition.

Links:
Blocking Care for Women [NYT Opinion]
HHS Attack on Women’s Health Care [Planned Parenthood Action Center]

Vaguely Related

• Colorado Initiative Would Grant Personhood to Embryos
• Bush Admin Memo: Birth Control Equals Abortion

See, here’s what I like about Australia.

Despite the fact that the Labor and Liberal parties usually sit on opposite sides of the fence, both know that it’s time for abortion actually become legal in Victoria.

Abortion procedures have been de facto legal for years - your doctor is likely to accept any reason for a procedure - but having an actual law that guarantees the right of Victorian women is an important step.

No woman should have to justify her decisions to a doctor, the State or anyone.

That’s what’s missing from the that cavalcade of legislation that is currently making it more and more difficult for American women to exercise their right to medical procedures deemed legal by their government.

It’s comforting to see both Premier John Brumby and Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu behind this legislation. It demonstrates the depth of support behind Victorian women and the confidence in their ability to make rational choices.

More importantly, it exemplifies the ability of Victorian officials to get behind commonsense legislation, despite partisan politics.

This legislation has been brewing for years, and full support behind those who will vote for it next week.

Link:
New Law to Give Abortion Right [The Age]

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• Bush Admin Memo: Birth Control Equals Abortion
• Quentin Bryce: Gender-Tagging the New Governor-General

Either leave office or leave us alone, Mr President.

A Bush Administration memo would expand the definition of abortion to include birth control pills and interuterine devices - which would bring them under the auspices of ‘conscience clauses’, allowing medical professionals to deny such items to women requesting them. Via Reuters:

“The Department proposes to define abortion as ‘any of the various procedures — including the prescription and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation,’” it said.

Since some pills and the IUDs prevent fertalized eggs from implanting, they would fall under this category.

I mean, I know I’m never going to get over the Bush Admin’s great idea of appointing a veterinarian as the head of the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health. But seriously - can you just leave us alone? Less than 200 days. Just go to Crawford. No one cares anymore; we’re not going to complain that you’re not doing your job.

Just go.

Via Jezebel and Reuters

Vaguely Related

• Colorado Initiative Would Grant Personhood to Embryos
• Bush Admin Going Ahead with HHS Rule Changes

There’s no better way to say this than has already been said:

On Tuesday the group Colorado for Equal Rights submitted 131,245 signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot that would define a fertilized embryo as a person. Voters will decide on the measure that would amend the state Constitution to extend a fertilized embryo equal rights and protections. It would define “any human being from the moment of fertilization” as a “person” for purposes of the state’s constitutional provisions “relating to inalienable rights, equality of justice and due process of law.”

Mother Jones notes that such an amendment might ‘trigger governmental investigations into miscarriages, restrict in-vitro fertilization by couples trying to conceive, and could limit birth-control methods.’

Aside from its glaring, rage-inducing absurdity and almost certain unconstitutionality, this initiative raises some amazing questions.

One of Andrew Sullivan’s readers, for instance, asks if she can move to CO and receive Social Security benefits sooner.

Could a woman be charged with manslaughter or reckless homicide for a miscarriage? Or, better yet, what if the family carries Accidental Death insurance? Given how many zygotes self-terminate, you could make a pretty penny just claiming based on statistics.

And what do we do if the fetus kills the mother, in childbirth or otherwise? Is it incumbent upon the state to try the infant for manslaughter? Can the father sue his newborn or fetus for loss of consortium, wages, etc?

And perhaps the most obvious question - how on Earth can anyone know when the moment of fertilization is? Outside of a science lab, it’s pretty darn unprovable. And even if a test was developed, I’m pretty sure it would involve the government asking a woman to put her feet in the stirrups. So let’s hope Colorado for Equal Rights has something to nix the Fourteenth, as well.

As recent years have shown, however, this initiative is perhaps just crazy enough to pass.

I mean, a veterinarian was selected by the Bush Administration to head up the Office of Women’s Health in 2005. (Alderson was quickly removed after a number of groups justifiably lost their minds.) Minnesota’s Right to Know laws required doctors to provide state-scripted information on abortion that defied medical science. Missouri lawmakers are trying to get Plan B regulated as an abortifacient.

Anyway ladies, I suggest looking into Accidental Death insurance, just in case. If we move to Colorado, natural self-termination might be the new sugardaddie.

H/T: Andrew Sullivan via Mother Jones

Vaguely Related

• It’s Purity Ball Season!
• Bush Admin Memo: Birth Control Equals Abortion

Hope it’s been worth it, right-wingers. I actually can’t state this better than the Orlando tv station that reported it, so I’m just going to quote it in full:

A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state.

The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.

State lawmakers said the myths are spreading because of Florida’s abstinence-only sex education, Local 6 reported.They are proposing a bill that would require a more comprehensive approach, the report said.It would still require teaching abstinence but students would also learn about condoms and other methods of birth control and disease prevention.The bill just passed its first vote in a committee, Local 6 reported.

I have nothing to add.

Link:
Survey: Fla. Teens Believe Drinking Bleach Will Prevent HIV [Local 6 - Orlando]

Vaguely Related

• Abstinence-only education, the choice of those with STIs
• Now We All Have STIs

As if you needed one more reason not to sleep with teenagers. (For my part, I’m contractually obligated not to sleep with nearly 40 of them.)

Remember that stat that your doctor keeps telling you about how 80% of women get HPV by the time they’re 50?

You can add to that the fact that 25% of teenage girls now have an STI.

These numbers include unfortunately high rates of infection for African-American girls, at around 50%. Rates were obviously lower (because of basic math, not race) for whites and Latinas, but still hovering at an alarming 20%.

Unsurprisingly, HPV was the most common STI at 18%, followed by chlamydia at 4%. At least herpes wasn’t up there, as it sucks way worse than HPV or chlamydia.

Anyway, let this serve as a glowing testimonial to the joys of abstinence education, which is working amazingly to eradicate STIs, as these infection rates clearly display.

Vaguely Related

• Abstinence-only education, the choice of those with STIs
• You there, quit it.

My extended period of Internet non-activity (Thailand and Cambodia) was totally fine by me. But, once given my computer, I return to it like the drug it is. I’ve spent numerous hours over the last two weeks catching up on almost none of the stuff I wanted to do, but, somehow, what I have done has involved lots of typing.

But now I’ve been trying to do my actual work - typing up notes from the theory (gag!) books I’ve been reading for my thesis. My right hand - the one connected to my bum shoulder (as my grandmother would put it) - is literally just throbbing constantly at this point. Same goes for my neck, pectoral muscle, the bit at the back of my armpit and the usual series of huge knots surrounding my shoulder blade.

I only have six more Excedrin, since my bottle got taken out of my bag somewhere between Chicago and Melbourne, so I’ve had to medicate with wine instead. And distractions through movies whilst typing - it’s just copying out of a book; I multitask.

But! There was an actual purpose to this post, which was to trumpet my excitement of hearing from one of my best friends in the whole wide world today after a period of, jesus, years.

He’d presumably gone to Iraq, and I’ve spent the last couple years wondering where he was - both our uni emails were turned off and addresses left. I’d been thinking of him a lot lately, cursing George Bush, as usual, for putting my friends in harm’s way. Having scoured the Internet - though apparently not hard enough - I had actually considered checking the list of the injured and dead. But, my unflagging ability to put off things that seem inherently soul-crushing prevailed, and I never did it.

But, joy of joys, Facebook has an actual utility. And that is to make you continue to hurt your own body because you’re thrilled your president hasn’t managed to hurt your friend’s.

In completely unrelated news, 13 Going On 30 (or Suddenly 30 as it’s known here) is just as charming as I always assumed it’d be. I hate me some romcoms, but Jennifer Garner is adorable and Mark Ruffalo is lovely, as always. Ocean’s Eleven is on now, and I’m on page 28 of Stokes (2003). Hey! It’s Chicago!

God, this is going to be a long semester…

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• Women and the World: It’s Not Going Well.
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I’ve been wanting to do one of those lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper cleanses for about a year now. Aside from the fact that maple syrup is your first born child per bottle in Australia, I just never seem to find 3-4 days that I can spend drinking juice every two hours. So I’ve decided to spend the lull between Christmas and New Years doing just that.

It’s been a little under 24 hours (I started at noon yesterday), but I’m already starting to see some amazing results. Allow me to share them with you:

12:12p: Drink glass of cleanse juice.

12:23: Want a piece of salami.

1:07: Want a piece of zucchini bread.

1:35: Longing for stuffing in refrigerator increases.

2:00: Drink a glass of cleanse juice.

2:40: Want ice cream.

2:42: Want ice cream.

2:44: Want ice cream.

2:45: Want pasta with salmon, capers and cream.

3:30: Drink small glass of stuff.

4:18: Realize yet again that Vanessa is the most underutilized actor/character on Six Feet Under.

4:40: Want.

5:02: Doze.

5:50: Squeeze more goddamned lemons on the small juicing thing my mother managed to procure. Bend finger the wrong way whilst distracted by Christmas cookies on counter.

6:14: Drink glass of stuff whilst trying to pretend that it tastes like flautas or enchiladas suizas.

7:22: Feel bad for my sweet potato pie languishing in the fridge.

7:34: Cleanse outside of body, which is covered in lemon juice.

8:00: Drink small glass of the crap.

8:30: Take travel mug full of crap over to Jeremy’s with me. Secretly hoping he will offer chips and salsa like last time.

8:51: Jeremy does not offer chips and salsa.

9:19: Desperately want piece of bread Dylan Moran crumbles in the episode of Black Books where Manny’s parents visit.

9:42: Jeremy still unable to intuit desire for chips and salsa. Also unaware he’s lost the Christmas gift he hasn’t yet been given.

10:11: Leave Jeremy’s den of unspeakable selfishness for Jessica’s. Finish off travel mug of crap.

10:34: Quietly contemplate raiding Jessica’s fridge for goat cheese, hoping she interprets my look of eagerness as ‘listening.’

11: 32: Leave Jessica’s before eating her face.

11:36: Nearly cause collision on Western when I realize that Los Napoles is still open.

11:47: Remember that gyros exist. Spirit lifts.

12:02a: Pour another glass of filth.

5:15a: Have dream about going to buffet table with Becca Lord and Jessica. Then creatures from I Am Legend attack.

10:00: Want sushi for breakfast. Drink glass of crap.

And that pretty much brings us up to speed. As you can see, it’s been a full day of learning about my body. In addition, I am also able to locate every food establishment between Jeremy and Jessica’s houses. And now I’m going to juice lemons.

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We’re going with a theme in the titles.

Just reading in the NYT about the differences between Clinton’s and Obama’s healthcare plans. Which one covers more?!?! Who’s right?!?! Who’ll be the nominee?!?! Are you ready to ruhhhhmbbbbbuuuuuuuuuul?!?!

Here’s a stat that struck me. Some 20% of people in Massachusetts, which has universal, mandatory health coverage, still don’t have it. The reason? It costs $12 000 per year for a family, and $5000 for individuals.

My health cover in Australia is $637 for two years. Now, I’m a student, and overseas health cover doesn’t cover everything (notably, I don’t get free Gardasil shots - boo). Everyone has to buy ambulance cover if they want free ambulance service. The system isn’t perfect…

But $5000 a year? Mandatory? There are government subsidies for those at or below 300% of the poverty line. Hilariously, for an individual that’s $30 630 and for a family of four $61 950.

If the government has to subsidize every family of four under $62 000 so as not to charge them over 19% of their gross yearly income, I’d say the cost of your health coverage is too high. How many people would they have to cover if such an plan were enacted nationwide? Well, since half of all Americans live within this 300 percent, um… lots.

Economics is a little bit above me (it involves a lot of that pesky adding), but wouldn’t it make more sense just to build it into the tax structure if you’re going to be subsidizing nearly half of all Americans anyway? (Ron Paul just died a little.)

Not to mention the simple fact that $62 grand is not a lot to house, feed and clothe four people - though a lot of people do it on a lot less. (But that’s a whole other issue of what’s considered ‘poverty’ in this country, which we’ll have to leave aside for today. Check back tomorrow; I’ll likely have it solved by then.)

So at $63 000 a year for my family of four or $31 000 as an individual, I’d take my chances, too.

Richest country in the world. Shouldn’t be this hard. Raise the cost of beer; I’m pretty sure that’s what Australia did.

Links:
Clinton Attack on Obama Overlooks Some Realities [NYT]
Massachusetts Sets Health Plan for Nearly All [NYT]
What Is 300 Percent of the Poverty Level? [The Tax Foundation]

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