If You’re A Woman, Healthcare Reform Should Be a "No-Brainer"

It’s what Deborah Kotz at US News & World Report has to say today, in a thorough and uplifting post today about women and health care reform efforts, Why Women Should Push for Healthcare Reform. The piece discusses the much-covered (on this site and many others) issue of gender discrimination and health care reform but wraps things up on a positive note, as she quotes Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center:

But Greenberger, who also worked on the Clinton health reform bill,
says she has been maintaining her positive attitude that legislation
benefiting women will pass. "It’s been energizing. The fact that we now
have versions being considered in the House and Senate is further than
the country has ever gone."

Re-thinking An Overly Simplistic Breast-Cancer Message?

From the New York Times to Alternet, people are talking about breast cancer screenings and questioning the efficacy of breast-cancer screenings. From the New York Times today:

Overdiagnosis and overtreatment as a result of cancer screening are a
major concern. It is estimated that for every 100 women who are told
they have breast cancer, as many as 30 have cancers that are so slow-growing they are unlikely to be life-threatening. 

In an article on Alternet today, "Saving Women From Breast Cancer: Are Mammograms Really the Answer?", Naomi Freundlich of Health Beat notes that, 

"…researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark and elsewhere
had raised serious questions about the benefits of mammography,
especially in women under 50 and over 70…

Freundlich goes on to explain,

"…one out of three cancer diagnoses turned out to be lesions that
either went away on their own or otherwise never progressed. In some
cases, patients would have died of something else before their symptoms
progressed.

Meanwhile, the women who received these diagnoses likely went on to
have surgery to remove the lesion or the entire breast, radiation and
chemotherapy. This seems a substantial cost—both in terms of a woman’s
psychological and physical health and in terms of health care dollars
— for questionable gains."

For more reproductive and sexual health and rights news:

Catholic Exchange: U.S. House Bill Would Coerce States to Allow Homosexual Adoption
OneNewsNow: The connection between ‘the Cure’ and abortion
[Here]: Anti-abortion campaign underway across U.S. and Canada, but is it a cause worth fighting?
Springfield News-Leader: Birth control ends need for abortion
Swissinfo: All birth control pills said to carry same risks
Denver Daily News: Abortion coverage battle

10/21
AlterNet: Limbaugh Calls for NYT Environmental Writer to Kill Himself
Beliefnet: Towards a Consistent Pro-Life Ethic
LA Times: Judge bars restrictive Oklahoma abortion law requiring online posting of patient data
Salt Lake Tribune: Lawmakers debate sex ed
NBC DFW: Women Have High Stake in Health Care Reform
WSJ: Sheldon Segal, Leading Developer Of Contraceptives, Dies at 83
Catholic News Agency: ‘Abortion crushes hope,’ says Rep. Chris Smith at health care press conference
LifeNews: North Carolina Teen Shot and Killed After She Refused Abortion, Document Show
LifeSiteNews: U.S. House Bill Would Coerce States to Allow Homosexual Adoption
Earth Times: Nurse Charges Dangerous Yaz Birth Control Drug “Altered My Life”
The Guardian: Evangelicals and abortion
Catholic Exchange: Majority of Peruvians Oppose Attempt to Depenalize Abortion in Rape and Deformity Cases: Poll
BBC News: Clashes over Peru abortion move