Morning Roundup: Midwives on Motos

Beth Saunders

Midwives travel on motorbike to deliver family planning information and supplies; anti-choice Rep. Joe Pitts is officially named as chair of committee with reproductive justice implications; HIV eradication and the WNBA; more on HIV "cure."

Midwives travel on motorbike to deliver family planning information and supplies, anti-choice Rep. Joe Pitts is officially named as chair of subcommittee with reproductive justice implications, HIV eradication is the charity of choice of a WNBA star, and experts warn against the possibility of widespread HIV cure from stem cell transplants.

  • “Midwives on Motos” is a new program introduced by Marie Stopes International to increase access to contraception for rural women in Cambodia. Midwives travel to villages to distribute birth control information and supplies, and even do procedures such as contraception implants. The cost – and time – of travel to a town or city can be prohibitive for many women, so bringing the health care to the women is an innovative way to increase access to needed care.
  • It’s official: Anti-choice lawmaker Joe Pitts (R-PA), will chair the House Subcommittee on Health, under the Energy and Commerce Committee. Women, beware.  National Right to Life has said he “made the protection of the sanctity of innocent human life the cornerstone of his service in the House.” Read more about Pitts and his threat to reproductive rights in the New York Times.
  • Magic Johnson isn’t the only basketball player involved with HIV awareness. Candace Wiggins, a guard for the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA, is a spokesperson for Until There’s A Cure, an HIV/AIDS organization dedicated to eradication of the disease. Education and awareness about the disease has come a long way since father passed away from the disease in 1991. “Back then, when my father died it was really one of those things that no one really discussed.  But now, it’s affecting so many more. It’s so widespread now that everyone kind of has to get involved and at least be knowledgeable, if anything else.”
  • Doctors and other medical experts are warning against getting too excited about the recent case of a man “cured” of HIV through a stem cell transplant. His case is unique, they say, because the donor cells he received were from someone who had a rare mutation that prevented the virus from entering cells. While the case represents a breakthrough, the procedure is quite risky, and not likely to become widespread.

Dec 17

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