Author: Jen R

Blog Posts

Great news for women’s and children’s health

Jen R

The Institute of Medicine has issued its recommendations for a range of preventive health services that it says should be covered for all U.S. women without a co-pay under the Affordable Care Act. Several of these recommendations improve not only women's health, but that of their children as well.

The eight recommendations include:

  • screening for gestational diabetes
  • HPV testing as part of cervical cancer screening for women over 30
  • counseling on sexually transmitted infections
  • counseling and screening for HIV
  • contraceptive methods and counseling to prevent unintended pregnancies
  • lactation counseling and equipment to promote breast-feeding
  • screening and counseling to detect and prevent interpersonal and domestic violence
  • yearly well-woman preventive care visits to obtain recommended preventive services

The recommendations will now go to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is scheduled to issue the final rule for insurers in August.

The report will be discussed Wednesday, July 20, at a public briefing beginning at 10 a.m. EDT at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. A live audio webcast of the briefing will be available at www.nationalacademies.org if you would like to listen.

Blog Posts

Contraception does not increase abortion

Jen R

One of the arguments contraception opponents commonly make is that the acceptance of contraception leads to abortion. For a good debunking of that argument, read "Examining the argument that provision of contraception leads to increased abortion rates".


What leads to increased use of both contraception and — especially when contraception is unavailable or inadequate — abortion is the desire for relatively low fertility. Contraception and abortion are going to be much less of an issue when people fully expect to have six or eight or ten kids. Those days are over for most people in the developed world, for complex social and economic reasons. What we have to decide now is whether we're going to deal with that reality in an evidence-based manner, or pretend it's not happening (or that it shouldn't be happening, and therefore people who want to have sex but not have a lot of babies are just immoral).

Blog Posts

Medicaid cuts: harmful for pregnant women and their children

Jen R

When I attended the helping pregnant women Open Hearts, Open Minds and Fair Minded Words conference last fall, pro-choice and pro-life attendees alike expressed frustration with politicians who talked a good game about protecting human life but then tried to cut funding to programs that help women choose life for their children.

We're told that the government doesn't need to help people, because that's what private charity is for. But private charity can't do the job alone. Crisis pregnancy centers rely not only on volunteers and donations, but on referring clients to government assistance programs such as Medicaid and WIC.  Medicaid pays for more than 40% of births in the United States. Ask a crisis pregnancy center volunteer how much harder their job will get if Medicaid is cut.

Please urge your members of Congress to reject Medicaid cuts.

Blog Posts, Past Actions

Victory! Catherine Ferguson Academy to remain open

Jen R

The Catherine Ferguson Academy will remain open as a charter school, the Detroit Public School Board announced today:

The Detroit Public Schools today announced that the school for pregnant and parenting teens will not close , but be operated as a charter school. The announcement came an hour before a noon rally planned to try to save the school.

Ferguson was scheduled to be one of three alternative schools to close this summer due to the district’s $327 million deficit.

[…]

G. Asenath Andrews, the principal of Ferguson since it opened 27 years ago, said the planned rally will become a celebration. “I am relieved, excited and pleased,” she said.

So are we, Ms. Andrews. Congratulations to the students and staff of the Catherine Ferguson Academy, and thank you to everyone who sent messages of support.

Blog Posts, Past Actions

Can you help us?

Jen R

All Our Lives seeks dedicated volunteers to help us:

  • Upgrade our global directory of abortion-reducing resources.
  • Design visually appealing PowerPoint slides, fact sheets, flyers, and posters, especially for our new "Contraception Is Prolife" campaign.
  • Form an outstanding board of directors.
  • Launch as a US-based official nonprofit with a global focus.


Email your statement of interest and resume to volunteer@allourlives.org.  We especially encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBT persons. All Our Lives fosters a pro every life, pro nonviolent choice agenda.

Blog Posts, Past Actions

ALERT: one week left to save school for pregnant and parenting teens

Jen R

For those of you who don't follow us on Facebook or Twitter, here's the latest on the Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit. Principal Asenath Andrews was informed this week that the school will be closed permanently on next Friday, June 17.

Here's what you can do to help.

Blog Posts, Past Actions

Happy 46th Birthcontrolday!

Jen R

Today is the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut, which held that laws criminalizing the provision of contraception were unconstitutional. Unfortunately, even though it is no longer against the law to sell or use birth control, anti-contraception lawmakers are still trying to undermine access to it.

If you live in the United States, we urge you to contact your members of Congress to let them know that you're pro-life and pro-contraception. Ask them to resist further efforts to defund Title X family planning — most Title X recipients don't perform abortions, so don't let them claim otherwise. Remind them that evidence from around the world indicates that access to modern contraception reduces abortion, and that women are more likely to use contraception consistently (and avoid unintended pregnancy and abortion) if they are ensured an adequate, affordable supply. Let them know that existing evidence does not support claims that either hormonal methods or the IUD prevent implantation. Finally, remind them that opposition to contraception is simply one viewpoint, held by a small minority of Americans, and that the rest of us deserve representation too.

Blog Posts

How is this pro-life? Just … how?

Jen R

Has anyone seen this? Is it as horrific as it sounds?

(Teaneck, NJ) On June 4 at 4pm, New Jersey Republican State Senate candidate, Kenneth Del Vecchio, is doing the unthinkable for a Hollywood filmmaker: he is premiering THE LIFE ZONE, a psychological thriller about abortion—a film, which turns out to be PRO-LIFE. This certain controversial flick premieres at Hoboken International Film Festival – in Teaneck – one of the nation's largest film festivals, which Del Vecchio founded and chairs.

[…]

The controversial premise of THE LIFE ZONE: three women have been kidnapped from abortion clinics and are being held for seven months—until they all give birth. The film, which appears to cut right down the middle, examining the topic from both sides, offers a powerful, anti-abortion climactic twist.

That would have to be some twist. Here's the trailer. The actual, claims-to-be-official, apparently-not-a-parody trailer. I wouldn't recommend watching it if you have triggers that are in any way related to women being victimized.

 

 

I don't say this often, but I'm with the YouTube commenters on this one.

srsly youtube we need a wtf-button

This is supposed to be a Pro-life movie? Sure looks more like a Planned Parenthood propaganda piece.

HOW is this supposed to end up pro-life? (Apparently there's a pro-life twist at the end from what I hear and that's the aim of it and the note they want to end on). It makes pro-lifers look like freakish religious psycopaths.

Honestly though? I thought it was a pro-CHOICE film presenting pro-lifers in a horrible light. A underhanded tactic to try to get pro-choicers to watch it perhaps?

I don't see how we're supposed to empathsise with the kidnappers. They're monsters in this.

Let's make a movie that portrays pro-lifers as villainous kidnappers, and portrays unwanted pregnancy as a horrific, traumatic, and painful experience. That'll convince 'em to not have abortions!

Anybody else getting a "Human Centipede" vibe from this?

(If you don't know what the last comment is referring to — you don't want to know.)

I thought trailers were supposed to make you think, "I've got to see that movie!", not "Holy shit, this was made by psychopaths!" I'm trying to imagine what kind of "twist" the movie could end with to make it have a genuinely pro-life message, but I just don't see how you get there from here. I'd love to hear from anybody who's seen it.

Blog Posts

Extremist who planned to kill abortion provider arrested

Jen R

Last week, police in Madison, Wisconsin arrested Ralph Lang after he accidentally discharged a firearm in his hotel room.

Lang told police that he planned to go to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic the following morning to find the doctor who was doing the abortions and shoot him in the head, the complaint said.

[…]

A nurse at Planned Parenthood in Madison said she is familiar with Lang, and that she saw him outside the facility last week, according to the complaint. Lang was arrested in 2007 outside Planned Parenthood, telling an officer at the time that the "Bible states that anyone involved in abortion should be executed."

In Lang's motel room, officers found a U.S. map with dots in each state and handwritten words above the northern U.S. border that said "some abortion centers," the complaint said. Also written on the map were the words "Blessed Virgin Mary says Hell awaits any woman having an abortion. Nurse or doctor who helps will one (sic)."

All Our Lives wholly rejects the use of violence against abortion providers, and we are relieved that Mr. Lang was discovered and arrested before he could harm anyone.

Blog Posts

What happened to “love them both”?

Jen R

Jill Stanek has a post up in response to this Salon article by a woman who had an abortion that doctors believed was necessary to save her life.

What disturbs me the most are the comments on Stanek's post. Why is the immediate response to this story “Let’s see how we can pick it apart, discredit it, and cast the woman telling it as dishonest”? Why not, at the very least, “I’m terribly sorry that she lost her child and had such a traumatic health crisis,” or “The health professionals at that hospital treated her terribly”? Why not assume, at the very least for the sake of argument, that the story is true, and ask how we can ensure that pregnant women can get proper medical treatment that also respects the lives of their children? If we believe that it’s really possible to do both, then we should be able to handle listening to this story and figuring out what needs to change for women like Ms. Kendall to get better care.

I just don’t understand why a woman who lost a child and nearly died has to be cast as an enemy.