Sore Spots & G-Spots

Sore spots

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved guidelines permitting drug company sales people to give physicians copies of medical journal articles that advocate prescribing approved drugs for unapproved uses. The guidelines allow companies to promote products for uses that have been neither federally approved nor proven effective. Despite protests from NWHN and other consumer groups that the guidelines incentivize drug companies to spend more on marketing and less on research, the FDA remains supportive of the new guidelines. Apparently, the FDA believes that the pharmaceutical industry can be relied on to provide “truthful and non-misleading scientific and medical information.” Oxymoron, anyone?

Eggs for sale! Clinics have begun reporting an increase in the number of women seeking to donate eggs or serve as surrogate mothers. Egg donors typically receive $3,000--$8,000; surrogates earn $25,000; both processes are arduous, intense, costly, and not without risk to the donor. Clinics claim to turn away those who seek to provide their services solely for the money, but that won’t prevent women from trying, given the current economic climate.

Despite clear and definitive study results demonstrating that women who took hormone therapy drugs were at increased risk for breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and blood clots, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health began a program promoting hormone therapy the very same year the study results were released. Not surprisingly, the program was funded by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: the very same company that makes the hormone drug used in the study which originally concluded that hormone therapy is dangerous.

G-spots

In the past, inducing labor or having a Caesarean section a bit early was thought not to pose much risk to a baby’s development. But now, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is urging women and obstetricians not to deliver babies before 39 weeks. The last weeks of pregnancy are important to babies’ brain, lung, liver, cognitive, and behavioral development. ACOG hopes that basic awareness campaigns can help change these practices. In Utah, in 1999, 27% of elective births occurred before 39 weeks; after a statewide awareness campaign, fewer than 5% of elective births now occur before 39 weeks.

California recently became the first State to make HIV screening a routine part of health care. The new Assembly bill requires all health care insurance plans to cover HIV testing regardless of whether testing is directly related to a primary diagnosis or not. This should make it easier for people to find out their HIV status, help normalize testing, and reduce the stigma of HIV that still unfortunately exists.

Finally, a policy that supports women’s needs! In January, President Obama rescinded the “Mexico City Policy” global gag rule that prevented U.S. taxpayer money from going to international family planning groups that offer abortions, counseling, or referrals for abortion. First promoted under President Reagan, the rule was rescinded by President Clinton and reinstated by President Bush. The reversal was particularly timely, coming one day after the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.