Author: brigitte

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A Flood of Suits Fights Coverage of Birth Control

brigitte

In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — a high-stakes clash between religious freedom and health care access that appears headed to the Supreme Court.

In recent months, federal courts have seen dozens of lawsuits brought not only by religious institutions like Catholic dioceses but also by private employers ranging from a pizza mogul to produce transporters who say the government is forcing them to violate core tenets of their faith. Some have been turned away by judges convinced that access to contraception is a vital health need and a compelling state interest. Others have been told that their beliefs appear to outweigh any state interest and that they may hold off complying with the law until their cases have been judged. New suits are filed nearly weekly.

“This is highly likely to end up at the Supreme Court,” said Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia and one of the country’s top scholars on church-state conflicts. “There are so many cases, and we are already getting strong disagreements among the circuit courts.” Read full article.

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Surrogacy case hears ‘principle of intent’ is primary consideration

brigitte

It should be presumed that the parents of a child born to a surrogate mother are “the commissioning couple”, a fertility expert told the High Court this morning.

Dr Mary Wingfield, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist with the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, with a specialty in infertility, said the fact that a child was the genetic child of the commissioning couple was also a factor. But the “principle of intent” was the primary consideration.

Dr Wingfield was giving evidence in a landmark case challenging the refusal of the State to allow the genetic mother of twins born to a surrogate mother to be listed as the children’s mother on their birth certificates.

The surrogate mother was the sister of the genetic mother in the case, the Court had been told, and was not objecting to the couple’s application.

Reporting on the family law case, which would normally be heard in private, has been partially approved because of the importance of the issues at stake. Read full article.

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For menopause, estrogen fears overblown

brigitte

FertilityClock_WebMillions of women are needlessly suffering from the effects of menopause: the intrusive hot flashes, night sweats and wet linens; the inability to fall back asleep in the middle of the night; “brain fog”; and depression, as well as the negative impact on one’s love life (loss of interest, dryness and actual pain).

All these symptoms and more could be relieved by replacing lost estrogen. Yet many women – and their doctors – are paralyzed with fear about the safety of hormones.

We are living in the long shadow of negative press that surrounded the initial release of the Women’s Health Initiative study results. Ten years ago, media reports suggested that rates of breast cancer, stroke and heart disease were unacceptably high in hormone users (equine estrogen and synthetic progesterone) compared with those women who were taking the placebo (dummy pill). The study was stopped prematurely after five years.

However, early results of estrogen-alone trials involving women with a hysterectomy, published two years later with little media attention, showed lower rates of heart disease, diabetes in women under 60 and breast cancer in all age groups. Yes, lower rates of breast cancer. Read full article.

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Unlikely Coalition Fights Contraception Mandate

brigitte

Abortion opponents rallying by the thousands Friday in Washington at the annual March for Life have lost some political battles lately but won a string of court victories, thanks in part to a diverse coalition challenging a contraception mandate in the health care overhaul.

For-profit businesses, state attorneys general and educational institutions are among more than 100 plaintiffs who have mounted some 40 lawsuits challenging the mandate, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit legal institute that has played a leading role in the suits. With lower courts in dispute over the mandate, both sides agree the issue will almost inevitably be settled by the Supreme Court.

The mandate requires employer-sponsored health care plans to cover contraception, including intrauterine devices and emergency birth control drugs that many religious employers equate with abortion. The Obama administration offered a narrow exemption for religious organizations and required insurers, not employers, to pay for the services. However, opponents remain unsatisfied. Read full article.

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India Bars Same-Sex Couples From Using Surrogates

brigitte

Officials from India’s government announced that gay couples and single individuals from other countries who wish to start a family are prohibited from using the country’s popular surrogate program, New Delhi Television Limited reports.

India’s surrogacy program is a growing industry. Over the past few years, foreign couples, both gay and straight, have taken advantage of the country’s low-cost and legally simple way to access a surrogate. The new measure, however, not only bars same-sex couples from using the surrogates but also leaves gay couples who already started the process in limbo.

The new rules state that only straight couples who have been married for more than two years can use India’s surrogacy program. Notified by the change from a message on the Indian Home Ministry’s website, fertility clinics and LGBT rights activists termed the move “discriminatory”.

“It’s totally unfair – not only for gay people but for people who are not married who may have been living together for years and for singles,” Mumbai gay rights advocate Nitin Karani said.

“Parenting is everybody’s right and now we’re withdrawing that right,” Dr. Rita Bakshi, who is the head of the International Fertility Centre in New Delhi, said. “These rules are definitely not welcome, definitely restrictive and very discriminatory.” Read full article.

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Abusive partners can sabotage contraception

brigitte

While researchers don’t know exactly how common it is, the nation’s leading group of obstetricians and gynecologists says women should be screened for ‘reproductive coercion.’

When a husband hides a wife’s birth control pills or a boyfriend takes off a condom in the middle of sex in hopes of getting an unwilling girlfriend pregnant, that’s a form of abuse called reproductive coercion.

While researchers don’t know exactly how common such coercion is, it’s common enough – especially among women who are abused by their partners in other ways – that health care providers should screen women for signs at regular check-ups and pregnancy visits, says the nation’s leading group of obstetricians and gynecologists.

“We want to make sure that health care providers are aware that this is something that does go on and that it’s a form of abuse,” says Veronica Gillispie, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, and a member of the committee that wrote the opinion for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It’s published in the February issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, out today. Read full article.

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BPA substitute could spell trouble for hormones

brigitte

A few years ago, manufacturers of water bottles, food containers, and baby products had a big problem.

A key ingredient of the plastics they used to make their merchandise, an organic compound called bisphenol A, had been linked by scientists to diabetes, asthma and cancer and altered prostate and neurological development. The FDA and state legislatures were considering action to restrict BPA’s use, and the public was pressuring retailers to remove BPA-containing items from their shelves.

The industry responded by creating “BPA-free” products, which were made from plastic containing a compound called bisphenol S. In addition to having similar names, BPA and BPS share a similar structure and versatility: BPS is now known to be used in everything from currency to thermal receipt paper, and widespread human exposure to BPS was confirmed in a 2012 analysis of urine samples taken in the U.S., Japan, China and five other Asian countries. Read full article.

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Women with migraine with aura advised of contraception risk

brigitte

Certain types of modern contraception could be risky for women who have migraines with aura, a new study has found.

According to research unveiled at this year’s meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, these females are more likely to experience deep vein thrombosis and other blood clot complications. Women have therefore been urged to bear this in mind when deciding how to proceed with family planning.

Dr Shivang Joshi, a specialist at Brigham and Women’s Falkner Hospital in Boston, commented: “Women who have migraine with aura should be sure to include this information in their medical history and talk to their doctors about the possible risks of newer contraceptives, given their condition.”

The study also showed that migraine with aura is second only to high blood pressure as the biggest cause of heart attacks and strokes. Read full article.

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Kan. case reveals risks with assisted reproduction

brigitte

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The case of a Kansas sperm donor being sued by the state for child support underscores a confusing patchwork of aging laws that govern assisted reproduction in the United States and often lead to litigation and frustration among would-be parents.

Complex questions about parental responsibility resurfaced late last year, as Kansas officials went after a Topeka man who answered a Craigslist ad from a lesbian couple seeking a sperm donor. Because no doctor was involved in the artificial insemination, the state sought to hold William Marotta financially responsible for the child when the women split up and one of them sought public assistance. A hearing is set for April.

Many states haven’t updated their laws to address the evolution of family structures — such as same-sex families, single women conceiving with donated sperm or artificial inseminations performed without a doctor’s involvement. At-home insemination kits are inexpensive, and obtaining sperm from a friend, or even a donor met over the Internet, allows women to avoid medical costs that generally aren’t covered by insurance. Read full article.

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Should commercial surrogacy be made legal in Britain?

brigitte

More and more heterosexual and same-sex couples in Britain are turning to surrogate mothers to help them have a family.

This month, singer Sir Elton John and his civil partner, film producer David Furnish, welcomed their second son into the world.

Both children were born to the same surrogate mother through an agency in California, where commercial surrogacy is legal and surrogates can be paid.

While surrogacy is legal in Britain, it is a criminal offence to pay a surrogate mother more than ‘reasonable expenses’ and it is also illegal to advertise that you are seeking a surrogate mother or willing to act as one.

Couples here wanting to have a baby through surrogacy can travel to somewhere like the US where they can use a professional agency, or they can find a willing surrogate here, often through the help of non-profit organisations which host social events and online forums where surrogates and intended parents can meet. Read full article.