AP/Louisville Courier-Journal Examines Abortion-Rights Views Of Kentucky Gubernatorial Candidates

The AP/Louisville Courier-Journal on Monday examined the abortion views of Kentucky gubernatorial candidates Steve Beshear (D) and Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R). Fletcher, who opposes abortion rights, has said that abortions should be illegal except in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy endangers the life of the pregnant woman. "I caution everyone to think about the innocent life involved regardless of the situation," Fletcher said, adding, "The real premise is I believe in the sanctity of life."

Beshear, who supports abortion rights, opposes the procedure after the first trimester but has said decisions about abortions should be left to families, not the government, the AP/Courier-Journal reports. "As governor, I'm going to do everything I can to limit and reduce the number of abortions while respecting the law of the land," he said, adding, "What I want to do as governor is to take steps that will reduce and limit the number of abortions by addressing the main causes that women get abortions," he said.

Beshear said many women who undergo abortions are those without good jobs, who feel like they would not be able to support children or even pay the medical costs of delivering infants. He said the solution is to provide more job security and better health care for women. "That in and of itself will do more to reduce the number of abortions in this state," he said, adding, "That will help make abortion a last choice for somebody instead of a first choice."

Fletcher has said that Beshear is attempting to conceal his abortion-rights position. According to the AP/Courier-Journal, two polls released over the past week show Beshear leading Fletcher by double digits (Alford, AP/Louisville Courier-Journal, 9/24).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Abortion-Rights, Women's Groups Endorse Massachusetts Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Patrick

NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and other abortion-rights and women's groups on Thursday announced that they will support Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick (D), the AP/Boston Globe reports. Patrick has said he supports abortion rights, stem cell research and "other issues important to women," the AP/Globe reports (LeBlanc, AP/Boston Globe, 10/12). The Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, supports abortion rights and has said she backs a state law that requires minors under age 18 seeking abortions to obtain permission from a parent or guardian before undergoing the procedure. In addition, Healey has said she supports legislation vetoed by Gov. Mitt Romney (R) in May 2005 that allows human cloning for research purposes but bans human cloning for the purpose of reproduction. The state legislature overrode Romney's veto. Independent Christy Mihos and Grace Ross of the Green-Rainbow Party also are running for governor (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/20). NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Executive Director Melissa Kogut said that Healey had a chance to affirm her stance in favor of abortion rights during Romney's tenure but did not. "Reproductive rights have never been more at stake than they are right now," Kogut said, adding, "We need a governor we can count on to be a leader to protect women's health, privacy and reproductive freedom." According to a WHDH-TV/Suffolk University survey released on Tuesday, Patrick is favored by 46% of voters overall, compared with 33% for Healey, 7% for Mihos and 1% for Ross. Twelve percent of voters are undecided. The survey polled 400 state residents from Oct. 10 through Oct. 11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points, the AP/Globe reports (AP/Boston Globe, 10/12).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Society Reacts To Ministerial Announcement On Contraceptives

Following the ministerial announcement encouraging women to consider the use of
contraceptive injections and implants to avoid unwanted pregnancies, David Pruce, Director of
Practice & Quality Improvement, said:


"The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is keen to support government initiatives
which widen access to a range of effective methods of contraception.


"Pharmacists are experts in medicines and other healthcare products and are very
experienced in supplying a range of methods of contraception to the public. They use their
expertise daily in providing information and advice to women on the effective use of
contraception.


"We welcome greater access to a wider range of methods of contraception and hope that
increased choice for the public will result in more women being able to use the most
appropriate method for their lifestyle."


Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

Child Mortality Closely Linked To Women's Education Levels

Over half of the reduction in the global mortality of children under 5 years of age is linked to increased education among females of reproductive age, says a reports from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, published in the medical journal The Lancet. Sixteen million children under the age of five died in 1970, compared to 7.8 million in 2009, the report informs - 4.2 million fewer children died in 2009 thanks in large part to better and more widely accessible schooling for women.


The authors write that education is growing in every part of the world. The report states that:


Average years of schooling for women of reproductive age (ages 15 to 44) in developing countries have grown from 2.2 years to 7.2 years.


In some countries, however, women still receive no more than one year of schooling. Those countries include, Burkina Faso, Yemen, Niger, Chad, Mali and Afghanistan.


Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, lead author, Associate Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), said:


We know that direct health interventions, such as immunizations, preventive care, and hygiene classes, are crucial to improving health worldwide. What this study shows is that by focusing on education as well, we can increase the impact that we are having on health.


In 87 countries in 2009, women had greater levels of education than men. In 40 nations, however, the gender gap grew during the period 1970 to 2009.


Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou and team collected data from 915 censuses and national surveys globally to create a time series of education levels for 175 nations.


They found that:

31 nations had improved average years of schooling of women of reproductive age by over three years between 1990 and 2009. Saudi Arabia, the Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates were among these countries.
Out of the ten countries with the highest populations in the world, women of reproductive age had complete at least primary school in seven of them.
Most of the countries that are on track to achieving the Millennium Development Goal 4 - reducing the child mortality rate by 66% between 1990 and 2015 - have achieved a faster improvement for average rate of schooling for women of reproductive age than the global 1.9 years over the last two decades.
According to their findings, economic growth accounted for just 7.2% of the reduction in child mortality during the 1970-2009 period.

Dr. Christopher Murray, IHME Director and one of the paper's co-authors, said:


More education helps mothers make better choices in a range of areas - personal hygiene, nutrition, parenting approaches. It also helps them take better care of their own health when pregnant, and, after the child is born, they are able to navigate the expanding array of health services being offered to their families.


The authors believe that mothers with more education will drive advances in global health, embracing immunization programs, for example.


Dr. Rafael Lozano, Professor of Global Health at IHME:


The next phase could include building new secondary schools and hiring teachers. But before that work begins, it would be wise to weigh the potential benefits and costs of this approach against building clinics and hiring health workers.


Source: The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation


Increased educational attainment and its effect on child mortality in 175 countries between 1970 and 2009: a systematic analysis

Dr Emmanuela Gakidou PhD, Krycia Cowling BS, Prof Rafael Lozano MD, Prof Christopher JL Murray MD

The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9745, Pages 959 - 974, 18 September 2010

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61257-3