MIRCETTE BIRTHCONTROL

Bogardus wants plan to cover abortions

April 30, 2007

GENESEE COUNTY - The low-income health plan that voters in November agreed to fund with new taxes doesn’t pay for birth control or abortion, but a county commissioner wants to know whether it can.

Commissioner Rose Bogardus, D-Davison, has asked for a legal opinion on whether the county can force administrators with the Genesee Health Plan to make those services available to women.

“A woman’s health is as important as a man’s health,” said Bogardus, who this week asked county attorneys to research whether commissioners, who oversee spending of the 1-mill property tax, can make the demand.

Even before there’s an opinion, the request is already splintering the nine-member county Board of Commissioners on the hot-button issues tied to family planning.

The same question flared up just months after voters approved the tax that supports the Genesee Health Plan. The program covers most of the cost of prescriptions and doctor’s visits for more than 25,000 low-income, uninsured county residents.

Plan administrators have said they don’t offer family planning services and have no immediate plan to do so.

Commissioner Miles Gadola of Grand Blanc, the lone Republican on the county board, said he will work to block Bogardus even if county attorneys tell commissioners they have the authority to spell out what kind of services are included in the health plan.

“I wouldn’t support it,” said Gadola. “I’m somewhat concerned why we’re looking to … throw controversy into a health care program that right now is one of the first to get to this point and have a millage supporting it.”

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Bogardus said not providing women with family planning amounts to discrimination that wouldn’t be tolerated if it involved men.

“If a man needs something because of his health, we wouldn’t hesitate,” she said.

Bogardus has said she had an abortion after becoming pregnant some 30 years ago after having already suffered two miscarriages.

“It’s a health procedure,” she said of abortion.

Linda Hamacher, vice president and executive director of Genesee Health Plan, said Bogardus’ request amounted to a non-controversy “because we don’t cover family planning services through the millage money.”

Plan administrators found women could still get access to contraception through other programs, she said.

“We’re trying to provide basic health care services in a cost-effective way,” Hamacher said. “I hate to see (this) surface again.”

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Blog it: and I wasted all that birth control

April 26, 2007

With partial-birth abortions in the news again, thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, there’s a blog that people on both sides of the issue should check out: “… and I wasted all that birth control” (http://zia.blogs.com/wastedbirthcontrol/).

It’s written by Cecily, a 38-year-old mother of one, on “parenting after infertility, preeclampsia and loss, sobriety, being fat, politics and more.”

And relevant to the recent Court decision to uphold a ban on a certain type of late-term abortion:

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“We spent four years trying to get pregnant (male factor being the major issue). We finally got pregnant on our first IVF cycle in 2004, after much ado, only to lose our twins boys (and nearly me) at 22 weeks gestation to severe preeclampsia. We did a medical termination of that pregnancy (one twin had already passed away), making me the poster girl for `partial birth abortion’ (apparently my health was too fragile to induce labor at that point).”

In the last week or so, Cecily has written several passionate posts on what happened to her and how it’s relevant to the recent Court decision. Posts have garnered hundreds of responses.

There’s lots of other great stuff here too: parenting, searching for a job, dealing with a flood, etc.

Ultimately, if you’re engaged in the current debate on abortion, this site is worth a look.

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New Drug Could End Monthly Problem For Women

April 24, 2007

A new drug promises a lot of relief for women who hate dealing with their menstrual cycles. It promises to stop their period, not just for a couple of months, but for good!

The pill is called Lybrel and it promises no more periods with no increased risk, but eliminating the menstrual cycle makes some women and even some doctors a little uneasy. Some say even if the new pill hits the market, it won’t be a hit with women.

If a pill could put an end her monthly period, Carmen Small says it would be a bit unnatural, but not unwelcome.

“I guess it wouldn’t be a natural thing, but I guess it would be better for women,” said Small.

Women may soon have that option, if the Food and Drug Administration approves Lybrel next month. The new birth control pill eliminates the menstrual cycle, which for women, means no more periods.

Some doctors are praising the new drug, saying it could come as much needed relief to some women.

“Women who have extremely painful periods, women who have very heavy menstrual bleeding each month,” said fertility specialist Dr. Ken Gelman

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Seasonale, a pill which limits periods to four times a year and Mirena IUD, which can eliminate periods too, haven’t really been widely accepted by women, which makes doctors question if Lybrel will really make a difference?

“Generally, most women I talk to actually prefer a period,” said Dr. Gelman.

Some women say a monthly period reminds them that they are not pregnant. Doctors say even though Lybrel would probably be safe in the short term, they still have their reservations. ¤9 ]]

“There are no long term studies about what this pill can do to other body organs,” said Dr. Gelman.

As with all forms of birth control pills, Lybrel could raise the risk of blood clots and stroke, especially in women who smoke, but it’s not clear if that risk would be increased compared to other oral contraceptives.

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Filipinos Want Birth Control Policies

April 18, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in the Philippines would like their politicians to propose ideas on family planning, according to a poll by Pulse Asia. 76 per cent of respondents think it is important for candidates to include this matter in their government plans.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took over as president in January 2001, following the resignation of Joseph Estrada. Arroyo won a six-year term in the June 2004 presidential election, garnering 39.99 per cent of all cast ballots.

Voters in the Philippines will renew the House of Representatives and one-half of the Senate on May 14. 80 per cent of the lower house’s members are elected in single seat constituencies, with the remaining lawmakers chosen from proportional representation party-lists.

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In December 2006, Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party member Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel discussed birth control, saying, “Focusing only on natural methods is disempowering to women as it deprives them of universal access to the whole range of family planning methods so that they can choose what is most appropriate for their bodies, in accordance, of course, with their beliefs.”

In mid-March, a group of influential civil societies, legislators, women groups and community groups—including the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc (PLCPD) and the Philippine NGO Council on Population, Health and Welfare (PNGOC)—held a press conference to voice support for national and local candidates who will introduce policies on family planning in their platform of government.

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Students’ reproductive rights in jeopardy

April 17, 2007

This is the first part of a five-part series promoting Sex Out Loud’s annual Sexual Health Week.

Throughout history, people have devised and implemented evolving forms of contraceptives, but today, access to some of the most popular forms of hormonal birth control are threatened by legislation dramatically increasing costs to students. One of the most popular and common forms of contraception is hormonal contraception, including the pill, the patch, the ring and the shot. Hormonal birth controls contain synthetically produced estrogen and progestin that mimic the body’s natural hormones and work by preventing ovulation. Birth control drugs are some of the most extensively studied drugs, and research has shown hormonal contraception methods to be roughly 98 to 99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. Hormonal contraceptives also offer additional health benefits, such as decreasing the incidence of ovarian and endometrial cancer, pelvic inflammation, ovarian cysts, benign breast disease and regulating irregular and painful menstrual cycles. Hormonal contraceptives also provide social benefits by giving women greater power and control over their bodies and their reproduction. There are concerns and side effects associated with hormonal birth control methods, however, given ample longitudinal research and the popularity of birth control methods, the health benefits, convenience and effectiveness of hormonal contraceptives outweigh possible disadvantages.

Students constitute a financially burdened demographic with high educational expenses and little time to work. Today, birth control is available in several safe, effective and convenient forms to fit most women’s lifestyles, and cost is the only remaining barrier for women attempting to obtain birth control. Until recently, college health centers were able to buy contraceptives for minimal prices under legislation allowing drug companies to circumvent Medicaid pricing regulations when selling drugs to charitable organizations like university health services. This legal and subsidy-free arrangement worked to benefit both universities and pharmaceutical companies. Students were offered an extremely valuable service of affordable contraceptives priced around $7 to $8 per month.

Universities also profited by selling these cheap drugs to students at a dollar or two more than the purchasing cost. Additionally, drug companies benefited by establishing thousands of lifelong customers by offering extremely low-priced contraceptives to women during their college years. The Federal Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, effective as of Jan. 1, 2007, forbids the continuation of this valuable service. The effects of this legislation are grave, and University Health Services prices for several forms of birth control have increased by several hundred percent to prices as high as $35 to $50. This new legislation overburdens already financially strapped students on campus. Students need to be educated and informed citizens who are aware of this legislation and must work to stop and prevent threats to their reproductive rights, including the right to affordable and accessible birth control.

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Although this new legislation paints a gloomy outlook, students should utilize and promote the many campus resources and organizations committed to continuing to provide students with affordable contraceptives. Several campus organizations, including Sex Out Loud, UHS, the Campus Women’s Center and the LGBT Campus Center all offer a variety of free barrier methods including insertive and receptive condoms and dental dams — excellent forms of contraception that significantly reduce the risk of pregnancy and protect against sexually transmitted infections. UHS has also recently stocked its pharmacy with lower-priced generic brands ranging from roughly $15 to $37 for a one-month supply. The Wisconsin Family Planning Waiver Program is an excellent federal Medicaid program that permits women aged 15 to 44 to receive a variety of family planning services, including office visits, contraceptive services and supplies, Pap smears, testing for sexually transmitted infections and annual exams. Most students financially qualify for this free and confidential program, and a simple 30-minute visit to access.wisconsin.gov is all it takes to apply. A membership card is mailed to qualified applicants within 30 days. Taking advantage of a family insurance plan that covers contraception is another option for many students who remain on family insurance plans as students.

Awareness and utilization of available campus resources is important, but students must continue to fight dangerous legislation that threatens reproductive rights and health by making birth control unaffordable and inaccessible to students. Several popular and new forms of birth control, including lower-dosed hormonal pills and non-daily birth control methods like the NuvaRing are not yet available in a generic brand. Not all students qualify for the Wisconsin Family Planning Waiver Program. Issues of privacy and confidentiality keep students from using family insurance plans. All of these reasons coupled with the financial struggles of students make fighting legislation such as the DRA necessary to prevent future attacks on access to birth control and to maintain the availability of affordable and accessible birth control methods to students on campus.

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Birth Control Prisec Rice

April 12, 2007

UC Santa Cruz students who buy the Nuvaring at the Cowell Student Health Center are discovering that the popular contraceptive has quadrupled in cost.

The price hike originated from a complex deficit reduction bill passed by Congress in 2005.

The bill made discounts on the Nuvaring contraceptive available exclusively to those who use the Medi-Cal insurance policy, which the Student Health Center does not accept. Because of the bill, students will have to pay up to $552 for a single year’s supply of the contraceptive.

Diane Lammote, a pharmacist and the acting manager of UCSC’s Student Health Center, explained that the Health Center is part of a large consortium that has access to lower pricing on particular drugs.

“Certain drug companies give great contract pricing for the population they want to hit, so we don’t get good pricing for cholesterol-lowering drugs–we get good prices for contraceptives.”

The price hike did not come as a surprise. The bill went into effect in January 2007, but the Health Center managed to keep the price increase at bay by stockpiling contraceptives so they could continue to sell them at original prices. Nuvaring was the first to run out, and Desogen, a birth control pill, will be next.

Lammote said the sticker price for Desogen is only going to increase by $5 and that students can switch to the generic version of Desogen in order to keep the price down.

The price increase has put UCSC students who use the Nuvaring, like Veronica De Paolis-Kaluza, in a difficult situation.

“I still don’t know what I’m going to do in a week when I run out of my last refill for this prescription,” she said.

De Paolis-Kaluza said that she was prescribed the Nuvaring because it provides the lowest amount of daily hormones. She said that changing her prescription will cause adverse side effects and interfere with her other medications.

Jane Bogart, the coordinator for the Student Health Outreach and Promotion (SHOP), said students using the Nuvaring might face a monetary dilemma if they decide to switch.

“People will be looking for less expensive options,” she said. “One of the downsides could be that if they use a contraceptive that might not be the match for them, it could cause a few side effects or different side effects that they might not have had on their previous oral medication.”

Bogart said there could be other issues; students might switch to less effective methods, “and, in a worst-case scenario, not use any contraceptive options at all.”

Condoms were an effective alternative, and SHOP, located in the health center basement, sells them for 25 cents a pair, Bogart said. She added that while oral contraceptives do not protect against sexually transmitted infections, condoms do.

Lammote said that the increasing cost would create privacy problems for students on their parents’ insurance.

“So here’s a scenario,” she said. “A female patient has her family’s insurance and would prefer that her family not know that she’s on contraception. When she could pay only $12.50 a month, she could just pay it, and it wouldn’t go to insurance or her parents. Now she has to decide if she’s willing to pay $46 a month out of her pocket or use her parents’ insurance.”

Lammote said that the American College Health Association (ACHA) has contacted the California Medical Society with a request to be put onto the exemption list for the deficit reduction bill. They hope to receive a response this summer.

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Commentary: Abstinence-only programs failing women

April 10, 2007

The US has the highest rate of unintended pregnancies in the industrialized world, over 3 million in 2006, and 42 percent of these ended in abortion. (The Guttmacher Institute) If this country is truly committed to preventing unintended pregnancies and reducing the number of abortions, we must demand that contraception is available to all women when and where they need it.

Even though there is great enthusiasm for abstinence-only programs on the part of the Bush administration, overwhelming evidence shows abstinence-only education does not work. Access to birth control and emergency contraception, not abstinence education, prevents pregnancy. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all support comprehensive sex education programs that encourage abstinence while also providing adolescents with information on how to protect themselves against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

In view of these expert opinions, one would think the best choice to head the Office of Population Affairs, a federal agency that oversees funding for birth control, pregnancy tests, counseling and screenings for sexually transmitted disease and HIV, would be someone who is committed to reducing the number of unintended pregnancies in the United States by focusing on successful prevention methods and comprehensive education. Not so with the Bush appointment of Eric Keroack, a nationally known, non-board certified MD and advocate of abstinence until marriage.

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Dr. Keroack served for more than a decade as medical director for A Woman’s Concern, a Massachusetts nonprofit group that discourages abortion and does not distribute information promoting birth control.

Under Keroack’s supervision, AWC health centers would not distribute, encourage the use of, or offer referrals for contraceptive drugs and devices. According to Planned Parenthood, AWC states in its material that “the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness.”

Luckily, Keroack will not get a chance to shape national policy as he just resigned from his new post due to an unspecified investigative action taken against his private practice by Massachusetts state Medicaid officials. March 30th was a good day for woman’s health.

For shocking information on how our administration has misrepresented scientific facts and is wasting millions on abstinence only programs please refer to reports from the US Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Senator Waxman chairman, The Centers for Disease Control, Legal Momentum and the Government Accounting Office.

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J&J Buys Negative Domain Names on Birth-Control Patch (Update1)

April 5, 2007

April 2 (Bloomberg) — Johnson & Johnson bought dozens of disparaging Internet domain names about its Ortho Evra birth- control patch, a product linked to blood clots in women, according to company documents released in court.

J&J, the world’s biggest maker of health care products, bought and registered such domain names as “Orthoevrakills.com'’ and “Deathbypatch.com,'’ documents released today in state court in New Brunswick, New Jersey, show.

Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, faces hundreds of personal injury suits around the U.S. over the patch, which the company still sells. The company has not disclosed its revenue for the patch or any reserves to deal with the litigation.

“Women have died as a result of this patch,'’ said attorney Jason Mark, who filed a legal motion for patch users that led to the release. “The communications raise some obvious questions about the company’s priorities. They’re looking to monopolize the flow of information that’s released. They’re looking to prevent women from receiving information from other sources.'’

One Johnson & Johnson document outlined a nine-step plan called “Defensive actions to minimize impact of negative presence.'’ It included buying domain names, monitoring blogs and purchasing the top five key words about the patch on search engines run by Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.

“The documents that were released have nothing to do with the litigation,'’ said Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for J&J’s Ortho- McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., which makes the patch. “The purchase of the domain names is a standard and accepted business practice for companies that are trying to prevent product disparagement and to safeguard the defendant’s reputation.'’

Documents Released

Superior Court Judge Bryan Garruto released the five documents, ruling they are no longer subject to protective orders that sealed them from public access. He is overseeing 309 lawsuits claiming injuries caused by the patch, which more than 5 million women have used since its launch in 2002.

U.S. regulators warned in November 2005 that the patch may cause clots and expose women to 60 percent more hormones than oral contraceptives. A study in February 2006 showed the patch doubled clot risk compared with the pill.

Johnson & Johnson’s shares fell 16 cents to $60.10 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen nearly 9 percent this year.

Other patch cases have been consolidated in state court in Illinois and federal court in Ohio. None has gone to trial. The company confidentially settled lawsuits with about 30 women last year, said their lawyer, Ray Chester of Austin, Texas. Users claim they suffered strokes or clots in the lungs or legs.

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`Some Settlements’

“There have been some settlements,'’ Jarrell said. “I don’t want to get into the number of settlements or the amounts. The company will offer a strong defense at trial, if necessary, on claims found to be without merit or lacking evidence based on sound science.'’

Garruto released a 13-page opinion today saying the five documents were not subject to protection because they did not contain trade secrets, and information about the purchase of domain names “is of little to no value to Johnson & Johnson’s competitors.'’

The documents include a series of e-mails about the price and details of buying the various domain names. J&J has produced more than 6 million documents in the pre-trial exchange of information known as discovery.

Jarrell said the company wanted to make sure that women and physicians “are receiving accurate medical information about the patch,'’ as required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

`Masquerade as Repositories’

“Plaintiffs’ lawyers have been purchasing their own domain names and have created Web sites which masquerade as repositories for health news for women,'’ Jarrell said. “They really offer incomplete and out-of-context information as part of a campaign to attract plaintiffs to their law firms.'’

J&J settled Ortho Evra cases in state courts in New Jersey, Texas, and California, and federal courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Chester said.

One settlement involved Philomena Ugochukwu, 40, who had a massive stroke in March 2004 after wearing the patch for 12 days, he said. Ugochukwu, a mother of two, is now a quadriplegic with brain damage and needs round-the-clock medical care, Chester said. A native of Nigeria who lives in Austin, she was Chester’s first Ortho Evra client, he said.

One case was filed by the father of Alycia Brown, a 14-year- old girl from La Crosse, Wisconsin, who died in May 2004. Her federal lawsuit claimed she used the patch for a month and a half before suffering from two fatal blood clots in the lungs.

The documents case is Melissa Kaye Brown and Glenn Allen Brown v. Johnson & Johnson, MID-L-5446-05, Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County (New Brunswick).

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After Medicaid changes, birth control prices increase

April 3, 2007

Women who get their birth control at UF’s Student Health Care Center may have a hard pill to swallow when they see their next bill.

An increase in some birth control prices followed changes in a Medicaid rebate law that came into effect in January. The changes to the federal law did away with drug manufactures’ incentives to provide discounts to student health care centers.

Laura Tipton, SHCC’s pharmacy manager, anticipated the price increase and stocked up in December. As a result, the birth control prices didn’t increase until March.

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Tipton said the pharmacy fills about 40,000 birth control prescriptions per year.

While the prices for the Ortho Evra patch or the Depo-Provera shot stayed the same, some of the generic pills, which formerly cost $15 per month, are now $20. This change is small compared to the price hike for the NuvaRing, which went from $15 per month to $40. The jump has prompted some to search for cheaper birth control methods.

“The NuvaRing used to be one of our top three sellers, but due to the recent price increase, it has dropped considerably,” Tipton said.

Even with the price increases, birth control drugs are inexpensive at the SHCC, compared to local pharmacies. But birth control is even cheaper at Planned Parenthood of North Central Florida, a nonprofit organization. At Planned Parenthood, a number of name-brand pills remain $15 per month, and the NuvaRing remains $20.

Phylis Craig, a nurse practitioner at UF’s Women’s Clinic, said UF’s pharmacy has kept its customers despite the increase. But she wouldn’t be surprised if some clients began purchasing their pills at Planned Parenthood.

Craig said the American College Health Association is lobbying to reverse the changes to the law.

“All is not lost,” she said.

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