Special Election on June 12: Ron Barber Stands with Planned Parenthood

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It’s pretty safe to say that nearly all of the political advertisements and newspaper articles covering the Congressional District 8 race between Ron Barber and Jesse Kelly have focused on Social Security and Medicare. But, the issue of women’s health care is also critical – and one that hasn’t received much attention.

Jesse Kelly is an avowed anti-choice candidate and has received support from the National Right to Life Political Action Committee. Barber, when asked about his position on choice and women’s health care, said he has always been pro-choice and believes women’s health care decisions must be made between women and their doctors.

Ron Barber is running to finish Gabrielle Giffords’ term in the June 12, 2012, special election. Early voting starts on May 17.

“There has been too much political debate about limiting our freedoms,” he told us. “Women have the right to make their own choices about contraception and any interference from the government or employers is an affront to personal liberty.”

The debate on women’s health care used to center on abortion. It has now expanded to include the availability of contraception and the “right to refusal” –  so-called consciousness clauses that allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception, employers to opt out of providing insurance coverage for birth control, and health care providers to refuse emergency care for pregnant women. Barber, as do most Americans, believes that the “availability of contraception was an issue we settled 50 years ago” and employers, insurance companies, and pharmacists should not put themselves between a woman and her doctor. Continue reading →

Confronting HIV/AIDS in the Asian and Pacific Islander Community

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Some of Arizona’s first Asian Americans were Chinese immigrants who arrived from California and Mexico in the late 1800s, often finding work in mining camps alongside Irish and Italian immigrants.

Today, Arizona’s Asians and Pacific Islanders, or APIs, represent nations throughout Asia and the Pacific, with Indians and Filipinos constituting the two largest API ethnic groups in Arizona. Although APIs are a small percentage of Arizona’s total population — 2.8 percent — their population is now the fastest-growing in Arizona, increasing by 85,000 in the last decade. In this respect, Arizona mirrors a larger trend; nationally, the Asian and Pacific Islander population grew by 43.3 percent between 2000 and 2010.

More than two-thirds of Asians and Pacific Islanders have never been tested for HIV.

Asians and Pacific Islanders experience the same health problems as the population at large, but like other minority groups, their health needs are best met by understanding how health problems affect them uniquely, and by providing culturally competent health interventions and health care. There’s an increasing need for both as their population grows, especially when it comes to addressing HIV/AIDS in their population. Although APIs have low rates of officially reported HIV/AIDS compared to other racial and ethnic groups, their incidence of unreported HIV/AIDS most likely hides a larger problem. As Dr. C. N. Le of the Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS explains, “The statistics say that the prevalence rate among Asians is relatively small, and much smaller than among the black community or the Latino community … But those are official statistics, and official statistics are notorious for undercounting minorities, and especially for undercounting immigrants.” Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • Image: billb1961

    Defunding Denied: Ohio House panel restores Planned Parenthood funding. (Ohio.com)
  • Texas can also forget about defunding Planned Parenthood. (HuffPo)
  • The state of Tennessee cares more about embryos than women. (Jezebel)
  • Are Women Too Stupid to Understand Abortion? Um, NO! (Slate XX Factor)
  • Is your doctor holding your birth control hostage? If so, you’re not alone. (Mother Jones)
  • The FDA could be close to approving the first drug for HIV prevention! (ABC News)
  • The approval of said drug would be welcome news for black women in metro Atlanta, who are being infected with HIV at alarming rates. (11Alive Atlanta)
  • Anti-choicers are champing at the bit to expose and shame women who’ve had abortions, and they’re not above stealing patient information from clinics and posting it online. (Care2)
  • This week, Utah became the only state in the country to enact a law that requires a 72- hour waiting period for a woman seeking an abortion. Any bets on which state will be the first to enact a 40 week waiting period? (Ms. Magazine)
  • Melinda Gates is crusading for women’s health and contraception worldwide. (The Daily Beast)
  • According to the CDC, teenage girls are waiting longer than ever to become sexually active and using contraception at levels never before seen! (CBS News)

Book Club: A Queer History of the United States

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Beacon Press, the nonprofit publishing company of the Unitarian Universalist Association, has a long history of publishing books that have informed and inspired civil rights and social justice movements, from James Baldwin‘s Notes of a Native Son to Tucson author Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land. In that tradition, Beacon has launched a new book series called ReVisioning American History. The first in that series is Michael Bronski‘s A Queer History of the United States, which was released in hardcover in May 2011 and will be released in trade paperback on May 15, 2012.

Bronski frames LGBTQ history as one that is woven into the fabric of U.S. history — not separate from or additional to it.

Bronski explains in the introduction to his book that he is interested in providing something more than a history of “who might have been ‘gay’ in the past or had sexual relations with their own sex.” In fact, his mention of individuals is often pared down to the sheerest character sketches and profiles. Far from a collective biography of LGBTQ Americans, Bronski’s interest in individuals is often limited to a person’s role as agents in a process of evolving gender expectations, agents who sometimes shape those expectations and other times act independently of them. He explains that he doesn’t want to reduce history to “names, dates, political actions, political ideas, laws passed and repealed.” Instead, borrowing the words of Shulamith Firestone, he wants to present history “as process, a natural flux of action and reaction.” Continue reading →

Allergic to Latex? You Can Still Have Safer Sex

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Condoms offer fantastic protection against sexually transmitted infections and reduce the risk of pregnancy. Most are made out of latex, but some people are allergic to that material. Are there alternatives?

Condoms offer fantastic protection against STIs and reduce pregnancy risk. Most are made from latex, to which some people are allergic.

Latex condoms are a well-rounded form of birth control: Not only are they great for preventing pregnancy, but they reduce the risk of passing on or receiving a sexually transmitted infection (STI). When used consistently and correctly, they offer fantastic protection. Although condoms have been around for centuries, their modern construction from latex is a vast improvement over the silk and viscera of yore. A product of the industrial age, they are manufactured by dipping a porcelain mold into natural rubber latex, a material that originates from a tree.

Latex is tops, but polyurethane and polyisoprene condoms are good alternatives. Beware of lambskin: It isn’t effective in STI prevention.

Because of latex’s many advantages, the majority of condoms are manufactured from this material. However, up to 6 percent of the population is allergic to latex. There is a range of symptoms associated with latex allergies. Most people with latex allergies experience only a localized reaction on the vulva or penis (contact dermatitis); systemic reactions (like asthma or anaphylaxis) are rare. Allergy tests can be performed on people who suspect they might be sensitive to latex.

Luckily, even if you have a latex allergy you can still find condoms to facilitate your safer-sex experiences, including condoms made out of polyurethane and polyisoprene. Not all condoms protect against pregnancy or STIs, so read the label carefully. In the United States, if the packaging doesn’t explicitly state that the condoms are made to prevent disease, they haven’t been approved by the FDA for that purpose. Continue reading →

Minority Health: Its Importance Here and Now

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In April 2001, the National Minority Quality Forum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded to eliminate health disparities, launched National Minority Health Month. The next year, it received Congressional support in House Concurrent Resolution 388, which resolved that National Minority Health Month should be observed “to promote educational efforts on the health problems currently facing minorities and other health disparity populations.”

Income inequality is the most significant cause of racial and ethnic health disparities.

The term health disparity is a broad term that refers to preventable differences in health between segments of society as a result of unequal access to health care, underfunded schools (which result in lower health literacy), discrimination, or other disadvantages. Racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ individuals, and low-income socioeconomic groups are typically the focus of health disparities research. It’s a broad area of study, but to stay within the focus of this blog, a look at reproductive health among Arizona’s racial and ethnic minorities can be a good place to start. Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • In case you hadn’t heard, Arizona’s new abortion law is horrendous. (RH Reality Check)
  • Arizona has also passed a craptacular contraception bill that would allow employers with “religious objections to birth control” to opt out of the state’s requirement that health plans cover contraception. (ABC15)
  • Since we’re on such a roll discussing how much things suck in Arizona — it should also be noted that we have some surly, rude, wildly unprofessional lawmakers in this state. (NARAL)
  • Surprisingly, Arizona did not make Jezebel’s list of the 10 scariest places to have ladyparts in the United States. (Jezebel)
  • FYI: Childbirth = WAY more dangerous than abortion by pill. (Minn Post)
  • How the War on Women Became Mainstream (TruthOut)
  • Provocative new research might help explain why black women are so much more likely than whites to develop and die from cervical cancer: They seem to have more trouble clearing HPV, the virus that causes the disease. (MSNBC)
  • A teen wellness clinic inside a Virginia high school distributes birth control and emergency contraception — and something crazy happened — pregnancy rates have dropped! (USA Today)
  • Why Are 17-Year-Olds Being Denied the Morning After Pill? (Fox Charlotte)
  • A handy guide to Mitt Romney’s flip-flop on abortion. (Slate)
  • A pill that could prevent the transmission of HIV? Let the testing begin! (Boston Herald)

STI Awareness: Genital Warts

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A computer model of the outer surface of HPV-11, a leading cause of genital warts. Image: Scripps Research Institute

A computer model of the surface of HPV-11, a leading cause of genital warts. Image: Scripps Research Institute

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a hot topic these days thanks to the advent — and attendant controversy — of Gardasil, the vaccine that protects against four strains of this sexually transmitted virus. Discourse centers around HPV-16 and HPV-18, the two HPV strains that together are responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of anal cancers. However, Gardasil also protects against HPV-6 and HPV-11, two HPV strains that aren’t associated with cancer but rather with 90 percent of genital warts. While genital warts don’t have the potential to cause cancer and death, they can be very upsetting to the people who develop them.

Every year in the United States, about $200 million is spent to treat genital warts.

Many strains of human papillomavirus can cause warts, and not all of them are sexually transmitted. For instance, HPV-1, HPV-2, and HPV-4 cause warts on the hands and feet and are spread by skin-to-skin contact. About 40 strains of HPV can be transmitted sexually – they are called “mucosal” strains because of their affinity for mucous membranes such as the skin found in the genital, anal, and oral regions. Ninety percent of cases of genital warts are caused by two strains of HPV: HPV-6 and HPV-11. Genital warts are highly contagious and can be transmitted by any type of sexual activity.

Let’s start with a quick overview of genital warts. While it’s quite possible for someone infected with a wart-causing strain of HPV to be completely asymptomatic, the physical appearance of warts can take several forms. They can appear in the genital area, in or around the anus, and (very rarely) in the mouth, lips, palate, or throat. They can also rarely be found on the cervix and vaginal walls. They are soft to the touch and can be raised, flat, or bumpy. They may or may not be itchy or painful. Genital warts can be small or quite large. As you can see, there are a wide variety of ways they can manifest themselves, despite being caused by one type of virus. There are four types:

  • condylomata acuminata, which have a “cauliflower-like” appearance
  • papular warts, which are dome-shaped papules 1-4 millimeters in diameter
  • keratotic warts, which have a thick, “crust-like” layer
  • flat-topped papules, which can look like a freckle or might be slightly raised from the surface of the skin

Genital warts usually develop within six weeks to six months after exposure, but could take longer to appear. If our immune systems are healthy, our bodies may be able to fight off the virus — our immune systems are normally able to clear 90 percent of genital-wart infections within two years of exposure. Unfortunately, if the immune system can’t fight off the virus, the infection will become chronic, in which case warts can resurface throughout one’s lifetime. The warts can be removed by a doctor, but you could still transmit the virus to others and you might experience a recurrence of the warts. Smokers’ immune systems are less likely to be able to fight off the infection, and in the case of a chronic infection, smokers’ warts are more likely to return even after being removed by a health care provider. Continue reading →