According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, these are today’s top news stories…

Planned Parenthood Orange County’s Breast Health Program Hindered
Last week, Planned Parenthood of San Bernardino and Orange counties
accused Orange County officials of "gerrymandering" the process of
distributing health grants and not allowing Planned Parenthood to
organize a breast health program, according to Daily Women’s Health Policy Report.

The report also said:

"Over the last eight years, Planned Parenthood and 17 other community
clinics have received revenue from a tobacco settlement to fund health
education programs. In March, the Board of Supervisors suspended
Planned Parenthood’s contract after a constituent noted that taxpayer
money was going to a group that performs abortions. The contract was
reinstated with new guidelines that money go toward providing "direct
medical" services and not toward abortion services. To meet the new
guidelines, Planned Parenthood created the Breast Health Program for
low-income women younger than age 40. The county rejected the program,
followed by about two months of negotiations. The plan was abandoned
last week after a deal was not reached within the 23-hour deadline
imposed by the county Health Care Agency."

Planned Parenthood President and CEO Jon Dunn wrote in a letter to
Board of Supervisors and the Health Care Agency:

"The county placed
obstacle after obstacle in Planned Parenthood’s
path, ultimately making [the breast health program] impossible to
implement." He added that the county "refused to negotiate and imposed
an unworkable deadline."

County officials released a statement saying they "worked in good
faith" to reach an agreement, but Planned Parenthood chose not to
return their agreement by the deadline date, the article said.

HIV-Positive Women and Cervical Cancer Screenings
A study in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes found
that one in four HIV-positive women in the United States does not
receive cervical cancer screenings, the Daily Women’s Health Policy Report said.

Researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
interviewed approximately 2,400 women from 18 states, and found that
23% of them had not undergone Pap tests in the year before the
interviews, the article said. 

Obama’s Picks Side with Him on Reproductive Health Issues
President Obama picked Francis Collins to head the NIH, and Regina Benjamin for surgeon general, and according to the Daily Women’s Health Policy Report,
they have spoken publicly about their religious beliefs but also have
views on embryonic stem-cell research that conflict with their
churches’ teachings.

Collins is an evangelical Christian who supports stem cell research
Former Surgeon General David Satcher, and Benjamin is a Roman Catholic
who received a papal medal in 2006, but the White House has said she
shares Obama’s views on reproductive health issues, the report said. 

Former Surgeon General David Satcher, who taught Benjamin at Morehouse School of Medicine,
said:

"She is a practicing Catholic and faithful and, to the best of my
knowledge, in all those questions that have arisen so far, there has
never been a conflict in her practice and in her conversation with
regard to what the church expects of medical practitioners…While the
religion of the surgeon general may very well influence his
or her … approach, the message has to be the public health science."

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE:

NATIONAL POLITICS & POLICY | House Committee Approves Reform Bill; Full House Debate Scheduled for After August Recess

NATIONAL POLITICS & POLICY | Picks for NIH Head, Surgeon General Side With Obama on Reproductive Issues, Despite Faith

STATE POLITICS & POLICY |N.D. Judge Vows To Act Quickly on Challenge to State Ultrasound Law

STATE POLITICS & POLICY | Planned Parenthood Accuses Orange County, Calif., Officials of Blocking Breast Health Program

PUBLIC HEALTH & EDUCATION | One in Four HIV-Positive Women Does Not Undergo Cervical Cancer Screenings, Study Finds

OPINION |Sotomayor ‘Clearly Belongs’ on Supreme Court, NYT Editorial Says