Roundup: Nina Totenberg on the Supreme Court Nomination Process

More reactions to the 2010 budget; Nina Totenberg on the Supreme Court nomination - likely picks and process; Obama to speak at University of Notre Dame commencement; majority of teen pregnancies in the UK end in abortion; good news on male contraceptive is premature.

More Reactions to the 2010 Budget
On her US News & World Report blog,
Deborah Kotz offers reactions from women’s health groups to President
Obama’s budget:

While women’s health activists were pleased to see
that President Obama
ended funding for abstinence-only education, they’re sharply critical
of other aspects of his planned budget, leading me to believe that the
100-day honeymoon is over. The Center for Reproductive Rights issued a
statement saying the group is "deeply disappointed with President
Obama’s failure to strike government funding
restrictions on abortion." Planned Parenthood says the budget "misses
an opportunity to build on one of the nation’s most effective programs
in reducing unintended pregnancies"—namely the Title X program that
funds family-planning clinics for poor women who don’t have health
insurance." 

Kotz also points out that the budget does, as promised,
include an expansion of the Medicaid family planning provision
originally in the stimulus package: The budget "[i]ncludes an option for states to expand programs for
family planning to families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid
but not enough to afford health insurance—up
to $37,000 in yearly income. A Guttmacher Institute study finds this
option would enable 500,000 women a year to avoid unplanned pregnancies."


Nina Totenberg on the Supreme Court Nomination – Likely Picks and Process
Listen to Nina Totenberg’s reporting for NPR
on likely Supreme Court nominees — including really useful historical
context on the nomination process.  Totenberg says that while Obama has
an "ambitious legislative agenda" he has not indicated an intention for
an ambitious "judicial agenda."

Obama to Speak at University of Notre Dame Commencement
USA Today
reports on President Obama’s upcoming commencement address at the
University of Notre Dame, noting that "Notre Dame has hosted George W.
Bush, Ronald Reagan and others who supported the death penalty and took
other positions at odds with the church" and observing that (only)
"some" Notre Dame students oppose the address.  In the New York Times, Peter Steinfels observes that "Increasingly, conservative Catholics appear to be making a
specific form of anti-abortion politics, condemning the administration
root and branch, a test of Catholic identity — and the number of
bishops leading the charge is growing. No wonder that Notre Dame, a
venerable symbol of American Catholic identity, has become the
battleground."

Majority of Teen Pregnancies in UK End in Abortion
Most teen pregnancies in England and Wales now end in abortion, the Mail Online reports: "Most pregnancies among girls under 18 ended in abortion last year.  Out of around 40,000 pregnancies more than 20,000 were
terminated – the first time more had chosen this option than become
mothers."

Good News on Male Contraceptive Premature?

Good news on male contraception may be premature, the Guardian’s Science Blog reports:

The front page of yesterday’s Daily Express trumpeted the development of a "male pill"
– a hormone injection that renders men temporarily infertile and is "as
effective as the female pill in preventing pregnancy". The story
reported a phase III clinical trial in China of a testosterone jab involving 1,045 fertile men
which found that the treatment caused no significant side effects
(apart from increased libido) and almost completely suppressed sperm
production. Better still, the men got their fertility back when the injections were stopped.

What the story failed to mention was that out of 1,045 men recruited into the trial, only 733 completed the 30 monthly injections and follow-up.
That’s quite a high drop-out rate, but perhaps not all that surprising
given that the men had to present themselves at a clinic every month
and drop their trousers to receive the jab. It probably stung, just a
bit. On top of that, it took several months after the injections began
before the men could safely be considered infertile.

 

Other News to Note
May 10: Lancaster Eagle Gazette: Study suggests county lacks some services for women

May 10: Saudi Gazette: Conference on family planning opens today

May 9: ANI:  Varun for reviving Sanjay Gandhi’s controversial sterilization policy

May 9: Phillipines Government: Highlighting natural family planning in merry month of May

May 8: Amarillo: Abstinence only education cut

May
8: ReadMedia NewsWire: Family Planning Advocates Heralds Obama’s New Funding for Sex Ed; Elminiation of Ineffective Abstinence Only $

May 11: Daily Mail: Most teenage pregnancies now end with an abortion

May 10: Fox News: Gingrich Criticizes Notre Dame’s Obama Invite

May 9: Knox News Sentinel: ‘Healing’ procession through downtown marks abortions

May 9: KKTV CBS: Anti-Abortion Protesters Face Jail Time
May 9: Christian Post: Pro-Lifers Call Out Planned Parenthood’s Hypocrisy in Mother’s Day Appeal

May 9: AllGov: Abortion Referral Prohibited for AmeriCorps
http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Abortion_Referral_Prohibited_for_AmeriCorps_90509

May 8: WPTZ NBC: Workers Center Loses Grant For Abortion Stance

May 8: HuffPo: Only Anti-Abortion White House Officials Invited To Prayer Day Event: Paper

May 8: USA Today: A special spot in hell for sinners against truth, Archbishop warns

May 8: American Spectator: High Priestess of Abortion

May 10: Get Religion: Storks don’t actually bring babies

May 8: TalkingPointsMemo: Sexual Inequality, Cultural Imperialism and Political Correctness

May 8: The Local (Germany): Mecklenburg mulls free birth control to lower abortion rate

May 8: The Pilot: A Forgotten Argument about Contraception

May 8: The Daily Mirror: 10 contraceptive myths that could catch you out

May 9: WSJ: Proudly Pro-Choice on Education

May 10: LifeNews: Pro-Life News: Planned Parenthood, Pfizer, Suicide Tourism, Texas, Arizona, Washington

May 10: Press Releases: David Bereit Headlines Cutting-edge Pro-life Teleconference 

May 10: Taylor Daily Press: Tarnishing the golden dome?

May 9: Parenting Freedom: Pro-Life Ad During American Idol Finale Approved

May 8: Politics Daily: Alan Keyes Arrested at Notre Dame

May 9: One News Now: Pro-life funeral procession offers closure

May 8: American Daily Review: Why the Pro-Life Movement is Growing

May 8: LifeNews: Pro-Life Doctor: Obama’s Repealing Conscience Rules Would Hurt Health Care

May 8: World News Daily: Reality of abortion offends police squad

May 10: The Morning Call: Films don’t portray pregnant women honestly

May 8: Daily Camera: Awash in mixed messages: Parents and their uphill climb