Abortion Bans Have Consequences
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Self Censorship in Hospitals
When people have to interact with the public, there is often a tendency to choose not to offend. Often this is a good thing, not so much, though, when it comes to reproductive health.
A recent story in Medpage Today found that nearly 80% of hospitals that offer abortion services won’t mention it in public.
The study looked for abortion services and compared their presence and location to other common services like colonoscopy.
Of the 222 patient-facing websites sampled, 79.4% did not mention abortion, while only 11.1% did not mention colonoscopy, reported one of the authors of the study, Dr. Ari Friedman, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Websites described offering abortion care 6.3% of the time compared with 85.6% for colonoscopy, they noted in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Furthermore, when abortion was mentioned, the information was found a mean of 0.5 pages lower in search engine results (1.6 pages for abortion vs 1.0 page for colonoscopy).
So they rarely mention abortion and when they do it is lower on the search result page. The vocal anti abortion voice has created an environment of self censoring that makes finding health information more difficult.
I am usually not too interested in the reasons behind the action, I am more interested in the action but here, I can only surmise that hospitals are afraid to tell the public that safe, legal, reproductive healthcare is available. Sounds like fear is interfering with patients obtaining important time sensitive information as well as interfering with the hospital’s mission to heal the sick.
P.S. No hospitals in the 24 states that restrict abortion were surveyed for obvious reasons. Here is an interactive map that shows those states and the abortion restrictions in each state.
Abortion Bans Making Pregnancy Dangerous
Today the Daily Mail reported that women in several counties in Alabama can now expect to drive 100 miles for pregnancy medical services. A million people are left without maternity services. That’s a dangerous situation.
The maternity wards at Monroe County Hospital, Shelby Baptist Medical Center and Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham will close this month, leaving around a million in the counties of Shelby and Monroe without any birthing hospitals.
The hospitals said the decisions were made due to staffing shortages thought to be fueled by an exodus following the banning of abortions in the state — which already has the third worst maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate in the country.
We can let our legislators know they need to take action and make abortion legal nationwide.
ACTION
Let’s educate our congressperson and senators about another state’s healthcare falling into disarray because abortion is now a States Rights issue instead of a federal right.
Their contact information is in the Resource section below or you can use RESISTBOT by texting to 50409 SIGN PWVRLN to send the message below.
“I am your. constituent and I was shocked to learn that yet another state, Alabama, is now in a critical maternal healthcare situation because abortion is illegal there. Doctors have fled the state and now a million people in Shelby and Monroe counties have no place to get pregnancy care. People have to drive 100 miles to get medical attention.
You can stop this. I want you to pass legislation that restores the right to an abortion NATIONWIDE. I want you to cosponsor and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) now. The WHPA is H.R. 12 / S. 701. Thank you.”
New Ovarian Cancer Test
In 2020, ovarian cancer was the third most common gynecological cancer in the world. High-grade serous ovarian carcinoma is the most common type of ovarian cancer, accounting for about 75% of all cases. If detected at an early stage, the 10-year survival rate for high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma is about 55%. However, almost all cases of this type of ovarian cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage, which lowers the 10-year survival rate to 15%. That is because there is currently no reliable screening test available for ovarian cancer.
Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) are trying to change that and have a new blood test for the detection of early-stage ovarian cancer that can distinguish between cancerous and benign pelvic masses with up to 91% accuracy — a higher rate than that of other tests currently available. Here is a link to the story.
Medicare “Advantage” Update
Scripps Mercy Medical Network in the San Diego area in California will no longer accept Medicare Advantage insurance from patients starting in 2024. They have found that Medicare Advantage plans are garnering tremendous profits for themselves on the backs of providers. Yearly Scripps Mercy is losing $75 million from such plans while insurers like United Health just announced a 3rd quarter profit in 2023 of $5.8 billion. It is expected that about 30,000 patients are affected. Here is a link.
RESOURCES
Healthcare Advocacy (Us)
Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare
Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Find My Elected Officials
Contact the White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Contact State and Federal Representatives
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Plan
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
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