ABC News' 'World News Tonight' Examines Emotional Aspects Of Egg Donation Among College-Age Women

ABCNews' "World News Tonight" on Friday examined the emotional aspects of egg donation for female college students -- who are the "most desirable market" for fertility clinics because of their age and education -- and the opinions among former egg donors about whether the experience was positive or negative. According to Debora Spar -- a professor at Harvard Business School and author of the book, "The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception" -- women do not think about or are not being counseled about the emotional aspects of donating genetic material. The segment includes comments from a woman who as a college student donated her eggs four times to make money and does not regret her decision, and a woman who as a college student donated her eggs to a family member and now feels she made the wrong choice (Marquez, "World News Tonight," ABCNews, 5/19).

The complete transcript is available online. Video of the segment is available online.


"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Texas Newspapers Call For Comprehensive Sex Education To Address Teen Pregnancy

Two Texas newspapers recently published editorials and an opinion piece responding to a recent Child Trends report that ranked Texas No. 1 in the U.S. for repeat teen pregnancies. According to a recent Dallas Morning News article, despite Texas' high teen pregnancy rate, the state has some of the most restrictive policies in the nation regarding minors' access to prescription birth control. Summaries appear below.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times: The "dismal teen pregnancy rate" in the Corpus Christi area has been "well-documented," a Caller-Times editorial states, adding, "Now is not the time to cut funding for programs aimed to curtail teen pregnancies." The editorial notes that "Texas received more federal dollars than any state to support abstinence education with no money for comprehensive sex education." It adds, "That approach has been an abject failure." According to the editorial, "Insisting on abstinence for teen mothers having their second or third babies, without fact-based knowledge about condoms and other contraceptives, is public policy with blinders on" (Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 9/8).
Houston Chronicle: "We need to face the obvious: Teenagers are having sex. And some of them are having it in middle school -- with repercussions, both public and private, that will last for generations," a Chronicle editorial states. It adds that although sex education is "parents' job, of course, ... astounding numbers show that many parents need help." The editorial continues, "Our schools need to discuss sex and contraception -- and they need to start in middle school." According to the editorial, schools should teach "comprehensive sex ed" because it "helps teenagers to delay intercourse" and "makes them more likely to use condoms if they don't delay." The editorial recommends that the state Legislature pass a law next year requiring schools to provide "medically accurate" information regarding contraception, in addition to promoting abstinence. According to the editorial, "parents should be able to opt out of school sex ed for their kids," but the "default" in schools should be "straight talk about sex" (Houston Chronicle, 9/8).
Texas State Sen. Rodney Ellis/State Rep. Ellen Cohen, Houston Chronicle: "There's been virtually no impact on the reduction in teen pregnancy and births despite more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds invested in teaching young people that they should abstain from sexual relationships," Ellis (D) and Cohen (D) write in a Chronicle opinion piece. They continue, "Clearly, this single-minded approach is failing our teens and taxpayers." Ellis and Cohen write that a bill titled Education Works, which died during the committee process in the last legislative session, "was written to directly address the growing problem of teen pregnancy and births in Texas." According to Ellis and Cohen, the bill "would ensure that teens learn about abstinence, healthy relationships, positive self-image and about birth control so they can protect themselves from a pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease." They add, "The current approach is simply not working for young people, taxpayers and ultimately the state of Texas" (Ellis/Cohen, Houston Chronicle, 9/8).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Recommendations On Women And Children's Health At G8 Summit

Governments and other organizations must intensify efforts to improve the health of women and children, particularly in the developing world where the lion's share of deaths occur, says Dr. Philip Baker, an internationally renowned medical researcher in obstetrics & gynecology. Baker is the lead author on a G8 positioning paper that included consultations with 20 of the world's leading medical experts on women and children's health.



The academies of science of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States have issued a joint set of recommendations for the upcoming G8 summit on how to achieve these goals. Lead author of the position paper is Dr. Philip Baker, professor of obstetrics & gynecology and dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta in Canada.



"The health of families, communities and economies is inextricably tied to the health of women - yet every 100 seconds, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth somewhere in the world. Mother and child outcomes are closely linked. Reducing maternal mortality is critical and is also a priority for improving child health," the paper says.



Some of its recommendations include the following:
Governments and other organizations must increase funding and resources for maternal and child health.
Health facilities and staffing need strengthening.
Strategies to improve maternal health should facilitate access to contraception services and measures to reduce unsafe abortion.
Policies which protect women and children from all forms of abuse, injury, exploitation and violence must be promoted.
Maternal and child health research needs strengthening, especially in knowledge translation.

The summit is being hosted by Canada in June.



Source:

Jo-anne Nugent

University of Alberta

Estrogen Therapy Increases Benign Breast Disease Risk

Women who took conjugated equine estrogen, a commonly prescribed form of estrogen, had more than twice the risk of developing specific types of benign breast disease as women who took a placebo, according to a randomized controlled trial published online April 8 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.



The impact of conjugated equine estrogen on the risk of developing benign proliferative breast disease, a condition that is associated with increased risk of breast cancer, has been unclear. Some studies have reported an association while others have not. In the Women's Health Initiative study, 10,739 postmenopausal women with hysterectomy were assigned to either conjugated equine estrogen or a placebo. Previous analyses did not show an increase in breast cancer incidence in the women who took estrogen alone after a median follow-up of seven years.



To determine whether the hormone increases the risk of benign proliferative breast disease, Tom Rohan, M.D., Ph.D., of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and colleagues identified and examined non-cancerous breast biopsies in each of the Women's Health Initiative trial arms.



A total of 232 cases of benign proliferative breast disease were identified, with 155 cases among the women who took estrogen supplements and 77 in the placebo group. The risk of developing benign disease increased by more than two-fold for women taking conjugated equine estrogen, compared with those taking a placebo.



"The prevailing hypothesis concerning the natural history of breast cancer is that benign proliferative breast disease without atypia, proliferative disease with atypia, and in situ cancer represent successive steps preceding the development of invasive breast [cancer]. In keeping with this hypothesis, women with benign proliferative breast disease have an increased risk of subsequent breast cancer," the authors write.



Although the women taking conjugated equine estrogen have not yet shown a significant increased risk of breast cancer in the Women's Health Initiative study, if this hypothesis holds true, they might show increased risk later. Ongoing follow up of the study participants may help to resolve this issue.







The Journal of the National Cancer Institute is published by Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the National Cancer Institute. Attribution to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute is requested in all news coverage. Visit the Journal online at jnci.oxfordjournals/.



Source:

Liz Savage

Journal of the National Cancer Institute