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Posts tagged ‘Pregnancy’

Study Says All Hormonal Birth Control Raises Breast Cancer Risk — But Don’t Expect The FDA To Tell You


BY: GRACE EMILY STARK | APRIL 10, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/04/10/study-says-all-hormonal-birth-control-raises-breast-cancer-risk-but-dont-expect-the-fda-to-tell-you/

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Elevating a woman’s risk of breast cancer even a little bit should be a serious consideration for doctors and health-care institutions.

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The facade of “safety” around hormonal birth control continues to crumble: Researchers at Oxford Population Health’s Cancer Epidemiology Unit have recently shown that progestin-only hormonal contraceptives, long billed as the “safest” birth control option because of their lack of estrogen, definitively raises one’s risk of breast cancer, similarly to combined hormonal contraceptives (which contain both synthetic estrogen and progestin).

Furthermore, the Oxford researchers found that breast cancer risk, while it declines after discontinuation of hormonal birth control, still remains elevated for ever-users of hormonal birth control (when compared to never-users). Of course, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still won’t cop to increased risks for breast cancer for ever-users of birth control — just for current users — and they are also currently evaluating whether to make a progestin-only pill the first-ever over-the-counter birth control pill in the United States. 

Unsurprisingly, in another instance of “nothing to see here, folks,” headlines abounded with the results of the Oxford study for a few weeks, carefully emphasizing the “slight” or “small” increase in breast cancer risk. And the experts, of course, were quick to chime in with all the benefits of hormonal contraception, insisting women shouldn’t see this as a reason to go flushing their pills. 

ABC’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton had this to say, for example: 

So listen, I talk to women about this every single day. You have to talk about risk vs benefit. It is clear that hormonal contraception lowers the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer, but it increases the risk of clotting. When you put that head to head, it’s about individualizing that risk-benefit and option-risk for the woman. If you talk to any OB/GYN, they will say, we have a line, ‘pregnancy is much higher risk than any associated risk with birth control pills or hormonal contraception.’ So you have to have that conversation based on you and your health-care provider.

While I agree that health-care decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, is it really true, with everything we know about the risks and side effects of birth control (and we know an awful lot), that it’s really that much “safer” than a nine-month pregnancy? Women, after all, tend to be on birth control for years — perhaps even decades — at a time. And the oft-touted benefits of hormonal birth control reducing ovarian and uterine cancers? Well, Dr. Ashton might be surprised to learn that pregnancy has those, too.

It’s also worth mentioning that while ovarian and uterine cancers can undoubtedly be devastating diseases, the average woman’s baseline risk for breast cancer is far greater than her risk for ovarian or uterine cancer; in fact, breast cancer is now the world’s most commonly diagnosed cancer. In other words, elevating the average woman’s risk of breast cancer even a little bit should be a serious consideration for doctors and health-care institutions indeed. In fact, one might argue they have a moral imperative to help women lower their risks for breast cancer.   

Unfortunately, despite increasing, high-quality evidence of the harms of birth control (of which breast cancer is only one among a lengthy list of risks), health-care organizations such as the FDA are loath to give women true informed consent about these drugs. In 2019, the Contraceptive Study Group (CSG) submitted a Citizen Petition to the FDA requesting they add a black box warning to hormonal contraceptives given the mounting evidence for breast cancer risks for ever-users of these drugs (evidence the Oxford study has yet again corroborated).

Yet in a partial response to the CSG’s petition, published a full three years later in 2022, the FDA refused to supply women with this warning. One wonders what leg they have to stand upon now, and if they’ll continue to ignore these significant risks to women — which can be entirely avoided through the use of highly effective, drug- and side-effect-free measures for family planning known as fertility awareness-based methods.

With the publication of the Oxford study, the FDA has once again proven itself at odds with the best scientific evidence on this matter, which even the National Cancer Institute acknowledges. Again, this is largely because of the “benefit” of preventing pregnancy, which evidently trumps all other considerations — even ones that could take the lives of women.

Grace Emily Stark is a freelance writer with published work in multiple outlets, and she is the Editor of Natural Womanhood. Grace is also a current Ramsey Institute Fellow at the Center for Bioethics & Culture, and a former Novak Alumni Fund Journalism fellowship recipient. Follow her writing at GraceEmilyStark.com.

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OB-GYN Fact-Checks New York Times ‘Sex Ed’ Quiz, Finds Numerous Errors


REPORTED BY: DONNA HARRISON | JULY 11, 2022

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2022/07/11/ob-gyn-fact-checks-new-york-times-sex-ed-quiz-finds-numerous-errors/

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The New York Times published a ‘Sex Ed’ quiz on ‘key concepts every person should know in a post-Roe era’ that misinforms readers.

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On Thursday, The New York Times published a “Sex Ed” quiz on “key concepts every person should know in a post-Roe era.” It contained numerous pieces of false information about fertility, contraception, abortifacients, and more. Here are their answers fact-checked by an OB-GYN.

Question 1: Doctors generally start counting pregnancy from what point?

  • Fertilization.
  • Implantation.
  • The day a woman started her last menstrual period.
  • The last time a woman had intercourse.

This answer is correct.

Question 2: Can you count on a vasectomy being reversible?

  • Yes
  • No

This answer is correct.

Question 3: What’s the difference between an embryo and a fetus?

  • An embryo and a fetus are the same thing.
  • The embryonic stage is early in pregnancy — through about 10 weeks.
  • A fetus is created right when the egg is fertilized.

This answer is correct.

Question 4: When is sex most likely to result in pregnancy?

  • Shortly before or on the day of ovulation.
  • While a woman is on her period.
  • Shortly after a woman’s period ends.

This answer is correct.

Question 5: Is it still legal for a woman to get her tubes tied in America?

  • Yes.
  • No.

This answer is correct.

Question 6: What’s the difference between an abortion and a miscarriage?

  • Abortions involve pills or a surgical procedure; miscarriages resolve on their own.
  • Abortions are for unwanted pregnancies, miscarriages occur for wanted pregnancies.
  • Abortions are induced; miscarriages happen spontaneously.

This question has no correct answer listed.

In a miscarriage, the baby has spontaneously died. In an elective induced abortion, the baby is purposefully killed during the process of the abortion, since the purpose of every elective induced abortion is to produce a dead baby. That is the product that the abortionist is paid to produce.

A clear illustration of this fact is that, after viability, a “failed abortion” is when the baby is born alive. The separation of the mother from her fetus did not fail to occur. What “failed” is that the baby “failed” to die.

Both an elective induced abortion and a miscarriage can leave tissue left inside, which must be removed by a procedure known as a D&C (dilation and curettage). But doing a D&C for retained tissue is not an abortion.   

Question 7: Can a woman have a miscarriage and not know it?

  • Yes.
  • No.

This answer is correct.

Question 8: What is the most common cause of miscarriage?

  • Vigorous exercise.
  • Stress.
  • Random chromosomal abnormality.

This answer is correct.

Question 9: How soon can a woman typically find out if she’s pregnant?

  • Immediately after she has sex.
  • After her period is late.
  • A few days after having sex.

This answer is correct.

Question 10: What does Plan B do?

  • Prevents ovulation.
  • Kills sperm.
  • Causes an abortion.

This question also does not have the correct answer.

The correct answer is that the mechanism of action of Plan B depends on when in a woman’s cycle she takes the Plan B. If taken during her period or shortly after, the Plan B does nothing. If taken 4 days to 2 days before egg release, the Plan B can delay egg release.

If taken one day before egg release, the Plan B can interfere with the ability of the woman’s body to make progesterone at the correct time, thus can interfere with the development of the lining of her womb and inhibit implantation.

If taken after egg release, the Plan B doesn’t appear to do anything.

Question 11: Which of these is the most effective form of birth control?

  • Fertility awareness/natural family planning
  • An IUD
  • The Pill
  • Spermicide
  • Withdrawal
  • Condoms

This question also has debatable answers, depending on which study is looked at, whether the study is reporting “perfect use” or “normal use,” how obese a woman is, when the IUD was placed, etc. The top three for efficacy are IUD, the Pill (but depends on what formulation of pill), and fertility awareness. 

Spermicide alone, condoms alone, and withdrawal alone are much less effective.

Question 12: Which of these is the most effective form of male birth control?

  • The male birth control pill.
  • Condoms.
  • Women can control ejaculation in the body.

This question also does not have a correct answer, since the most effective form of male birth control is vasectomy.

Question 13: Does an abortion have to take place at an abortion clinic?

  • Yes.
  • No.

This answer is correct.

Question 14: What is an ectopic pregnancy?

  • When the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.
  • When a fertilized egg is expelled from the womb and needs to be re-implanted.
  • Spontaneous loss of pregnancy before the 20th week.

This question itself is scientifically incorrect, as there is no such entity as a “fertilized egg.”  There exist sperm and there exist eggs. Once the sperm cell membrane and the egg cell membrane fuse (fertilization), then the entity created is a one-celled embryo called a “zygote.” 

That one-celled embryo becomes a two-celled embryo then a four-celled embryo, then continues dividing to become a blastocyst, which goes on to implant and grow into a fetus, a newborn, a toddler, and an adult, etc. It is one continuous existence.

An “ectopic pregnancy” is when the embryo implants anywhere other than inside the lining of the uterus.  

Donna Harrison, M.D.is a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist, and executive director of the American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologists. AAPLOG is the largest pro-life physician organization in the world.

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McAleer: Congress’s Planned Parenthood Investigations Find Horrifying, Criminal Practices


waving flagAuthored by Phelim McAleer / 15 Jan 2017

<> on November 5, 2010 in Washington, DC. / Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

There have been two recent congressional investigations into the Planned Parenthood selling baby parts scandal. Both were prompted by the Centre For Medical Progress (CMP) undercover investigation, which caught Planned Parenthood officials discussing how to illegally profit from selling baby parts. The first report in December was by the Senate Judiciary Committee and now House of Representatives Select Investigative Panel has published its report. Neither investigation relied on the CMP undercover videos to come to their conclusions. They carried out their own investigations — interviewing officials and employees under oath and using the power of subpoena to get their records.

What they found is horrifying and criminal. It’s disturbing that the results have been virtually ignored in the mainstream media. So to fill this gap, here are the top eight horrifying facts the mainstream media doesn’t want you know about aborted babies bodies being sold for profit.

1) It’s wrong to say the pro-abortion crowd don’t value the disabled. 

Why isit legal

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Advanced Biosciences Resources (ABR) had a “technician” embedded at a Planned Parenthood clinic who reportedly harvested and sold the skin of a Down Syndrome baby for $325. Yes, that’s correct, in America today, you can buy the skin of an aborted Down Syndrome child for $325. The same baby’s leg was sold for $325.

2) Selling baby parts is very profitable.

To be clear, the law is unambiguous; it is illegal to make a profit providing organs or any part of a human for research or medical treatment.

But Planned Parenthood and their business partners made a lot of money selling aborted baby body parts, according to the report. The House investigation found one case where Stem Express harvested an intact aborted baby’s brain at a Planned Parenthood clinic. They reportedly paid Planned Parenthood $55 but sold the brain to a researcher for over $3000 –  that’s a 2,800% profit. Planned Parenthood reportedly made their money on volume sales and “charitable donations” from these body harvesting companies.

PP Body Parts

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The Senate investigation published invoices which showed in June 2014 ABR bought a fetus from Planned Parenthood for $60. From that one fetus ABR “sold its brain to one customer for $325; both of its eyes for $325 each ($650 total) to a second customer, a portion of its liver for $325 to a third customer; its thymus for $325 and another portion of liver to a fourth customer; and its lung for $325 to a fifth customer.”

Then, the report says, they piled on fees for “disease screening” and shipping. That one aborted baby reportedly brought the company $2,275. The House Investigative Panel found Stem Express generally marked up the baby parts by 400% to 600%.

3) A bountiful harvest

And “harvesting” is exactly what they were doing. The House investigation uncovered how “technicians” how many body partswould look at the patient list in advance and try to sell the baby parts before the abortion. After securing the advance sale (with its massive profits) the technician would then be allowed to go and ask the pregnant woman to sign a consent form.

This is a huge ethical breach. The person seeking consent from a vulnerable patient is supposed to be neutral in the process. In a letter to HHS last June, the panel wrote: “The fact that StemExpress was attempting to interest a customer in fetal body parts before an abortion had taken place raises serious concerns that there may have been coercion or undue influence upon the patient to consent to procurement” (their emphasis).

 4) Sticks and stones

And like any other business, there can be frustrations between buyers and sellers. The House Panel uncovered an email exchange between an excited Stem Express “technician” and a researcher who wanted to know if she could expect some parts the next day because she needed to book time at a very expensive research machine. But a baby’s body is a frustratingly fragile thing. Rather apologetically, the Stem Express employee told the researcher he had a body but: “The calvarium [skull] is mostly intact, with a tear up the back of the suture line, but all pieces look to be there. The limbs, one upper and one lower, are totally intact, with one upper broken at the humerus, and one lower broken right above the knee. Please let me know if these are acceptable.”

ROE

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They were. The deal was done and a baby’s body, complete with a  broken leg and arm, was shipped overnight to the researcher.

5) Kermit Gosnell was not alone.

If there is one thing the abortion defenders agree on, it’s that mass murderer Dr Kermit Gosnell was a one-off, an aberration. In a Supreme Court judgment referencing Gosnell, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg described him as “rogue.”

Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic explained most people believe “Gosnell is an aberration that says nothing larger about abortion in America.”

And Slate writer William Saletan described Gosnell as an “outlier.”

two victums

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But then you read the House Investigation Report. They have interviewed, taken evidence, and secured affidavits from employees and patients of a Texas abortion doctor (whose name they have redacted). I have made a movie and written a book about Kermit Gosnell and his 30-year killing spree, and the similarities with this Texas doctor are shocking.

According to one employee, the doctor would perform around 40 late second- or third-trimester abortions every week. Of these abortions, “three to four infants would show signs of life.” And just like Gosnell, the doctor would immediately kill them, according to the testimony. The employee said he employed Gosnell’s techniques of “snipping the infant’s spinal cord with scissors.”

Pro Life

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However, he reportedly also cut the neck with Sopher forceps: “twisting the infants head: using forceps… or his finger to crush the ‘soft spot’ of the infant’s head.”

Sometimes the doctor would also kill by crushing the stomach of the child or “inserting his finger down the throat,” according to the testimony.

And just like Gosnell – the doctor reportedly would manipulate ultrasounds to make babies appear smaller so he could perform illegal late-term abortions. And just like Gosnell, he had unqualified staff administering drugs and carrying out abortions, according to the report.

6) Planned Parenthood HQ accused of conspiring to break the law.

After the baby selling scandal broke, Planned Parenthood told the media they had a policy that prevented their affiliates from profiting from the process. But they didn’t mention that they had brought the policy in just as the CMP scandal developed. In fact, this report suggests a “criminal conspiracy” over their failure to have guidelines before this.

According to the Senate Judicial Committee report, in 2001 Planned Parenthood did have a policy stating its clinics had to have an independent accountant verify they were not profiting from the sale of body parts. Those who did not follow these guidelines could be thrown out of the Planned Parenthood network, they were warned. In 2011, when they found their clinics were ignoring the guidelines, Planned Parenthood quietly deleted the guidelines from its requirements. By doing so, Planned Parenthood headquarters made it quite clear they would not stand in the way of their clinics profiting from the sale of baby parts.

Healthcare

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Or, as the Senate Committee put it, by behaving “in a manner that facilitated the continuation of those fetal tissue payments. Planned Parenthood and the affiliates actions may implicate the federal criminal conspiracy statute 18USC/ 371.”

7) Privacy for thee and not for me

Planned Parenthood and the companies it was selling baby parts to fought tooth and nail against the investigations. They claimed privacy was an issue. But the House Investigation states they never cared about privacy when there was a lot of money to be made selling the body parts of their patients’ babies. They would regularly give confidential information about their patients to help the companies plan their harvesting in advance, the report says. And Stem Express would reportedly share this information with clients so they could look at what might be available and place advance orders.

The committee said: “the [Planned Parenthood] abortion clinics did not have a valid reason to provide, patients’ PHI [Protected Health Information]. Instead the abortion clinics shared patients’ PHI with Stem Express in furtherance of contractual agreements that financially benefited StemExpress and the clinics.” They recommended an investigation “and, if OHRP agrees that [privacy] violations occurred, to take all appropriate actions.”

8) Planned Parenthood falsely claimed to help cure AIDS.

absurdities

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Yes, you read that right – in order to convince women to allow them to harvest their baby’s body parts, the Planned Parenthood consent form told the vulnerable women that the parts had been used to find a cure for AIDS.

As a Planned Parenthood official admitted under oath to the House investigation, “there is no cure for AIDS. So that is probably an inaccurate statement.”

They also reportedly misled clients about what they were actually harvesting. The consent form only described “pregnancy tissue” — not a baby’s arms, legs, eyes, brains, and skin.partyof-deceit-spin-and-lies

Phelim McAleer is the author with Ann McElhinney of Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer published by Regnery on January 24th and available for pre-order on Amazon.

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Dying twin holds unborn sister’s hand in heartbreaking sonogram photo


waving flagWednesday, February 17, 2016, HUTCHINSON, KS

URL of the original posting site: http://abc30.com/1204049

Twins hold hands in utero

Twins – one with severe health issues – hold hands in the womb

A pregnant mother has a beautiful image to that may serve as a comfort through difficult days ahead: her twins – one with severe medical issues – were caught on sonogram camera holding hands in the womb.

Brittani and Ian McIntire were told one of their unborn twins will not survive. The boy twin has a hole in his heart and an abnormal brain, KWCH reports. At each doctor appointment, the couple received more bad news, until recently, when the image was captured by sonogram. Brittani recalled, “We didn’t really see much, she said there’s his hand and there’s her hand and it looks like they’re holding hands.”

The boy twin, whom the couple calls Mason, is on the left, and has his tiny hand wrapped around the growing finger of his sister, Madilyn. Brittani said, “Most twins when she’s trying to take pictures and stuff, they’re kicking each other and hitting each other, and she said with our twins, it seems like she was very protective over him.”

Ian said of the photo, “We know we have a piece of them together that will last forever and it’s special to have.”

Brittani added, “It’s just nice with everything going on I know I’m holding him, I’m carrying him but I just want to be there for him and not knowing and she’s the only one who can actually be there and holding onto him through it, and so it’s comforting to know that if he does pass, he won’t be alone.”

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Dems come to defense of Planned Parenthood


waving flagBy Sarah Ferris – 07/15/15

  URL of the original posting site: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/248137-dems-come-to-defense-of-planned-

Congressional Democrats are coming to the defense of Planned Parenthood as Republicans launch investigations into the group’s use of fetal tissue from abortions. Multiple Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday dismissed a secretly recorded viral video that shows a Planned Parenthood executive detailing how the livers, lungs and hearts of fetuses are preserved during abortions for medical research. “It’s got a Benghazi feel to it, for me,” centrist Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) said. “They’ve been attacking Planned Parenthood for years,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), another prominent abortion rights supporter. “They’ve been calling for investigations for years.”Dismissive

Still, the footage, which was recorded by anti-abortion advocates posing as fetal tissue buyers from a research company, is putting Democrats in an uncomfortable spot. While Democrats have for years defended Planned Parenthood against GOP attacks, the graphic discussion about “fetal parts” in the video has energized conservative groups that say the reality of abortion is deliberately obscured by the media.

The remarks from Planned Parenthood’s chief medical director surfaced Tuesday in a nearly nine-minute video that was created by a new group, the Center for Medical Progress. Planned Parenthood, which receives federal funding that cannot be used for abortions, has acknowledged that the video does feature its top medical officer but says the footage is heavily edited and “grossly mischaracterizes” the organization’s practice of donating fetal tissue to research.Bull

At least one anti-abortion Democrat, Rep. Dan Lipinski (Ill.), said he supports the GOP for its planned investigations. Lipinski denounced the video in a press conference with several House Republicans on Wednesday and said he believes more of his colleagues in the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus will follow. “I’m hopeful that some of the pro-choice Democrats also come out in support of the investigation to find out what’s going on at these clinics,” he told The Hill. “I think everyone should be concerned about it, no matter what your position is on abortion.”

Some Democrats, like Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.), the co-chairwoman of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, have been cautious in their response to the video. In a statement to The Hill, she expressed support for Planned Parenthood, though it fell far short of a sweeping defense. “Planned Parenthood has spoken clearly on the specific circumstances surrounding this video, and I will let their experts explain for themselves. Circumstances of this video aside, people need to understand the important research that specific tissue types contribute to,” she wrote in a statement.What did you say 06.jpg

The video, which is nearing 1.5 million views online, reverberated across Capitol Hill and the campaign trail on Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after it surfaced, lawmakers in the House had opened a pair of congressional investigations. Dozens of Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), have condemned the claims in the video as “inhumane” and “grotesque.”

GOP presidential hopefuls, including Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.), are also raising the issue’s national profile. The remarks by Planned Parenthood’s medical director in the video are shockingly candid.

While sipping wine in a Los Angeles restaurant, she describes “crushing” the fetus in a way that preserves its organs for researchers. She also describes the growing demand for liver, lungs and “intact” hearts.

Democrats have said there’s no evidence that the group is violating federal laws from her remarks, though none of them told The Hill they had seen the video. “Planned Parenthood is actually allowed, is my understanding, for scientific research, to use fetal tissue, and that is not illegal,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus who said she had spoken to Planned Parenthood leadership. When asked about Republicans’ planned investigations into Planned Parenthood, Schakowsky said she wanted an investigation into the Center for Medical Progress, which she called “a phony company.”

The issue of abortion has already caused trouble for members of Congress in both parties this year, from a bipartisan Senate bill to fight human trafficking to a House bill banning late-term abortions that drew objections over its language on rape.

Earlier this week, House leaders pulled a bipartisan bill from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) that would have created a commemorative coin to help raise money for breast cancer research because some of that funding would have gone to Planned Parenthood. The bill was ultimately passed Wednesday with broad support from both parties. But Maloney hinted that the delay was, in part, because of the Planned Parenthood video. Asked if she thought the outrage over the video fueled sudden opposition to her bill, Maloney responded, “Yes. It is an unusual coincidence, shall we say.” 

Cristina Marcos contributed.

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