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Daily Women's Health Policy Report
55% of White Evangelical Republicans Would Consider Third-Party Candidate if Giuliani, Clinton Nominated, Survey Says
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops To Vote on Election Guidelines on Issues Including Abortion, Stem Cell Research
National Politics & Policy
The Politico Examines Sen. Specter's Earmarks for Abstinence Education Programs
Wisconsin Assembly Approves Bill Requiring Doctors To Determine That Women Seeking Abortions Not Coerced, Consent to Procedure
U.K. Parliamentary Committee Releases Recommendations on Gestational Limit on Abortion, Other Related Regulations
Special Notice
Change in Kaiser Coverage of Women's Health Policy News
[Nov 01, 2007]
The Kaiser Family Foundation is pleased to announce that on Nov. 5, 2007, the National Partnership for Women & Families will become the new publisher of the Daily Women's Health Policy Report. To receive their free, daily report on women's reproductive health policy, please sign up at NationalPartnership.org/dailyreport.
The National Partnership, established in 1971, is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Through its work on access to quality and affordable health care and on reproductive health and rights, the National Partnership promotes public policies and business practices that expand opportunities for women and strengthen families.
Also beginning Nov. 5, 2007, the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report -- a news summary service also operated by the Kaiser Family Foundation -- will be expanded to include a new "Women's Health Policy" section covering issues related to health care coverage and access for women. Archives of the Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report will continue to be accessible through the kaisernetwork.org search. In addition, other Kaiser Family Foundation Web sites will continue to provide resources and information on women's health policy issues - kff.org, kaiserEDU.org, and statehealthfacts.org.
Thank you for your readership of the Kaiser Daily Reports and your interest in the work of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Election 2008
55% of White Evangelical Republicans Would Consider Third-Party Candidate if Giuliani, Clinton Nominated, Survey Says
[Nov 01, 2007]
Fifty-five percent of white evangelical Republicans say they would consider voting for a conservative third-party candidate in the 2008 presidential election if former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) were nominated by their respective parties, while 42% would not, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, the AP/Deseret Morning News reports (AP/Deseret Morning News, 11/1). About 44% of all Republican and Republican-leaning voters said they would consider voting for a third-party candidate who holds more conservative positions than Giuliani on issues such as abortion, the poll found (Pew survey, 10/31).
Almost everyone at a meeting of a group of Christian conservatives in September supported the statement, "If the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate, we will consider running a third-party candidate," some participants at the meeting said. The group included Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, James Dobson of Focus on the Family and a number of other politically minded, conservative Christians. However, Perkins and American Values President Gary Bauer since the meeting have backed away from threats to run a third-party candidate (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/11).
According to Pew, evangelicals account for 34% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Among the Republican presidential candidates, evangelicals signaled nearly even support for Giuliani, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.), the poll found.
Fifty percent of U.S. voters surveyed identified themselves as Democrats or Democratic-leaning, compared with 36% who considered themselves Republicans or Republican-leaning, the survey found. The poll, conducted from Oct. 17 to Oct. 23, involved telephone interviews with 2,007 people, 648 of whom are Republican or Republican-leaning. The margin of error was 2.5 percentage points overall and 4.5 points among Republicans or Republican leaners (AP/Deseret Morning News, 11/1).
 The survey is available online.
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops To Vote on Election Guidelines on Issues Including Abortion, Stem Cell Research
[Nov 01, 2007]
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this month during its fall meeting in Baltimore plan to vote on a draft document of guidelines to assist Roman Catholics in deciding which candidates to support in upcoming elections, the AP/Washington Post reports. The draft document, titled "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," states that abortion and euthanasia are "intrinsically evil" and "pre-eminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others." Human embryonic stem cell research and human cloning also are among issues that cannot be justified, according to the 37-page document.
The draft adds that if Catholics were to vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights because of that position, they would be "guilty of formal cooperation in evil." If Catholics were to vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights because of the candidates' position on other issues, it is "remote material cooperation" with evil and only is permitted if there are "proportionate reasons," according to the document. "The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life is always wrong and is not just one issue among many" that Catholics should consider, the draft states.
According to the AP/Post, the conference for the past 30 years has issued similar guides that were determined by the conference's 50-member administrative board. This year the full body of approximately 300 bishops plan to debate and vote on the document. Bishop William Skylstad, the conference president, said the group is expanding voting on the document to "listen to any of the voices that want input on its final form." Skylstad added that he did not anticipate significant changes to the document because of extensive consultation in drafting the guidelines. Reaction
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput criticized the earlier version of the document for not providing enough emphasis on abortion issues. Chaput added that the revised draft "is better and clearer than any version in the recent past" but is not ideal, adding that he would offer suggestions to improve the draft. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said that the group is "grateful to the bishops" for the document and for "pointing out that abortion is not just one issue among many; it attacks the very foundation of our rights."
Tom Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center, said some Democratic candidates will be able to argue that they are consistent with the bishops on most issues, while some Republican candidates can argue that they agree with the bishops only on foundational issues, such as abortion. According to the AP/Post, several independent Catholic groups have distributed voter guides in recent years, including Catholic Answers, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Priests for Life (Gorski, AP/Washington Post, 10/30).
National Politics & Policy
The Politico Examines Sen. Specter's Earmarks for Abstinence Education Programs
[Nov 01, 2007]
The Politico on Wednesday examined Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-Pa.) earmarks for abstinence-based sex education programs. According to The Politico, Specter -- the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education -- has earmarked more than $8 million to dozens of abstinence programs in Pennsylvania. A fiscal year 2008 Labor-HHS-Education bill (HR 3043) that passed the Senate last week included 188 earmarks secured by Specter and which total $19 million, including $1 million for the Women's Care Center of Erie County, which provides "abortion recovery" counseling.
Specter, who supports abortion rights and favors comprehensive sex education programs, sees the abstinence earmarks as responding to a "significant segment of his constituency, which he believes is entitled to implement programs most consistent with their values," Scott Hoeflich, Specter's chief of staff, said in a statement. Larry Frankel, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said Specter's actions are "another example of why earmarks are so problematic," adding, "They can be used to pry and curry favor with constituents based on political expediency rather than a demonstration that the earmark is the best use of money."
Specter is the only member of Congress who earmarks money for abstinence education programs, and some fiscal advocates have said they suspect politics play a part in his earmark selections, The Politico reports. Specter has said his staff chooses earmark recipients based only on merit (Budoff Brown, The Politico, 10/31).
State Politics & Policy
Wisconsin Assembly Approves Bill Requiring Doctors To Determine That Women Seeking Abortions Not Coerced, Consent to Procedure
[Nov 01, 2007]
The Wisconsin Assembly on Tuesday voted 65-32 to approve a bill that will require doctors to determine that women seeking an abortion consent to the procedure and are not coerced into it, the AP/WKBT.com reports (AP/WKBT.com, 10/30).
Under current state law, doctors are required to get written consent before performing an abortion. Rep. Fred Kessler (D), who opposes the bill, said requiring a doctor to also ask a woman if she was not coerced just adds another barrier to an already difficult decision. He added that the bill is one additional pressure from antiabortion groups to persuade women not to have an abortion.
Rep. Mark Gundrum (R), sponsor of the measure, said doctors should have to make sure the procedure is the women's choice. Gundrum also said the legislation would allow physicians to provide women with assistance if they are being coerced into an abortion. The bill now heads to the Senate, WRN.com reports (Beckett, WRN.com, 10/31).
International News
U.K. Parliamentary Committee Releases Recommendations on Gestational Limit on Abortion, Other Related Regulations
[Nov 01, 2007]
The British Parliament's Select Committee on Science and Technology in a report released on Wednesday said there is "no scientific basis" for lowering the 24-week gestational limit on legal abortion in the country, Reuters UK reports (Castle, Reuters UK, 10/30). The report also recommended eliminating a requirement that women seeking abortions obtain the signature of two doctors before undergoing the procedure, the PA/Guardian reports (Kirby, PA/Guardian, 10/30).
In addition, the report said that nurses and midwives with proper training and professional guidance should not be prevented from administering medical abortions at all stages of pregnancy, as well as surgical abortions at early stages, BBC News reports. The committee also said there is no safety reason for barring a woman from taking at home the second of two pills required for an early-stage medical abortion (BBC News, 10/31). According to Reuters, the committee excluded moral and ethical considerations in its report, which is not binding but likely will "influence" debate on the country's abortion law in upcoming months. Comments
Committee chair Phil Willis of the Liberal Democrat Party said, "In our inquiry we have attempted to sift the evidence on scientific and medical developments since the last amendment of the law in 1990 and since the 1967 Act," adding, "We urge all [members of Parliament] and the public to study the evidence we have taken and the conclusions we have reached" (PA/Guardian, 10/31).
Committee members Nadine Dorries and Bob Spink of the Conservative Party published a dissenting minority report calling for reducing the gestational limit and stronger abortion restrictions, BBC News reports. Dorries and Spink said that Parliament has been "misled in this report on two major issues: pain and survival," adding that the "report should have reflected the differences of opinions which exist and allowed MPs to draw their own conclusions" (BBC News, 10/31).
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