Wheaton loses contraception appeal; Teen pregnancy grants; anti-choice; CO LARC

[Panich52]

AAUW

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th circuit denied http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2015/D07-01/C:14-2396:J osner:aut:T:fnOp:N:1580382:S:0 Wheaton College's preliminary injunction on its opposition to the Affordable Care Act's coverage requirement on birth control. The college had temporary protection from providing contraceptives due to a religious liberty argument, but that argument was deemed invalid when the court ruled that Wheaton could provide birth control through its insurer and not only through the school's health plan.

Despite the smilie, the link does dl the file
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health announced http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2015pres/07/20150706a.html 81 grants, totaling over $85 million, for teen pregnancy prevention programs where teen birth rates are high. These grants seek to impact over 290,000 young adults by increasing the capacity in communities to serve vulnerable youth.
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According to research http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2015/07/01/index.html the Guttmacher Institute put out last week, 51 abortion restriction laws have been enacted in various states throughout the first half of this year. The 2015 laws extend waiting periods, ban abortions in the second trimester, curtail the use of medication abortions, and increase targeted regulation of abortion provider (TRAP) laws. All of these types of laws manifest themselves in different ways in each state, but each makes it more inconvenient for women to receive abortions and for providers to administer abortions.
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Good news in Colorado this week as a story was released about the success http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/science/colorados-push-against-teenage-pregnancies-is-a-startling-success.html?smid=tw-share of a long acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) program that offered free intrauterine devices (IUD) and implants to young women in Colorado. From 2009-2013, the teenage pregnancy rate dropped by 40 percent, the abortion rate dropped by 42 percent, and the number of births among unmarried women under 25 who do not have high school degrees also dropped. Isabel Sawhill, an economist from the Brookings Institute, explained, "If we want to reduce poverty, one of the simplest, fastest and cheapest things we could do would be to make sure that as few people as possible become parents before they actually want to," an important message for the people of Walsenburg, Colorado.

[Novara]

1. Thanks for this round-up