Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/30780
national I SHORT TAKES NATIONAL The Obama administration has asked the independent Institute of Medicine to determine whether contraception and family-planning services are “preventive.” The new Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act requires insurers to cover preventive services without copay, and an amendment by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) requires that special attention be paid to the “unique health needs of women.” The institute is expected to recommend guidelines Aug. 1; you can provide input at www.iom.edu/ Activities/Women/PreventiveServicesWomen.aspx NEW YORK Crisis pregnancy centers in New York City are now required to post honest information about the services they provide. Called a truth-in-advertising measure, the ordinance passed by the City Council in March requires CPCs to explain which pregnancy-related services they provide, including whether they employ a licensed med- ical professional or offer prenatal care, abortions or emer- gency contraception. A similar ordinance in Baltimore was overturned on free-speech grounds, but this one was crafted to avoid such challenges. OHIO Anti-abortion group Faith2Action’s idea to have a fetus “testify” in support of Ohio’s “heartbeat bill” (H.B. 125)—which would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, except in medical emergencies—didn’t go quite as planned. In a packed Ohio House subcommit- tee, two pregnant women underwent public ultrasounds. It took 10 minutes before finding something “faintly audible and hard to distinguish” when listening for one 9- week-old fetus’s heartbeat. Faith2Action has claimed that a heartbeat can be detected 18 days after conception. The bill is still pending, despite opposition from abortion- rights groups and even the state’s Right to Life group, which says a court would immediately overturn it. NORTH CAROLINA Justin Carl Moose faced up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after plotting to bomb an abortion clinic, but was sentenced to just 30 months because the judge in the case thought Moose’s plan was “out of character.” Perhaps he didn’t read testimony that Moose had told an informant that he was a member of the militant Army of God (which advocates “justifiable homicide” of abortion providers) and that he had previously “set up groups,” stating, “I train people and this is not my first rodeo.” www.msmagazine.com PENNSYLVANIA In Philadelphia, Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE) is protesting the ticketing system of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which uses gender-specific stickers on weekly and month- ly passes. The 20-year-old policy is meant to prevent opposite-sex riders from sharing passes, but it has led to transgender riders being questioned by drivers and publi- cally mocked and taunted. The stickers will likely be phased out over the next three years as electronic ticket- ing and new technology are installed, but RAGE is demanding they be removed immediately. SOUTH DAKOTA Two drastic anti-abortion bills were introduced in the state Legislature this winter. One, a “justifiable homicide” bill, would legalize the killing of abortion providers; the other requires women seeking abortions to wait 72 hours and visit a crisis pregnancy center. The first was tabled indefinitely after nationwide feminist outrage; the second was signed into law. VIRGINIA A new Virginia law will classify and regulate abortion clin- ics as hospitals, which will likely shut down 17 of the state’s 21 clinics. Clinics will be subject to hospital stan- dards, such as having a parking place for every bed in the clinic (even though abortion is not an overnight proce- dure) and having hallways wide enough for two gurneys. The remaining four clinics, all Planned Parenthood facil- ities, meet hospital standards, but due to the broad nature of the law they may also be shut down. —DAHLIA GROSSMAN-HEINZE, AMANDA LITMAN SPRING 2011 | 17 5 Philadelphians protect transgender rights by fighting gender-specific transit passes. KAYTEE RIEK