News and Issues

A recent commentary from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives examines how women may be impacted by the latest Federal budget cuts:

“The only mention of either men or women in the 400-odd page 2012 Budget Implementation Bill is with regards to the appropriate use of donated sperm and ova.

"In analysis and discussions of the proposed omnibus bill, differential impacts for women, Aboriginals, racialized persons, newcomers, and *the poor* are frequently left out. It’s hard to blame anyone, there’s a lot to talk about in this whopper.

"Still, it’s important to take a moment to ask not only what are the costs and benefits, but who benefits, and who pays the costs. The cumulative affect of regressive policy change adds to growing inequality.”

Read The Federal Budget and Women.

ECHO (Improving Women’s Health in Ontario) wrote in their newsletter in May:

“On April 25, the Federal Government announced substantial cuts to the federal budget, including the devastating elimination of the $2.9 million Women’s Health Contribution Program (WHCP). For over fifteen years the WHCP has supported evidence-based policy research via the Canadian Women’s Health Network; Women and Health Care Reform; Le Réseau québécois d’action pour la santé des femmes; and four Centres of Excellence (BC, Prairie, Atlantic, and National Network on Environments - aka NNEWH – which investigated the regulation of toxins).  Until recently, it also supported the Women and Health Protection working group – cut in 2010 - which produced important work on pharmaceuticals as well as HPV screening.”

Read the whole article.

A recent post on Our Bodies Our Blog discusses the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s perspective piece on the long-term use of bisphosphonates for reducing bone fracture risk that was just published in the the New England Journal of Medicine. 

The author of the post discusses evidence about the long-term safety of these drugs. She writes that there is “considerable concern and controversy about whether women who do not actually have osteoporosis (or who are classified as having “osteopenia”) should be getting these drugs in an attempt to prevent it.”

Several serious side effects of bisphosphonates have been identified in the past few years, such as osteonecrosis of the jaw (when the jaw bones weaken and die, causing considerable pain) and atypical femur fractures.

The National Women's Health Network recently wrote a letter to the FDA, urging them not to advise the use of bisphosphonates for prevention because of these safety concerns. Their letter concluded, “Healthy women have better, less risky, ways to protect themselves from bone fractures and should not be encouraged to take drugs which could so seriously undermine their goal of maintaining healthy bones.”

Healthy women have better, less risky, ways to protect 

themselves from bone fractures and should not be encouraged to take drugs which could so seriously 

undermine their goal of maintaining healthy bones. 

Read the blog post.

The attacks on women’s rights through massive cuts and restrictions in health programs continue in the US.

Texas has been forging ahead on this front, but many other states are also seeking ways to restrict women’s access to health care. Meanwhile, a pro-choice Federal Republican Representative is trying to reverse some of that damage with a new proposed bill in Congress.

Read more:

In Planned Parenthood vs. Texas, Judicial Whiplash Ensues

Proposal to Help Women’s Health

Some thoughtful commentary from Our Bodies, Our Blog, on what mothers really want for Mother's Day...

"My favorite Mother’s day gifts from my sons were their original stories, songs and poems. But what I needed when they were infants and toddlers was something children can’t deliver: affordable time off when they were born and when they were sick...."

Read What Mothers Really Want: Right to Care for Family Members and Selves

In the Bioethics Forum May 1^st, Canadian bioethicist Françoise Baylis writes:

“Despite the clear legal prohibitions and the serious legal penalties, the business of buying and selling reproductive tissues and services in Canada is robust, with thousands of dollars changing hands per transaction and no arrests being made. For example, it is reported that the price for eggs ranges from 3,000 to 7,000 Canadian dollars, while the total bill for contract pregnancy can be as much as 100,000 Canadian dollars.”

Read her whole piece in Bioethics Forum.

Read more commentary by Baylis about the demise of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada in A mixed-bag budget.

And there is more on this issue in the Winnipeg Free Press, Fertile ground for controversy: Agency closure highlights murky world of assisted human reproduction in Canada

A piece in this week’s Maclean’s magazine by Anne Kingston talks about how women have been largely excluded from medical research, and why women should be “outraged” about this.

CWHN has been working to close this “gender gap” for almost two decades.

The article quotes Abby Lippman, the former longtime chair of CWHN’s board, as well as Barbara Mintzes, a researcher who was integral to the work of Women and Health Protection whose work we have often promoted.

Read Medicine’s Deadly Gender Gap.

This week CWHN’s Executive Director Anne Rochon Ford sent a submission to Health Canada about the inclusion of women in clinical trials. This submission is a response to Health Canada’s Draft Guidance Document on the Inclusion of Women in Clinical Trials that was discussed in the Maclean’s article.

Read her submission below.

Much overage is being given recently to Motion 312, which is being introduced by Federal Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth. Motion-312 asks Parliament to examine the current definition of “human being” in the Criminal Code to decide whether it should include fetuses. The goal of the motion is to give legal protection to fetuses.

Read about this motion, and the coverage being given to it in the past few weeks. The motion is mobilizing pro-choice supporters across the country.

And here’s a more recent story in the Winnipeg Free Press.

The reaction across Canada has been swift and strong to our news of impending funding cuts to the CWHN and our partners in women’s health research.

Our story has been covered in major media in English and French and has also reached south of the border. Several bloggers have commented and organizations have put the word out on their websites.

Niki Ashton, MP for Churchill and the NDP’s critic on women’s issues, spoke out in Parliament on April 26, saying “This assault on women's equality sends a clear message: if our research contradicts the Conservatives' ideology, we have to pay the price.” Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette also spoke in favour of the program, saying, “… c'est avec une immense tristesse que je prends la parole pour déplorer la fin du Programme de contribution pour la santé des femmes.”

Thanks to all for this tremendous show of support!

See some of the commentary here:

The recent Health Canada cuts to funding for women’s health in our country have received attention not only throughout Canada but also south of the border.

Today’s Our Bodies, Our Blog gives a good overview of the funding cuts to CWHN, le Réseau québécois d’action pour la santé des femmes, and four centres of excellence in women’s health across Canada that were announced in April.

Read Canadian Funding of Women’s Health Research Cut.