Issues on my mind

The health issues I am primarily interested in revolve around women's reproductive rights. It seems in this country, a majority of people hear "reproductive rights" and think "abortion rights" and go no further, as if this one subset of the topic of reproduction encompassed the entire issue. Unfortunately, this limited focus totally ignores a host of complicated issues surrounding pregnancy and birth in this country.

When I state that I believe women should have reproductive choices in regards to childbirth, I am referring to an issue laden with many political, financial, and ethical concerns at play. The issues of the legality of home birth and direct entry midwifery are prime examples of these intertwined tensions, as there are physicians (usually represented by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) vying for complete control of the current market share, legislators who are being wooed by physicians' powerful lobbyists in many states, malpractice insurance companies with their own standards of what constitutes "safe" and "legal" practice, and home birth advocates and midwives, as well as proponents for more evidence-based medicine who are fighting to protect the legality of home birth, as well as informed choice in all venues.

In my opinion, no physician or hospital should have a right to dictate to a woman: a, the type of care provider she chooses (assuming she chooses to be attended); b, the place she wishes to give birth at, whether home, hospital, or birth center; c, unwarranted interventions to self either during pregnancy or during labor and delivery; and d, unwarranted interventions performed on her baby.

That is crux of my stance, although the subject is far more involved and complicated.

Though this issue is foremost in my mind, the issue of the lack of universal health care also weighs heavily on my conscience. This issue affects women everywhere and of just about every demographic. Two women I've recently spoke with, Patricia and Holly, both expressed the same concern re: access of health care for women, though one is African American, in a same-sex relationship and liberal, while the other is white, elderly, and a moderate conservative. Both expressed fears regarding the future, whether health care costs would become so exorbitant as to make health care inaccessible to nearly everyone. I share their trepidation, and I believe that for any potential solution to be successful, it must address the following: controlling costs, and achieving universal coverage. However, one cannot be accomplished without the other, although reversing the trend of phenomenal increases in costs is likely to be the much greater challenge. If we, as a society, fail to achieve universal coverage, the tremendous costs of paying for the uninsured will surely drive the entire system to its breaking point. In essence, we are already paying for them; our choice is essentially to either to insure everyone and replace the expensive "Emergency Room"-centric model we currently are stuck with, or continue to pay for uninsured Americans indirectly, in the form of rising costs of medical care and increasing insurance premiums. This issue affects nearly all women, and their families, everywhere in our society. It is imperative we come up with an efficient, workable model of preventative health care which is accessible to all, regardless of economic status.