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7 Out Of 10 Women Too Embarrassed To Discuss Vaginal Dryness And Pain With Their Physician
The majority of post-menopausal women are uncomfortable talking about vaginal dryness and pain and are reluctant to seek medical help, according to results from a new international survey presented today at the European Congress on Menopause in London. Results from the survey show that over a third (39 percent) of post-menopausal women experience these symptoms of vaginal atrophy and 40 percent of women who have recently experienced vaginal dryness and pain said it interferes with their sex life, yet seven out of ten would not discuss the problem with their physician (only 30 percent of women would consider talking to a gynaecologist, and only 29 percent would consider talking to a GP).

Spread Of Swine Flu Detracting From Real Issue, Says UK Charity
Millions of children will continue to die of preventable causes unless health and development ministers get their priorities straight next week in Geneva, says leading aid agency World Vision.
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Senate Republicans Ask For More Background On Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans on Wednesday sent a letter to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor requesting additional background information to supplement a committee questionnaire, CQ Today reports. The Republicans said that Democrats are rushing the nomination process by scheduling Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing to begin July 13 and that they need more information on the nominee. According to CQ Today, Democrats are unlikely to budge from their determination to confirm Sotomayor before the Aug. 7 recess, although Republicans might convince Leahy to postpone the hearing for a week in exchange for a GOP pledge not to delay a committee vote on Sotomayor for a week, as allowed under the panel"s rules (Perine, CQ Today, 6/10). Among their requests, Republicans asked that Sotomayor provide copies of the Yale Law Journal, for which she served as an editor, and that she elaborate upon her role with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt said that the Obama administration has made clear that it plans to provide additional information but that it has presented most of the information quickly to allow the Senate to begin its review (Herszenhorn, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/10). Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said that the information requested is not "little itty-bitty matters" but "important" components of Sotomayor"s background. He added, "If we"re going to move forward in a record-breaking time frame, the least we can expect is complete and full answers to these questions." Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a senior member on the committee, said there is "a lot of irritation and discomfort" among Republicans "about the way it"s being handled." He added that he does not think Republicans want to filibuster the nomination but implied that they might use procedural tools to slow the process (CQ Today, 6/10).
Oncology

Fate Of Tiller's Clinic Expected To Be Decided This Week

The family of murdered Kansas abortion provider George Tiller is expected to decide this week whether his Wichita clinic will reopen, NPR"s "Morning Edition" reports. Tiller"s clinic is one of the few in the U.S. that performs abortions later in pregnancy, and many abortion-rights advocates are concerned whether women in need of abortions in the second and third trimester would be able to obtain care if it were not reopened. LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska abortion provider who worked with Tiller at his clinic for four years, said that although it is a difficult time for abortion providers, he hopes that the family will reopen the clinic. "This is a job that we took, and we were well-aware of the risks when we started, as was Dr. Tiller," he said. Providing abortion services in the second and third trimester is "a service that"s so needed that it"s worth the risks," he added (Lohr, "Morning Edition," NPR, 6/9). Carhart also said that although no decision on Tiller"s clinic has been made, he "want[s] to assure the press and the women of America ... that we will somehow, somewhere continue to provide abortions later in gestation" (Duin, Washington Times, 6/9).According to Carhart, there are only about 10 providers in the U.S. who perform abortions in the second and third trimesters, including a few hospitals that do not advertise the services. "Morning Edition" reports that most women"s health care providers either are not trained or do not want to receive training to perform the procedure later in pregnancy. Providers who do tend to be older and face extreme pressure from antiabortion-rights advocates. Data from the Guttmacher Institute show that about 1% of all abortions performed in the U.S. occur after 21 weeks" gestation. Elizabeth Nash of Guttmacher said that 37 states have laws that limit access to abortion after a certain point in pregnancy, "usually around 24 weeks, which is at the end of the second trimester." She added that most of those states only allow abortions to save the life of the woman or if her physical health is in jeopardy. Pratima Gupta, an ob-gyn in California, said that she is concerned about what will happen to Tiller"s patients. Gupta said Tiller "had patients that were scheduled for Monday morning. What happened to those patients for the rest of the week, the rest of the month? Those patients are the ones who need us" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 6/9). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women"s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company. © 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.


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