Obama’s 5 Most Controversial Statements About Abortion and ‘Women’s Rights’ During His Planned Parenthood Speech

Rush: The President of the United States Asks God to Bless an Abortion Factory

“This makes me ill, by the way. That a president of the United States shows up at an abortion factory, essentially, and praises their work. You know what else he said? He said the opponents of abortion want to return to the 1950s.”  …Rush Limbaugh

Obama’s 5 Most Controversial Statements About Abortion and ‘Women’s Rights’ During His Planned Parenthood Speech

TheBlaze:

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Planned Parenthood Gala at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on April 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. Obama defended the organization and told delegates that he would block efforts to cut off funding. Credit: Getty Images

On Friday, President Barack Obama became the the first sitting president to address the Planned Parenthood National Conference. It was a controversial decision, especially considering the ongoing Dr. Kermit Gosnell murder trial and the elevated discussion currently unfolding surrounding late-term abortion. But rather than avoiding abortion, he tackled it head-on, defending a woman’s “right to choose.” Additionally, he heralded Planned Parenthood as an organization that has served Americans in their greatest times of need.

Considering all that, TheBlaze has highlighted five of the speech’s key moments that we deemed the most interesting, controversial and noteworthy.

Without further ado.

Praised Planned Parenthood’s Family Planning Role

Before explicitly addressing the abortion issue, Obama seemingly hinted at it earlier in the speech. While recapping the services that Planned Parenthood offers, he mentioned family planning:

“Somewhere there’s a woman who just received a new lease on life because of a screening that you provided that helped catch her cancer in time. Somewhere there’s a woman who’s breathing easier today because of the support and counseling she got at her local Planned Parenthood health clinic. Somewhere there’s a young woman starting a career who, because of you, is able to decide for herself when she wants to start a family.“

Decried Critics Who Turn the Group Into a “Punching Bag”

Obama also took a firm stance against cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood, decrying politicians who have called for such measures. Similarly, he accused conservative opponents of advocating policies from the 1950s — a familiar claim uttered during his 2012 campaign (i.e. the so-called “War on Women”):

“So when politicians try to turned Planned Parenthood into a punching bag, they’re not just talking about you; they’re talking about the millions of women who you serve. And when they talk about cutting off your funding, let’s be clear: They’re talking about telling many of those women, you’re on your own. They’re talking about shutting those women out at a time when they may need it most — shutting off communities that need more health care options for women, not less.

So the fact is, after decades of progress, there’s still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century. And they’ve been involved in an orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women’s health.”

Photo Credit: Politico

Tackles Pro-Life Abortion Policies Head-On

Rather than dancing around the abortion discussion, Obama decided to dive right in, taking particular aim at pro-life legislative attempts in states across the nation:

“Forty-two states have introduced laws that would ban or severely limit access to a woman’s right to choose — laws that would make it harder for women to get the contraceptive care that they need; laws that would cut off access to cancer screenings and end educational programs that help prevent teen pregnancy.

In North Dakota, they just passed a law that outlaws your right to choose, starting as early as six weeks, even if a woman is raped. A woman may not even know that she’s pregnant at six weeks. In Mississippi, a ballot initiative was put forward that could not only have outlawed your right to choose, but could have had all sorts of other far-reaching consequences like cutting off fertility treatments, making certain forms of contraception a crime.

That’s absurd. It’s wrong. It’s an assault on women’s rights. And that’s why when the people of Mississippi were given a chance to vote on that initiative, they turned it down. Mississippi is a conservative state, but they wanted to make clear there’s nothing conservative about the government injecting itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor. And folks are trying to do this all across the country.”

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Planned Parenthood Gala at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on April 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. Obama defended the organization and told delegates that he would block efforts to cut off funding. Credit: Getty Images

Driving the Policy Point Home

To be sure the audience understood his point, Obama, again, decried pro-life legislative policies with a pointed quip:

“When you read about some of these laws, you want to check the calendar; you want to make sure you’re still living in 2013.”

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Planned Parenthood Gala at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on April 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. Obama defended the organization and told delegates that he would block efforts to cut off funding. Credit: Getty Images

“Planned Parenthood Is Not Going Anywhere”

In a message likely intended for both supporters and detractors, alike, Obama made it clear that Planned Parenthood isn’t going to disappear anytime soon — at least not on his watch. The president pledged to fight alongside the organization:

“So every day, in every state, in ever center that Planned Parenthood operates, there are stories like those — lives you’ve saved, women you’ve empowered, families that you’ve strengthened. That’s why, no matter how great the challenge, no matter how fierce the opposition, if there’s one thing the past few years have shown, it’s that Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere. It’s not going anywhere today. It’s not going anywhere tomorrow.”

According to the transcript, Obama concluded his speech by thanking the organization and by invoking God: “Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you.”

Watch the entire speech, below:

A portion of the above text comes from the White House’s official transcript of the speech. This story has been updated.

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The Common Mistake Women Make Which Can Turn Them into Cancer Patients

Mammograms Have 'Limited or No Effect' on Breast Cancer Deaths: Study

Story at-a-glance

• New research showed mammograms have little or no influence on the number of women who die from breast cancer
• Past research also found the reduction in mortality as a result of mammographic screening was so small as to be nonexistent—a mere 2.4 deaths per 100,000 person-years were spared as a result of the screening
• Due to false positives, leading to unnecessary and harmful invasive procedures like biopsy, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, mammograms often cause more harm than good

By Dr. Mercola

With only a few weeks to go before the annual October rush promoting mammograms begins, a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute is raising some doubts on mammography’s purported merits.

The findings showed mammograms have little or no influence on reducing the number of women who die from breast cancer … and considering there are serious health risks involved, too, what, then, is the point?

Mammograms Again Shown to Have Little to No Value

Breast cancer mortality rates in Sweden have been declining since 1972. Even though this was before mammography was introduced, the reductions have continued and many have attributed it to mammography screening.

The researchers that authored the current study also expected to see a reduction in breast cancer deaths associated with mammograms, but the results showed otherwise:¹

“County-specific mortality statistics in Sweden are consistent with studies that have reported limited or no impact of screening on mortality from breast cancer among women aged 40-69.”

In light of these findings, the study’s lead researcher Dr. Philippe Autier, at the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France, noted:²

"Information to women on mammography screening should better reflect uncertainty on the effectiveness of that test, and underline the risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment."

And this is not the first time the effectiveness of mammograms has been called into question. In 2010, another study concluded that the reduction in mortality as a result of mammographic screening was so small as to be nonexistent—a mere 2.4 deaths per 100,000 person-years were spared as a result of the screening.³

Mammograms May Cause More Harm Than Good

Many women are under the impression that a mammogram is simply an innocuous test that might or might not help you detect breast cancer sooner. But research shows this screening may end up harming more women than it helps.

Earlier this year, the Nordic Cochrane Center issued a leaflet explaining the potential benefits and potential harms of mammography, stating that, based on the available research, it no longer seems reasonable for women to attend breast cancer screening. After systematically reviewing the randomized trials of mammography, they concluded that:⁴

"If 2,000 women are screened regularly for 10 years, one will benefit from screening, as she will avoid dying from breast cancer because the screening detected the cancer earlier.

Since these trials were undertaken, treatment of breast cancer has improved considerably. Women today also seek medical advice much earlier than previously, if they have noted anything unusual in their breasts...

Because of these improvements, screening is less effective today and newer studies suggest that mammography screening is no longer effective in reducing the risk of dying from breast cancer.

... Since it is not possible to tell the difference between the dangerous and the harmless cell changes and cancers, all of them are treated.

Therefore, screening results in treatment of many women for a cancer disease they do not have, and that they will not get. Based on the randomized trials, it appears that:

If 2,000 women are screened regularly for 10 years, 10 healthy women will be turned into cancer patients and will be treated unnecessarily. These women will have either a part of their breast or the whole breast removed, and they will often receive radiotherapy, and sometimes chemotherapy.

Treatment of these healthy women increases their risk of dying, e.g. from heart disease and cancer."

So, to recap, in order for mammographic breast screening to save ONE woman's life:

• 2,000 women must be screened for 10 years
• 200 women will get false positives
• 10 will receive surgery and/or chemotherapy even though they do not actually have cancer

Yet another study, this one published in The Lancet Oncology late last year,⁵ described the natural history of breast cancers detected in the Swedish mammography screening program between 1986 to 1990, involving 650,000 women. Since breast lesions and tumors are typically aggressively treated and/or removed before they can be determined with any certainty to be a clear and present threat to health, there has been little to no research on what happens when they are left alone.

This study however, demonstrated for the first time that women who received the most breast screenings had a higher cumulative incidence of invasive breast cancer over the following six years than the control group who received far less screenings! The study concluded that:

"Because the cumulative incidence among controls did not reach that of the screened group, we believe that many invasive breast cancers detected by repeated mammography screening do not persist to be detected by screening at the end of 6 years, suggesting that the natural course of many of the screen-detected invasive breast cancers is to spontaneously regress."

FDA Secretly Monitored Mammogram Whistleblowers’ Emails

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) secretly monitored the personal e-mail of nine whistleblowers—its own scientists and doctors—over the course of two years. The monitored employees had warned Congress that the agency was approving medical devices that posed unacceptable risks to patients.

Six of the monitored scientists and doctors recently filed a lawsuit against the FDA, charging that the agency violated their constitutional rights to privacy by monitoring lawful activity in personal email accounts, and using that information to harass and ultimately relieve some of them of their positions.

According to the Washington Post⁶:

"All had worked in an office responsible for reviewing devices for cancer screening and other purposes. Copies of the e-mails show that, starting in January 2009, the FDA intercepted communications with congressional staffers and draft versions of whistleblower complaints complete with editing notes in the margins. The agency also took electronic snapshots of the computer desktops of the FDA employees and reviewed documents they saved on the hard drives of their government computers."

The FDA has declined to comment on the allegations, stating it does not comment on cases involved with litigation. However, according to internal FDA documents obtained by the plaintiffs under the Freedom of Information Act, the agency had asked the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) inspector general to conduct an investigation back in May 2010, stating suspicions that the plaintiffs had improperly disclosed confidential business information about the devices.

The HHS inspector general's office found no evidence of criminal conduct, stating the doctors and scientists had legal right to share their concerns with Congress and journalists. Hence no investigation was launched. But the FDA was not satisfied.

On June 28 that same year, Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health wrote that, "We have obtained new information confirming the existence of information disclosures that undermine the integrity and mission of the FDA and, we believe, may be prohibited by law," and again requested action be taken against the employees in question. After consulting with general prosecutors, the inspector general declined the second request for an investigation as well. Now the question is whether the agency monitored their employees within legal limits, and whether the purpose of the extensive monitoring was reasonable. Senator Charles Grassley doesn't seem to think so, stating that:

"The FDA has a huge responsibility to protect public health and safety. It's hard to see how managers apparently thought it was a good use of time to shadow agency scientists and monitor their e-mail accounts for legally protected communications with Congress."

Why Getting a Mammogram Can be a Risky Decision

The long-held conventional medical advice has been for women to get an annual mammogram once they hit 40. A couple of years ago, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force decided to alter their mammogram recommendation, advising women under the age of 50 to avoid mammograms, and limit them to every other year after the age of 50. The revision caused outrage among many cancer organizations. What was overlooked, however, was the reasoning behind the Task Force's decision to change their recommendation.

The prior advice was given in 2002, before a host of new research came out showing the problems of overdiagnosis, including false positives.

If a mammogram detects an abnormal spot in a woman's breast, the next step is typically a biopsy. This involves removing a small amount of tissue from the breast, which is then looked at by a pathologist under a microscope to determine if cancer is present. However, early stage cancer like ductal carcinoma in situ, or D.C.I.S., can be very hard to diagnose, and pathologists have a wide range of experience and expertise. There are actually NO universally agreed upon diagnostic standards for D.C.I.S., and there are no requirements that the pathologists doing the readings have specialized expertise...

Many conventional physicians view DCIS as "pre-cancerous" and argue that, because it could cause harm if left untreated it should be treated in the same aggressive manner as invasive cancer; however the rate at which DCIS progresses to invasive cancer is still largely unknown, with the weight of evidence suggesting it is significantly less than 50 percent -- perhaps as low as 2-4 percent.

This suggests that watchful waiting may be the more sensible approach, but most women are not informed of this option and instead go through invasive breast cancer treatments like surgery, radiation and toxic chemotherapy that often turns out to be unnecessary. As discussed above, it's really hard to justify harming 10 women with surgery and toxic chemotherapy treatment in order to save the life of one woman ...

Mammography and its subsequent tests, such as MRIs and stereotactic (x-ray guided) biopsies, likely contribute to cancer because of the cumulative radiation exposure that occurs over a lifetime and the particularly radiation-sensitive nature of breast cells, e.g. BRCA1/2 genes confer greater risk for breast cancer, in part, because they interfere with the repair of radiation-induced DNA damage. Even the National Cancer Institute states that “repeated x-rays have the potential to cause cancer.”⁷

And finally, although receiving a false positive is the major danger of mammograms, false negatives also occur. Mammograms are especially inaccurate for women with dense breasts; New York and Virginia recently passed laws requiring women with dense breasts to be informed they may need to seek alternative screening methods. It’s estimated that up to 75 percent of women in their 40s, and up to 50 percent of all women, have dense breasts, which increases the likelihood that a mammogram will be ineffective and inaccurate.⁸

Thermography: Breast Health Monitoring That’s as Safe as Taking Your Photograph

Download Interview Transcript

I recently interviewed Gaea Powell about the use of thermography as a safe way to monitor your risk of breast cancer over the long term. Thermographic breast screening is as safe as having your photograph taken and measures the infrared heat emitted by your body, translating this information into thermal images. Thermography does not require mechanical compression or ionizing radiation, and can detect signs of physiological changes due to inflammation and/or increased tumor related blood flow approximately 8-10 years before mammography or a physical exam can detect a mass.

So, if your thermogram shows areas of high inflammation, it doesn't mean you have cancer, but it lets you know you need to address that inflammation to avoid deterioration, and in some cases that the area needs further evaluation.

A New Breast Health Assessment Paradigm - Thermography, BSE/CBE, Ultrasound, then MRI

Although scientific evidence supports elimination of mammography as a screening tool, it is currently considered the standard of care. Replacing it with a new breast health assessment paradigm is warranted and inevitable. The new paradigm begins with thermography, a non-invasive physiological screening that can only serve to enhance all anatomical screenings that may follow, such as BSE/CBE, ultrasound and/or MRI. Please understand though that because this paradigm is not yet accepted as the standard of care, most insurance companies will not cover a thermogram, nor an ultrasound or MRI without a "positive" mammogram. However, when choosing an MRI as an elective procedure, one can typically shop around and find a facility that will perform one without insurance for under $1,000.

New Study Shows This Vitamin Prevents Breast Cancer …

There are a number of lifestyle changes that can help prevent breast cancer from ever becoming a reality for you. For starters, we cannot discuss breast cancer without mentioning the importance of vitamin D. Vitamin D, a steroid hormone that influences virtually every cell in your body, is easily one of nature's most potent cancer fighters. Receptors that respond to vitamin D have been found in nearly every type of human cell, from your bones to your brain. Your liver, kidney and other tissues can convert the vitamin D in your bloodstream into calcitriol, which is the hormonal or activated version of vitamin D.

New research published in the journal Steroids has found that calcitriol inhibits the growth of cancer cells, including breast cancer cells, through the following mechanisms:⁹

• Cell cycle arrest
• Promotion of apoptosis (cancer cell death)
• Inhibition of invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis

Vitamin D is actually able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis or programmed cell death. When JoEllen Welsh, a researcher with the State University of New York at Albany, injected a potent form of vitamin D into human breast cancer cells, half of them shriveled up and died within days!¹⁰

It is my professional opinion that for those who are diagnosed with cancer it is criminal malpractice not to recommend vitamin D and aggressively monitor a cancer patient's vitamin D level to get it between 70 and 100 ng/ml.

So please do watch my one-hour free lecture on vitamin D to find out what your optimal vitamin D levels should be for prevention and treatment … and how to get them there. This is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself from cancer.

Eight More Breast Cancer Prevention Tips

Prevention truly is worth a pound of cure when it comes to cancer, and the following healthy lifestyle strategies can help you avoid ever becoming a cancer statistic.

• Radically reduce your sugar/fructose intake. Normalizing your insulin levels by avoiding sugar and fructose is one of the most powerful physical actions you can take to lower your risk of cancer. Unfortunately, very few oncologists appreciate or apply this knowledge today. Fructose is especially dangerous, as research shows it actually speeds up cancer growth.
• Optimize your vitamin D level, as mentioned. Ideally it should be over 50 ng/ml, but levels from 70-100 ng/ml will radically reduce your cancer risk. Safe sun exposure is the most effective way to increase your levels, followed by safe tanning beds and then oral vitamin D3 supplementation as a last resort if no other option is available.
• Maintain a healthy body weight. This will come naturally when you begin eating whole foods like those in my nutrition plan and exercising using high-intensity burst-type activities, which are part of my Peak Fitness program. It's important to lose excess weight because excess estrogen is produced in fat tissue, which can contribute to cancer risk.
• Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as those from krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.
• Avoid drinking alcohol, or limit your drinks to one a day for women.
• Watch out for excessive iron levels. This is actually very common once women stop menstruating. The extra iron actually works as a powerful oxidant, increasing free radicals and raising your risk of cancer. So if you are a post-menopausal woman or have breast cancer you will certainly want to have your Ferritin level drawn. Ferritin is the iron transport protein and should not be above 80. If it is elevated you can simply donate your blood to reduce it.
• Breastfeed exclusively for up to six months. Research shows this will reduce your breast cancer risk.
• Avoid xenoestrogens. Xenoestrogens are synthetic chemicals that mimic natural estrogens. They have been linked to a wide range of human health effects, including reduced sperm counts in men and increased risk of breast cancer in women. There are a large number of xenoestrogens, such as bovine growth hormones in commercial dairy, plastics like bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates and parabens in personal care products, and chemicals used in non-stick materials, just to name a few.

Technorati Tags: mammograms,mammogram studies,Cancer,Dr. Mercola,MRI's,Breast Cancer,women's health,cancer causing,FDA,Thermography. BSE?CBE,ultrasound

Suzanne Somers' Amazing Breast Reconstruction Surgery Using Her Own Stem Cells

Video:  Suzanne Somers' Stem Cell Breast Reconstruction Surgery - Episode 1

Watch Suzanne Somers' amazing breast reconstruction surgery on Suzanne Somers Breaking Through - Episode 1. Find out how Suzanne used her own stem cells to regrow her breast after battling breast cancer.

Suzanne has been a trail blazer for women’s health in many areas!

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Susan G. Komen Foundation Reverses Stance on Cutting Funding for Planned Parenthood

Pro-Life Groups Hail 'A Major Victory for Life' & Now Susan G. Komen Foundation Reversed Their Decision

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity has reversed its decision to halt funding of breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood, the organization announced Friday.

In a statement, Komen for the Cure Founder and CEO Nancy Brinker apologized for “recent decisions” and said the organization would continue to fund Planned Parenthood.

“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” Brinker said.

The reversal comes after three days of intense backlash over Komen’s announcement that it had adopted new criteria that excluded Planned Parenthood from grants because it was under government investigation. Planned Parenthood is currently at the center of a congressional probe into whether taxpayer money was used to fund abortions. Brinker said Friday they would “amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”

“We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities,” she said. While the statement says Komen will not halt current funding, it does not necessarily guarantee future grants.

Brinker’s full statement is below, via the Dallas Morning News, which first broke the story:

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s politics.

Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public’s understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.

We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.

As The Blaze previously reported, the charity was accused of caving to anti-abortion activists opposed to funding Planned Parenthood because of the abortion services it provides.

Friday’s announcement is a dramatic about-face for the organization. On Wednesday, Brinker released a video vowing Komen for the Cure would “never bow down to political pressure.”

“The scurrilous accusations being hurled at this organization are profoundly hurtful to so many of us who put our heart, soul and lives into this organization,” she said. “But more importantly, they are a dangerous distraction from the work that still remains to be done in ridding the world of breast cancer.”

According to the Associated Press, the grants that Planned Parenthood affiliates used for breast exams and related services totaled $680,000 last year. At least one top Komen official quit over the decision to halt funding, and 26 U.S. senators signed a letter urging the charity to reconsider.

Both Komen and Planned Parenthood reported donation spikes in the aftermath of the initial announcement: Brinker said Thursday donations had been up 100 percent in the last two days, while Planned Parenthood reported bringing in about $650,000 in 24 hours. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg himself pledged $250,000 to Planned Parenthood in the wake of Komen’s decision.

This post has been updated since it was first published at the Blaze

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Interesting: Right to Life President: Komen Tied to Abortion Industry

The president of the National Right to Life Committee has penned a new column in which she says the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation is tied to the abortion industry by virtue of its support for Planned Parenthood.

Carol Tobias writes in Legatus, the magazine for Catholic business professionals, that it is natural for Americans to want to help Komen because of the connection most people have to breast cancer, which affects hundreds of thousands of women on an annual basis.

“Almost everyone in America knows a woman who has had breast cancer. Some of those beloved friends and family members may have died from it. So when an organization like Susan G. Komen for the Cure conducts fundraising projects for research, it’s difficult to say no,” Tobias writes. “We’re encouraged to help by buying a certain brand of yogurt or a certain soft drink. Pink ribbons pop up on products everywhere. We can buy items we would normally buy and feel good about helping find a cure.”

But Tobias questions the connection between Komen and Planned Parenthood.

“So if Komen’s mission is to find a cure for breast cancer, why are they giving huge sums of money to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider?” she asks. “According to its Form 990,Komen affiliates gave more than $550,000 to affiliates of Planned Parenthood in 2010. A year earlier, they donated over $731,000. Komen says the grants are used to fund breast exams and mammograms. However, numerous reports confirm that Planned Parenthood doesn’t do mammograms. What Planned Parenthood does do is abortion.”

Tobias says Planned Parenthood bills itself as a legitimate health care provider but it is really an abortion business, citing figures from its own annual reports showing abortion comprises a large percentage of what it does.

“The Planned Parenthood Federation of America has carefully crafted a public image as a protector of women’s health. PPFA is also the largest abortion chain in America. It is fully in the abortion business and its bottom line depends on performing more and more abortions,” Tobias writes. “According to PPFA’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, its affiliates performed 332,278 abortions in 2009 — about 27.4% of all abortions performed in the United States. That’s more than double the number that its affiliates performed in 1990, even as the total number of abortions performed in the U.S. dropped 25% during that period.”

“In fact, 12% of its clients receive abortion services, according to a February 2011 Planned Parenthood factsheet. Therefore, nearly one out of every eight women walking through the door of a Planned Parenthood clinic has an abortion. Of the services Planned Parenthood reported that would have involved pregnant women (abortion, prenatal care, adoption referrals), 97.6% were for abortion,” Tobias continues.

Komen defends its donations to Planned Parenthood by saying they only go for breast screenings (that women can do on their own or with a partner or friend) but Tobias says Komen is helping the abortion business build its customer base by getting women in the door for non-abortion reasons.

“Considering all the money that Planned Parenthood takes in, why in the world would Komen divert money that could be put toward breast cancer research to this abortion behemoth? Federal government grants to PPFA are, by law, not allowed to pay for abortion per se, but the money is certainly used to build infrastructure and promote the organization. Komen, too, says the funds it gives PPFA are not used for abortion, but it helps to bring new clients through the door,” the NRLC president says.

The Right to Life president also says Komen needs to begin educating women about the abortion-breast cancer link.

“Komen’s support of the nation’s largest abortion provider is ironic in that, while Komen works to find a cure for breast cancer, Planned Parenthood is providing a “service” that contributes to the increase of breast cancer. There is a substantial body of evidence to show that getting an abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. Joel Brind, Ph.D., one of the foremost researchers to make the abortion-breast-cancer link, estimates that upwards of 10,000 cases of breast cancer each year are attributable to induced abortion,” Tobias concludes. “Susan G. Komen for the Cure has created the public image of an organization doing good. Unfortunately, when you think Komen, you have to also think Planned Parenthood; and when you think Planned Parenthood, you have to think abortion.”

Source: LifeNews.com

Side Note:

I have just moved into a new neighborhood.  There is a woman’s clinic down the way that at first glance looked like an all purpose women’s health clinic, but since I walk by there almost daily I quickly realized that it is really an abortion clinic.

Then one day I walked by and there was a new sign:

To me there was something hauntingly troublesome about the sign. It is a sales pitch offering implied redemption for the women they pray upon.  They have now added a second one.

Do good women have abortions?  Of course they do. And in large part because of clinics like this and the agenda of planned parenthood.

Everyone who supports clinics like these and is considering an abortion for any reason really needs to do their due dilligence before going through this procedure:

• Read up on Margaret Sanger, the Founder of Planned Parenthood and her beliefs and goals.
• Read up and watch a few videos on abortion
• Check into adoption as an alternative.
• Really alk to someone who has had an abortion more than 5-years prior.
• Talk to a member of the clergy even if you are not a church-goer even a believer.
• Check out eugenics and the proponents therof, (using abortion, selective breeding ideas, vaccines and death panels)

Abortion is a decision that could haunt you the rest of your life.

And whether you want to think about it or not, you are taking a life… the life of your unborn child.

And there is a bigger agenda behind the abortion movement!

*Since the sign was put up a local church has adopted this clinic for 24/7 prayre vigial for 40-days and 40-nights.

Ask Marion~

Menopausal Belly Fat Linked with Testosterone

In middle-aged women, visceral fat, more commonly called belly fat, is known to be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but what causes visceral fat to accumulate?

The culprit probably is not age, as is commonly believed, but the change in hormone balance that occurs during the menopause transition, according to researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

“Of all the factors we analyzed that could possibly account for the increase in visceral fat during this period in a woman’s lifetime, levels of active testosterone proved to be the one most closely linked with abdominal fat,” said Imke Janssen, assistant professor of preventive medicine and the study’s lead investigator.

The study, which was published early online in the medical journal Obesity, included 359 women, ages 42 to 60, in menopausal transition. They were split evenly between blacks and whites.

Fat in the abdominal cavity was measured with CT scans, a more precise measurement than waist size. Blood tests were used to assess levels of testosterone and estradiol (the main form of estrogen). Medical histories covered other health factors possibly linked with an increase in visceral fat.

Statistical analyses showed that the level of “bioavailable” testosterone, or testosterone that is active in the body, was the strongest predictor of visceral fat.

A woman’s age did not correlate significantly with the amount of visceral fat. Nor did race or other cardiovascular risk factors. The level of estradiol also bore little relationship to the amount of visceral fat.

Visceral fat, surrounding internal organs around the waistline, is metabolically different from subcutaneous fat, located beneath the skin. Research has shown that visceral fat is a source of inflammation that contributes to premature atherosclerosis and risk of acute coronary syndrome.

The study’s findings extend Janssen's earlier research on testosterone’s link with what is called the metabolic syndrome during the menopausal transition, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2008. That study, examining women six years before and six years after their final menstrual periods, found that the rise in metabolic syndrome — a collection of risk factors for heart disease — corresponded with the rise in testosterone activity.

“For many years, it was thought that estrogen protected premenopausal women against cardiovascular disease and that the increased cardiovascular risk after menopause was related only to the loss of estrogen’s protective effect,” Janssen said. “But our studies suggest that in women, it is the change in the hormonal balance — specifically, the increase in active testosterone — that is predominantly responsible for visceral fat and for the increased risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

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4 Fibromyalgia Treatments That Work

You’re in pain all over, always tired and can’t sleep, yet your doctor can’t figure what’s wrong. It could be fibromyalgia, and the answer to treating it may really be in your head. Here are 4 treatments that work. Plus, find out how much you know about the mysterious illness with our quiz…

If fibromyalgia were a pastime, it would be The New York Times’ infamous Sunday crossword: a confounding, bedeviling, even exhausting puzzle. The disease – a complex illness marked by chronic muscle, tendon and ligament pain, fatigue and multiple tender points on the body – affects about 2% of Americans, most of them women.

Since the first clinical, controlled study of fibromyalgia was conducted nearly 30 years, doctors still haven’t been able to pinpoint a cause or find a definitive treatment.

Physicians and patients alike are frustrated. Countless women are told the pain must be in their head.

Identifying a Puzzling, Painful Disease
But experts are inching closer to the causes of fibromyalgia and treatment, thanks to maverick thinkers like Daniel Clauw, M.D., who saw clues where many did not.

In the late 1980s, many patients with lower back pain were referred to him.
“As it turned out, most of these people had pain in many areas other than the back, as well as fatigue, insomnia, and memory problems. They had fibromyalgia – unrecognized and undiagnosed, as it often was,” recalls Clauw, a professor of anesthesiology and medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and director of the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center there.

Fast-forward 20 years: Clauw is still at it, still excited. But he’s now one of a growing number of physicians and practitioners approaching the puzzle of fibromyalgia from a new angle – the pain. Aided by dramatic advances in brain imaging and mapping, they’re getting a clearer view of the disease.

“We may not know what causes fibromyalgia, but it absolutely exists,” says George Griffing, M.D., a professor of medicine at St. Louis University in Missouri.

Seeing Is Believing
In the 1950s, when fibromyalgia was first described, the illness was thought to be a rheumatologic disorder like lupus because it was characterized by musculoskeletal pain. Despite this hypothesis – or maybe because it was inaccurate – fibromyalgia remained difficult to treat for decades.

But a landmark 2002 study, published by Clauw in the medical journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, shed new light on the disease. Rather than being rooted in the muscles and joints, the current thinking revolves around pain and sensory "amplification," he says.

His research showed that fibromyalgia sufferers are doubly sensitive to pain.

Clauw produced scans to show that the brains of fibromyalgia sufferers display significant pain signals from finger squeezes so gentle that they barely register as unpleasant in people without the disease.

"It’s as if the volume control on pain and sensory processing is set too high in people with fibromyalgia," Clauw says. The level at which touch to the skin [or noise or odor] becomes painful or uncomfortable is much lower in someone with fibromyalgia than in someone without it.

The brain, he says, is the key to the puzzle and, by quieting it, you’ll treat and manage the illness more effectively than before.

4 Ways to Manage Fibromyalgia
Here are four ways to calm your mind and improve your quality of life with fibromyalgia:

1. Find a doctor who "gets it." If you’re sore all over, suffer overwhelming fatigue and have trouble sleeping but don’t know why, see a rheumatologist. Such specialists are best able to differentiate fibromyalgia from other illnesses with similar symptoms.

But if your diagnosis is clearly fibromyalgia, start “with a physician – any physician – who fully acknowledges that the disease exists,” Griffing says.

2. Carefully test available meds and treatments. Many studies have shown that anti-convulsants and antidepressants can lower the pain volume for people with fibromyalgia.

One study, reported in the January 2009 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), revealed that antidepressants may reduce pain, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbances and improve quality of life.

The study showed that these drugs worked but with varying success. Tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants such as Elavil or Pamelor provided the most pain relief. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can help with fatigue and depression.

Because there’s not enough evidence on the long-term effects of antidepressants, patients should be evaluated regularly to determine if the benefits outweigh adverse effects, according to the JAMA report.

Clauw adds that patients should systematically try a few medications – butslowly. “One of the biggest problems I see is that doctors and patients want to try too many things at once,” he says. So they can’t tell if something is working or whether a new symptom is a side effect of a treatment.

“There is no silver bullet – not yet,” says Griffing. The cocktail approach – a dash of pharmacology here, a dose of non-drug therapies there – has been proven to work.

Coming soon: Neurostimulatory therapies in which the brain or spinal cord is stimulated by electricity or magnets to reduce pain. Ask your doctor about it.

3. Be your own advocate. Learn as much as you can about the disease and the myriad ways you can manage it. How do you find out about options? Sites like the American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association, the National Fibromyalgia Partnership and Know Fibro, which Clauw helped develop, can help educate patients about non-drug approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy.

“They’re an excellent way for people with fibromyalgia to get the non-drug therapies that are rarely prescribed in routine clinical practice,” he says.

4. Retrain your brain. The key to coping with the illness is to manage your brain’s sensitivity to stimuli – which means, in part, “unlearning what you’ve always done," says Barbara Keddy, Ph.D., professor emerita in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Keddy, founder of the blog womenandfibromyalgia.com, has struggled with and studied fibromyalgia for 40 years.

Living in the moment is one effective tool, she says. “It means being constantly aware of how your body is responding to different stimuli in the moment and working to breathe deeply, engaging your diaphragm and moving your body in different ways to subvert the stress response.”

For more information on this strategy, called the "relaxation response," check out relaxationresponse.org.

How Much Do You Know About Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is one of the world’s oldest medical mysteries. How much do you know about the illness? Find out now.

Source: By Megan Othersen Gorman, Special to Lifescript - Published June 25, 200

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

The 20 Cancer Symptoms Women Are Most Likely to Ignore

Don't rely on routine tests alone to protect you from cancer. It's just as important to listen to your body and notice anything that's different, odd, or unexplainable. Here are some signs that are commonly overlooked:

1. Wheezing or shortness of breath
One of the first signs many lung cancer patients remember noticing is the inability to catch their breath.

2. Chronic cough or chest pain
Several types of cancer, including leukemia and lung tumors, can cause symptoms that mimic a bad cough or bronchitis. Some lung cancer patients report chest pain that extends up into the shoulder or down the arm.

3. Frequent fevers or infections
These can be signs of leukemia, a cancer of the blood cells that starts in the bone marrow. Leukemia causes the marrow to produce abnormal white blood cells, sapping your body's infection-fighting capabilities.

4. Difficulty swallowing
Trouble swallowing is most commonly associated with esophageal or throat cancer, and is sometimes one of the first signs of lung cancer, too.

5. Swollen lymph nodes or lumps on the neck, underarm, or groin
Enlarged lymph nodes indicate changes in the lymphatic system, which can be a sign of cancer.

6. Excessive bruising or bleeding that doesn't stop
This symptom usually suggests something abnormal happening with the platelets and red blood cells, which can be a sign of leukemia. Over time, leukemia cells crowd out red blood cells and platelets, impairing your blood's ability to carry oxygen and clot.

7. Weakness and fatigue
Generalized fatigue and weakness is a symptom of so many different kinds of cancer that you'll need to look at it in combination with other symptoms. But any time you feel exhausted without explanation and it doesn't respond to getting more sleep, talk to your doctor.

8. Bloating or abdominal weight gain
Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer overwhelmingly report unexplained abdominal bloating that came on fairly suddenly and continued on and off over a long period of time.

9. Feeling full and unable to eat
This is another tip-off to ovarian cancer; women say they have no appetite and can't eat, even when they haven't eaten for some time.

10. Pelvic or abdominal pain
Pain and cramping in the pelvis and abdomen can go hand in hand with the bloating that often signals ovarian cancer. Leukemia can also cause abdominal pain resulting from an enlarged spleen.

11. Rectal bleeding or blood in stool
This is a common result of diagnosing colorectal cancer. Blood in the toilet alone is reason to call your doctor and schedule a colonoscopy.

12. Unexplained weight loss
Weight loss is an early sign of colon and other digestive cancers; it's also a sign of cancer that's spread to the liver, affecting your appetite and the ability of your body to rid itself of wastes.

13. Upset stomach or stomachache
Stomach cramps or frequent upset stomachs may indicate colorectal cancer.

14. A red, sore, or swollen breast
These symptoms can indicate inflammatory breast cancer. Call your doctor about any unexplained changes to your breasts.

15. Nipple changes
One of the most common changes women remember noticing before being diagnosed with breast cancer is a nipple that began to appear flattened, inverted, or turned sideways.

16. Unusually heavy or painful periods or bleeding between periods
Many women report this as the tip-off to endometrial or uterine cancer. Ask for a transvaginal ultrasound if you suspect something more than routine heavy periods.

17. Swelling of facial features
Some patients with lung cancer report noticing puffiness, swelling, or redness in the face. Small cell lung tumors commonly block blood vessels in the chest, preventing blood from flowing freely from your head and face.

18. A sore or skin lump that doesn't heal, becomes crusty, or bleeds easily
Familiarize yourself with the different types of skin cancer -- melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma -- and be vigilant about checking skin all over your body for odd-looking growths or spots.

19. Changes in nails
Unexplained changes to the fingernails can be a sign of several types of cancer. A brown or black streak or dot under the nail can indicate skin cancer, while newly discovered "clubbing"-- enlargement of the ends of the fingers with nails that curve down over the tips -- can be a sign of lung cancer. Pale or white nails can sometimes be a sign of liver cancer.

20. Pain in the back or lower right side
Many cancer patients say this was the first sign of liver cancer. Breast cancer is also often diagnosed via back pain, which can occur when a breast tumor presses backward into the chest, or when the cancer spreads to the spine or ribs.

Whether you are a man or a woman, it’s important to watch for any unusual changes in your body and energy levels in order to detect any signs of cancer early on. The sooner you notice there’s a problem, the sooner you can begin to take the steps necessary to promote healing within your body.

Of course, ideally you should follow an anti-cancer lifestyle even before you notice any symptoms, as prevention is the best route when it comes to most chronic diseases. It is not unusual for 10 or more years to pass between exposure to a cancer-causing agent (tobacco, chemicals, radiation, cell phones, poor nutrition, etc.) and detectable cancer.

So during this time you have a chance to alter the progression of the disease.
Cancer is actually a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. The “cure” lies in controlling this abnormal growth and stopping the spread.

Your body has a remarkable capacity to do just that -- to heal -- and that ability is fueled largely by your lifestyle. If you eat well, exercise, get enough sleep and sun exposure and address your emotional stress, your body should be able to maintain a healthy balance.

The problem with cancer often lies not only with ignoring these health principles but also with the invasive and highly risky treatments that conventional medicine relies on to treat it -- surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

This may surprise you to hear, but a recent landmark study found some cancers, even invasive cancers, may go away without treatment, and it may happen more often than anyone thought.

On the contrary, many experts now say cancer patients are more likely to die from cancer treatments like chemotherapy than the cancer itself.

The alarming rates of cancer deaths across the world -- cancer has a mortality rate of 90 percent, according to Italian oncologist Dr. Tullio Simoncini -- speak volumes about the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of these treatments, yet they are still regarded as the gold standard of cancer care.

Source: Dr. Mercola/MSN Health

Posted - True Health Is True Wealth

Gestational Diabetes: What to Do After Delivery

Expectant mothers who develop pregnancy-related or "gestational" diabetes often experience concerns and unnecessary anxiety following a healthy deliveries

Expectant mothers who develop pregnancy-related or "gestational" diabetes often experience concerns and unnecessary anxiety following a healthy delivery. Some of the common questions women with gestational diabetes may have include: "Will my blood sugar return to normal right away?" "How soon after delivery should I undergo glucose monitoring?" "How can I avoid developing type 2 diabetes?"

The answers are rarely straightforward and uniform for all women, but diabetes-care professionals do offer some universal insights. According to studies, 90% of women with gestational diabetes will experience normalized blood sugar almost immediately after their baby is born.

However, an estimated 5% do go on to develop type 2 diabetes. As a result, it has been recommended that women with gestational diabetes get their blood glucose checked approximately 6-8 weeks after delivery and consult their physician about diet and physical activity recommendations for lowering diabetes risk.

Source: LifeScript

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

10 Symptoms Women Shouldn't Ignore

   Women's Health  

1. Acute Fatigue 

Let’s face it: Women are used to being tired. Who doesn’t have a book-length “to do” list? Take car to mechanic, go to bank, pick up cat food, take children to soccer game, finish project at work, get mechanic, check on Mom and Dad… and on and on. Overload leads to fatigue, but when low energy and exhaustion are chronic and continue for more than two weeks, see a doctor.

Acute fatigue can be a difficult symptom to diagnose, Kinzy says, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. It can indicate hypothyroidism, which can be treated with a hormone, or anemia, which is treatable with iron or vitamin B12 shots. More seriously, it can be a sign of depression, sleep apnea,heart disease or even lung cancer.

2. Rectal Bleeding
Women who have had hemorrhoids while pregnant might dismiss rectal bleeding as a sign of a new hemorrhoid and not take it seriously, says Ruth Stewart, M.D., assistant professor at Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University. Rectal bleeding can indeed indicate a hemorrhoid, but it can also be a sign of colon or rectal cancer, which is curable if caught early, she says.

If you experience rectal bleeding, you should see a doctor right away. And even if it’s just a hemorrhoid, it still needs to be treated.

3. Abdominal Bloating and Pain, Change in Bowel Habits
Like rectal bleeding, abdominal bloating and pain or a change in bowel habits can indicate something serious like colon cancer. These symptoms also can be a sign of ovarian cancer, inflammatory bowel syndrome or diverticulitis. 

Diverticulitis occurs when you have small pouches that bulge outward in your colon (diverticulosis) that get infected. Diverticulitis can be treated with antibiotics but sometimes requires surgery. If you experience abdominal bloating or a persistent change in bowel habits, such as constipation, make an appointment with your doctor.

4. Pain or Discomfort in Chest
Heart disease may be the No.1 killer of American women, but “most women still don’t think about heart disease happening to them,” Kinzy says. So they’ll neglect to have a heart evaluation because they’re positive it’s not their heart. “Then it ends up being about their heart."

The signs of coronary artery disease, which can lead to a heart attack, are typically much more subtle in women than in men. 

“Angina isn’t always obvious in women. It’s not the classic ‘elephant sitting on my chest’ feeling,” Stewart says. “Sometimes it’s just discomfort or a ‘not well’ feeling.”

Women might misdiagnose the discomfort as acid reflux or a “burpy” sensation. One of Stewart’s former patients said the feeling was akin to having a balloon inside her chest. She assumed it was acid reflux, took a Maalox and went to work; a few hours later, she came into the hospital having a heart attack. If you’re having trouble exerting yourself, have some discomfort or pain in your chest, or you’re just not feeling right, see a doctor immediately.

5. Heart Palpitations 
Heart palpitations are often related to stress, but if persistent, they can also be a sign of atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heartbeat. If you don’t seek treatment for atrial fibrillation, you increase your risk of having a stroke, especially if you have other risk factors for heart disease, which include an abdominal girth of more than 35 inches in women, high cholesterol, high bloodpressure or being a smoker.

6. Shortness of Breath

Shortness of breath is yet another symptom of heart disease. But it can also be a sign of other diseases, such as pneumonia, asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer or even a blood clot. These are all very serious, so if you’re having continual or increased problems breathing, make an appointment to be evaluated.

7. Pelvic Pain During Intercourse

It’s not normal to have pelvic pain during sex, so pay attention if this symptom occurs. If pelvic pain happens during deep penetration, it could indicate pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), endometriosis, an ovarian cyst or cervicitis, which is an infection of the cervix. Pelvic pain upon entry can mean a vaginal infection or a hormone deficiency. If you do experience pelvic pain during intercourse, don’t shrug it off – go to the doctor. An infection that goes untreated can lead to infertility.

8. Change in the Appearance of a Mole

Melanoma (skin cancer) is often linked to a change in moles, so check your moles and freckles regularly for any difference in their appearance.

Follow the ABCD method recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation and the American Academy of Dermatology to help detect possible problems. If the mole is A, asymmetrical; B, has uneven borders; C, has changed in color; or D, changed in diameter, see a dermatologist immediately. Any changes in your skin, such as a growth or a sore that won’t heal, are also potential indicators of melanoma.

9. Breast Lumps

Examine your breasts monthly to detect any new masses or lumps and have a yearly breast exam. It might sound funny, but you should know your breasts intimately. That way, you’ll be able to recognize an unusual mass or lump and have it evaluated right away. 

Potentially cancerous lumps usually feel like small stones or rocks in your breast, Kinzy says. Non-cancerous lumps are typically more tender and change with yourmenstrual cycle. But this is not always the case, so check with your doctor if a new lump appears.

10. Swelling in Legs or Persistent Pain in Joints 

If you notice swelling in one or both legs, particularly after you’ve been traveling in a car or airplane, seek a doctor. Swelling in one leg can mean a blood clot, while swelling in both legs can be a sign of kidney or liver disease. Chronic or constant pain in joints could mean something more serious than arthritis, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, which may require steroid treatment.

Source:  By Alice Daniel, Special to LifeScript  - May 10, 2009

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth