 |
 |
make mothering.com your home page |
| shopping guide | ||
editorial columns
family tools
community features
 |
news bulletins  june
2008 |
- Ricki Lake Defends Women's Right to Choose Homebirth
- CCFC Keeps Up the Fight
- Edwina Froehlich Passes On
- Friends of the Earth Releases Killer Cribs Report
- TransYouth Family Allies Calls for Survey Participation
Article continues below
Ricki Lake Defends Women's Right to Choose Homebirth
The Business of Being Born (BOBB) is causing a stir in the medical community. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is so concerned about Ricki's message that they plan to introduce a resolution to the American Medical Association (AMA) to create legislation in support of hospital births, suggesting that they are the only safe place for a woman to give birth.
As the BOBB team explains in a recent press release, Medical News Today recently reported that "about 8.2% of infants born in the US in 2005 had low birth weights, the highest percentage since 1968." American infant mortality rates continue to be high enough to put us in 30th place in the world. Twenty-two percent of pregnancies are induced, and in only four years, the maternal mortality rate has risen above 10 per 100,000. "To us," say the BOBB team, "these seem like the troubling trends, not homebirth."
It appears that the BOBB Team has become a threat to the multibillion-dollar birth business, so much so that medical associations are willing to disregard women's voices and compromise their rights to choose where they give birth.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) continues to pressure the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to stop marketing violent movies such as The Dark Knight and Iron Man to preschool-aged children.
The CCFC writes on their website: "Burger King Iron Man toy giveaways for preschoolers. Indiana Jones Lunchables. Incredible Hulk toys for children as young as three. The Dark Knight Cheerios. The MPAA could stop this onslaught but they won't."
The Federal Trade Commission has asked the MPAA to develop a policy that ensures that PG-13 movies will not be marketed in a way inconsistent with their rating.
Now you can also express your concern and ask the MPAA to protect small children from violent movies. Visit the CCFC website for more information: salsa.democracyinaction.org.
Edwina Froehlich, cofounder of La Leche League International and coauthor of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, died at 5:00 AM on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at Northwest Community hospital in Arlington Heights after suffering a stroke on May 25.
In 1956, Edwina Froehlich and six other women met in Franklin Park, Illinois to support one another through breastfeeding their babies. The group quickly grew and became La Leche League International. "In those days you didn't mention breast in print," Froehlich has said. "We knew that if we were ever going to get anything in the paper we would have to find a name that wouldn't actually tell people what our organization was about." La Leche League International now has groups in every US state and in 68 different countries. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has been translated into eight languages and Braille.
Edwina has done in her lifetime what many of us can only hope to accomplish: she has helped enrich the lives of thousands of mothers and babies.
You can make a donation to the Edwina Froehlich Memorial Fund here: www.kintera.org/AutoGen/Simple/Donor.asp
You can light a candle in her name here: www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=911543
Article continues belowFriends of the Earth Releases Killer Cribs Report
According to Friends of the Earth, 56 percent of all infant carriers, 44 percent of all car seats, 40 percent of all strollers, and 19 percent of all portable cribs were found to have high levels of halogenated fire retardants.
Halogenated fire retardants have been linked to serious health disorders, such as cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption, neurological and reproductive dysfunction, and learning disabilities, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Once they enter a human or animal body, halogenated fire retardants tend to stay there and accumulate, impacting the body's normal functioning and/or causing disease. As exposure increases, the chemical build-up in the body increases.
For more information about Friends of the Earth, the Killer Cribs: Protecting Infants and Children from Toxic Exposure report, or to find out how to take action, visit the Friends of the Earth website: http://action.foe.org/t/3882/content.jsp?content_KEY=4205
TransYouth Family Allies Calls for Survey Participation
Calling all parents, grandparents and caregivers of gender variant and transgender children—we need your participation!
TransYouth Family Allies (TYFA) is sponsoring an online survey to gather statistical information about our children and families. Your participation is confidential and anonymous. You may answer as many or as few questions as you are comfortable with. The purpose of the survey is to gather data from parents, grandparents, or primary caregivers of gender-variant and transgender children under the age of 18. This includes children who self-identify as transgender, both genders, a third gender, or neither gender.
From this survey we hope to gather information regarding the prevalence of families dealing with gender expression difference, the age of its onset, and if any type of social or medical transition has been pursued.
One of the obstacles TYFA often faces in our educational workshops is the lack of statistics to support the work we are doing. The data gathered will enable us to publish more current and accurate information about our children and families, as well as support our requests for more formal/comprehensive studies.
Please forward the survey link to families with gender-different children and to organizations, counselors, medical practitioners, social service personnel, or anyone who may come in contact with these children/families. The broader the response, the more useful the data.
Please view and take the survey: www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=909229
Featured Product
Advertisement
