2007 March Archive | Feministing

Another HPV vaccine on the way

GlaxoSmithKline has filed for FDA approval of its HPV vaccine, Cervarix. It would compete with Merck’s Gardasil, which has been on the market since June.

GlaxoSmithKline counters that Cervarix is more powerful and may prevent up to 80 percent of cancers, thanks to the company’s proprietary adjuvant, AS04, a key booster ingredient. It also is funding an unusual head-to-head comparison to try to prove Cervarix is more potent than Gardasil.

GSK has not announced how expensive Cervarix will be, but Gardasil costs $360 for the three-shot regimen. I had high hopes that the competition would bring the price down, but sadly it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen:

Jean StÃ©phenne, president of GSK Biologicals, the company’s Belgium-based vaccine division, said in ...

GlaxoSmithKline has filed for FDA approval of its HPV vaccine, Cervarix. It would compete with Merck’s Gardasil, which has been on the market since June.

GlaxoSmithKline counters that Cervarix is more powerful and may prevent up to ...

By Ann • 17 years ago

Keroack’s “private practice” is his crisis-pregnancy center

Looks like “Dr.” Eric Keroack resigned because the Massachusetts Office of Medicaid is investigating his private medical practice.
MassHealth officials aren’t releasing the details on the investigation. The AP reports that his practice is based in Marblehead, MA. And indeed, that’s the address on his state registration: 14 Willow Rd., Marblehead, MA. But when I called the phone number listed with that address, I got what was clearly a home answering machine, not a doctor’s office. And a simple reverse-phone lookup shows it is indeed a residential address — not a medical practice.
So where is Keroack’s private practice that is under investigation, if not in Marblehead? The address listed for his practice by the hospital ...

By Jessica • 17 years ago

That’s one way to get out of alimony

This is just lovely:

Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued Tuesday in an effort to end the payments. But the ex-wife’s attorneys said the operation doesn’t alter the agreement.

Roach says, “I have a right to move forward with my life. I wish no harm and hardship to that person…They can be the person they want to be, to find happiness and peace within themselves. I have the right to do the same. But I can’t rest because I’m paying a lot of money every month.” Talk about a class act.

This is just lovely:

Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued Tuesday in an effort to end the payments. But the ...

By Jessica • 17 years ago

And we’re off…

If we’re a little slow on posting today, it’s because Vanessa, Samhita, Celina and I are on our way to the WAM conference in Cambridge. It will be super fun for multiple reasons: we’re on cool panels with awesome women, networks galore, and this will be the first time ever I get to see my book printed up (apparently Center for New Words got it early).
So be on the lookout this weekend for some WAM live-blogging and please be patient with us today as we get our shit together and travel to MA.
Thanks!

If we’re a little slow on posting today, it’s because Vanessa, Samhita, Celina and I are on our way to the WAM conference in Cambridge. It will be super fun for multiple reasons: we’re ...

By Jessica • 17 years ago

BREAKING: Keroack resigns!

I have it on good authority that “Dr.” Eric Keroack, the abstinence-only nut and cartoon enthusiast who was appointed by the Bush administration to oversee reproductive rights funding is resigning.
More info as I get it…

By Jessica • 17 years ago

It doesn’t need to be legal to be commercialized

Contributed by Miriam Zoila PÃ©rez, Radical Doula
This article in last week’s NY Times brings up some hotly debated issues in the progressive LGBTQ movement. In reaction to the way that mainstream gay political movements have been overtaken by the fight for gay marriage, some radical activists have asked the question: Why marriage?
Activists like Mattilda Bernstein have pointed out that gay marriage is really an issue for mostly upper-class, white and privileged members of the gay community. Itâ€™s they who suffer from the tax penalties of not being legally married, and worry about how their inheritances will be passed on to their partners. She asks, shouldn’t we invest our resources ...

By Vanessa • 17 years ago

More Schlafly: Married women can’t get raped.

Believe it.
Last night at Bates College, Phyllis Schlafly gave a lecture titled, “Conservatism vs. Feminism: The Great Debate” where at one point she contended that a woman can’t get raped by her husband: “By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.”
The fact that this woman has any merit within the political sphere is beyond me.

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Mexico City legalizing abortion?

Lawmakers started hearings recently on a proposal to legalize abortion in Mexico City.

The city’s Legislative Assembly is not scheduled to vote until mid-April, but passage seems likely. Mexican feminists say the legalization of abortion in this city of 8 million would be a landmark for the Latin American women’s movement.
“We’ve been working for this day for 36 years, and it’s almost here,” said Marta Lamas, one of the nation’s leading feminists and founder of the nonprofit Reproductive Choice Information Group.

Illegal abortion is a widespread problem in Mexico–and much of Latin America–and if this proposal passes, it would allow women to travel to the city to obtain safe, legal abortions. Fingers crossed.

Lawmakers started hearings recently on a proposal to legalize abortion in Mexico City.

The city’s Legislative Assembly is not scheduled to vote until mid-April, but passage seems likely. Mexican feminists say the legalization of abortion in this ...