Africa: New Who/ILO Guide Urges Greater Safeguards to Protect Health Workers
21 FEBRUARY 2022
World Health Organization (Geneva)
PRESS RELEASE
The World Health Organization (WHO) and The International Labour Organization (ILO) have published a new guide on developing and implementing stronger occupational health and safety programmes for health workers, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to exert great pressure on them.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the health sector was among the most hazardous sectors to work in- Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health"
"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the health sector was among the most hazardous sectors to work in," said Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO. "Only a few healthcare facilities had programmes in place for managing health and safety at work. Health workers suffered from infections, musculoskeletal disorders and injuries, workplace violence and harassment, burnout, and allergies from the poor working environment."
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken an additional heavy toll on health workers and demonstrated dangerous neglect of their health, safety and wellbeing. More than one-in-three health facilities lack hygiene stations at the point of care. Fewer than one-in-six countries had in place a national policy on a healthy and safe working environment in the health sector.
"COVID-19 has exposed the cost of this systemic lack of safeguards for the health, safety and wellbeing of health workers. In the first 18 months of the pandemic, about 115,500 health workers died from COVID-19," said James Campbell, Director WHO Health Workforce Department."Sickness absence and exhaustion exacerbated pre-existing shortages of health workers and undermined the capacities of health systems to respond to the increased demand for care and prevention during the crisis," he added. "This guide provides recommendations on how to learn from this experience and better protect our health workers."
WHO and ILO recommend developing and implementing sustainable programmes for managing occupational health and safety for health workers at national, sub-national and health facility levels. Such programmes should cover all occupational hazards - infectious, ergonomic, physical, chemical, and psycho-social.
The guide also outlines the roles that governments, employers, workers and occupational health services should play in promoting and protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of health workers. It emphasizes that continuous investment, training, monitoring and collaboration are essential for sustaining progress in implementing the programmes.
"Effective mechanisms should be put in place to ensure continuous collaboration between employers, managers and health workers, with the aim of protecting health and safety at work" said Alette van Leur, Director, ILO Sectoral Policies Department. "Health workers, like all other workers, should enjoy their right to decent work, safe and healthy working environments and social protection for health care, sickness absence and occupational diseases and injuries."
Countries that have developed and are actively implementing occupational health and safety programmes for health workers have experienced reductions in work-related injuries and diseases and sickness absence, as well as improvements in the work environment, work productivity and retention of health workers.
"Such programmes are a core element for the effective management of occupational safety and health, as informed by ILO Convention No. 187, and provide an opportunity for coordinated action by all stakeholders through social dialogue towards common objectives for promoting decent work in the health sector and increasing the resilience of health institutions," said Vera Paquete-Perdigao, Director, ILO Governance and Tripartism Department.
WHO and ILO will continue to provide guidance and assistance to countries to develop and implement occupational health and safety programmes for health workers.
Note to editors:
The 74th World Health Assembly resolution on Protecting, safeguarding and investing in the health and care workforce, requests the Director-General "to engage Member States and all relevant stakeholders" in the development of a "global health and care worker compact", consisting of a succinct compilation based on existing documents of relevant international organizations. The compact which will be discussed at the World Health Assembly in May 2022, will include the applicable instruments on occupational health and safety.
Read the original article on WHO.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
China, Russia arming Myanmar junta, UN expert says
The military junta is still receiving fighters jets and armored vehicles used against civilians since last year's coup, the UN's special rapporteur to Myanmar has said.
The United Nations expert on Myanmar has said that China and Russia are among those arming Myanmar's military junta.
Thomas Andrews, a former US congressman serving in the independent post, said on Tuesday that the two countries were providing the junta with fighter jets and armored vehicles.
"Despite the evidence of the military junta's atrocity crimes being committed with impunity since launching a coup last year, UN Security Council members Russia and China continue to provide the Myanmar military junta with numerous fighter jets, armored vehicles," he said in a statement.
Andrews also named Serbia among the weapons vendors.
"During this same period, Serbia has authorized rockets and artillery for export to the Myanmar military," he said.
Andrews called on the UN security council to halt the arms supply.
"It should be incontrovertible that weapons used to kill civilians should no longer be transferred to Myanmar," he stressed.
He also urged that the military's access to oil and gas and foreign exchange reserves be cut and called for preventing states and private sector from buying resources such as timber and rare earths products when funds are funneled to the junta.
dvv,rt (AFP, Reuters)
The military junta is still receiving fighters jets and armored vehicles used against civilians since last year's coup, the UN's special rapporteur to Myanmar has said.
The United Nations expert on Myanmar has said that China and Russia are among those arming Myanmar's military junta.
Thomas Andrews, a former US congressman serving in the independent post, said on Tuesday that the two countries were providing the junta with fighter jets and armored vehicles.
"Despite the evidence of the military junta's atrocity crimes being committed with impunity since launching a coup last year, UN Security Council members Russia and China continue to provide the Myanmar military junta with numerous fighter jets, armored vehicles," he said in a statement.
Andrews also named Serbia among the weapons vendors.
"During this same period, Serbia has authorized rockets and artillery for export to the Myanmar military," he said.
Andrews called on the UN security council to halt the arms supply.
"It should be incontrovertible that weapons used to kill civilians should no longer be transferred to Myanmar," he stressed.
He also urged that the military's access to oil and gas and foreign exchange reserves be cut and called for preventing states and private sector from buying resources such as timber and rare earths products when funds are funneled to the junta.
dvv,rt (AFP, Reuters)
British prisoner's sketches offer lighthearted take on life during Japanese Occupation 80 years ago
His drawings are proof of the resilience and resourcefulness of prisoners of war.
Tanya Ong | February 18, 2022
This year, Singapore commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore and the Japanese Occupation. Over the course of this week, Mothership will be republishing stories that highlight the key events that marked one of the darkest moments in Singapore's history.
During the Japanese Occupation, the Imperial Japanese Army held numerous prisoners of war (POWs) and internees at Changi Prison and several camps.
Former police inspector William R.M. Haxworth, an internee at Changi Prison and Sime Road Camp, was among them.
During his time there, he secretly drew over 300 small paintings and sketches.
His artworks give us a glimpse into life in the POW camps. They not only document the difficult living conditions but often provide a light-hearted (and sometimes humorous) spin on the prisoners' daily lives.
People came to know about Haxworth and his drawings when his wife donated his entire set of sketches to the National Archives of Singapore in 1986.
We share some of them here.
Resourcefulness
Haxworth's drawings are proof of resilience and resourcefulness shown by people in times of war and shortage.
When faced with a lack of art materials, Haxworth used whatever he could lay his hands on to create various sketches and watercolour paintings.
His drawings are proof of the resilience and resourcefulness of prisoners of war.
Tanya Ong | February 18, 2022
This year, Singapore commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore and the Japanese Occupation. Over the course of this week, Mothership will be republishing stories that highlight the key events that marked one of the darkest moments in Singapore's history.
During the Japanese Occupation, the Imperial Japanese Army held numerous prisoners of war (POWs) and internees at Changi Prison and several camps.
Former police inspector William R.M. Haxworth, an internee at Changi Prison and Sime Road Camp, was among them.
During his time there, he secretly drew over 300 small paintings and sketches.
His artworks give us a glimpse into life in the POW camps. They not only document the difficult living conditions but often provide a light-hearted (and sometimes humorous) spin on the prisoners' daily lives.
People came to know about Haxworth and his drawings when his wife donated his entire set of sketches to the National Archives of Singapore in 1986.
We share some of them here.
Resourcefulness
Haxworth's drawings are proof of resilience and resourcefulness shown by people in times of war and shortage.
When faced with a lack of art materials, Haxworth used whatever he could lay his hands on to create various sketches and watercolour paintings.
"Internees at Changi Prison," from NAS
His drawings also document the resourcefulness of the internees regarding footwear.
For instance, bits of a shoe would be cut off if the shoe size was too small:
His drawings also document the resourcefulness of the internees regarding footwear.
For instance, bits of a shoe would be cut off if the shoe size was too small:
Photo from NAS
While some made modifications to canvas shoes "for the purpose of coolness," there were also some who did not wear any shoes.
While some made modifications to canvas shoes "for the purpose of coolness," there were also some who did not wear any shoes.
Photo from NAS
Harsh conditions
Haxworth's drawings serve as a record of life as an internee, including the harsh conditions that they lived through.
For instance, in a piece called "Changi Comforts", he drew a series of simple objects which were considered to be objects of comfort during that time.
These included stools, fruits and cigarettes — things that could easily be taken for granted in everyday life.
Harsh conditions
Haxworth's drawings serve as a record of life as an internee, including the harsh conditions that they lived through.
For instance, in a piece called "Changi Comforts", he drew a series of simple objects which were considered to be objects of comfort during that time.
These included stools, fruits and cigarettes — things that could easily be taken for granted in everyday life.
Photo from NAS
Internees also had to endure bed bug infestations.
Internees also had to endure bed bug infestations.
Photo from NAS
Haxworth also stated that the communal toilets had many advantages, but "only those living adjacent to or nearby fully appreciated the disadvantages." Due to overcrowding and unhygienic conditions, one can only imagine the state of the communal toilets.
Haxworth also stated that the communal toilets had many advantages, but "only those living adjacent to or nearby fully appreciated the disadvantages." Due to overcrowding and unhygienic conditions, one can only imagine the state of the communal toilets.
Photo from NAS
Due to the rough living conditions, many of the internees transformed from gaunt figures to mere skin and bones by the end of the war.
Mischievous spin
Despite these circumstances, Haxworth managed to find humour in many situations. Some of his drawings took a lighthearted approach. One drawing was of internees getting bitten by sea lice:
Due to the rough living conditions, many of the internees transformed from gaunt figures to mere skin and bones by the end of the war.
Mischievous spin
Despite these circumstances, Haxworth managed to find humour in many situations. Some of his drawings took a lighthearted approach. One drawing was of internees getting bitten by sea lice:
Photo from NAS
Another cheekily portrayed the back view of a naked internee, whom Haxworth called "the internee who would not conform":
Another cheekily portrayed the back view of a naked internee, whom Haxworth called "the internee who would not conform":
Photo from NAS
In a piece called "Confessions of a member of the kitchen staff", Haxworth revealed that internees who worked in the kitchen secretly plundered the food stock.
In fact, they were bribed (with food) to not overdo it.
In a piece called "Confessions of a member of the kitchen staff", Haxworth revealed that internees who worked in the kitchen secretly plundered the food stock.
In fact, they were bribed (with food) to not overdo it.
Photo from NAS
Haxworth's creative artworks are a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the people who survived the difficult conditions of war.
You can view his works at the National Archives Online.
Top photos adapted from sketchs by William Haxwoth, via NAS. This article was originally published as "British prisoner's artworks offer rare lighthearted take on life under the Japanese" in 2017.
Haxworth's creative artworks are a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the people who survived the difficult conditions of war.
You can view his works at the National Archives Online.
Top photos adapted from sketchs by William Haxwoth, via NAS. This article was originally published as "British prisoner's artworks offer rare lighthearted take on life under the Japanese" in 2017.
Indonesian ambassador to M'sia claims domestic workers face 'modern-day slavery' in country
Hermono also claimed that the number of cases handled by the Indonesian embassy were a fraction of the actual number of incidents.
Matthias Ang | February 22, 2022
Indonesia's ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, has claimed that domestic workers from his country face "modern-day slavery" and "forced labour".
In an interview with Malaysian media Free Malaysia Today (FMT), Hermono said that maids were more likely to face abuse as they worked alone and lived in the houses of their employers.
He also listed out various abuses that Indonesian domestic workers had been subjected to in Malaysia, including:
Multiple cases of domestic workers working for their employers with no pay, sometimes for more than a decade,]
Having their identification papers confiscated by their employers,
Long working hours, with no off days, and
Physical abuse.
The ambassador added that in 2021, the embassy provided help for a total of 206 cases, with over RM2 million (S$642,200) paid off by the employers.
There are also more than 40 cases currently before the courts.
As for 2022, the embassy has already assisted 16 cases thus far, and facilitated the return of over RM300,000 (S$96,337) in unpaid wages.
He added, "We have domestic workers in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but we don’t have serious problems like here (in Malaysia). So why do we have these problems here?"
Cases handled by embassy are fraction of real number
Hermono also claimed that the number of cases handled by the Indonesian embassy were a fraction of the actual number of incidents.
According to the ambassador, many Indonesian domestic workers either could not flee from their employers or faced challenges in raising their case to the embassy's attention.
FMT further quoted him as saying, "They’re warned that if they run away, the police will catch them and the immigration will send them to their depot. These kinds of threats are pure elements of forced labour."
Hopeful that upcoming signing of memorandum will address the issue
The ambassador acknowledged Malaysia's government for coming up with a national plan on forced labour however, noting that that it showed a recognition of the issue.
The ambassador also expressed his hope that the upcoming signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Malaysia and Indonesia will provide better protections for domestic workers.
Hermono elaborated that the MoU will include a "one-channel system", under the control of Indonesia, which will allow it to keep track of the whereabouts of domestic workers and maintain communication with them.
Called in by Malaysia's Foreign Ministry to clarify comments
According to The Star, Indonesia has stopped the flow of domestic workers to Malaysia, with its resumption contingent on the signing of an MoU regarding the recruitment and placement of such workers.
Bernama further reported that following the interview, Hermono was summoned by Malaysia's Foreign Ministry to clarify his remarks, specifically those pertaining to the MoU.
In a statement released on Feb. 21, the foreign ministry said that any issues which have been raised will be channelled to the respective ministries or agencies.
The ministry said, "Such an act is important to avoid any misunderstanding and confusion among the public."
In addition, following the meeting, an "understanding" has been reached between the two parties, to continue with a "positive and constructive" approach in addressing the issue of domestic workers' recruitment and their protection, the ministry added.
Hermono also claimed that the number of cases handled by the Indonesian embassy were a fraction of the actual number of incidents.
Matthias Ang | February 22, 2022
Indonesia's ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, has claimed that domestic workers from his country face "modern-day slavery" and "forced labour".
In an interview with Malaysian media Free Malaysia Today (FMT), Hermono said that maids were more likely to face abuse as they worked alone and lived in the houses of their employers.
He also listed out various abuses that Indonesian domestic workers had been subjected to in Malaysia, including:
Multiple cases of domestic workers working for their employers with no pay, sometimes for more than a decade,]
Having their identification papers confiscated by their employers,
Long working hours, with no off days, and
Physical abuse.
The ambassador added that in 2021, the embassy provided help for a total of 206 cases, with over RM2 million (S$642,200) paid off by the employers.
There are also more than 40 cases currently before the courts.
As for 2022, the embassy has already assisted 16 cases thus far, and facilitated the return of over RM300,000 (S$96,337) in unpaid wages.
He added, "We have domestic workers in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but we don’t have serious problems like here (in Malaysia). So why do we have these problems here?"
Cases handled by embassy are fraction of real number
Hermono also claimed that the number of cases handled by the Indonesian embassy were a fraction of the actual number of incidents.
According to the ambassador, many Indonesian domestic workers either could not flee from their employers or faced challenges in raising their case to the embassy's attention.
FMT further quoted him as saying, "They’re warned that if they run away, the police will catch them and the immigration will send them to their depot. These kinds of threats are pure elements of forced labour."
Hopeful that upcoming signing of memorandum will address the issue
The ambassador acknowledged Malaysia's government for coming up with a national plan on forced labour however, noting that that it showed a recognition of the issue.
The ambassador also expressed his hope that the upcoming signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Malaysia and Indonesia will provide better protections for domestic workers.
Hermono elaborated that the MoU will include a "one-channel system", under the control of Indonesia, which will allow it to keep track of the whereabouts of domestic workers and maintain communication with them.
Called in by Malaysia's Foreign Ministry to clarify comments
According to The Star, Indonesia has stopped the flow of domestic workers to Malaysia, with its resumption contingent on the signing of an MoU regarding the recruitment and placement of such workers.
Bernama further reported that following the interview, Hermono was summoned by Malaysia's Foreign Ministry to clarify his remarks, specifically those pertaining to the MoU.
In a statement released on Feb. 21, the foreign ministry said that any issues which have been raised will be channelled to the respective ministries or agencies.
The ministry said, "Such an act is important to avoid any misunderstanding and confusion among the public."
In addition, following the meeting, an "understanding" has been reached between the two parties, to continue with a "positive and constructive" approach in addressing the issue of domestic workers' recruitment and their protection, the ministry added.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
HSBC Under Investigation in U.S. Over WhatsApp Use
(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc is being investigated by U.S. regulators over bankers’ misuse of services such as WhatsApp.
The London-based bank is co-operating with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission probe into the use of “non-HSBC approved messaging platforms for business communications,” according to its annual report published alongside earnings on Tuesday.
HSBC Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn told Bloomberg News the CFTC’s work was part of a broad investigation by U.S. authorities. “I don’t think it’s specific, I think it’s general across all financial institutions,” said Quinn in a phone interview.
“They’re looking at the use of mobiles and WhatsApp and text messages to make sure it’s appropriate,” he said.
In December, the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission fined JPMorgan Chase & Co. $200 million after finding that staff at the bank had for years shrugged off their surveillance duties and sent work-related messages using platforms such as WhatsApp or their personal email addresses.
“We obviously have internal procedures and requirements as to the use of non-bank platforms,” HSBC Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson said in a phone interview.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
HSBC Under Investigation in U.S. Over WhatsApp Use
(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc is being investigated by U.S. regulators over bankers’ misuse of services such as WhatsApp.
The London-based bank is co-operating with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission probe into the use of “non-HSBC approved messaging platforms for business communications,” according to its annual report published alongside earnings on Tuesday.
HSBC Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn told Bloomberg News the CFTC’s work was part of a broad investigation by U.S. authorities. “I don’t think it’s specific, I think it’s general across all financial institutions,” said Quinn in a phone interview.
“They’re looking at the use of mobiles and WhatsApp and text messages to make sure it’s appropriate,” he said.
In December, the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission fined JPMorgan Chase & Co. $200 million after finding that staff at the bank had for years shrugged off their surveillance duties and sent work-related messages using platforms such as WhatsApp or their personal email addresses.
“We obviously have internal procedures and requirements as to the use of non-bank platforms,” HSBC Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson said in a phone interview.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Lunar rock analysis suggests Earth 'born' with water
By Doug Cunningham
Water on Earth, including that found in the Indian Ocean in June 2021, likely was not brought here by a meteorite or asteroid, but rather resulted from materials already present in proto-Earth before its collision with the planet Theia 4.45 billion years ago.
By examining the isotopic makeup of lunar rocks the team of scientists found that the bodies involved in the impact that formed the Earth-moon system both had very low levels of volatile elements prior to impact.
Theia likely already had lower levels of volatile elements -- like the early proto-Earth -- when both formed in the early Solar System, researchers said.
"There were only a few types of materials that could have combined to make the Earth and moon, and they were not exotic," study lead author Lars Borg said in the release.
The two bodies -- proto-Earth and Theia -- likely formed in the same area of the solar system and, about 100 million years ago, ran into one another, Borg said.
The finding suggests that water was present at depleted levels in the proto-Earth and Theia before the collision, and that after the impact -- which happened not longer than 4.45 billion years ago -- the makings of both Earth and the moon were already present.
The researchers said water on Earth likely was inherited from its precursor bodies, while the volatile element-poor moon is made up mostly of remnants of Theia -- which means that water was not delivered to Earth by another heavenly body.
"This work eliminates meteorites or asteroids as possible sources of water on Earth and points strongly toward the 'born with it' option," Brennecka said.
By Doug Cunningham
Water on Earth, including that found in the Indian Ocean in June 2021, likely was not brought here by a meteorite or asteroid, but rather resulted from materials already present in proto-Earth before its collision with the planet Theia 4.45 billion years ago.
Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Earth either started off with water or was hit by something that brought it here, and scientists now say that it's most likely the planet was "born" with the key to life.
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory came to this conclusion by analyzing the isotopic make up of lunar rocks, according to the new study, published Thursday in journal PNAS.
The Earth-moon system formed after the impact of two large bodies -- proto-Earth and an early planet called Theia -- and researchers say the origin of "volatile species" such as water is hotly debated because of the expectation of volatiles loss in the impact itself.
"Earth was either born with the water we have, or we were hit by something that was basically pure H2O, with not much else in it," study co-author Greg Brennecka, a cosmochemist in nuclear and chemical science division at LLNL, said in a press release.
Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Earth either started off with water or was hit by something that brought it here, and scientists now say that it's most likely the planet was "born" with the key to life.
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory came to this conclusion by analyzing the isotopic make up of lunar rocks, according to the new study, published Thursday in journal PNAS.
The Earth-moon system formed after the impact of two large bodies -- proto-Earth and an early planet called Theia -- and researchers say the origin of "volatile species" such as water is hotly debated because of the expectation of volatiles loss in the impact itself.
"Earth was either born with the water we have, or we were hit by something that was basically pure H2O, with not much else in it," study co-author Greg Brennecka, a cosmochemist in nuclear and chemical science division at LLNL, said in a press release.
By examining the isotopic makeup of lunar rocks the team of scientists found that the bodies involved in the impact that formed the Earth-moon system both had very low levels of volatile elements prior to impact.
Theia likely already had lower levels of volatile elements -- like the early proto-Earth -- when both formed in the early Solar System, researchers said.
"There were only a few types of materials that could have combined to make the Earth and moon, and they were not exotic," study lead author Lars Borg said in the release.
The two bodies -- proto-Earth and Theia -- likely formed in the same area of the solar system and, about 100 million years ago, ran into one another, Borg said.
The finding suggests that water was present at depleted levels in the proto-Earth and Theia before the collision, and that after the impact -- which happened not longer than 4.45 billion years ago -- the makings of both Earth and the moon were already present.
The researchers said water on Earth likely was inherited from its precursor bodies, while the volatile element-poor moon is made up mostly of remnants of Theia -- which means that water was not delivered to Earth by another heavenly body.
"This work eliminates meteorites or asteroids as possible sources of water on Earth and points strongly toward the 'born with it' option," Brennecka said.
Analysis finds toxic chemicals in fracking wastewater
A drilling rig operates on farmland near a storage tank at the Niobrara oil shale formation in Weld County, Colorado, on May 30, 2012.
In the water, 29 elements were also detected, including rare earth elements, selenium and hazardous metals such as chromium, cadmium, lead and uranium, according to the study.
The findings were released as regulators work on proposed guidelines for the safe treatment and disposal of fracking wastewater.
"The discovery of these chemicals in [fracking wastewater] suggests that greater monitoring and remediation efforts are needed, since many of them are listed to be dangerous for human health by the World Health Organization," said study author Emanuela Gionfriddo, an assistant professor of analytical chemistry in the School of Green Chemistry and Engineering at the University of Toledo in Ohio.
"Our comprehensive characterization sheds insight into the processes taking place during hydraulic fracturing and the nature of the geologic formation of each well site," Gionfriddo added in a university news release.
The researchers analyzed the fracking wastewater using new technology they developed, and said the technology is essential for proper reuse or disposal of fracking wastewater by oil and gas producers.
The study was published recently in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
More information
There's more on fracking and health at the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
A drilling rig operates on farmland near a storage tank at the Niobrara oil shale formation in Weld County, Colorado, on May 30, 2012.
File Photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI | License Photo
Fracking has already raised the ire of environmentalists for its effects on the planet, but new research sends up another red flag: The wastewater produced by the complicated oil and gas drilling process is loaded with toxic and cancer-causing contaminants that threaten both people and wildlife.
In fracking, water that contains a number of additives is used in the drilling process. This injected water mixes with groundwater and resurfaces as a waste byproduct containing both the additives and contaminants from the drilling site.
In this study, researchers analyzed untreated fracking wastewater samples from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford formation, both in Texas, and found 266 different dissolved organic compounds.
They included: a pesticide called atrazine 1,4-dioxane, an organic compound that is irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract pyridine, a chemical that may damage the liver and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which have been linked to skin, lung, bladder, liver and stomach cancers.
Fracking has already raised the ire of environmentalists for its effects on the planet, but new research sends up another red flag: The wastewater produced by the complicated oil and gas drilling process is loaded with toxic and cancer-causing contaminants that threaten both people and wildlife.
In fracking, water that contains a number of additives is used in the drilling process. This injected water mixes with groundwater and resurfaces as a waste byproduct containing both the additives and contaminants from the drilling site.
In this study, researchers analyzed untreated fracking wastewater samples from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford formation, both in Texas, and found 266 different dissolved organic compounds.
They included: a pesticide called atrazine 1,4-dioxane, an organic compound that is irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract pyridine, a chemical that may damage the liver and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which have been linked to skin, lung, bladder, liver and stomach cancers.
In the water, 29 elements were also detected, including rare earth elements, selenium and hazardous metals such as chromium, cadmium, lead and uranium, according to the study.
The findings were released as regulators work on proposed guidelines for the safe treatment and disposal of fracking wastewater.
"The discovery of these chemicals in [fracking wastewater] suggests that greater monitoring and remediation efforts are needed, since many of them are listed to be dangerous for human health by the World Health Organization," said study author Emanuela Gionfriddo, an assistant professor of analytical chemistry in the School of Green Chemistry and Engineering at the University of Toledo in Ohio.
"Our comprehensive characterization sheds insight into the processes taking place during hydraulic fracturing and the nature of the geologic formation of each well site," Gionfriddo added in a university news release.
The researchers analyzed the fracking wastewater using new technology they developed, and said the technology is essential for proper reuse or disposal of fracking wastewater by oil and gas producers.
The study was published recently in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
More information
There's more on fracking and health at the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Spanish police find missing piece of 17th century art stolen in 1980
By UPI Staff
Spanish authorities announce the recovery of the final piece of the tapestry, seen at right. Photo courtesy Policia Nacionale
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Authorities in Spain say they have recovered the final piece of a tapestry from the 1600s that was stolen decades ago by an art thief known as "Erik the Belgian."
The tapestry, La apoteosis de las artes -- or "the Apotheosis of the Arts" -- was one of six Flemish tapestries taken from the church of Santo Domingo in northern Spain in 1980.
The tapestries were made in 1654 by Cornielle Schutz and stolen by Rene Alponse van den Berghe, who became known as "Erik the Belgian."
All six tapestries were recovered during an investigation led by Interpol with agencies from France, Spain and Belgium working together, but a section of La apoteosis de las artes picturing a cherub was still missing.
The part was feared lost until van den Berghe died in 2020 and his lawyer handed over the missing piece to the archdiocese of Burgos on Friday, Spanish police said in a statement.
Spain's national police described van den Berghe as an art dealer, restorer, painter, writer and international thief who carried out robberies in churches and chapels throughout the country. He was also the alleged leader of an organized group of thieves who stole religious artwork for wealthy collectors.
Though van den Berghe was arrested in 1982, he was released three years later for cooperating with authorities on tracking works that he'd stolen.
By UPI Staff
Spanish authorities announce the recovery of the final piece of the tapestry, seen at right. Photo courtesy Policia Nacionale
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Authorities in Spain say they have recovered the final piece of a tapestry from the 1600s that was stolen decades ago by an art thief known as "Erik the Belgian."
The tapestry, La apoteosis de las artes -- or "the Apotheosis of the Arts" -- was one of six Flemish tapestries taken from the church of Santo Domingo in northern Spain in 1980.
The tapestries were made in 1654 by Cornielle Schutz and stolen by Rene Alponse van den Berghe, who became known as "Erik the Belgian."
All six tapestries were recovered during an investigation led by Interpol with agencies from France, Spain and Belgium working together, but a section of La apoteosis de las artes picturing a cherub was still missing.
The part was feared lost until van den Berghe died in 2020 and his lawyer handed over the missing piece to the archdiocese of Burgos on Friday, Spanish police said in a statement.
Spain's national police described van den Berghe as an art dealer, restorer, painter, writer and international thief who carried out robberies in churches and chapels throughout the country. He was also the alleged leader of an organized group of thieves who stole religious artwork for wealthy collectors.
Though van den Berghe was arrested in 1982, he was released three years later for cooperating with authorities on tracking works that he'd stolen.
Texas tops the nation in teens who give birth multiple times
By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune
FEB. 21, 2022
High school junior Iryanna Rodriguez, 18, plays with her 9-month-old daughter, Ariyanna Juliett Fuentes, at Lincoln Park High School in Brownsville, Texas. The school enrolls teens who are pregnant or parenting and offers a host of resources, including child care.
Rodriguez lives with her boyfriend, but has a lot of family support in raising her children. Her mother had her first child when she was around 15, she said, and her grandmother was a young mother, too.
While teenage birth rates have declined significantly across the country in recent decades, Texas remains above the national average, consistently ranking in the top 10 states. Out of all births in Texas, around 6% were teen births in 2019 and 2020.
And a startling proportion of teenagers who gave birth in Texas in 2020 -- more than 1 in 6 -- already had at least one other child. Analysis by The Texas Tribune using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Texas had the highest rate of these so-called "repeat teen births" in the country, along with Alabama. In the last decade, the state has been in the top five states for repeat teen birth rates.
Rodriguez lives in Brownsville, a city in the poor, predominantly Hispanic Rio Grande Valley on the U.S.-Mexico border. While Texas has seen an overall decline in the repeat teen birth rate, the counties that make up this region have not, with more than one in five teens that give birth already having at least one child almost every year since 2005. This is according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Cynthia Cardenas sees the impact of this every day. She's the principal at Brownsville's Lincoln Park High School, where all the students, including Rodriguez, are pregnant or parenting. Cardenas said the school has five students with three children.
Other schools in the Brownsville Independent School District have softball teams or drama productions. Lincoln Park has a day care and flexible scheduling. Her students are smart and ambitious, Cardenas said, and they want to be in school -- but they're juggling demands most other high school students couldn't imagine.
"They're looking at what they need to do to raise their child right now," Cardenas said. "They tell me, 'I can't make it to school tomorrow because I have to work.' I'm like, 'Wait a minute. You have to prioritize your education.'"
Cardenas said Lincoln Park is doing all it can to make sure these students stay on track to graduate. But she wishes there was more attention paid to what happens before the students need to enroll there at all.
"We need to be proactive instead of reactive," she said. "The parents will not talk to their students about safe sex. ... It's just not an open conversation here. These girls need to be educated."
Texas does not require high schools to teach sex education, and the vast majority that do focus on sexual abstinence. The state has a complicated maze of requirements for teenagers seeking birth control and is operating under the strictest abortion laws in the country.
All of this leaves teenagers with insufficient tools to proactively manage their own reproductive health, advocates and teenagers say, with long-lasting consequences for themselves, their children and their communities.
Rodriguez is on track to graduate and wants to become a nurse. She and her boyfriend are planning to have a big family. She said she plans to talk to her children early and often about topics like safe sex, healthy relationships and birth control.
"I want them to have more education on that than I did," she said.
Sex education
A lot of what 18-year-old Jannely Villegas learned about sex came from the TV show 16 and Pregnant.
"I would always watch those and be like, 'How do they do it? They're so young and to be juggling school and having a baby, it must be stressful,'" she said.
No one taught her about birth control before she started having sex with her boyfriend. And even when she started suspecting that she might be pregnant, she dismissed it.
"I wish someone taught me about any of that stuff," she said. "We're not born with the knowledge of, hey, if you're pregnant, this is what it's going to feel like, or this is what it means to miss your period."
She ignored her fluctuating weight and swollen ankles until, one day, she couldn't anymore. In the middle of the night, she went into the bathroom in her mother's house, hunched over in pain.
Two pushes, and she gave birth to her son, all alone, on the floor of the bathroom.
"I didn't feel the pain until after because I guess I was so traumatized," she said. "When I called my mom in, she almost passed out."
Villegas and her now 3-month-old son are both healthy and thriving. But that's an experience she wouldn't wish on anyone else.
"I really do wish I had the knowledge in the beginning so I could have done all the things, like the sonogram, the ultrasound, taking care of myself better," she said.
Villegas grew up in La Feria, a small town west of Harlingen, where she said sex education was limited to one sit-down with sports coaches to go over the basics.
This is pretty common in Texas, which does not require schools to teach sex education. According to the left-leaning Texas Freedom Network, in the 2015-16 school year, 25% of school districts offered no sex education and an additional 58% taught abstinence-only sex ed.
In 2020, the Texas State Board of Education overhauled its sex education standards for the first time in two decades. While schools still must stress abstinence, starting this year, seventh- and eighth-graders will also have to learn about other birth control methods.
The board declined to require districts to teach about sexual orientation, gender identity and consent. And after a change by the Legislature, all sex education in Texas is now "opt-in," meaning parents must proactively enroll their students in these classes.
Texas Values, a right-leaning group that advocates for abstinence-only education, said it heard from more than 22,000 parents concerned that teaching comprehensive sex education would end up encouraging more teens to have sex.
"The pregnancy rates among teens are not ideal right now, but we are seeing that decline," said senior policy adviser Mary Elizabeth Castle. "We believe that we're going to continue to see this decrease as more schools are adopting the sexual risk avoidance model."
Texas Freedom Network political director Carisa Lopez said the recent changes, while progress, are insufficient to meet the needs of teenage Texans.
"Young people spend all of their early life in school. ... We teach them history, we teach them math, but what is more important than teaching them about health and sex ed and their bodies?" she said. "They deserve to be armed with this information to guide them through the rest of their lives."
Access to contraception
Teenage birth rates have declined precipitously in the United States in recent decades to an all-time low in 2019 of 16.7 births per 1,000 girls ages 15-19. But in Texas, there were 24 births per 1,000 girls in the same cohort, according to the CDC.
"Despite all of this tremendous progress, the pace of the decline has been inconsistent," said Jennifer Biundo, director of policy and data at the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. "What's really coming to light is increasing disparities and the young women who are left behind."
In Texas, Biundo said, it's Hispanic and Black teenagers who continue to have high rates of teenage pregnancy, as well as teenagers in the foster care system, teens in rural areas and teens with a history of trauma.
Biundo and other advocates say that decades of declining teen pregnancy rates have shown what works, specifically a system that has "no wrong doors" for teens who are looking to access contraception, education and other tools to manage their own reproductive decisions.
But in Texas, teens have to navigate an unstable maze of federal and state programs with varying confidentiality and parental consent requirements.
"Texas has some of the most complex laws in the nation just around teens' access to healthcare in general," said Biundo. "We want parents to be very involved in their child's health ... but we want to make sure that teens aren't being left behind."
Generally, parents have to consent to medical care for their minor children. But many states make an exception for reproductive healthcare: 23 states allow minors to consent to start birth control in all situations, and another 10 states have broad exceptions for minors who are of a certain age, pregnant or parenting.
Texas is in the remaining minority of states that does not allow minors to consent to birth control, except in extremely rare cases, like if the teenager is legally emancipated from their parents.
Texas minors who have given birth and are actively parenting their children still need their parents' permission to get on birth control. Rodriguez was surprised to learn this after she had her first child.
"I wanted to get on birth control and they required my mom's signature to put it in my arm," she said. "Luckily, my mom was like, you need to get on it."
Castle, with Texas Values, said having conversations about birth control can be an opportunity for that teenage parent to develop a closer relationship with their own parents. She acknowledges that some minors may be in situations where their parents aren't involved or it's otherwise difficult to get their consent, but she said that's not justification to loosen the requirements.
Minors who get their health insurance through Medicaid can access birth control without parental consent. But Texas is one of 12 states that chose not to expand Medicaid, leaving many teenagers on the state-run Children's Health Insurance Program.
Texas and North Dakota are the only states that do not cover birth control on CHIP. With or without parental consent, a teenager on CHIP cannot get birth control through their insurance program unless they can prove that it's for a medical need other than pregnancy prevention.
"CHIP covers [teens] up through the month of their 19th birthday," said Biundo. "We're talking about legal adults whose birth control isn't covered by their insurance program. There are very, very few insurance programs in the country that don't cover birth control."
There is a workaround: The state's Family Planning Program provides birth control, with parental consent, at one of roughly 200 clinics funded. But if teens on CHIP get birth control through this program, it comes with a much higher price tag for the state, which covers 100% of the Family Planning Program. The state covers less than 25% of the cost of CHIP claims, with the federal government providing the rest.
"Instead of adding this as a benefit and taking the federal funds for it and allowing these teens to have easy access to contraception, we're going to send them through this convoluted maze of programs, and the state's going to pay for the whole thing," said Biundo.
State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, has repeatedly introduced a bill that would have added coverage for contraception for pregnancy prevention on CHIP. After passing the House and stalling in the Senate in 2019, the bill did not even get a hearing in 2021.
"We have huge challenges with making sure that we are providing the youth in this state with the tools that they need," Howard said. "We know that contraceptives are an important part of that toolbox and to not make it available to some of our youth who are in some of these programs is just irresponsible."
Her bill would still require parental consent to obtain birth control on CHIP, which she says is just a matter of being realistic about what would be seen as acceptable in Texas.
Castle said her group, Texas Values, advocated against adding birth control to CHIP.
"We want to make sure that we don't encourage sexual activity among teens or kids," she said. "I think it would motivate them to not be sexually active if they know that they don't have an alternative that would help them avoid risk.
Research indicates that providing adolescents with low- or no-cost contraception does not increase their number of sexual partners, and in fact leads to a significant decrease in teenage pregnancy rates.
When Myrna Alvarado was growing up in the Dallas area, she said talking about birth control with her parents would have been taboo. By the time she graduated high school, she had received, by her estimation, about 90 minutes of sex education in seventh grade.
"A lot of the information teens have is from Google or rumors that pass round their friends," she said. "We're not getting information from a reliable source."
She knows how difficult it can be for teens to talk to their parents about birth control -- and how that may not be enough to deter them from having sex. She now helps teens in the Dallas area access information and contraception through the North Texas Alliance to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy in Teens.
"We can show them what clinics are near them and which clinics are teen-friendly, where they won't need parental consent to go and their privacy will be respected, and usually low- to no-cost," she said.
Teens in the Dallas area can seek confidential contraception at clinics funded by the federal Title X program.
But the 175 Title X clinics in Texas are distributed unevenly across the state, leaving whole swaths of Texas underserved. And some of the clinics that receive this funding have struggled with inconsistent funding and political pressures in recent years that leave teenagers in limbo.
Clinic closures
By the time teenagers find their way to one of Access Esperanza's clinics in the Rio Grande Valley, they're often already pregnant or parenting. CEO Patricio Gonzales said one of their most important programs is helping teenagers access confidential reproductive healthcare.
"The criticism we always get is, 'Your contraceptives promote promiscuity,'" he said. "My response is, you've got the wrong P. It's not promiscuity, it's prevention. Preventing unwanted diseases, as well as unwanted pregnancies, especially at a young age."
A decade ago, Access Esperanza operated eight clinics, providing sexual and reproductive healthcare to 23,000 people across the Rio Grande Valley. Back then, the group went by a different, more recognizable name: Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo County.
Then, in 2011, Texas passed legislation that blocked public funds from going to Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinics. Almost immediately, Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo County lost millions in state funding, Gonzales said. They had to close five clinics and lost two-thirds of their patients.
All that for a clinic that never provided abortions, which was the target of the cuts.
"We were doing prevention work," said Gonzales. "We're preventing abortions by putting women on contraceptives."
After three years of scaled-back services, the board voted to disaffiliate from Planned Parenthood and changed its name to Access Esperanza. Six months later, Gonzales said, the money started flowing again from the state.
Nearly a decade after the initial cuts, they are finally getting close to serving the same number of clients as before. Gonzales worries most of all about the teenagers the clinics couldn't serve during those years.
"A lot of the young people were blaming us, saying 'What did y'all do wrong?'" he remembers. "They were not realizing the politics behind it with us just being a Planned Parenthood."
A quarter of family planning clinics statewide closed as a result of these funding cuts, according to the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. The fallout continues to this day, said Rosann Mariappuram, executive director of Jane's Due Process, a group that helps teenagers access contraception and abortion care.
"A lot of clients will call us and say, 'I went to my local Planned Parenthood, but they said, there's this law and they can't actually help me,'" she said. "They just end up confused about where they can go and maybe just stop looking."
Abortion access
Mariappuram said this is a common occurrence in Texas, where teens often end up caught in the crossfire of political decisions they have no say in. The best example, she said, is Texas' latest effort to restrict access to abortion.
The controversial law, known as Senate Bill 8, bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy.
Many women don't know they're pregnant yet at that point, and that's particularly true for teenagers, who may not yet have a regular period or a full understanding of their reproductive system.
If a minor did detect a pregnancy before that point, Texas requires parental consent to get an abortion. If their parents won't consent, the minor can seek a judicial bypass in which a judge agrees the minor is mature enough to make that decision on their own.
"We always encourage youth to involve their parents if it's safe for them to do so," Mariappuram said. "Our clients tend to be in a more severe or dangerous situation where, especially if they're pregnant, talking to their parents can lead to them getting kicked out of the house or being forced to continue a pregnancy against their will."
Castle, with Texas Values, emphasized the importance of parents being involved in this decision -- hopefully, she said, with the goal of encouraging the child to keep the pregnancy.
"I believe there is adequate support for teens to carry those babies to term," she said. "There are over 200 pregnancy care centers in the state that can help these teen moms with whatever they need ... to take care of that child in the future."
Texas has invested more than $100 million in its "Alternatives to Abortion" program, which funds these pregnancy centers, although there's little data available about how the money is spent.
Since Senate Bill 8 went into effect on Sept. 1, Mariappuram said calls to her organization's hotline have dropped by more than half -- and less than a third of the teens who did call were still in the window of time in which they could access an abortion.
The judicial bypass process can take days or weeks, pushing some teens over the time frame during which they could legally have the procedure. And teenagers are less likely to be able to travel out of state to have an abortion as some adults have been able to do, Mariappuram said.
In the face of all these barriers, a lot more teens are carrying pregnancies to term. In September 2021, the month the law went into effect, only 29 women under the age of 18 had an abortion, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
That's a nearly 75% decline from the year prior and a 70% decrease from 2019. The number of abortions in 2021 are still subject to change as the state finalizes numbers.
"We've been doing a lot of emotional support around thinking through how to handle being forced to stay pregnant against their will," said Mariappuram.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood, Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Texas Freedom Network have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune. Read the original here.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune
FEB. 21, 2022
High school junior Iryanna Rodriguez, 18, plays with her 9-month-old daughter, Ariyanna Juliett Fuentes, at Lincoln Park High School in Brownsville, Texas. The school enrolls teens who are pregnant or parenting and offers a host of resources, including child care.
Photo by Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune
LONG READ
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Like a lot of teenagers, Iryanna Rodriguez's day starts early and ends late, and she's often running behind from the moment she wakes up. The 18-year-old juggles all the normal high school experiences -- classes, a boyfriend, a search for a part-time job -- along with some additional hurdles.
"I'm always in a rush in the morning, getting my son ready and out for school," she said. "And then the baby, I have to get her changed. It doesn't get more real than that, first thing in the morning."
Rodriguez got pregnant for the first time when she was just 13 years old. Her son is now 4, and last year, she had a daughter as well. She says her children are her greatest blessing and have taught her that she's capable of so much more than she realized.
"But, yes, two children is a lot harder than one," she said with a laugh.
LONG READ
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Like a lot of teenagers, Iryanna Rodriguez's day starts early and ends late, and she's often running behind from the moment she wakes up. The 18-year-old juggles all the normal high school experiences -- classes, a boyfriend, a search for a part-time job -- along with some additional hurdles.
"I'm always in a rush in the morning, getting my son ready and out for school," she said. "And then the baby, I have to get her changed. It doesn't get more real than that, first thing in the morning."
Rodriguez got pregnant for the first time when she was just 13 years old. Her son is now 4, and last year, she had a daughter as well. She says her children are her greatest blessing and have taught her that she's capable of so much more than she realized.
"But, yes, two children is a lot harder than one," she said with a laugh.
Rodriguez lives with her boyfriend, but has a lot of family support in raising her children. Her mother had her first child when she was around 15, she said, and her grandmother was a young mother, too.
While teenage birth rates have declined significantly across the country in recent decades, Texas remains above the national average, consistently ranking in the top 10 states. Out of all births in Texas, around 6% were teen births in 2019 and 2020.
And a startling proportion of teenagers who gave birth in Texas in 2020 -- more than 1 in 6 -- already had at least one other child. Analysis by The Texas Tribune using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Texas had the highest rate of these so-called "repeat teen births" in the country, along with Alabama. In the last decade, the state has been in the top five states for repeat teen birth rates.
Rodriguez lives in Brownsville, a city in the poor, predominantly Hispanic Rio Grande Valley on the U.S.-Mexico border. While Texas has seen an overall decline in the repeat teen birth rate, the counties that make up this region have not, with more than one in five teens that give birth already having at least one child almost every year since 2005. This is according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Cynthia Cardenas sees the impact of this every day. She's the principal at Brownsville's Lincoln Park High School, where all the students, including Rodriguez, are pregnant or parenting. Cardenas said the school has five students with three children.
Other schools in the Brownsville Independent School District have softball teams or drama productions. Lincoln Park has a day care and flexible scheduling. Her students are smart and ambitious, Cardenas said, and they want to be in school -- but they're juggling demands most other high school students couldn't imagine.
"They're looking at what they need to do to raise their child right now," Cardenas said. "They tell me, 'I can't make it to school tomorrow because I have to work.' I'm like, 'Wait a minute. You have to prioritize your education.'"
Cardenas said Lincoln Park is doing all it can to make sure these students stay on track to graduate. But she wishes there was more attention paid to what happens before the students need to enroll there at all.
"We need to be proactive instead of reactive," she said. "The parents will not talk to their students about safe sex. ... It's just not an open conversation here. These girls need to be educated."
Texas does not require high schools to teach sex education, and the vast majority that do focus on sexual abstinence. The state has a complicated maze of requirements for teenagers seeking birth control and is operating under the strictest abortion laws in the country.
All of this leaves teenagers with insufficient tools to proactively manage their own reproductive health, advocates and teenagers say, with long-lasting consequences for themselves, their children and their communities.
Rodriguez is on track to graduate and wants to become a nurse. She and her boyfriend are planning to have a big family. She said she plans to talk to her children early and often about topics like safe sex, healthy relationships and birth control.
"I want them to have more education on that than I did," she said.
Sex education
A lot of what 18-year-old Jannely Villegas learned about sex came from the TV show 16 and Pregnant.
"I would always watch those and be like, 'How do they do it? They're so young and to be juggling school and having a baby, it must be stressful,'" she said.
No one taught her about birth control before she started having sex with her boyfriend. And even when she started suspecting that she might be pregnant, she dismissed it.
"I wish someone taught me about any of that stuff," she said. "We're not born with the knowledge of, hey, if you're pregnant, this is what it's going to feel like, or this is what it means to miss your period."
She ignored her fluctuating weight and swollen ankles until, one day, she couldn't anymore. In the middle of the night, she went into the bathroom in her mother's house, hunched over in pain.
Two pushes, and she gave birth to her son, all alone, on the floor of the bathroom.
"I didn't feel the pain until after because I guess I was so traumatized," she said. "When I called my mom in, she almost passed out."
Villegas and her now 3-month-old son are both healthy and thriving. But that's an experience she wouldn't wish on anyone else.
"I really do wish I had the knowledge in the beginning so I could have done all the things, like the sonogram, the ultrasound, taking care of myself better," she said.
Villegas grew up in La Feria, a small town west of Harlingen, where she said sex education was limited to one sit-down with sports coaches to go over the basics.
This is pretty common in Texas, which does not require schools to teach sex education. According to the left-leaning Texas Freedom Network, in the 2015-16 school year, 25% of school districts offered no sex education and an additional 58% taught abstinence-only sex ed.
In 2020, the Texas State Board of Education overhauled its sex education standards for the first time in two decades. While schools still must stress abstinence, starting this year, seventh- and eighth-graders will also have to learn about other birth control methods.
The board declined to require districts to teach about sexual orientation, gender identity and consent. And after a change by the Legislature, all sex education in Texas is now "opt-in," meaning parents must proactively enroll their students in these classes.
Texas Values, a right-leaning group that advocates for abstinence-only education, said it heard from more than 22,000 parents concerned that teaching comprehensive sex education would end up encouraging more teens to have sex.
"The pregnancy rates among teens are not ideal right now, but we are seeing that decline," said senior policy adviser Mary Elizabeth Castle. "We believe that we're going to continue to see this decrease as more schools are adopting the sexual risk avoidance model."
Texas Freedom Network political director Carisa Lopez said the recent changes, while progress, are insufficient to meet the needs of teenage Texans.
"Young people spend all of their early life in school. ... We teach them history, we teach them math, but what is more important than teaching them about health and sex ed and their bodies?" she said. "They deserve to be armed with this information to guide them through the rest of their lives."
Access to contraception
Teenage birth rates have declined precipitously in the United States in recent decades to an all-time low in 2019 of 16.7 births per 1,000 girls ages 15-19. But in Texas, there were 24 births per 1,000 girls in the same cohort, according to the CDC.
"Despite all of this tremendous progress, the pace of the decline has been inconsistent," said Jennifer Biundo, director of policy and data at the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. "What's really coming to light is increasing disparities and the young women who are left behind."
In Texas, Biundo said, it's Hispanic and Black teenagers who continue to have high rates of teenage pregnancy, as well as teenagers in the foster care system, teens in rural areas and teens with a history of trauma.
Biundo and other advocates say that decades of declining teen pregnancy rates have shown what works, specifically a system that has "no wrong doors" for teens who are looking to access contraception, education and other tools to manage their own reproductive decisions.
But in Texas, teens have to navigate an unstable maze of federal and state programs with varying confidentiality and parental consent requirements.
"Texas has some of the most complex laws in the nation just around teens' access to healthcare in general," said Biundo. "We want parents to be very involved in their child's health ... but we want to make sure that teens aren't being left behind."
Generally, parents have to consent to medical care for their minor children. But many states make an exception for reproductive healthcare: 23 states allow minors to consent to start birth control in all situations, and another 10 states have broad exceptions for minors who are of a certain age, pregnant or parenting.
Texas is in the remaining minority of states that does not allow minors to consent to birth control, except in extremely rare cases, like if the teenager is legally emancipated from their parents.
Texas minors who have given birth and are actively parenting their children still need their parents' permission to get on birth control. Rodriguez was surprised to learn this after she had her first child.
"I wanted to get on birth control and they required my mom's signature to put it in my arm," she said. "Luckily, my mom was like, you need to get on it."
Castle, with Texas Values, said having conversations about birth control can be an opportunity for that teenage parent to develop a closer relationship with their own parents. She acknowledges that some minors may be in situations where their parents aren't involved or it's otherwise difficult to get their consent, but she said that's not justification to loosen the requirements.
Minors who get their health insurance through Medicaid can access birth control without parental consent. But Texas is one of 12 states that chose not to expand Medicaid, leaving many teenagers on the state-run Children's Health Insurance Program.
Texas and North Dakota are the only states that do not cover birth control on CHIP. With or without parental consent, a teenager on CHIP cannot get birth control through their insurance program unless they can prove that it's for a medical need other than pregnancy prevention.
"CHIP covers [teens] up through the month of their 19th birthday," said Biundo. "We're talking about legal adults whose birth control isn't covered by their insurance program. There are very, very few insurance programs in the country that don't cover birth control."
There is a workaround: The state's Family Planning Program provides birth control, with parental consent, at one of roughly 200 clinics funded. But if teens on CHIP get birth control through this program, it comes with a much higher price tag for the state, which covers 100% of the Family Planning Program. The state covers less than 25% of the cost of CHIP claims, with the federal government providing the rest.
"Instead of adding this as a benefit and taking the federal funds for it and allowing these teens to have easy access to contraception, we're going to send them through this convoluted maze of programs, and the state's going to pay for the whole thing," said Biundo.
State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, has repeatedly introduced a bill that would have added coverage for contraception for pregnancy prevention on CHIP. After passing the House and stalling in the Senate in 2019, the bill did not even get a hearing in 2021.
"We have huge challenges with making sure that we are providing the youth in this state with the tools that they need," Howard said. "We know that contraceptives are an important part of that toolbox and to not make it available to some of our youth who are in some of these programs is just irresponsible."
Her bill would still require parental consent to obtain birth control on CHIP, which she says is just a matter of being realistic about what would be seen as acceptable in Texas.
Castle said her group, Texas Values, advocated against adding birth control to CHIP.
"We want to make sure that we don't encourage sexual activity among teens or kids," she said. "I think it would motivate them to not be sexually active if they know that they don't have an alternative that would help them avoid risk.
Research indicates that providing adolescents with low- or no-cost contraception does not increase their number of sexual partners, and in fact leads to a significant decrease in teenage pregnancy rates.
When Myrna Alvarado was growing up in the Dallas area, she said talking about birth control with her parents would have been taboo. By the time she graduated high school, she had received, by her estimation, about 90 minutes of sex education in seventh grade.
"A lot of the information teens have is from Google or rumors that pass round their friends," she said. "We're not getting information from a reliable source."
She knows how difficult it can be for teens to talk to their parents about birth control -- and how that may not be enough to deter them from having sex. She now helps teens in the Dallas area access information and contraception through the North Texas Alliance to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy in Teens.
"We can show them what clinics are near them and which clinics are teen-friendly, where they won't need parental consent to go and their privacy will be respected, and usually low- to no-cost," she said.
Teens in the Dallas area can seek confidential contraception at clinics funded by the federal Title X program.
But the 175 Title X clinics in Texas are distributed unevenly across the state, leaving whole swaths of Texas underserved. And some of the clinics that receive this funding have struggled with inconsistent funding and political pressures in recent years that leave teenagers in limbo.
Clinic closures
By the time teenagers find their way to one of Access Esperanza's clinics in the Rio Grande Valley, they're often already pregnant or parenting. CEO Patricio Gonzales said one of their most important programs is helping teenagers access confidential reproductive healthcare.
"The criticism we always get is, 'Your contraceptives promote promiscuity,'" he said. "My response is, you've got the wrong P. It's not promiscuity, it's prevention. Preventing unwanted diseases, as well as unwanted pregnancies, especially at a young age."
A decade ago, Access Esperanza operated eight clinics, providing sexual and reproductive healthcare to 23,000 people across the Rio Grande Valley. Back then, the group went by a different, more recognizable name: Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo County.
Then, in 2011, Texas passed legislation that blocked public funds from going to Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinics. Almost immediately, Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo County lost millions in state funding, Gonzales said. They had to close five clinics and lost two-thirds of their patients.
All that for a clinic that never provided abortions, which was the target of the cuts.
"We were doing prevention work," said Gonzales. "We're preventing abortions by putting women on contraceptives."
After three years of scaled-back services, the board voted to disaffiliate from Planned Parenthood and changed its name to Access Esperanza. Six months later, Gonzales said, the money started flowing again from the state.
Nearly a decade after the initial cuts, they are finally getting close to serving the same number of clients as before. Gonzales worries most of all about the teenagers the clinics couldn't serve during those years.
"A lot of the young people were blaming us, saying 'What did y'all do wrong?'" he remembers. "They were not realizing the politics behind it with us just being a Planned Parenthood."
A quarter of family planning clinics statewide closed as a result of these funding cuts, according to the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. The fallout continues to this day, said Rosann Mariappuram, executive director of Jane's Due Process, a group that helps teenagers access contraception and abortion care.
"A lot of clients will call us and say, 'I went to my local Planned Parenthood, but they said, there's this law and they can't actually help me,'" she said. "They just end up confused about where they can go and maybe just stop looking."
Abortion access
Mariappuram said this is a common occurrence in Texas, where teens often end up caught in the crossfire of political decisions they have no say in. The best example, she said, is Texas' latest effort to restrict access to abortion.
The controversial law, known as Senate Bill 8, bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy.
Many women don't know they're pregnant yet at that point, and that's particularly true for teenagers, who may not yet have a regular period or a full understanding of their reproductive system.
If a minor did detect a pregnancy before that point, Texas requires parental consent to get an abortion. If their parents won't consent, the minor can seek a judicial bypass in which a judge agrees the minor is mature enough to make that decision on their own.
"We always encourage youth to involve their parents if it's safe for them to do so," Mariappuram said. "Our clients tend to be in a more severe or dangerous situation where, especially if they're pregnant, talking to their parents can lead to them getting kicked out of the house or being forced to continue a pregnancy against their will."
Castle, with Texas Values, emphasized the importance of parents being involved in this decision -- hopefully, she said, with the goal of encouraging the child to keep the pregnancy.
"I believe there is adequate support for teens to carry those babies to term," she said. "There are over 200 pregnancy care centers in the state that can help these teen moms with whatever they need ... to take care of that child in the future."
Texas has invested more than $100 million in its "Alternatives to Abortion" program, which funds these pregnancy centers, although there's little data available about how the money is spent.
Since Senate Bill 8 went into effect on Sept. 1, Mariappuram said calls to her organization's hotline have dropped by more than half -- and less than a third of the teens who did call were still in the window of time in which they could access an abortion.
The judicial bypass process can take days or weeks, pushing some teens over the time frame during which they could legally have the procedure. And teenagers are less likely to be able to travel out of state to have an abortion as some adults have been able to do, Mariappuram said.
In the face of all these barriers, a lot more teens are carrying pregnancies to term. In September 2021, the month the law went into effect, only 29 women under the age of 18 had an abortion, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
That's a nearly 75% decline from the year prior and a 70% decrease from 2019. The number of abortions in 2021 are still subject to change as the state finalizes numbers.
"We've been doing a lot of emotional support around thinking through how to handle being forced to stay pregnant against their will," said Mariappuram.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood, Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Texas Freedom Network have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune. Read the original here.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Journalists' club in China 'dismayed' by Olympics reporting environment
The Chinese Olympic Team arrives at the Olympic Closing Ceremonies in National Stadium at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Sunday. Photo by Paul Hanna/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A journalist's club based in China said Monday it was "dismayed" the reporting environment for foreign journalists at the Winter Olympic Games did not live up to expected standards.
"The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China is dismayed that the conditions for independent reporting in China continue to fall short of international standards during the Winter Olympic Games," the FCCC said in a statement Monday.
For example, the professional association of Beijing-based journalists cited an Olympic ski event where a Beijing Olympic official prevented a foreign reporter from interviewing a Hong Kong athlete in the games' mixed zone, which is governed by International Olympic rules.
"The International Olympic Committee later called the incident 'an isolated' case," according to the FCCC statement. "However, government interference occurred regularly during the games, a symptom of the challenging operating environment for foreign media in China."
The press club which promotes freedom of the press and exchange with journalists stationed in China also said in its statement that reporters were "frequently tailed and manhandled" by security officials when reporting outside Olympic venues.
"Most visibly, a reporter with the Dutch national broadcaster NOS was hauled off camera during a live TV broadcast by plainclothes security men, despite the fact that he had been standing in a spot police directed him to," the FCCC pointed out in its statement.
The Guardian obtained NOS footage, which showed a security official grabbed Dutch reporter Sjoerd den Daas and dragged him away from where he was reporting near the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing during the games' opening ceremony.
"Unfortunately, this is increasingly the daily reality for journalists in China," NOS later tweeted, adding that he was "fine and could fortunately finish his story a few minutes later."
Several journalists were harassed online based on stories they wrote related to the Olympics, including some harassment by Chinese state media accounts and Chinese diplomats, according to the FCCC statement.
Journalists were also told they needed clearance from Chinese authorities to report in public areas despite rules allowing journalists to conduct interviews "without threat of state interference," and "freely in public areas," the FCCC statement said.
"Unfortunately, neither rule was enforced, at a time when global attention was trained on China more than ever," the statement said.
The Chinese Olympic Team arrives at the Olympic Closing Ceremonies in National Stadium at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Sunday. Photo by Paul Hanna/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A journalist's club based in China said Monday it was "dismayed" the reporting environment for foreign journalists at the Winter Olympic Games did not live up to expected standards.
"The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China is dismayed that the conditions for independent reporting in China continue to fall short of international standards during the Winter Olympic Games," the FCCC said in a statement Monday.
For example, the professional association of Beijing-based journalists cited an Olympic ski event where a Beijing Olympic official prevented a foreign reporter from interviewing a Hong Kong athlete in the games' mixed zone, which is governed by International Olympic rules.
"The International Olympic Committee later called the incident 'an isolated' case," according to the FCCC statement. "However, government interference occurred regularly during the games, a symptom of the challenging operating environment for foreign media in China."
The press club which promotes freedom of the press and exchange with journalists stationed in China also said in its statement that reporters were "frequently tailed and manhandled" by security officials when reporting outside Olympic venues.
"Most visibly, a reporter with the Dutch national broadcaster NOS was hauled off camera during a live TV broadcast by plainclothes security men, despite the fact that he had been standing in a spot police directed him to," the FCCC pointed out in its statement.
The Guardian obtained NOS footage, which showed a security official grabbed Dutch reporter Sjoerd den Daas and dragged him away from where he was reporting near the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing during the games' opening ceremony.
"Unfortunately, this is increasingly the daily reality for journalists in China," NOS later tweeted, adding that he was "fine and could fortunately finish his story a few minutes later."
Several journalists were harassed online based on stories they wrote related to the Olympics, including some harassment by Chinese state media accounts and Chinese diplomats, according to the FCCC statement.
Journalists were also told they needed clearance from Chinese authorities to report in public areas despite rules allowing journalists to conduct interviews "without threat of state interference," and "freely in public areas," the FCCC statement said.
"Unfortunately, neither rule was enforced, at a time when global attention was trained on China more than ever," the statement said.
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