Videos Highlight New Preventive Services Coverage, Attacks on Contraception

August 3, 2012 — The following summarizes select women's health-related videos.

Facts from Guttmacher: A new video from the Guttmacher Institute highlights proven benefits of contraceptive use in the U.S., such as improved health for women and their children, lower health care costs, and fewer unintended pregnancies and abortions. Guttmacher launched the video to help "put facts squarely back into the debate" over contraceptive coverage, according to a release from the institute (Guttmacher Institute, 7/30).

New benefits for women: Speaking with PBS' Margaret Warner, NPR's Julie Rovner explains the women's preventive services provision that took effect on Wednesday as part of the Affordable Care Act. Rovner discusses who will be affected and when, what services are included, and how the changes affect health care costs (Warner, "NewsHour," PBS, 8/1).

Rep. Schakowsky interview: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow also reports on the implementation of various ACA provisions, as well as a House vote on Tuesday on a bill to ban abortion in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) joins Maddow to discuss the bill, which failed to garner the two-thirds majority it needed to pass (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 7/31).

Retorts to Rep. Kelly: Maddow responds to Rep. Mike Kelly's (R-Pa.) comparison of expanded contraceptive coverage for women to the Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11 attacks. Maddow argues that the increasingly widespread criticism of contraception by the GOP is evidence that far-right views -- like those promoted by former presidential candidate Rick Santorum -- have become more mainstream among conservatives (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 8/1). Elsewhere on MSNBC, Michael Eric Dyson discusses Kelly's comments with TheGrio.com's Joy Reid and Republican strategist Susan del Percio (Dyson, "The Ed Show," MSNBC, 8/1).