The strategy of using abortion-related keywords to send a woman searching the web for abortion information to a nearby crisis pregnancy center is already a few years old. But the scheme only received real national attention a couple of months ago, when Siri, Apple’s new voice-activated search assistant, was caught sending women looking for abortion clinics to centers that specialize in talking women out of abortions.

Apple refuted accusations of an anti-abortion agenda, instead blaming the “glitch” on search engines like Google and user-generated guides like Yelp, from which Siri largely extracts its information.

Apple’s explanation matched claims made by anti-abortion rights groups, whose websites describe in detail how they use keywords and Google ads to direct abortion seekers to a central website called Option Line, whose primary function is to route people to one of the thousands of crisis pregnancy centers throughout the country.

The Siri scandal sent The American Independent on a search for evidence that anti-abortion activists are successfully thwarting abortion searches on the Web. We found that CPCs have a minor presence online, but what’s telling is not so much the quantity of CPC ads that appeared on each front-page Google search, but the subtle, universal messaging these sites use.

In many cases, the presence of an anti-abortion agenda is masked.

Searching ‘abortion’

Like most businesses trying to boost their visibility on Google, anti-abortion pregnancy centers buy ads through Google’s AdWords program. But at the heart of the strategy appears to be CPC websites that not only share a universal message, but also a universal Web design.

Using various Google search approaches – “abortion,” “abortion services” “how can I get an abortion,” “I need an abortion” – TAI discovered at least one ad or entry that was linked to Option Line or to Option Line-created software on each primary search page.

These pages often also included two or three entries for individual crisis pregnancy centers or anti-abortion websites. One search result turned up a list of “abortion services” in the D.C. area that included anti-abortion pregnancy centers.

A Google ad that popped up frequently during our searches is “Thinking of Abortion?” whose URL is listed as assistcpc.org. The ad links to the website for Assist Pregnancy Center, a CPC in Annandale, Va. At the very bottom of the website is a note: “Website created by Optionline e-Xtend.” This links to Option Line Extend, a website development program that provides pregnancy centers with “a professional Internet presence.”

Another Google ad titled “Abortion Stories” links to the website standupgirl.com, whose domain is owned by Oregon Right to Life. The site is mainly devoted to promoting pregnancy and hosts an Option Line chat service on its homepage.

Option Line is a 24/7 live-operator contact center headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, which fields inquiries from people seeking information about abortion and pregnancy. It has a Spanish-only version at estasembarazada.com, staffed by bilingual consultants.

Option Line was co-founded in 2003 by Care Net and Heartbeat International, two of the three largest CPC networks in the U.S. About half of the more than 4,000 centers across the country are affiliated with one of these two networks.

In 2007, Option Line created Option Line Extend to sell to centers affiliated with either Care Net or Heartbeat International. CPCs are charged $150 for “basic websites,” $300 for “premium websites” and $500 for “ministry websites.”

Care Net, which made about $7 million in revenue in 2010, reported spending $600,000 on Option Line. Heartbeat International, which reported making about $1.4 million in revenue (PDF) in 2010, reported spending about 46 percent of its budget on its Option Line program between October 2010 and September 2011.

The Option Line Extend model websites are designed with calm colors and messaging, a departure from anti-abortion websites like AbortionNO.org (whose domain is owned by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform), which links directly to a graphic video of a fetus being aborted.

Aside from live-chats and directions to the closest CPC, Option Line offers answers to questions about abortion, birth control and emergency contraception.

In an answer to the question, “Should I take the morning-after pill?” Option Line replies:

Many times women panic after having unprotected sex and rush to take the morning-after pill (Plan B One Step® or Next Choice®). However, you can only become pregnant on certain days of the month — around the time that you ovulate. Taking the morning-after pill during a time when you cannot become pregnant needlessly exposes you to large doses of hormones.

If you are already pregnant from an earlier sexual encounter, taking the morning-after pill is of no value and may cause harm6^, 7. To find out if you are pregnant, contact us, and we’ll connect you with a caring, qualified pregnancy center near you.

Questions about abortion are answered in similarly sober tones. Potential risks from abortion — often overstated by anti-abortion activists and CPC counselors — are stated here as what they are, potential risks. For example, while activists often argue that abortion is a direct cause of breast cancer, here the link is presented as uncertain. Option Line is also careful about putting disclaimers at the bottom of some of its pages, stating that its centers do not offer certain services, but this message is does not always appear on individual center sites.

Creating diversions on the Internet

According to a recently released updated report (PDF) on crisis pregnancy centers produced by the Family Research Council, Option Line averages about 1 million visitors per year and makes about 20,000 contracts per month, with media partners such as Heroic Media and Online for Life.

Last September, The American Independent reported that Heroic Media, an anti-abortion media group headquartered in Austin, Texas, was employing what’s known in the industry as “landing pages” or “doorway pages,” which Google defines as “poor-quality pages where each page is optimized for a specific keyword or phrase … written to rank a particular phrase and then funnel users to a single destination.”

The single destination where Heroic Media was trying to funnel users was Option Line’s homepage. Heroic Media’s parent company, Majella Cares, registered the Web domain freepreghelpline.com, which, when clicked on, goes to optionline.org/get-help.

Heroic Media discussed this strategy on its website when the Independent first reported the story.

This was an excerpt that we recorded from this page:

Internet keyword advertising is targeted and measureable. We can reach scared, abortion-vulnerable women with life-affirming messages and monitor effectiveness by the number of views, clicks, and visits to our site. We recently launched a new landing page at www.freepreghelpline.com to optimize reporting on just how many women are connected with life-affirming resources.

Keyword advertising on Google is also extremely cost-effective because you only pay for clicks, which cost an average of less than three dollars. That’s three dollars to connect abortion-vulnerable women with life-affirming information and people who can help.

A recent screenshot of the same web page we excerpted back in September shows that Heroic Media deleted the paragraph about freepreghelpline.com (also, the alleged amount of monthly “abortion” searches has jumped from 2 million to 6 million):

Screenshot from HeroicMedia.org, click to enlarge.

When asked if the organization is still using landing pages, Heroic Media spokesperson Marissa Gabrysch said the organization never used them.

“That’s inaccurate, although I understand why it was confusing,” Gabrysch told TAI in an email when asked about the doorway pages. “I have made the clarification on our website. Heroic Media’s keyword ads for Option Line link directly to optionline.org.

“The freepreghelpline.com site has not been advertised through keyword ads,” she continued.

“The county is taking steps that if he gets out, we will file a civil matter to make sure he takes his medications,” Ghosh told The American Independent.

Ghosh was speaking of the Comstock Park man who turned himself in to Grand Rapids police Dec. 22, alleging he attempted to infect hundreds of people with HIV through unprotected sex and sharing needles. He was placed in a psychiatric hold for two days, and on Dec. 24, he was arraigned on the first of two charges of failing to disclose his status to a sex partner. Several days later, prosecutors added a second charge of failing to disclose. He is currently in Ypsilanti undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he can stand trial. He is being held on a $100,000 bond.

TAI does not identify the names of those charged with HIV disclosure laws unless both the accused and the accuser are named in court documents, or one or both provide TAI permission to publish their names.

The case, media releases and subsequent reporting have resulted in what experts have told TAI were “sensationalist” reports in the wider media.

But this is the first time county officials have indicated plans on how to deal with the man if he is released on bond.

The announcement, however, has HIV advocates worried.

“Forcing anyone to take treatment is a slippery slope,” said Sean Strub, co-chair of the Global Network of People with AIDS, North America (GNP+), in an email. “This person’s most important health issue seems to be his mental health, not his viral status. Forcing anti-retroviral treatment on anyone is a slippery slope. Once the camel’s nose gets inside that tent, even in such a rare and bizarre circumstance as this peculiar case, it is not such a huge step to mandatory testing and treatment for an ever-expanding number of people with HIV.”

While the advent of antiretroviral medications in the mid-1990s resulted in a staggering revival of persons living with AIDS and s sharp decrease in AIDS-related deaths, the drugs themselves are quite toxic and cause a host of side effects. In addition, scientists are not in agreement as to when is the appropriate point in clinical progression to begin treatment, resulting in many mixed messages to patients.

Michigan does have a part of the state health code that allows health officials to declare a person a health threat to others (HTTO). HTTOs are a civil action and can amount to anything from counseling to forced civil confinement for as long as six months. TAI reported in December that many people thought the law was being abused when it was revealed that any HIV-positive person who was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection was immediately issued an HTTO. In other instances, women who became pregnant were issued HTTO orders and HIV-positive people who were named in partner services programs were also targeted for HTTO orders. The state, which oversees the HTTO list, denies pregnant women were targeted but said the STI and partner services programs were appropriate uses of the state’s name-based HIV list.

“[The suspect] does not have an airborne disease spread through casual contact; he has a disease that, regardless of treatment, is not easily transmitted. Even without treatment, the primary routes of infection — unprotected anal or vaginal sex — result in HIV transmission roughly one percent or less of the time,” said Catherine Hanssens, executive director of the Center for HIV Law and Policy. “So the threat of mandatory treatment is not a reflection of any danger [the suspect] poses, but of Ms.Ghosh’s dangerous misapprehension of both HIV transmission and the law governing the very limited circumstances under which treatment of an individual can be mandated.”

Photo: Kent County, Mich. logo (www.accesskent.com)

With the beginning of session only days away, Florida legislators have been busy filing a slew of anti-abortion bills. Add yet another to the list: a measure outlawing race- and gender-based abortions. The bill was filed by state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood.

House Bill 1327, or the “Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity for Life Act,” would make it a crime to have an abortion “that it is sought based on sex or race of child or race of parent of that child.” A similar bill was filed in the U.S. House by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., last month and became law in Arizona last year.

According to a summary of the bill, it:

• Requires person performing termination to first sign affidavit stating that he or she is not performing termination because of child’s sex or race and has no knowledge that pregnancy being terminated is because of child’s sex or race;
• Prohibits performing or inducing termination knowing that it is sought based on sex or race of child or race of parent of that child, using force or threat of force to intentionally injure or intimidate any person for purpose of coercing sex-selection or race-selection termination, and soliciting or accepting moneys to finance sex-selection or race-selection termination;
• Provides for injunctions;
• Provides for civil actions by certain persons; authorizes civil fines against physicians & other health professionals who knowingly fail to report known violations; provides that woman on whom sex-selection or race-selection termination is performed is not subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability.

Plakon says he did not file the bill to address any “Florida-specific” problem, but rather to address a “creeping problem” with gender- and race-based abortions worldwide. He says “we shouldn’t wait” until there is a rampant problem in order to address this.

“This is wrong,” he says. “We need to make sure this doesn’t creep into Florida from other countries.”

Plakon does, however, concede that it is hard to prove that gender- or race-based abortions are happening “on a micro-level,” which would make this law somewhat hard to enforce unless a woman were to mention the reasoning behind her abortion.

“If she volunteers that information,” Plakon says, “it would put the burden on the abortionist to not provide the abortion.”

There is no denying this is happening worldwide, Plakon says. “And you could argue that this country is a safe haven for this sort of thing.”

“At least we are doing something,” he says.

Reproductive rights and justice activists have long condemned bills like Plakon’s since Frank first introduced his measure the same week President Obama was elected.

Loretta Ross, the president of SisterSong — a reproductive justice collective for women of color — says there is no evidence that supports the need for such a bill. She believes these bills are a “blatant attempt for southern Republicans to look like they are champions of racial justice,” while they actually attacking women’s rights.

“The question to ask would be: Do you champion [racial minorities and women] once they are here?” Loretta says.

This sort of legislation has been the result of a concerted effort among anti-abortion activists to link abortion to racist aims. Groups have been touting the “black genocide” conspiracy in an effort to convince African-American communities to oppose abortion. In some cases, these arguments have taken root in the African-American community.

Ross says that painting women as propagators of genocide in this way is an “attack on women’s dignity.”

“Ultimately,” Ross says, “this shows contempt for women.”

As of now, the Legislature has filed eight anti-abortion/reproductive rights bill for the session starting next week — nine if/when this bill picks up a Senate sponsor.

In spite of the national condemnation, local media and the Kent County Health Department are standing by their reporting.

“In this extreme case, the challenge becomes to look beyond the sensational and focus on information that would be helpful to the public,” said Colette Seguin Beighley, a Grand Rapids resident and board member of the LGBT-advocacy group Equality Michigan, in an email to The American Independent. ”What may be most helpful would be to use this as an opportunity to provide information about the different ways HIV is transmitted along with accompanying infection rates. … It would also resist feeding into hysteria which vilifies and victimizes HIV+ people.”

While nearly every media outlet that has written or reported about this case has identified the Comstock Park man by name, it is TAI’s policy not to identify those alleged to be living with HIV in criminal matters such as disclosure cases, unless they are convicted or the individuals pursuing charges are identified by name either in interviews, court documents, or other publications or reports.

The background

Grand Rapids Police allege the man walked into their station on Dec. 22, 2011, and told detectives he was turning himself in for attempting to infect hundreds of people with HIV by sharing needles and having unprotected sex with them. Police claim he admitted to wanting to kill people with the virus.

The man was placed in psychiatric observation while police investigated his claims. On Dec. 24, he was arraigned on one felony count of the state’s HIV disclosure law. That 1988 law makes it a crime for a person with HIV to engage in sexual penetration, “however slight,” without first disclosing his or her HIV-positive status. On Dec. 28, police and prosecutors added a second disclosure-law felony. Officials say they expect to file more criminal charges as their investigation continues.

This was not the man’s first trip to psychiatric observation and care, nor would it be his last. Earlier in 2011, he was ordered by a court to a 90-day commitment to facility. On Tuesday, the court sent him to a state-run criminal psychiatric hospital in Ypsilanti, Mich., for evaluation on his mental fitness to stand trial.

Why the man was ordered to be hospitalized in 2011 is unclear, and health officials refuse to say, claiming they do not want to violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The press release

Following word of the arraignment on the first charge, the Kent County Health Department issued a press release (PDF), which was presented as a ‘Health Alert’ without noting that the health department has no actual legal authority to make such a declaration.

That release, experts interviewed by The American Independent say, was the source of the sensationalism in reporting.

“My concern with the press release distributed by the Kent County Health Department is its use of the term ‘victim,’ said Michigan Positive Action Coalition (MI-POZ) director Mark Peterson in an email. “This assumes the continuing criminalization of an individual who has HIV. Neither the press release or anything else I’ve read in the media about this case so far has asked if [the suspect's] partners asked him about his HIV status or knew or disclosed their own HIV or STI status.”

Peterson also expressed concerns that the press release failed to address transmission probabilities in a clear and concise way. While the press release noted that transmission rates vary based on which activity is involved, it failed to note exactly how low those probabilities are.

A 2011 Journal of AIDS study by Julie Fox et al. found that the highest probability of infection in a one-time sexual encounter with an HIV-positive person was 1.4 percent for receptive anal intercourse. The Center for HIV Law & Policy has created a comparative chart of infection probabilities comparing HIV, herpes, human papillomavirus (HVP), and gonorrhea. HPV and gonorrhea have staggeringly high transmission rates. HPV — which has been linked to several forms of cancer, including cervical, penile, throat, mouth and anal cancer — has a risk between 43 percent and 93 percent, while gonorrhea has a 25 percent to 50 percent transmission rate. Herpes’ transmission rates, however, are below a 10th of 1 percent, similar to most exposures to HIV.

Ignoring these realities about AIDS and HIV, Peterson said, feeds common misinformation about the disease.

“I think there are two important issues at play here in the media coverage thus far: the lack of concrete information about exactly how infectious HIV is, resulting in wild speculation and implication by media that everyone he contacted got infected, and this case highlights the lack of knowledge in the general public and from the media concerning HIV transmission, as well as feed the assumption that people living with HIV in general, are negligently transmitting HIV to others,” Peterson said.

He also told TAI that several studies have found that those living with HIV who know of their status are unlikely to be the source of new infections. Those studies, Peterson said, were written by Dr. David R. Holtgrave of Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). In those reports, Holtgrave said infections caused by those who know they are living with the virus represent only 2 percent of the total new infections. Meanwhile, the 20 to 25 percent of Americans living with the virus and unaware of their infection are responsible for the remaining 98 percent of new infections.

“Hysterical, inaccurate reporting feeds hysteria and stigma against people with HIV,” said Beirne Roose-Snyder, an attorney with the Center for HIV Law & Policy. “The characterizations of HIV in the news articles and the press release encourage a view of individuals with HIV as toxic, irresponsible and predatory.”

The media frenzy

Activists told TAI that this poorly formed press release, which they say provided little factual information, resulted in a flurry of sensational reports. The Global Grind called the suspect “a total monster,” while in an interview with WOOD TV 8, NBC’s Grand Rapids affiliate, one anonymous woman who claimed the suspect infected her with HIV in 2008 called him a “sociopath” and “predator.” The headline from the Grand Rapids Press’ coverage of the man’s preliminary hearing is “Psychiatric exam slated for [name of suspect redacted] who is accused of intentionally spreading AIDS.” In a national blog written by an expert in criminal issues, the man is referred to as a “serial murder.”

In the interview with WOOD TV 8, the woman who alleged the suspect infected her in June 2008 was not challenged about her accusation, nor was she asked basic questions about the sexual encounter with the man (did she ask about his disease status? did she ask that he use a condom? had she previously engaged in risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex or sharing needles?). The WOOD interviewer noted — and did not challenge — the woman’s charge that the suspect told her he had attempted to infect as many as 3,000 people. The reporter did not question this allegation, in light of the suspect’s mental health issues, nor did he ask why the woman had not come forward in October 2008, when she was diagnosed, or later when he allegedly told her about his plan to infect people. The reporter also failed to note that determining direction of infection (who infected whom) is not scientifically possible.

The woman’s claims that the man attempted to infect 3,000 people were then used in subsequent reporting by the television station. But Grand Rapids Police and court documents say the suspect told police he tried to infect “hundreds” of people.

This kind of media coverage, activists say, increases stigma against those living with HIV.

“Is the coverage stigmatizing? Of course it is,” said Peter Kronenberg, communications director of the National Association of People With AIDS, in an email. “It doesn’t acknowledge that [suspect's name redacted] campaign to infect as many people as possible is way out in the ‘alpha tail’ of aberrant behavior, and that leaves readers (many of whom already have hang-ups about minority sexual orientation and HIV as a ‘gay’ disease) free to conclude that this is how all people with HIV behave. The only story we’ve seen so far that even mentions [suspect's name redacted] confinement for psychiatric evaluation is (here). The news coverage also fails to remind readers that it is the responsibility of both partners in a sexual act (or drug sharing) to protect themselves. With partners who know each other well, that means saying, I’m HIV-(positive/negative), what about you? With partners who don’t, it means assuming nothing, no matter what is asked or what is answered, and using condoms. Just because (s)he says (s)he’s negative doesn’t mean it’s true. Too many people don’t know their status, and some, regrettably, lie – out of fear of rejection.”

Sean Strub, co-chair of the Global Network of People with HIV/AIDS North America (GNP+), told TAI that this type of media coverage actually perpetuates the fear of HIV-positive people to disclose their status. A Kaiser Family Foundation report released in June of 2011 found that six in 10 Americans get their HIV information from news reports. That, activists say, is the reason the “sensationalist” reporting is particularly damning to HIV-prevention, -intervention and -care efforts.

“The media coverage makes those who truly fear they might have HIV more reluctant to find out, as it underscores the stigma, and it definitely makes it tougher for people who know they have HIV to disclose,” Strub said.

“Sensationalist reporting about HIV criminalization cases, including this one, are a serious hindrance to good HIV education,” said attorney Roose-Snyder. “It greatly skews the truth about how, how easily, and by whom most HIV is transmitted, since 1) most HIV transmission takes place during consensual sex between two adults who do not know their HIV status; 2) once most people know they are HIV positive they typically reduce their sexual risk-taking behaviors; and 3) most HIV-positive people who are aware of their status do not want to – and in fact do not – transmit HIV.”

Of concern for many of the activists TAI talked to was that the suspect’s mental health issues were barely, if ever, mentioned in the reporting. And the Kent County Health Department is holding the specifics of what illness the man is suffering from as a tightly guarded secret.

When asked why she failed to note the mental health issues in her press release or subsequent public comments, Kent County communications director Lisa LaPlante cited HIPAA concerns. When asked why revealing mental health information about the suspect was a violation of HIPAA but revealing his HIV status was not, LaPlante told TAI,”[His] HIV status was disclosed as two criminal charges, therefore a component of the press release.”

But the suspect’s two-day confinement in a psychiatric hospital following his alleged admissions was also part of the news, somewhat nullifying LaPlante’s HIPAA claims, activists say.

“The public fears people with HIV more than they fear people with mental health issues; in this circumstance it seems like the media and public health authorities are responding or playing to the public’s fear and biases rather than the real underlying issue with this individual,” Strub said. “Understanding mental health issues is more nuanced and complicated; it is far easier to play into the hysteria, ignorance and fear engendered by HIV.”

“While it’s hard to imagine what the motivation of any story is from a legal standpoint of the criminal case, it is common for one side to leak only that information which is beneficial to the case,” said Joshua Moore, an attorney who runs Detroit Legal Services, an HIV legal specialty clinic. “Here it would be beneficial for a prosecutor to have information leaked that did not include [the suspect's] mental illness so that the community would be biased towards his case.”

Sex vs. syringes

Also of concern with the reporting, from the standpoint of HIV/AIDS, is the focus on sexual exposure. The suspect allegedly told police he shared needles and had sex in an attempt to infect as many people as possible.

“Why does sex feature prominently in the story as reported and not the needle-sharing?” Kronenberg said. “HIV disease’s strange negative glamour comes directly from its having shown up first in gay men. The mixed fascination and repulsion some people feel about same-sex sexuality says a lot more about them than it does about gay people. Sex sells newspapers; if you haven’t seen it already, have a look at the coverage in the UK’s online tabloid Mail Online. This is the Mail Online’s kind of story.”

“My assumption here is that the issue of sex, especially anonymous sex via online interactions is more salacious then syringe-sharing,” said Peterson of MI-POZ. “It speaks more to our obsession with sex than it does our understanding of public health.”

Fittingly, Michigan’s HIV disclosure law does not require an HIV-positive person to disclose his or her status when sharing needles with someone. The focus on sexual transmission led then-state Sen. Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) to tell the Michigan Messenger the current law “hasn’t been able to protect the public.”

Standing by the reports

The American Independent sent requests for comment to WOOD TV 8, the Kent County Health Department, and the Grand Rapids Press.

WOOD TV 8 News Director Rebecca Sapakie issued the following statement about her station’s news coverage of the case:

WOOD TV is proud of its in-depth reporting on this issue. When we first heard about the case, we contacted police, prosecutors and the health department to expand our perspective on the story. We used comments from the suspect himself to police, investigators, official court documents, victims and the health department to frame our stories. As we uncovered new facts, we followed the story in the days beyond our initial reports. News stories frequently deal with the unusual or rare cases. We pride ourselves in giving perspective to these stories and offering our viewers important information. This was a case where public officials believed it was appropriate to alert the public given the known facts. We are confident with our reporting on this story and we’ll continue to follow it if new developments are discovered.

Grand Rapids Press Editor Paul Keep did not respond to several emails seeking comment.

Bonnie Bucqueroux, a journalism professor at Michigan State University and former director of the Victims and the Media Project there, said she thinks criticism of the reporting is unfounded.

“I am always willing to criticize the press when I think they deserve it,” she told TAI. “I think most did a pretty good job.”

Lisa LaPlante from the Kent County Health Department said she stands by her press release and sees no need to revise it. She also added that the press has had an impact on testing for HIV.

“I feel confident that the information provided in the news release has been helpful to the community, as we have seen an uptick in free, confidential, anonymous client testing for HIV since [the suspect's] arrest,” she said.

But activists say the uptick is unlikely to be helpful in actually addressing the HIV epidemic in Kent County and beyond.

“No, an increase in testing does nothing if the community as a whole is ignorant to the disease itself,” said attorney Moore. “There are many individuals out in the community that I work with every day who are scarred to death that a family member or church member finds out their infected with HIV. These types of reports only feed that fear and stigma. The fear and stigma often prevent people living with HIV from getting the proper education themselves. The media has a responsibility to cover these types of stories with balance and offer a means for individuals in the public to get educated.”

Photo: Kent County, Mich. logo (www.accesskent.com)

Kent County Press Release December 27, 2011

“The 92 new abortion restrictions enacted in 2011,” Guttmacher reports, “shattered the previous record of 34 adopted in 2005.”

Included in the list of common restrictions enacted this past year were: bans, waiting periods, ultrasound laws, insurance coverage bans, clinic regulations and medical abortion restrictions.

Florida, among the 24 states where the majority of the anti-abortion measures were enacted, passed both an ultrasound law and an insurance-coverage ban for abortions in plans created through the health care reform law. The state also made it onto a list for cutting deeply into the state budget for family-planning services — an investment states make to reduce unwanted pregnancies that can result in abortions.

Already this year, the Florida Legislature has introduced seven anti-abortion/reproductive rights bills for the session starting next week.

Fischer made the comments Wednesday on his syndicated radio show, Focal Point, during an interview with Peter H. Duesberg, a discredited scientist who also claims that the disease manifestation known as AIDS is not caused by HIV. The apparent cause, according to Fischer and Duesberg — who authored the AIDS denialist manifesto “Inventing the AIDS Virus” — is too much homosexual sex and recreational drug use.

And what evidence does Fisher have that HIV does not cause AIDS?

Fischer: I read a story about Earvin Johnson — Magic Johnson–

Duesberg: Ah, yes.

Fischer: A very prominent diagnosis of AIDS in 1991, I think it was.

Duesberg: That is correct.

Fischer: And everybody thought he’s going to die, he’s going to keel over, he’s going to wither away. And here he is 20 years later — and the article was celebrating the 20th anniversary of his diagnosis. You look at the guy and he is absolutely as healthy as a horse, but he’s been HIV-positive for 20 years and that would fit your theory that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS.

Duesberg: And so are 100 million Americans that been HIV-positive in ’85 — and even now in 2012, it’s still 1 million HIV-positive Americans. On average, they have the same life expectancy as the rest, else otherwise they would have disappeared by now.

What Fischer and Duesberg don’t note in this exchange is important. First, Johnson was never diagnosed with AIDS. He was diagnosed as HIV-positive. AIDS is a clinical manifestation of the disease process caused by the virus — HIV — which includes a significantly compromised immune system and one of several infections not found in people with healthy immune systems. Second, neither Duesberg nor Fischer note that as a very wealthy man, Johnson had access to the best medical care and best medications from the moment of his diagnosis. In fact, that flies in the face of a claim by Duesberg that antiretroviral drugs are toxic and kill more people than HIV itself does.

And finally, neither notes that Johnson himself, on Nov. 7, 1991, denied having AIDS. From CBS News:

“I just want to make it clear, first of all, that I do not have the AIDS disease.”

CBS News also reports that Johnson’s care was overseen in part by Dr. David Ho, the scientist who is credited with discovering protease inhibitors, a powerful drug which stops the virus’ replication process.

The folks at the National Association of People With AIDS are not keen on Fischer’s venture into AIDS denialism either.

“There’s no excuse for denying that the HIV virus causes AIDS,” said Peter Kronenberg, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. “It’s been accepted for years that HIV passes all the standard tests for identifying an infectious agent as the cause of a disease. With very rare exceptions (which can be traced to other health conditions), the virus is present in all patients who display the complete immune system breakdown that characterizes advanced AIDS. Transmission of the virus to uninfected persons causes steady progression towards AIDS as long as the virus is left untreated and unchecked. When the virus is finally treated, even very advanced AIDS patients come back from the brink of death as their immune systems begin to rebuild themselves. There’s nothing left to prove: HIV causes AIDS.”

Watch the entire exchange between Duesberg and Fischer, courtesy of Right Wing Watch:

Photo: Bryan Fischer at the 2011 Values Voter Summit (AMERICAN INDEPENDENT/Sam Petulla)

Florida Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka (Photo: myfloridahouse.gov/Meredith Geddings)

Last week, Florida state Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, followed through on his announcement that he would bring back a bill that bans abortion in the state of Florida, providing only an exception to save the life of the mother. Van Zant’s bill would make performing an abortion a felony.

House Bill 1151 would create the “Florida for Life Act,” a law that would essentially outlaw all abortions in direct defiance of legal abortion rights in the U.S.

According to a summary, the bill would prohibit “induced abortions,” the operation of a facility that provides abortions, the termination of any pregnancy “unless specified conditions are met.”

Van Zant’s bill (.pdf) states that “the Legislature acknowledges that all persons are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that first among these is their right to life.”

The bill does not provide exceptions for rape or incest, either. It only provides an exception for a woman who is facing a threat to her life if she carries out a pregnancy. According to the bill, “woman’s life is a superior consideration to the concern for the life of the fetus and the woman’s health is a superior consideration to the concern for the health of the fetus when such life or health concerns are in conflict.”

According to the bill:

A termination of pregnancy may not be performed unless:

(a) Two physicians certify in writing to the fact that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of pregnancy is necessary to prevent the death of the patient;

(b) Two physicians certify in writing to the fact that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of pregnancy is necessary because to continue the pregnancy would unreasonably reduce the likelihood of successful treatment of a life-threatening disease of the patient; or

(c) A physician certifies in writing that a medical emergency existed and another physician was not available for consultation prior to the time necessary to perform the termination of pregnancy. The physician’s written certification must clearly describe the medical emergency.

The bill also requires that “physicians and personnel at a medical facility … provide certain women and minors who have been treated by the facility with information regarding adoption and a statewide list of attorneys available to provide volunteer legal services for adoption.”

Van Zant, an ordained Baptist minister, has unsuccessfully introduced a similar bill multiple times. This past October, he told Creative Loafing he would be introducing the bill again.

The Legislature has already introduced a bill written by the Florida Catholic Conference that would redefine the death of a “viable fetus” as the death of an “unborn child.” The bill would also change laws for vehicular manslaughter involving a pregnant woman.

Another bill introduced by state Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, would restrict “the circumstances in which an abortion may be performed in the third trimester or after viability.” Flores’ bill also pushes forward a handful of anti-abortion measures that did not make it through last session, including targeted laws for abortion providers and a waiting period for women seeking an abortion.

Early last month, state Rep. Daniel Davis, R-Jacksonville, introduced a “fetal pain” bill that would outlaw abortions after 20 weeks.

Van Zant’s proposal brings the running count of anti-abortion/reproductive rights bill to seven for the 2012 session. During last year’s session, 18 such bills were introduced.

Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, has introduce the Senate version of Van Zant’s abortion ban.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey (Photo: Facebook)

Florida state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has filed a bill for the upcoming session that would make January 2012 ”Pregnancy Resource Center Month.”

Pregnancy resource centers are also referred to as crisis pregnancy centers. Crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, are mostly religious centers aimed at dissuading women from having an abortion. Some Florida centers have been found to distribute inaccurate medical information about abortion to women seeking help.

Senate Resolution 1326 would commend “the compassionate work of the volunteers and staff at Florida’s pregnancy resource centers.” The bill would celebrate CPCs providing ”important support and resources for women who choose childbirth over abortion,” the bill says.

If passed, the measure would be another item in the list of ways the Legislature has shown its support for CPCs through the years. Last year, the state’s CPC network received $2 million in taxpayer funds — a fixed amount it has received each of the past six years. The state Legislature does not, however, set aside funding for groups that prevent unplanned pregnancies and help women facing crises such as Planned Parenthood. Those clinics instead receive some family planning dollars that are given to local governments. However, that amount was cut by almost $1 million last year. One Planned Parenthood affiliate lost thousands of dollars for teen sexual health programs servicing young people in Palm Beach County this year because of the cut.

While CPCs did not lose a dime last year, Florida health services saw deep cuts to state funding.

Groups such as Planned Parenthood and Healthy Start, which are not religiously based and yet provide similar services to CPCs, serve more patients and offer more services.

Fasano’s bill (.pdf) also states that “the Florida Senate disapproves of the actions of any national, state, or local groups attempting to prevent pregnancy resource centers from effectively serving women and men facing unplanned pregnancies.”

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that about 20 percent of 17-year-olds who called in to a pharmacy to ask for emergency contraception that day were unable to receive it. Seventeen-year-old women legally have access to the morning after pill, also known as Plan B, without a prescription. The decision would have removed a prescription requirement for any woman seeking emergency contraception.

According to the study:

The availability of emergency contraception did not differ based on neighborhood income. However, in 19 percent (n = 138) of calls, the adolescent was told she could not obtain emergency contraception under any circumstance. This misinformation occurred more often (23.7 percent vs 14.6 percent) among pharmacies in low-income neighborhoods. When callers queried the age threshold for over-the-counter access, they were given the correct age less often by pharmacies in low-income neighborhoods (50.0 percent vs 62.8 percent. In all but 11 calls, the incorrect age was stated as erroneously too high, potentially restricting access.

The researchers concluded that “although we found approximately 80 percent same-day availability of emergency contraception in US metropolitan areas, misinformation regarding access was common—particularly in low-income neighborhoods.”

Immediate access to emergency contraception is vital to its effectiveness. Prolonged wait times or other types of barriers to same-day access can lead to an unplanned pregnancy, which is why many women’s health advocates have criticized the federal government for intervening in the FDA’s request.

Since Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced her decision, reproductive health advocates and policy-makers have expressed disappointment with the decision and claim it was based on political calculations, and not on scientific research. Last week, more than 35,000 signatures were sent to President Obama denouncing the decision.

The Center for Reproductive Rights has already sought legal action challenging the federal agency’s decision and a judge is considering hearing it.

AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, known as ADAP, are a nationwide payer of last resort for people who cannot afford their HIV/AIDS medications. They have been in a funding crisis since 2010, which prompted many states, including Florida, to implement cost containment measures such as waiting lists.

Nationwide, according to the State and Territorial AIDS Directors (PDF), there are now more than 4,300 individuals in 12 states on AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting lists.

The ADAP Crisis Task Force, convened by the Directors, announced Monday a “new discount/rebate and price freeze, available to all state ADAPs,” with ViiV Healthcare, a company focusing on HIV/AIDS treatment that was created by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer in 2009.

The Task Force writes that it has “secured significant multi-year, voluntary discounts and rebates from all eight manufacturers of HIV antiretroviral (ARV) medications, with many of them providing price freezes for ADAPs through 2013.”

Florida’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS (PDF) listed 979 people on its ADAP waiting list as of Dec. 9; more than 470 of those people live in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.