Women's Views on News |
| Obama leads Romney among women voters, poll shows Posted: 04 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT
President Obama has a large lead over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney among women voters in 12 key swing states, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released on Monday. Since mid-February, support for Obama from women under 50 has increased to 54 per cent, compared to 36 per cent for Romney. Obama also enjoys a lead among all voters, polling at 51 per cent to Romney's 42 per cent. The poll suggests that the Republican candidate may face difficulties among women voters in the general election. The results follow weeks of debate in the Republican party over women's rights (see WVoN story). Both Romney and Rick Santorum, the closest challenger for the Republican nomination, have stated their opposition to abortion and contraception. Obama, on the other hand, has argued strongly in support of the family planning group Planned Parenthood, which Romney has pledged to shut down. In a video released last week, Obama pledged to fight attempts to cut federal funding to the group. "Let's be clear here," he said. "Women are not an interest group. They're mothers and daughters and sisters and wives – they're half this country." The poll, taken from March 20-25, surveyed 993 registered voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. These states are likely to play an important role in the general election as they do not tend to lean strongly toward one party or the other.  |
| Women spend longer in childbirth than 50 years ago, study shows Posted: 04 Apr 2012 03:30 AM PDT
Women spend longer in childbirth than their peers 50 years ago, according to a new US study. Researchers from the US Department of Health and Human Services analysed data from almost 140,000 deliveries in the early 1960s and early 2000s. The study showed that in the later cohort, the first stage of labour, during which the cervix dilates, was longer by an average of 2.6 hours for first time mothers, and two hours for women who had given birth before. The study's authors were unable to fully account for the difference in labour time, but suggested that changes in delivery room practice are likely to have contributed. For example, the use of epidural anesthesia was shown to have increased from four per cent of deliveries in the 1960s to 55 per cent in the 2000s. Babies in the later generation were born an average of five days earlier than in the 1960s, and tended to be bigger. Women in the 2000s also tended to weigh more, with an average BMI of 29.9 compared with 26.3 in the 1960s. However, although these factors are known to increase labour time, they could not fully account for the difference, according to lead author Dr Katherine Laughon of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The use of the hormone oxytocin to strengthen contractions and speed up labour, also increased by almost 20 per cent. However, the authors noted, this would be expected to shorten labour times. The study called for further research to clarify the reasons for the change and to evaluate modern delivery practices. The research also showed that the rate of caesarean sections has also increased, from three per cent to 12 per cent in the 2000s. According to Dr Ware Branch of Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, one of the study's authors, the research shows that an evaluation of modern delivery practices may be necessary. "The past definitions of 'normal' labor have been used to draw the line as to when it's time to intervene with a cesarean delivery. “But what we've shown is that labor is actually longer… than it was 50 years ago. That certainly calls for a reassessment of when one should draw the line for cesarean delivery."  |
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