Letter: Gender bias disguised as politics

Under the guise of deficit reduction, the Republican House leadership is launching a huge assault on women’s health. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) has introduced a bill to eliminate Title X, which is a family planning program for low-income, uninsured women, signed into law in 1970 by Richard Nixon.

Title X apportions public money to organizations liked Planned Parenthood, which provide cancer screening, HIV testing, birth control and annual exams. It is the primary health provider for many women. Title X specifically states that not one dime of this assistance can be used for abortions. So, what’s their beef? I think it is gender bias.

Consider another case. Medicare just announced that it will pay for a new prostate cancer treatment, that prolongs the life of a terminal patient by four months at a cost of $93,000 per patient, while adding that it will stop covering late-stage breast cancer treatment. Two cancer treatment drugs, both with approximately the same cost and benefits, yet only one is covered.

Men get prostate cancer. Women get breast cancer. Women use Planned Parenthood, men don’t. It is obvious to me that medical and political gender bias needs to be addressed.

Rose Kelly Rhoades

Spokane