in the 1970s in the early days of my
career as physician I was studying
viruses and in particular herpes viruses
there are a number of herpes viruses
that are sexually transmitted and
therefore much of my research was on
sexually transmitted diseases these were
diseases that were never mentioned in
the media during those days and also and
never mentioned in polite company
because of my research I was recruited
to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta Georgia that’s the
CDC to become their herpes expert and I
worked in a unit called the venereal
disease control division several months
after my arrival the TV program 60
minutes asked CDC if I would be on their
program to discuss herpes virus
infections CDC agreed and in a few weeks
a crew from 60 minutes came to my office
and for four hours they videotaped an
interview after afterwards the CDC was
really worried about how 60 minutes
would portray our organization but I was
worried about what my mother was going
to think
my mother was in her 70s and she was a
very religious woman and she knew I was
working at CDC but she didn’t know the
details of my my research so I told her
I was going to be on 60 minutes and she
was delighted she told her search group
her senior citizens group and all our
relatives and friends including those in
Ireland on the day that the program was
aired the first question was that was
asked me was dr. Guinan which venereal
disease would you least like to have
since I wasn’t asked that question
during the interview they made up an
answer for me with clips from the
videotape which showed me talking about
gonorrhea syphilis had genital herpes
infection as I watched I cringed after
the program was over my mother was the
first to call and she said
congratulations dear your hair looked
very nice now she couldn’t deal with the
subject matter but she found a way to
say to give me her approval after that I
never worried about what people thought
about my work in sexual matters but I
knew I had to find a way to be able to
talk about these diseases in a way that
was acceptable to the community how did
I get here to where I am now
after I finished Medical School and and
postgraduate training I became aware of
the worldwide effort to eliminate
smallpox from the world imagine the
World Health Organization convinced
every country in the world to be part of
it and if it was successful it would be
the first time in history that a deadly
disease would be eliminated from the
world by the design of humans there were
a lot of naysayers many people believed
it couldn’t be done I decided to be a
believer and I volunteered and I signed
up to service I was accepted into the
program at CDC that trained participants
to be medical epidemiologist also called
medical detectives who investigate and
control epidemics throughout the world
all kinds of epidemics throughout the
world after months of training I was
sent to the smallpox eradication program
in India I was there for over four
months it was one of the most exciting
experiences I ever had in my life
two years later in 1977 the world was
free of smallpox it was exhilarating to
have been a part of that successful
program and it convinced me that my
future career would be in public health
and in preventing disease and illness
but there was a downside to my time in
India I worked in some the most remote
areas of northern India where the plight
of women was unimaginable a woman
usually had a baby every year even
though she will she and her children
were malnourished
there was no access to contraception and
often the women died in childbirth the
smallpox eradication program could
provide protection against smallpox but
much more was needed to improve the
lives of women when the AIDS epidemic
emerged in 1981 I was part of the task
force that investigated the first cases
of AIDS it was a very difficult time as
the epidemic spread fear and anger
really engulfed the nation the
government was very slow to respond even
though hundreds of people were dying and
thousands were suffering the lack of a
national response and the vilification
of AIDS patients spawned an outcry from
gay organizations and their allies
they demonstrated all over the country
and challenged our leaders to find
treatments and health care for those
afflicted the movement was unbelievably
successful it is a wonderful example of
what we can do in the United States rise
up and demand that our elected leaders
be accountable and deal with whatever
crisis is ongoing I continue to work in
the aids unit at CDC for many years and
I also worked in a local AIDS clinic in
Georgia where I cared for many women
AIDS patients in the early years there
was no treatment for AIDS and so that
many of my patients would die within two
years if a woman with AIDS was pregnant
there was a 30% possibility that the
AIDS virus would be passed down to her
newborn and yet there was no provision
in the clinic for prevention of
pregnancy I could prescribe birth
control pills but the women didn’t have
the means to buy them some of the women
became pregnant and infected their
newborns the guilt that women felt for
infecting their child often overwhelmed
them and on their death beds their sole
concern was finding a future caregiver
for their infected child the needs of
women with AIDS to prevent pregnancy
were completely ignored resulting in
large numbers of infected infants for 15
years there was no effective treatment
for hiv/aids but finally in 1966 a
cocktail of drugs was found to be very
effective
it was like a miracle people went back
to work would get they were getting
better they were living close to normal
lives but the clinic still did not
provide contraception for infected women
my experience for caring for low-income
women for more than 20 years led me to
become an advocate for access to safe
and effective contraception for all
women of childbearing age and now I want
to talk about the tragic opioid epidemic
spiraling out of control in the United
States and the thousands of babies that
are being born addicted and what we can
do to prevent these addicted babies the
opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug
epidemic in the history of our country
we have no vaccine to prevent addiction
nor do we have a cure or even a reliable
treatment this year over 2 million
Americans will suffer from addiction
many women opioid addicts have babies
that are born addicted the cost to treat
an addicted baby averages approximately
$60,000 just for the first few weeks of
life right now in the United States an
addicted baby is born every 15 minutes
every 15 minutes
this means 35,000 babies addicted babies
a year with medical costs of over 2
billion dollars annually
most states pay for the treatment of
addicted infants with federal Medicaid
money the infants is usually taken away
from the mother until she’s clean and
put in foster care the state pays for
the foster care
addicted infants maybe four years but
it’s not just the money we have to
prevent the agony of newborn it’s going
through withdrawal in the first few
weeks of life there is no standard
protocol for the treatment of addicted
babies so that doctors have to guess on
how to relieve the pain and suffering we
know how to prevent addicted babies but
why are we not doing so I imagined that
most of you here do not know what a lark
is because I didn’t know what it was
until about two years ago we now have a
group of contraceptives that are safe
and almost a hundred percent effective
in preventing pregnancies these are
called lark l.a our sea lark is an
acronym for long-acting reversible
contraception I’ll say it again
long-acting reversible contraception a
lark lark some methods of contraception
that prevent pregnancy from 3 to 10
years there are two main types of lark
available in the United States one is it
intrauterine device or an IUD the other
is an implant a trained medical
professional inserts the Lark the IUD is
inserted into the uterus and the implant
is inserted under the skin usually in
the upper arm on the side of the upper
arm once a woman gets a lock she doesn’t
have to worry about taking pills or
convincing her partner to use a condom
she will be protected from pregnancy
until the lark is removed larks are
close to a hundred percent effective in
preventing pregnancy and therefore they
can be close to a hundred percent in
preventing addicted babies if provided
to addicted women there are other types
of contraception available but they are
not so effective as a lark
mainly because they are not used
consistently and drug addicts are
unlikely to consistently use
contraception the efficacy of Lorex is
extraordinary medications or devices
used for medical conditions are rarely
even close to a hundred percent
effective I first heard about what locks
a few years ago while driving with
colleagues in rural Clark County Georgia
we passed a large billboard with a sign
there was a photo of a woman physician
and her staff all smiling I asked my
companions
what’s a lark none of them knew I didn’t
know when I found out that Lorex were
long-acting contraceptives I thought how
ingenious that bulletin board was mainly
because it avoided the use of the words
of birth control birth control is a hot
topic in our country and it’s very
controversial with strong opposing sides
for many people the word birth control
means contraception and abortion larks
are contraceptives and do not cause
abortion so the Billboard was very clear
it was not birth control
it was long-term contraception a lark
but we know that contraception is very
difficult to talk about maybe it’ll be
easier to talk about larks I believe
that most of those who oppose abortion
are not opposed to contraception and I
believe that if our elective leaders
knew that addicted babies could be
prevented they they would be willing to
provide larks it is time to stop
ignoring the needs of addicted women to
prevent pregnancy and it is time to
start talking about larks our
Constitution gives the states not the
federal government the authority to
provide health care for its citizens
that is why access to health care and
contraceptives varies so much among the
states many states do not want to pay
for contraception even though they can
use federal money to provide larks they
do not larks have been shown to be
effective when used in a crisis
during the Zika virus outbreak in 2016
and 2017 a groundbreaking study was done
in Puerto Rico the area of the United
States where most heavily affected by
the Zika virus Zika virus can cause
serious birth defects
if the pregnant mother is infected to
try and prevent these infected babies
the Puerto Rican study group offered
larcs and other contraceptives to all
women in the study area who did not want
to get pregnant over 150 health care
professionals were trained in providing
larcs
which were absolutely free for all women
who participated in a short period over
20,000 women received contraceptives and
68% of them chose Lux the study is still
ongoing but there is no doubt that larcs
were effective in dramatically reducing
preventing pregnancy is key to reducing
both babies with birth defects and
babies with addiction preventing
pregnancy is the key to prevention we
must start making locks available for
all addicted women during the opioid
crisis the opioid epidemic has been
declared a public health emergency a
national emergency we really don’t know
how best to prevent addiction nor what
form of treatment is most effective but
we do know how to prevent addicted
babies larks are expensive approximately
eight to nine hundred dollars each but
they can last from three to ten years
without further cost
and they are cost-effective in the long
run the $60,000 saved for preventing one
addicted baby can pay for over sixty
larks Medicaid should require each state
to use some of its federal funding for
prevention of addicted babies but they
do not so the states have to make this
decision it is your state legislators
who are making the decisions on how the
money allotted for the opioid epidemic
will be spent you can influence how that
money is spent in your state become a
believer help your governor and your
legislators to get over their reluctance
to talk about contraception tell them to
tell them about larks tell them it’s a
national emergency
send your legislator and your governor a
letter or call them and leave a message
or send an email or a tweet tell them
about locs and how they prevent addicted
babies ask them if they are using opioid
money to prevent addicted babies by
providing locks for
addicted women and if they are not ask
them why not we have to start the
dialogue I expect very few governors or
legislators know about locs 75% of state
legislators and 85% of all governor’s in
this country are men who will educate
them if you don’t let them hear your
voice tell them what larks are and how
they can prevent addicted babies hold
your elective leaders accountable we
need both men and women to do this
addicted baby
are not just a woman’s issue they are a
men’s issue a family and community issue
a state and national issue start the
Lara conversation remember an addicted
baby is born every 15 minutes in the
United States and you can do something
about it you can help prevent addicted
babies in your state you need to do your
part we need you to do your part and
ensure that all addicted women in your
state have access to a lock
thank you [Applause]
career as physician I was studying
viruses and in particular herpes viruses
there are a number of herpes viruses
that are sexually transmitted and
therefore much of my research was on
sexually transmitted diseases these were
diseases that were never mentioned in
the media during those days and also and
never mentioned in polite company
because of my research I was recruited
to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta Georgia that’s the
CDC to become their herpes expert and I
worked in a unit called the venereal
disease control division several months
after my arrival the TV program 60
minutes asked CDC if I would be on their
program to discuss herpes virus
infections CDC agreed and in a few weeks
a crew from 60 minutes came to my office
and for four hours they videotaped an
interview after afterwards the CDC was
really worried about how 60 minutes
would portray our organization but I was
worried about what my mother was going
to think
my mother was in her 70s and she was a
very religious woman and she knew I was
working at CDC but she didn’t know the
details of my my research so I told her
I was going to be on 60 minutes and she
was delighted she told her search group
her senior citizens group and all our
relatives and friends including those in
Ireland on the day that the program was
aired the first question was that was
asked me was dr. Guinan which venereal
disease would you least like to have
since I wasn’t asked that question
during the interview they made up an
answer for me with clips from the
videotape which showed me talking about
gonorrhea syphilis had genital herpes
infection as I watched I cringed after
the program was over my mother was the
first to call and she said
congratulations dear your hair looked
very nice now she couldn’t deal with the
subject matter but she found a way to
say to give me her approval after that I
never worried about what people thought
about my work in sexual matters but I
knew I had to find a way to be able to
talk about these diseases in a way that
was acceptable to the community how did
I get here to where I am now
after I finished Medical School and and
postgraduate training I became aware of
the worldwide effort to eliminate
smallpox from the world imagine the
World Health Organization convinced
every country in the world to be part of
it and if it was successful it would be
the first time in history that a deadly
disease would be eliminated from the
world by the design of humans there were
a lot of naysayers many people believed
it couldn’t be done I decided to be a
believer and I volunteered and I signed
up to service I was accepted into the
program at CDC that trained participants
to be medical epidemiologist also called
medical detectives who investigate and
control epidemics throughout the world
all kinds of epidemics throughout the
world after months of training I was
sent to the smallpox eradication program
in India I was there for over four
months it was one of the most exciting
experiences I ever had in my life
two years later in 1977 the world was
free of smallpox it was exhilarating to
have been a part of that successful
program and it convinced me that my
future career would be in public health
and in preventing disease and illness
but there was a downside to my time in
India I worked in some the most remote
areas of northern India where the plight
of women was unimaginable a woman
usually had a baby every year even
though she will she and her children
were malnourished
there was no access to contraception and
often the women died in childbirth the
smallpox eradication program could
provide protection against smallpox but
much more was needed to improve the
lives of women when the AIDS epidemic
emerged in 1981 I was part of the task
force that investigated the first cases
of AIDS it was a very difficult time as
the epidemic spread fear and anger
really engulfed the nation the
government was very slow to respond even
though hundreds of people were dying and
thousands were suffering the lack of a
national response and the vilification
of AIDS patients spawned an outcry from
gay organizations and their allies
they demonstrated all over the country
and challenged our leaders to find
treatments and health care for those
afflicted the movement was unbelievably
successful it is a wonderful example of
what we can do in the United States rise
up and demand that our elected leaders
be accountable and deal with whatever
crisis is ongoing I continue to work in
the aids unit at CDC for many years and
I also worked in a local AIDS clinic in
Georgia where I cared for many women
AIDS patients in the early years there
was no treatment for AIDS and so that
many of my patients would die within two
years if a woman with AIDS was pregnant
there was a 30% possibility that the
AIDS virus would be passed down to her
newborn and yet there was no provision
in the clinic for prevention of
pregnancy I could prescribe birth
control pills but the women didn’t have
the means to buy them some of the women
became pregnant and infected their
newborns the guilt that women felt for
infecting their child often overwhelmed
them and on their death beds their sole
concern was finding a future caregiver
for their infected child the needs of
women with AIDS to prevent pregnancy
were completely ignored resulting in
large numbers of infected infants for 15
years there was no effective treatment
for hiv/aids but finally in 1966 a
cocktail of drugs was found to be very
effective
it was like a miracle people went back
to work would get they were getting
better they were living close to normal
lives but the clinic still did not
provide contraception for infected women
my experience for caring for low-income
women for more than 20 years led me to
become an advocate for access to safe
and effective contraception for all
women of childbearing age and now I want
to talk about the tragic opioid epidemic
spiraling out of control in the United
States and the thousands of babies that
are being born addicted and what we can
do to prevent these addicted babies the
opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug
epidemic in the history of our country
we have no vaccine to prevent addiction
nor do we have a cure or even a reliable
treatment this year over 2 million
Americans will suffer from addiction
many women opioid addicts have babies
that are born addicted the cost to treat
an addicted baby averages approximately
$60,000 just for the first few weeks of
life right now in the United States an
addicted baby is born every 15 minutes
every 15 minutes
this means 35,000 babies addicted babies
a year with medical costs of over 2
billion dollars annually
most states pay for the treatment of
addicted infants with federal Medicaid
money the infants is usually taken away
from the mother until she’s clean and
put in foster care the state pays for
the foster care
addicted infants maybe four years but
it’s not just the money we have to
prevent the agony of newborn it’s going
through withdrawal in the first few
weeks of life there is no standard
protocol for the treatment of addicted
babies so that doctors have to guess on
how to relieve the pain and suffering we
know how to prevent addicted babies but
why are we not doing so I imagined that
most of you here do not know what a lark
is because I didn’t know what it was
until about two years ago we now have a
group of contraceptives that are safe
and almost a hundred percent effective
in preventing pregnancies these are
called lark l.a our sea lark is an
acronym for long-acting reversible
contraception I’ll say it again
long-acting reversible contraception a
lark lark some methods of contraception
that prevent pregnancy from 3 to 10
years there are two main types of lark
available in the United States one is it
intrauterine device or an IUD the other
is an implant a trained medical
professional inserts the Lark the IUD is
inserted into the uterus and the implant
is inserted under the skin usually in
the upper arm on the side of the upper
arm once a woman gets a lock she doesn’t
have to worry about taking pills or
convincing her partner to use a condom
she will be protected from pregnancy
until the lark is removed larks are
close to a hundred percent effective in
preventing pregnancy and therefore they
can be close to a hundred percent in
preventing addicted babies if provided
to addicted women there are other types
of contraception available but they are
not so effective as a lark
mainly because they are not used
consistently and drug addicts are
unlikely to consistently use
contraception the efficacy of Lorex is
extraordinary medications or devices
used for medical conditions are rarely
even close to a hundred percent
effective I first heard about what locks
a few years ago while driving with
colleagues in rural Clark County Georgia
we passed a large billboard with a sign
there was a photo of a woman physician
and her staff all smiling I asked my
companions
what’s a lark none of them knew I didn’t
know when I found out that Lorex were
long-acting contraceptives I thought how
ingenious that bulletin board was mainly
because it avoided the use of the words
of birth control birth control is a hot
topic in our country and it’s very
controversial with strong opposing sides
for many people the word birth control
means contraception and abortion larks
are contraceptives and do not cause
abortion so the Billboard was very clear
it was not birth control
it was long-term contraception a lark
but we know that contraception is very
difficult to talk about maybe it’ll be
easier to talk about larks I believe
that most of those who oppose abortion
are not opposed to contraception and I
believe that if our elective leaders
knew that addicted babies could be
prevented they they would be willing to
provide larks it is time to stop
ignoring the needs of addicted women to
prevent pregnancy and it is time to
start talking about larks our
Constitution gives the states not the
federal government the authority to
provide health care for its citizens
that is why access to health care and
contraceptives varies so much among the
states many states do not want to pay
for contraception even though they can
use federal money to provide larks they
do not larks have been shown to be
effective when used in a crisis
during the Zika virus outbreak in 2016
and 2017 a groundbreaking study was done
in Puerto Rico the area of the United
States where most heavily affected by
the Zika virus Zika virus can cause
serious birth defects
if the pregnant mother is infected to
try and prevent these infected babies
the Puerto Rican study group offered
larcs and other contraceptives to all
women in the study area who did not want
to get pregnant over 150 health care
professionals were trained in providing
larcs
which were absolutely free for all women
who participated in a short period over
20,000 women received contraceptives and
68% of them chose Lux the study is still
ongoing but there is no doubt that larcs
were effective in dramatically reducing
preventing pregnancy is key to reducing
both babies with birth defects and
babies with addiction preventing
pregnancy is the key to prevention we
must start making locks available for
all addicted women during the opioid
crisis the opioid epidemic has been
declared a public health emergency a
national emergency we really don’t know
how best to prevent addiction nor what
form of treatment is most effective but
we do know how to prevent addicted
babies larks are expensive approximately
eight to nine hundred dollars each but
they can last from three to ten years
without further cost
and they are cost-effective in the long
run the $60,000 saved for preventing one
addicted baby can pay for over sixty
larks Medicaid should require each state
to use some of its federal funding for
prevention of addicted babies but they
do not so the states have to make this
decision it is your state legislators
who are making the decisions on how the
money allotted for the opioid epidemic
will be spent you can influence how that
money is spent in your state become a
believer help your governor and your
legislators to get over their reluctance
to talk about contraception tell them to
tell them about larks tell them it’s a
national emergency
send your legislator and your governor a
letter or call them and leave a message
or send an email or a tweet tell them
about locs and how they prevent addicted
babies ask them if they are using opioid
money to prevent addicted babies by
providing locks for
addicted women and if they are not ask
them why not we have to start the
dialogue I expect very few governors or
legislators know about locs 75% of state
legislators and 85% of all governor’s in
this country are men who will educate
them if you don’t let them hear your
voice tell them what larks are and how
they can prevent addicted babies hold
your elective leaders accountable we
need both men and women to do this
addicted baby
are not just a woman’s issue they are a
men’s issue a family and community issue
a state and national issue start the
Lara conversation remember an addicted
baby is born every 15 minutes in the
United States and you can do something
about it you can help prevent addicted
babies in your state you need to do your
part we need you to do your part and
ensure that all addicted women in your
state have access to a lock
thank you [Applause]
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