First Edition: June 27, 2022

KHN: His-And-Hers Cataract Surgeries, But His Bill Was 20 Times As Much 
Danilo Manimtim’s vision was cloudy and blurred — and it was growing worse. The 73-year-old retired orthopedic surgeon in Fresno, California, knew it was time for cataract surgery. “It’s like car tires wearing out because you drive on them so much,” he said. In December 2021, he went to the outpatient department of the local hospital to undergo the common procedure that usually replaces the natural eye lens with an artificial one and is designed to restore vision. The outpatient procedure went smoothly, and Manimtim healed over the next few weeks. (Hart, 6/27)

KHN: Genetic Screening Results Just Got Harder To Handle Under New Abortion Rules 
Ann was 15 weeks pregnant with her fourth child when the results of her prenatal genetic test came back last August. The test suggested that her daughter, whom she and her husband planned to name Juliet, was missing one of her two X chromosomes — a condition called Turner syndrome that can cause dwarfism, heart defects, and infertility, among other complications. Many people decide to terminate their pregnancies after this diagnosis, a genetic counselor told Ann and her husband. But the counselor had more bad news: In two days, the family would no longer have that option in their home state of Texas. A law, in effect as of Sept. 1, 2021, allows anyone to sue those who assist any person in getting an abortion in Texas after six weeks’ gestation — and the state provides a $10,000 bounty to plaintiffs if they win. The genetic counselor told Ann she could no longer discuss termination with her for this reason. (Reardon, 6/27)

KHN: A Post-‘Roe’ World In Georgia Will Mean More Restrictions — And More Political Battles 
Jerisha Morton didn’t realize she was pregnant until about six weeks into her pregnancy. She soon started feeling waves of intense nausea. “I can’t smell anything. You’re so weak that you have to lay down all the time. It’s rough,” Morton, 27, said recently as she sat in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Atlanta. Morton was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, or severe nausea during pregnancy. She thought she couldn’t handle nine months of being sick, she said, so she chose to have an abortion. (Whitehead, 6/24)

KHN: ‘It’s Not A Haven’: With Limited Capacity For Abortion Care, Minnesota Clinics Brace For Influx 
A few minutes west of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport sits a brick, one-story building with opaque windows. From the nearby freeways, most drivers wouldn’t recognize it as the location of one of the few clinics in the state that provide abortions. Should they approach its entrance, just off an Interstate 35 on-ramp, they might see anti-abortion placards propped against the pine trees that border the parking lot. Those who arrived on a recent Wednesday confronted declarations that included “Demand to see your ultrasound,” “Pregnant? We will help you,” and “Abortion kills a human being.” (Pradhan and Saint Louis, 6/24)

KHN: Five Things To Know Now That The Supreme Court Has Overturned Roe V. Wade 
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Health dramatically and rapidly alters the landscape of abortion access in the U.S. The court on June 24 ruled 6-3 to uphold a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but also to overturn the nearly half-century precedent set in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion. With the Dobbs decision, states have the ability to set their own restrictions, so where people live will determine their level of access to abortion. The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, stated that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey [Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992] are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.” (Knight, Pradhan and Rovner, 6/24)

KHN: Conservatives On Supreme Court, As Expected, End Nationwide Right To Abortion 
The Supreme Court on Friday formally overturned its 49-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade decision, and with it ended a half-century of constitutionally guaranteed abortion rights in the United States. The 6-3 decision in the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was telegraphed in May by an unprecedented leak of an early draft of the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito. But even though the final, official version was slightly less strident than the leaked document, the impact is the same. The right to an abortion has been eliminated as if it never existed at all. The decision about whether to allow the procedure now falls to individual state governments, and only 16, plus the District of Columbia, have passed laws to preserve the option, while two others have state constitutional protections that have been cited by state courts as protections for abortion. (Rovner, 6/24)

KHN: After Two Ectopic Pregnancies, I Fear What Might Happen Without Roe V. Wade 
I’ve been pregnant five times. I have one child. A son, Sam, who was born on his due date, weighing 6 pounds and 14 ounces, in 1997. My four other pregnancies didn’t go so well. After Sam, carrying a baby past the first trimester proved impossible. I had one miscarriage early in the first trimester; a second in which the baby’s heart stopped beating between the ninth and 10th week; and then two ectopic pregnancies, a condition in which an embryo implants outside the uterus. If not treated, ectopic pregnancies can be deadly. (Faryon, 6/24)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Supreme Court Overturns ‘Roe’
The Supreme Court formally overturned the nearly 50-year-old right to abortion. Bolstered by the three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, the 6-3 vote wiped from the books the two cases that had established and reaffirmed abortion rights; 1973’s Roe v. Wade and 1992’s Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Panelists for this special podcast to discuss what the justices did and what the immediate ramifications might be are Julie Rovner of KHN, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Varney of KHN, and Laurie Sobel, associate director for women’s health policy at KFF. (6/24)

KHN: Journalists Investigate Private Equity, Medical Debt, And Mental Health Care
KHN senior correspondent Sarah Jane Tribble examined how private equity hijacks health care, reporting on rural hospital closures in Missouri, on KBIA’s “All Things Considered” on June 23. ... KHN senior Colorado correspondent Markian Hawryluk also discussed private equity, along with power wheelchairs and Colorado’s “right to repair” law, on “Texas Standard” on June 22. (6/25)

The New York Times: The Ruling Was Just the Beginning: Both Sides Mobilize Over Abortion
The Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has unleashed a frenzy of activity on both sides of the abortion fight, with anti-abortion forces vowing to use the ruling to push for near-total bans in every state in the nation, and abortion rights groups insisting they would harness rage over the decision to take to the streets, fight back in the courts and push the Biden administration to do more to protect abortion rights. (Zernike, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Abortion Providers Confront New Landscape After Roe 
Abortion providers in several states across the country halted services in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, while supporters and opponents began to shift their focus to pill-based abortions and how new restrictions would be enforced. Clinics in a variety of states, including Texas, Wisconsin and Kentucky, stopped offering services Friday. Providers in other states, like North Dakota and Idaho, were moving ahead with services before more state bans took effect, typically in a matter of days or weeks. (Calfas and Paul, 6/26)

Politico: 18 Ways The Supreme Court Just Changed America
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will create two Americas when it comes to abortion access — the mostly red states where abortion is illegal in most circumstances, and the mostly blue states where it is mostly available with restrictions. But this sudden cleaving in the United States will go far beyond abortion access, affecting healthcare, the criminal legal system and politics, at all levels, in the coming years. (6/25)

The Washington Post: More Than 80 Elected Prosecutors Say They Won’t Enforce Bans
Elected prosecutors across the country, including from 12 states with “trigger bans,” are saying they will not prosecute people who seek or provide abortion care. Over 80 district attorneys and other elected prosecutors signed a statement issued Friday through the Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) group, a national network of elected prosecutors. “Not all of us agree on a personal or moral level on the issue of abortion,” the statement said. “But we stand together in our firm belief that prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions.” (Somasundaram, 6/26)

The Hill: Most In New Poll Say Overturning Roe Is ‘Step Backward’
Over half of the Americans questioned in a new poll say the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a “step backward” for the U.S. In the CBS News-YouGov poll released Sunday, 52 percent of voters said the decision was a “step backward,” while 31 percent said it was a “step forward.” Seventeen percent said it was neither. (Scully, 6/26)

The Washington Post: Democrats Seize On Abortion Ruling In Midterms As Republicans Tread Carefully
Democrats across the country are seizing on the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, with state and federal candidates seeking to turn anger about the decision into support at the ballot box, even as Republicans aim to keep attention on rising prices and crime less than five months before the midterms. Led by President Biden, who declared Friday that “Roe is on the ballot” and “personal freedoms are on the ballot,” Democrats on the front lines of the fight to keep the party’s slim congressional majorities have cast their campaigns as key parts of a larger battle to restore abortion rights and prevent the rollback of other liberties. Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general and offices at the state level, where abortion laws will now be fully determined, pledged to put the issue at the forefront of their campaigns. (Linksey and Itkowitz, 6/26)

Reuters: Democratic Women Call On Biden, Congress To Protect Abortion Rights
Leading Democratic women called on President Joe Biden and Congress on Sunday to protect abortion rights nationwide after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in a ruling that has heightened political tensions between the federal government and states. Two Democratic progressives, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, urged Biden to use federal land as a safe haven for abortion in states that ban or severely restrict the practice, after the high court on Friday overturned the landmark 1973 ruling that had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion. (Morgan and Lawder, 6/26)

Newsweek: Supreme Court 'Set A Torch' To Its Legitimacy With Roe Ruling: Warren
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren blasted the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday, just days after it released its ruling that overturned Roe. v. Wade, and argued that the institution "burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had" with its decision. During her interview on ABC's This Week, host Martha Raddatz discussed how after the decision was released, Senators Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, and Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, said they felt they had been misled during the confirmation hearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Before Kavanaugh was confirmed, Collins said he told her that he viewed Roe v. Wade as "settled law." The two senators said they also felt misled by Justice Neil Gorsuch in his confirmation hearing in regards to Roe in statements they released Friday. Both justices voted to overturn the landmark case. (Landen, 6/26)

The Hill: Ocasio-Cortez Says Conservative Justices Lied Under Oath, Should Be Impeached 
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y) on Sunday said conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who “misled” Americans during their confirmation hearings about whether or not they supported overturning Roe v. Wade should be impeached and face “consequences” for lying under oath. (Dress, 6/26)

Insider: White House: Biden Does Not Want To Expand Supreme Court
As calls for remedies to restrictions on abortion access grow, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Saturday that President Joe Biden "does not agree with" expanding the Supreme Court. "I was asked this question yesterday, and I've been asked it before... about expanding the Court. That is something that the President does not agree with. That is not something that he wants to do," Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Air Force One. (Getahun, 6/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Abortion Opponents Consider How Far To Press After End Of Roe V. Wade
Now, having achieved a Supreme Court victory that overruled Roe and ended the constitutional right to an abortion, antiabortion advocates are considering what to do next. Some powerful voices in the movement urge a measured approach guided by political realities post-Roe, seeking to ban the procedure after the first trimester in more moderate states and maintaining meaningful exceptions for rape and incest. Others view this as a once-in-a-generation moment and moral imperative to push for a complete end to abortion, especially in states where conservatives hold political power. The staunchest opponents want states to treat it as murder. (Kusisto, 6/26)

The Hill: Graham: Alito ‘Set The Right Tone’ In Roe Ruling By Arguing Same-Sex Marriage, Contraception Not In Jeopardy
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said Justice Samuel Alito “set the right tone” by writing in an opinion overturning Roe v. Wade that Supreme Court decisions protecting contraception and same-sex marriage are not in jeopardy. Graham made the remarks during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” while noting that he respects Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote that he wanted to take a look at contraception and same-sex marriage after overturning Roe and abortion protections. (Dress, 6/26)

Newsweek: Donald Trump Hails His Supreme Court Picks Behind Abortion Ruling
Donald Trump hailed his three Supreme Court picks for "standing their ground" to end the constitutional right to abortion, as he spoke at a rally in Illinois on Saturday—a day after the court overturned Roe V Wade. ... "Thanks to the courage found within the United States Supreme Court, this long divisive issue will be decided by the states and by the American people," Trump said. "That's the way it should have been many, many years ago and that's the way it is now so congratulations. As for the Republican Party, we are today the party of life and we are the party of everyone." (Rahman, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Churches Move Cautiously On Abortion And Call For Calm Post-Roe
Members of the clergy treaded carefully in discussing abortion on the first Sunday after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and they called for respectful discussions over an issue that divides many congregations. “For many in our country who’ve been fighting for this for so long, this felt like a huge win,” said pastor Andy Stanley at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga. “But for others in our country, this felt like a gut punch. These are the cultural moments where the church has an opportunity to shine, even when we don’t necessarily agree.” (Francis, King and Mettela, 6/26)

Reuters: Pro-Life Is Not Just Opposing Abortion, Vatican Says After U.S. Ruling 
Anti-abortion activists should be concerned with other issues that can threaten life, such as easy access to guns, poverty and rising maternity mortality rates, the Vatican's editorial director said on Saturday. In a media editorial on the United States Supreme Court's ruling to end the constitutional right to abortion, Andrea Tornielli said those who oppose abortion could not pick and choose pro-life issues. (Pullella, 6/25)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Bans Abortions After Six Weeks Following Roe V. Wade Ruling
Abortions in Ohio are now illegal once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The news came Friday evening in the form of a ruling from a federal court judge who lifted the nearly three-year injunction on the law following the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade on Friday morning. Judge Michael Barrett granted the state's request to lift an injunction in place since 2019. (Staver and Knight, 6/24)

The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood Sues To Halt Utah Abortion Ban 
The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah filed a lawsuit Saturday to block the state’s “trigger ban” on abortion, which went into effect shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The organization is also seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Utah officials from “enforcing this flagrantly unconstitutional law,” according to a complaint filed with the Salt Lake City-based 3rd District Court. (Somasundaram, 6/25)

ABC News: Wyoming Abortion Rights Advocates Fight For Access Up To The Last Minute
In March, Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill passed by both the Wyoming House and Senate. The bill, HB0092, would ban abortion in all circumstances except rape, incest or if the mother is in serious risk of death or injury, if the protections of Roe are overturned. It would also prohibit the use of government funding towards an abortion. Following a Supreme Court ruling, the law could become active in about a month. (Guilfoil, 6/25)

The Hill: South Dakota Governor Says She Will Ban Abortion Pills Prescribed Online
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Sunday said she will ban telemedicine appointments with abortion care providers who prescribe pills online in the GOP-controlled state in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Noem told host Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that she brought a bill forward in her state to ban the telemedicine appointments in order to block women from buying prescription abortion pills online and receiving them through the mail. (Dress, /6/26)

CBS News: Whitmer Says "With The Current Legislature I Have, There Is No Common Ground" On Abortion 
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned Sunday that the current political makeup of state legislature makes it difficult to find common ground on reasonable restrictions on abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's seismic decision rolling back the constitutional right to an abortion. "What I'm trying to fight for is the status quo in Michigan and there are reasonable restrictions on that," Whitmer said in an interview with "Face the Nation." "With the current legislature that I have, there is no common ground, which is the sad thing. They've already introduced legislation to criminalize and throw nurses and doctors in jail. They've all endorsed the 1931 law. All of the Republican people running for governor, they want abortion to be a felony, no exceptions for rape or incest. That's the kind of legislature that I'm working with." (Quinn, 6/26)

AP: Providers Argue Florida's Privacy Measure Protects Abortion 
A state court is being asked to block a new Florida law which bans most abortions after 15 weeks just days after a conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority overturned a landmark case that had provided constitutional protections for women seeking abortions for almost 50 years. Planned Parenthood centers in Florida and other reproductive health providers on Monday are asking a Florida judge in Tallahassee to issue a temporary, emergency injunction stopping the new law passed by a GOP-controlled Florida Legislature from taking effect on Friday. (6/25)

The New York Times: Under Court’s Shadow, N.Y. Governor Candidates Lob Final Pitches 
A pair of seismic rulings by the Supreme Court jolted the race for governor of New York on Sunday, as Democrats and Republicans made final pitches to an electorate that found itself at the center of renewed national debates over guns and abortion rights. All three Democratic candidates for governor fanned out Sunday morning to Black churches in Harlem and Queens, Manhattan’s Pride March and street corners across the city to denounce the rulings and promise an aggressive response. (Fandos, 6/26)

The New York Times: Abortion Pills Take The Spotlight As States Impose Abortion Bans 
In the hours after the Supreme Court released its decision overturning the legal right to abortion in the United States, nearly 100 requests for appointments flowed into Just the Pill, a nonprofit organization that arranges for patients to obtain abortion pills in several states. That was about four times the usual daily number of appointment requests for the organization, and many came from patients in Texas and other states that quickly halted abortions after the court ruling. (Belluck, 6/26)

NBC News: The ‘Abortion Pill’ May Treat Dozens Of Diseases, But Roe Reversal Might Upend Research
Dr. Nancy Klimas has spent the better part of her three-decade research career trying to find a cure for Gulf War illness. Military veterans with the unusual, unexplained illness  — which affects some 300,000 U.S. service members who fought in the 1991 Operation Desert Storm — suffer from a range of symptoms, including constant aches and pains, trouble concentrating, fatigue, respiratory issues and irritable bowel syndrome, all understood to stem from exposure to neurotoxic chemicals during combat. Apart from symptom management — which she says is really just “chasing the tail of the dog” — there’s no treatment for Gulf War illness. And the clock is ticking: According to Klimas, director of the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, the condition could turn into severe neurodegenerative disease if left untreated. (Hopkins, 6/25)

The New York Times: The Final Days Of Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic 
A young woman entered the parking lot of the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, her shoulders hunched. She was accompanied by an older woman and a stone-faced young man with a handgun on his hip. She appeared terrified. All around them, the noise was deafening. It was early Saturday morning, and a man with a powerful P.A. system was preaching about Jezebel being eaten by dogs. Dozens of evangelical Christians had come to pray. (Fausset, 6/26)

The Washington Post: A Women’s Clinic Run By Two Generations Of Women Braces For The Post-Roe Era
The flowers seemed innocent enough, but Jakaiser Jackson wasn’t taking any chances. The security guard at the Scotsdale Women’s Center in Michigan’s biggest city stopped the delivery before it could even reach the building’s outer vestibule. Abortion clinics like this one have long been a target for protests and violence, so Jackson and others are extra vigilant about who comes inside and even what packages are accepted. Protesters rarely show up armed, but they do harass employees and patients. (Bellware, 6/26)

ABC News: Without Abortion, Pregnancy Aid Programs Face Surge In Demand
Maternity homes and crisis pregnancy resource centers – offering everything from housing support to free diapers -- are expecting a surge of demand in states enacting strict new bans on abortion. The Catholic Church is one of the leading backers of a national pregnancy aid network. ... Critics say the church is dangerously ill-equipped and unprepared. In the 13 states with trigger laws enacted to ban abortions after Roe was overturned, more than 103,000 were performed in 2020 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Dwyer, Herndon and Meneses, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Virginia Antiabortion Pregnancy Center Vandalized, Police Say 
The Lynchburg Police Department is investigating a vandalism incident that occurred early Saturday morning at the antiabortion Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center in Lynchburg, Va. At 10:40 a.m. Saturday, police responding to a call at 3701 Old Forest Rd. found that the building had been spray-painted with graffiti and that multiple windows had been smashed. Security camera footage showed four masked individuals vandalizing the center, according to police. (Sanchez, 6/26)

AP: Lynchburg Police Investigate Vandalism At Pregnancy Center 
Police in Virginia are investigating vandalism at a pregnancy center that discourages women from having an abortion .Lynchburg Police on Saturday said the Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center was spray painted with graffiti. The words “If abortion ain’t safe, you ain’t safe” were written on the walkway leading up to the center, and anarchist symbols were painted on the exterior brick wall. Several windows were also broken. (6/25)

AP: Police Investigating Fire At Colorado Pregnancy Center
A weekend fire at a Christian pregnancy center in north-central Colorado is being investigated as a possible arson, police in Longmont said. The fire at Life Choices was reported at 3:17 a.m. Saturday, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and said abortion laws would be decided by the states. (6/26)

ABC News: Abortions To Move Underground In Half The US: Here's How It Might Work 
Before the Supreme Court released its ruling Friday upending abortion rights in the U.S., Elisa Wells was thinking of virtual mailboxes. For people who move or travel a lot, a virtual mailbox is a way to check their mail online. If an item is critical, they forward it to their current location. For Wells, founder of the online abortion site Plan C, which tells women how to find the abortion pill, it’s a potential workaround to state laws restricting access. (Flaherty, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Seeking An Abortion? Here’s How To Avoid Leaving A Digital Trail.
Everything you do online is already tracked. That information is about to become even more sensitive if you’re seeking an abortion in the United States. (Kelly, Hunter and Abril, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Period-Tracker Apps Aim For Anonymity Following Roe V. Wade Decision
Developers of period trackers and fertility apps are working on ways to anonymize user data in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down the constitutional right to an abortion. Millions of women use services such as Flo, Clue and Apple’s Health app to help them become pregnant, avoid pregnancy or know when their next period is due. The court’s decision brought more attention to the services, which hold sensitive data that could be used against people in states where abortion may be criminalized.  (James and Tibken, 6/26)

CNN: These US Companies Will Cover Travel Costs For Employees Who Need An Abortion 
After the Supreme Court ruled on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, corporate giants from a range of industries pledged to provide support and financial assistance for employees — and, in some cases, their dependents — seeking abortions in states that outlaw the procedure. (Duffy and Korn, 6/25)

Fortune: The Roe V. Wade Decision Is "Pushing People Into Psychological Crisis," Mental Health Expert Warns
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision guaranteeing federal protection of abortion rights, experts warn of dire mental health consequences. Frank C. Worrell, president of the American Psychological Association (APA) calls for mental health providers to support people as they grapple with their reproductive health decisions.  “We are setting up a situation where we are deliberately pushing people into a psychological crisis,” Worrell tells Fortune, emphasizing that the decision will disproportionately hurt the mental health of low-income individuals and people of color. “If you live in a state with a law that will get rid of abortion, your level of anxiety will go up.” Even for those who are not pregnant, Worrell says, there is new anxiety that can impact people's everyday lives, as they worry about what may happen if they don’t have a choice when pregnant. And for many seeking abortions, he says, the decision affects how they feel they are seen in society, highlighting fears of being judged as irresponsible or criminal. (Mikhail, 6/24)

AP: Guns And Abortion: Contradictory Decisions, Or Consistent?
They are the most fiercely polarizing issues in American life: abortion and guns. And two momentous decisions by the Supreme Court in two days have done anything but resolve them, firing up debate about whether the court’s conservative justices are being faithful and consistent to history and the Constitution — or citing them to justify political preferences. To some critics, the rulings represent an obvious, deeply damaging contradiction. How can the court justify restricting the ability of states to regulate guns while expanding the right of states to regulate abortion?“ The hypocrisy is raging, but the harm is endless,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday after the court released its decision on abortion. (Brumback, Geller and Tarm, 6/25)

The New York Times: For Gun Violence Researchers, Bipartisan Bill Is A ‘Glass Half Full’ 
America’s gun violence research community includes psychiatrists, epidemiologists, law professors, emergency room doctors and social policy experts. Their interest is not purely academic; they want to use science to make change. They are mindful of the political realities of Washington, and many have deeply personal connections to the work. (Stolberg, 6/26)

Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Sides With HHS, Not Hospitals, In DSH Payment Case
The Supreme Court on Friday dealt a blow to safety-net hospitals' Medicare rate calculation. The high court resolved a years-long fight between the Health and Human Services Department and the hospital industry by ruling the agency appropriately interpreted Medicare law when it changed a formula for calculating safety-net payments in 2005. Hospitals won't lose money from the ruling, but they also won't gain extra funds they argued they're entitled to, said Allison Hoffman, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. (Goldman, 6/24)

Stat: Court Rules Juul Can Still Sell E-Cigs While It Prepares Challenge To FDA Ban
Juul’s e-cigarettes won’t be pulled off the shelves just yet. A federal court ruled late Friday that the company’s vaping products can stay on the market while the company prepares its full legal challenge to this week’s Food and Drug Administration ban. The move is the latest in a whirlwind 24 hours for the vaping company, which was ordered to shut down all U.S. sales Thursday afternoon. The company sued the FDA over that decision Thursday evening. The company is also now considering bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported. It remains unclear how long Juul will be able to stay on the market pursuant to the judge’s order, though it appears the company will gain at least another two weeks. (Florko, 6/24)

The Guardian: US Bans Juul But Young Vapers Are Already Switching To Newer Products 
Adolescents often switch from product to product, creating a Whac-a-Mole prevention strategy, says Monica M Zorilla, a researcher at Stanford. When the FDA prioritized enforcement against flavored e-cigarette devices like Juul in 2020, it exempted disposable e-cigarettes and menthol-flavored e-cigarette products, says Zorilla. A Stanford study found that adolescents then moved to those e-cigarettes that were exempt. “Youth went from pod-based [like Juul] to disposables like Puff Bar,” Zorilla says. “As a youth said to me, ‘anything with fruit’ is popular among their peers. This was in part due to the enforcement and in part because the disposables continued to have many flavors.” (Gammon, 6/26)

AP: Pfizer Says Tweaked COVID-19 Shots Boost Omicron Protection 
Pfizer announced Saturday that tweaking its COVID-19 vaccine to better target the omicron variant is safe and works — just days before regulators debate whether to offer Americans updated booster shots this fall. The vaccines currently used in the U.S. still offer strong protection against severe COVID-19 disease and death -- especially if people have gotten a booster dose. But those vaccines target the original coronavirus strain and their effectiveness against any infection dropped markedly when the super-contagious omicron mutant emerged. (Neergaard, 6/25)

CIDRAP: Fourth Pfizer Dose Effective Against Severe COVID-19 In Nursing Homes
A study yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that a fourth Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine dose provided 64% to 67% protection against hospitalization and 72% protection against death in nursing home residents, but only 34% protection against infection during an Omicron-dominated period. (6/24)

The Boston Globe: Experts Expect Subvariants To Cause ‘Substantial’ Summer Cases Of COVID-19
Until last week, Dr. Ali Mokdad expected the United States to have “a very good summer” in terms of COVID-19. Projections by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, where he works, forecasted falling cases, hospitalizations, and deaths through at least September. Then, circumstances changed: Researchers discovered that BA.4 and BA.5 — subvariants of Omicron spreading in the United States — are “immune escapes,” adept at avoiding the antibodies the body produces after vaccination or infection to neutralize the virus. “That has changed our view for what will happen this summer,” Mokdad said. Though he still expects cases to decrease, the decline will be slower and smaller than projected. (Caldera, 6/26)

ABC News: Can High-Tech Air Filtration Systems Lower The Risk Of COVID In Autos? 
Still concerned about COVID-19 transmission in automobiles? One carmaker may have a novel approach to keeping passengers safe. British luxury marque Jaguar Land Rover claims the Cabin Air Purification Pro filtration in its new Range Rover SUV can "significantly reduce odors, bacteria, viruses and allergens including SARS-CoV-2 virus" thanks to nanoe X, an electrostatic technology developed by Panasonic. (Korn, 6/26)

AP: Army Guard Troops Risk Dismissal As Vaccine Deadline Looms
Up to 40,000 Army National Guard soldiers across the country — or about 13% of the force — have not yet gotten the mandated COVID-19 vaccine, and as the deadline for shots looms, at least 14,000 of them have flatly refused and could be forced out of the service. Guard soldiers have until Thursday to get the vaccine. According to data obtained by The Associated Press, between 20% to 30% of the Guard soldiers in six states are not vaccinated, and more than 10% in 43 other states still need shots. (Baldor, 6/25)

AP: Boil-Water Alert Issued For Mississippi's Capital City 
Residents and businesses in Mississippi’s capital are under a citywide boil-water notice until further notice. The alert was issued Friday because of water pressure issues at the O.B. Curtis Water Plant, city officials said in a news release. It affects all surface and well water customers. (6/25)

The New York Times: Daily Harvest Recalls Lentil And Leek Crumbles After Consumers Fall Ill 
The vegan food delivery service Daily Harvest recalled a lentil-based product after customers claimed on social media that they’d become severely sick after eating it. The company said that it had received approximately 470 reports of illness or adverse reactions, including gastrointestinal issues and potential liver damage, according to a press release issued Thursday. (Blum, 6/24)

AP: WHO Panel: Monkeypox Not A Global Emergency 'At This Stage' 
The World Health Organization said the escalating monkeypox outbreak in more than 50 countries should be closely monitored but does not warrant being declared a global health emergency. In a statement Saturday, a WHO emergency committee said many aspects of the outbreak were “unusual” and acknowledged that monkeypox — which is endemic in some African countries — has been neglected for years. (Cheng, 6/25)

Reuters: Cannabis Use Has Risen With Legalization And COVID Lockdowns, U.N. Report Says
Places including U.S. states that have legalized cannabis appear to have increased its regular use, while COVID lockdowns had a similar effect, raising the risk of depression and suicide, a U.N. report said on Monday. Cannabis has long been the world's most widely used drug and that use is increasing while the cannabis on the market is getting stronger in terms of its tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual World Drug Report. (Murphy, 6/26)