Ohio Won’t Indict Woman Who Miscarried A Nonviable Fetus
Brittany Watts, 34, was arrested after suffering a miscarriage in her bathroom and trying to flush the remains down the toilet. She had previously visited a hospital several times, where doctors ruled the fetus was not viable. On one trip, she waited for eight hours as an ethics board determined what to do, The New York Times wrote.
The New York Times:
Grand Jury Declines To Indict Ohio Woman Who Miscarried At Home
A grand jury in Ohio on Thursday declined to indict a woman who had miscarried a nonviable fetus at home on a felony charge of abuse of a corpse, ending a case that had drawn international scrutiny from lawyers and reproductive health advocates who had argued the charge was baseless and could endanger other patients. The woman, Brittany Watts, 34, of Warren, Ohio, was arrested in October after passing a fetus in her bathroom and trying to flush the remains down the toilet. The police in Trumbull County had charged Ms. Watts using an extremely rare interpretation of a state law. The grand jury returned what is known as a no bill, meaning it chose not to indict. The case had been before a Trumbull County grand jury since November. Ms. Watts had pleaded not guilty. (Tumin, 1/11)
News 5 Cleveland:
Here's How Many Ohioans Traveled Out Of State For An Abortion In 2022
Pennsylvania saw the number of Ohioans seeking an abortion more than double in 2022, newly released data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows. After serving 557 individuals in Ohio in 2021, the Keystone State performed 1,378 abortions for Ohioans in 2022, including six on girls under the age of 15. ... Ohio Republican lawmakers had passed a six-week abortion ban in 2019, which had no rape or incest exceptions. This law was blocked by a federal judge a few months later but was reinstated mere hours after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. This past November, voters passed Issue 1 by 13 points, enshrining reproductive rights into the state constitution. (LePard, 1/11)
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Counties Ban Travel For Abortions Despite Questions Of Legality
A growing number of West Texas cities and counties are banning travel on their roads by people assisting anyone seeking an abortion. Anti-abortion activists see the move as the next frontier in curbing the procedure, but some legal experts say the measures are unlikely to pass constitutional muster. The ordinances prohibit anyone from knowingly transporting another person for an abortion, even if the procedure is legal where it is performed. They have passed in Lubbock County, Odessa and at least four other localities near the border with New Mexico, the only neighboring state to allow abortion. (Goldenstein, 1/11)
Politico:
Abortion Rights Clashes With NIMBYism In California
There would seem to be no place friendlier to abortion rights than Beverly Hills, where the City Council voted unanimously on a resolution supporting access to the procedure after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Which is why billboards going up Thursday in the famously wealthy city are such a surprise. “Los Angeles should be safe for abortion seekers,” the brightly colored signs read. “Fight back against attempts to shut down DuPont Clinic.” What’s going on? (Bluth, 1/11)
On birth control access —
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Missouri Lawmakers Push To Ease Access To Birth Control
As some Missouri lawmakers seek to tighten abortion restrictions even further and confusion lingers about the legality of contraception, a bipartisan group of legislators wants to ease access to birth control. The proposal would allow pharmacies or clinics in Missouri to dispense an annual supply of contraception at one time, instead of just one or three months’ worth. (Pfeil, 1/11)
CNN:
More Pharmacists Can Now Prescribe Birth Control In The US And Soon, Prescriptions Might Not Be Needed At All
As of Monday, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, 29 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing pharmacists to prescribe or provide contraception without a doctor’s prescription. Those states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. (Howard, 1/12)
Bloomberg Law:
States Prepping For OTC Birth Control Seek Federal Input
The Biden administration must update requirements for insurer contraceptive coverage to help states better prepare for the first daily over-the-counter oral birth control pill expected to soon hit US retail shelves, reproductive health groups and policy analysts say. (Castronuovo, 1/12)
In related election news —
AP:
Worried About Losing In 2024, Iowa's Republican Voters Are Less Interested In Talking About Abortion
Republican presidential candidates these days are barely discussing abortion in Iowa just days away from the state's caucuses. (Price and Peoples, 1/12)
KFF Health News:
What Would A Nikki Haley Presidency Look Like For Health Care?
Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley will learn how her campaign is resonating with voters after the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, the first presidential nominating contest of this election year. Already, the former South Carolina governor — who became well known as one of the Affordable Care Act’s loudest critics during her tenure in office from 2011 to 2017 — has raised questions about what her presidency could mean for the nation’s health care policy. (Sausser, 1/12)
KFF Health News and PolitiFact:
In A Fractious Rerun, GOP Rivals Haley And DeSantis Debate Health Care. Trump Sits It Out
The race to win the quickly approaching Iowa caucuses was the theme running through Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate hosted by CNN at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Front-runner Donald Trump was again absent and only two other candidates made the cut: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. DeSantis and Haley fired a frenzy of attacks at each other’s records and positions. The faceoff was moderated by CNN “State of the Union” co-anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. (1/11)
