Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
54% Of US Abortions Happen By Pill, Not Surgery
AP: Over Half Of U.S. Abortions Now Done With Pills, Not Surgery
More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery, an upward trend that spiked during the pandemic with the increase in telemedicine, a report released Thursday shows. In 2020, pills accounted for 54% of all U.S. abortions, up from roughly 44% in 2019. The preliminary numbers come from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The group, by contacting providers, collects more comprehensive abortion data than the U.S. government. (Tanner, 2/24)
The New York Times: Abortion Pills Now Account For More Than Half Of U.S. Abortions
The increase in medication abortion is most likely the result of several factors. The method — which is less expensive and less invasive than surgical abortions — had already become increasingly common before the coronavirus pandemic, driven partly by restrictions from conservative states that imposed hurdles to surgical methods, especially later in pregnancy. As of 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which collects data by contacting every known abortion provider in the country, nearly a third of clinics offered only medication abortion. In 2019, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which did not include California, Maryland and New Hampshire, pills accounted for 42 percent of all abortions — and 54 percent of abortions that were early enough to qualify for medication because they occurred before 10 weeks’ gestation. (Belluck, 2/24)
In news on Texas' anti-abortion laws —
The Texas Tribune: Texas Abortion Law Argued Before State Supreme Court
The Texas Supreme Court got its first chance to weigh in on the state’s new abortion law Thursday, hearing arguments in a narrow challenge to the restrictions, which have blocked access to abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy for nearly six months. This hearing before the nine-justice high court is an interim step in the ongoing federal lawsuit brought by abortion providers trying to challenge the law. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in on a question of state law before the appeals court proceeds with its own ruling in the case. (Klibanoff, 2/24)
Reuters: Texas High Court Questions Clinics' Challenge To Abortion Law
Justices on Texas's high court on Thursday sharply questioned whether clinics can challenge a law that banned most abortions in the state because it is enforced by private individuals, just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the case to move forward. The clinics are suing over a law, known as SB8, that went into effect Sept. 1 and bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. It allows private citizens to sue anyone who performs and assists a woman in obtaining an abortion after embryo cardiac activity is detected. (Raymond, 2/25)
CNN: Texas Abortion Seekers Flooded Out-Of-State Clinics After Six-Week Ban Went Into Effect
Planned Parenthood clinics in the five states neighboring Texas saw a nearly 800% increase in abortion patients from the Lone Star State after a six-week ban went into effect in September, the organization said Thursday. Colorado and Oklahoma clinics saw some of the biggest surges in Texas abortion seekers, the organization said. Between September 1 and December 31, 2021, abortion patients with Texas zip codes made up more than half the total number of patients at Oklahoma Planned Parenthood clinics, in what was a 2500% increase in Texas traffic to those facilities. Texas patients amounted to less than 10% in Oklahoma clinics the same time the year before. (Sneed, 2/24)
On other abortion issues —
AP: Republican Helps Defeat Arizona Abortion Pill Ban
One Republican in the Arizona House defected from a united GOP front on Thursday to defeat a measure that would have banned manufacturing or prescribing medication that would cause an abortion. The bill that unexpectedly failed would have eliminated the choice used by half of the people who have abortions in the state, leaving a surgical procedure as the only option. “Members, I am about as pro-life as they come,” Rep. Michelle Udall of Mesa said as she joined all Democrats in voting against the measure. “However, in my research of some of these medications, they are used for other purposes as well. (Christie, 2/25)
KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Contemplating A Post-‘Roe’ World
With those on both sides of the abortion debate anticipating that the Supreme Court this year will weaken or overturn Roe v. Wade, which established the right to the procedure, activists are arguing about how best to proceed. The Biden administration has thus far avoided much mention of the divisive issue, while anti-abortion forces disagree on whether to try to ban abortion at the state level in a single step, or more gradually. Meanwhile, millions of Americans who have been covered by the Medicaid program since the pandemic struck are at risk of losing that coverage when the federal government ends the declared covid-19 “public health emergency,” likely later this year. (2/24)
In LGBTQ+ news —
AP: Arizona Bill Bans Gender Reassignment Surgery For Minors
The Arizona Senate has voted to prohibit gender reassignment surgeries for minors. Republicans approved the measure in a 16-12 party-line vote on Thursday. It’s a scaled back version of an earlier proposal that failed in a Senate committee, which would have banned a broader array of gender-affirming health care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Advocates for transgender youth say decisions about health care should be left to children, their parents and their doctors. Supporters of the legislation say teenagers shouldn’t undergo irreversible surgeries. (2/25)
Miami Herald: FL House Passes Bills That Limit Teaching About Race, LGBTQ
Two hotly contested bills about race and gender lessons in Florida public schools took a step closer to becoming law on Thursday, as the Republican-dominated state House overwhelmingly approved the measures along largely partisan lines and sent them to the Senate. Both pieces of legislation — commonly referred to as the “individual freedoms” (HB 7) and “don’t say gay” (HB 1557) bills — have been widely lauded by conservatives across the state as a way to give parents more control over what their children are taught in school and what services they receive. (Solochek, 2/24)
