Abortion Debate Prompts Doctors To Take More Active Campaign Role

Politico: On Pennsylvania’s Campaign Trail, The Doctor Will See You Now 
Physicians across Pennsylvania are politicking in unprecedented ways with less than a month to go before the midterm election, making the case that the abortion restrictions proposed by Republicans would threaten one of the state’s most important economic sectors. They’re flanking Democrats at campaign rallies and knocking on doors in flippable state legislative districts. They are registering patients and colleagues to vote. At town halls and in ads, they warn that doctors, residents and medical students will avoid a state where they could be prosecuted for helping a patient terminate a pregnancy — damaging one of the largest and most recession-proof pieces of the economy. (Ollstein, 10/10)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma AG Uses Graphic Description Of Abortion To Attack Doctors
The Oklahoma attorney general’s office unleashed a searing attack last week on physicians opposed to the state’s strict anti-abortion laws, saying they claimed a fundamental right “to dismember a living human and let him or her bleed to death.” “The Legislature is in no way required to stand aside when innocent human lives are at stake,” the state’s solicitor general said in a brief filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court. (Casteel, 10/10)

Politico: Nebraska Lawmaker Backs States Rights But Also Supports Federal Abortion Ban 'On Principle'
Republican Rep. Don Bacon, up for reelection in a competitive seat in Nebraska, said Sunday he supports a federal abortion ban “on principle” after 15 weeks — reflecting a difference from a common Republican position for decades, that abortion should be decided at the state level. “The voters get to decide. They get to decide by selecting representatives at the state and the federal level,” Bacon said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” when asked by host Kristen Welker about his current position that the issue should be decided federally. “But on principle, I believe in the humanity of the unborn child.” (Olander, 10/9)

In abortion updates from Arizona, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Texas —

Reuters: Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Arizona's Abortion Ban
An appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing a 1901 ban on nearly all abortions in the state, overruling a trial court's decision last month to let the ban proceed. The Arizona Court of Appeals granted Planned Parenthood's request for an emergency stay of Pima County Superior Court's ruling on Sept. 23 that lifted an injunction on the ban. The appeals court said the abortion-rights advocacy group "demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success" in its challenge of that decision. (Shakil and Singh, 10/10)

AP: Judge Blocks Restrictive Ohio Abortion Law As Suit Proceeds
An Ohio law banning virtually all abortions will remain blocked while a state constitutional challenge proceeds, a judge said Friday in a ruling that will allow pregnancy terminations through 20 weeks’ gestation to continue for now. ... “This court has no difficulty holding that the Ohio Constitution confers a fundamental right on all of Ohioans to privacy, procreation, bodily integrity and freedom of choice in health care decision-making that encompasses the right to abortion,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins said. (Smyth, 10/7)

The 19th: Abortion Bans Are Preventing Cancer Patients From Getting Chemotherapy
A six-week abortion ban in Ohio has forced people with cancer to travel out of state for abortions that are necessary to continue with life-saving treatment, according to affidavits submitted by abortion providers in the state. (Luthra, 10/7)

The Boston Globe: Massachusetts Has Expanded Abortion Rights. But Even In The Metro Region, Clinics Can Be Distant
Massachusetts has emerged as a safe haven for reproductive health care, following the Supreme Court’s reversal on Roe v. Wade, but there are wide swaths of the state, some densely populated, where it’s impossible to schedule an abortion. (Ebbert, 10/9)

Houston Chronicle: Nearly Half Of U.S. Abortion Clinic Closures Are In Texas
Twelve clinics have shuttered their operations entirely in the state, and the rest have focused on other services, which could include cancer screenings, STI treatments and contraception, according to the review by the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health access. The count did not include a list of clinics that have closed. (Blackman and Goldenstein, 10/7)

In other news about reproductive rights —

The Washington Post: Spread Of Catholic Hospitals Restricts Abortion, Birth Control Access
The Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion is revealing the growing influence of Catholic health systems and their restrictions on reproductive services including birth control and abortion — even in the diminishing number of states where the procedure remains legal. Catholic systems now control about 1 in 7 U.S. hospital beds, requiring religious doctrine to guide treatment, often to the surprise of patients. Their ascendancy has broad implications for the evolving national battle over reproductive rights beyond abortion, as bans against it take hold in more than a dozen Republican-led states. (Sellers and Venkataramanan, 10/10)

Axios: Employers Expand Reproductive Health Benefits Amid Tight Labor Market
A growing number of employers are expanding health coverage to in-vitro fertilization, surrogacy and other sometimes pricey fertility services in order to compete in the tight labor market amid heightened awareness of women's health. (Gonzalez and Dreher, 10/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Jill Biden Shares Tale Of Teenage Friend’s Abortion At San Francisco Fundraiser
First lady Jill Biden offered a rare personal glimpse into her views on abortion during a political fundraiser in San Francisco on Friday, retelling the story of how her mother helped care for a teenage friend who got an abortion 60 years ago. (Gardiner, 10/7)