Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Abortion Pills To Remain Legal For Now In Wyoming As Judge Blocks Ban
AP: Judge Blocks Wyoming’s 1st-In-The-Nation Abortion Pill Ban While Court Decides Lawsuit
Abortion pills will remain legal in Wyoming for now, after a judge ruled Thursday that the state’s first-in-the-nation law to ban them won’t take effect July 1 as planned while a lawsuit proceeds. Attorneys for Wyoming failed to show that the ban wouldn’t harm the plaintiffs before their lawsuit is resolved, Teton County Judge Melissa Owens ruled after hearing arguments from both sides. Meanwhile, those plaintiffs “have clearly showed probable success on the merits,” Owens said. (Gruver, 6/22)
Abortion updates from Maine, Ohio, Texas, Florida, and Massachusetts —
Bangor Daily News: Maine Democrats Take Hours Wrangling Votes To Advance Janet Mills’ Abortion Bill
After stopping debate for nearly five hours and later holding a vote open to wrangle members, Democrats in the Maine House of Representatives passed Gov. Janet Mills’ signature abortion bill by a slim margin late Thursday. At the center of it was Rep. Ben Collings, D-Portland, an ardent progressive who put forward a late-breaking amendment to the bill that scrambled the chamber for hours. During the vote, he was deep in conversation with a top Democrat before effectively breaking a tie on the original version that would allow doctors to perform abortions after Maine’s viability cutoff. (Shepherd, 6/22)
Ohio Capital Journal: Gathering Signatures To Put Abortion Amendment On November Ballot Is 'Going Very Well'
Less than two weeks until the deadline, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights is saying abortion right advocates will get the signatures needed to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution. Abortion advocates attempting to get the amendment on the ballot need to collect 413,000 signatures by July 5. (Henry, 6/23)
Houston Chronicle: New Texas Law Adds Protections For Some Emergency Abortions
Doctors will have more legal protections to perform emergency abortions under a bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, following numerous reports over the last year of medical care being delayed over confusion with the state’s abortion ban. (Gill, 6/22)
Florida Center For Government Accountability: Top Taxpayer-Funded Anti-Abortion Center In Florida Abruptly Shuts Down Amid IRS Trouble
Last year the state program paid out about $4.5 million to the centers, which number about 60 across Florida, and that amount is set to balloon to $25 million with the recent passage of the six-week abortion ban. The state specifically forbids the centers to use religious content and coercion, yet a large number of them are overtly religious in nature, and some are run directly by churches and “ministries” like MPRC, which according to tax documents received from the state some $442,000 in 2020 and $528,000 in 2021, making it the single largest recipient of the program’s funds across the state. (Norman, 6/22)
AP: Florida Court Won't Reinstate Prosecutor Removed By DeSantis For Refusal To Prosecute Abortion Cases
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday refused to reinstate a Florida prosecutor who was removed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after making comments opposing prosecutions for abortions or gender-affirming health care. The state’s highest court ruled that Andrew Warren had waited too long to file a petition. Warren said that he was disappointed with the decision. “This is an issue that is crucial for democracy in Florida,” Warren said in a statement. “Rather than addressing the substance of the governor’s illegal action, the Court cited a technicality and avoided a ruling on the merits of the case.” (6/22)
The Boston Globe: Clearway Clinic Lawsuit: Massachusetts Woman Forced To Have Emergency Abortion After Incorrect Diagnosis
A Worcester woman is suing crisis pregnancy center Clearway Clinic for allegedly tricking her into thinking she was getting proper medical care when workers failed to tell her she had an ectopic pregnancy, forcing her to have an emergency abortion weeks later. (Scott, 6/22)
From North Carolina —
AP: North Carolina GOP Legislators Making Changes To New Abortion Law Days Before Enforcement
North Carolina Republican legislators rolled out on Thursday adjustments to the state’s new abortion restrictions that are set to take effect in days, addressing some provisions that litigation seeking to block the law’s enforcement calls confusing and inconsistent. GOP senators said the changes offered on the Senate floor were small, designed to affirm the intent of the measure enacted last month over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto that in part would ban starting July 1 nearly all abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. (Robertson, 6/23)
The Charlotte Observer: NC Abortion Clinics, Pregnancy Centers Ready For 12-Week Ban
A year ago, when the world Calla Hales had known her entire life shifted, she estimates she didn’t sleep for three or four nights straight. But not at first. The executive director of A Preferred Women’s Health Center in Charlotte had braced herself for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion. She knew it was coming, thanks to a copy of the court’s draft opinion leaked to media. (Valade and Bajpai, 6/22)
Raleigh News & Observer: How New NC Abortion Law Has ‘Taken Away’ Complex Abortion Care At A Chapel Hill Clinic
For years, Planned Parenthood’s Chapel Hill clinic had taken each new challenge it faced in stride. But it was difficult for Dr. Matthew Zerden, an OB-GYN and family planning specialist at the clinic, to see how they would weather the most recent set of abortion restrictions. For the last eight years, he had helped transform the Chapel Hill site into a respected clinic with the expertise and amenities to care for patients who needed complex, second-trimester abortions. (Rosenbluth, 6/22)
