Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Abortions Rose To Over A Million In 2023 With 60% By Medication: Report
NBC News: Medication Abortions Rose In Year After Dobbs Decision, Report Finds
Medication abortions rose in the year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to a report published Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports access to abortion. In 2023, the first full calendar year since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, there were about 642,700 medication abortions, accounting for about 63% of all abortions in the country, up from 492,210 medication abortions, or 53%, in 2020, according to the report. (Lovelace Jr., 3/19)
WWNO: Pregnancy Care Has Changed In Alarming Ways Since Louisiana Banned Abortion
In the wake of Louisiana's abortion ban, pregnant women have been given risky, unnecessary surgeries, denied swift treatment for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, and forced to wait until their life is at risk before getting an abortion, according to a new report first made available to NPR. It found doctors are using extreme caution to avoid even the appearance of providing an abortion procedure. (Westwood, 3/19)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Voters Backed Abortion Rights, But Little Has Changed In 2024
Ohioans now have the constitutional right to abortion − a monumental shift in how the state has handled reproductive rights. But for the average patient entering an Ohio abortion clinic, nothing has changed. Ohio abortion providers aren't performing abortions after 22 weeks. Patients must wait 24 hours after their first visit to obtain the necessary pills or have a procedure. A dispute over using telemedicine is playing out in court. (Balmert, 3/18)
KFF Health News: How National Political Ambition Could Fuel, Or Fail, Initiatives To Protect Abortion Rights In States
In early February, abortion rights supporters gathered to change Missouri history at the Pageant — a storied club where rock ’n’ roll revolutionary Chuck Berry often had played: They launched a signature-gathering campaign to put a constitutional amendment to voters this year to legalize abortion in the state. ... The Rev. Love Holt, the emcee, told the crowd. “Just two years after Missouri made abortion illegal in virtually all circumstances, the people of our state are going to forever protect abortion access in Missouri’s constitution.” (Sable-Smith and Pradhan, 3/19)
On OTC birth control and emergency contraception —
CNN: OTC Birth Control: Consumers Can Start Ordering Opill Online Today
The rollout is underway for Opill, the first over-the-counter birth control pill approved in the United States, and online sales began Monday morning. Consumers can start ordering Opill online Monday, and orders will be fulfilled within a day or two, Sara Young, senior vice president and chief consumer officer at Perrigo, said in an email. So far, the product will be available at Opill.com and Amazon. (Howard, 3/18)
Minnesota Public Radio: Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of Woman Turned Away From Pharmacy For Emergency Contraceptive
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday that an Aitkin County pharmacist’s refusal to give a woman emergency contraception in 2019 was illegal sex discrimination under the state’s human rights act. In 2022, a jury in that county found that the Thrifty White pharmacist, George Badeaux, did not discriminate against Andrea Anderson when he declined to fill her prescription for Ella, an emergency contraceptive pill, for “personal reasons.” (Cox, 3/18)
