Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Accepting Nomination, Kamala Harris Hammers Abortion Bans, Project 2025
The New York Times: Harris Promises To Chart ‘New Way Forward’ As She Accepts Nomination
Kamala Harris focused at length on Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda drafted by Donald Trump's allies. She warned that the policies could have a devastating effect on reproductive health, leading to a nationwide abortion ban and further restrictions to women’s health care. “Simply put, they are out of their minds,” Ms. Harris said. She said that she would “proudly” sign legislation protecting abortion rights into law — a pledge also made by Joe Biden, but one that is a long shot in the current Congress. (Rogers and Epstein, 8/23)
Politico: Trump Attacks Walz Over DNC Speech And Tries To Distance Himself From Project 2025
Donald Trump told “Fox and Friends” on Thursday morning that Tim Walz connecting him to Project 2025 was “disgraceful” and throughout the interview, repeatedly said he had “no idea” what it was. The former president also rehashed his criticisms of Walz for Minnesota’s law placing free menstrual products in public school restrooms, describing it as having tampons “available in young men’s bathrooms.” (Ramirez, 8/22)
Politico: ‘Immediate Shift’: Democrats Speaking About Abortion In Once Unimaginable Ways
President Joe Biden and fellow Democratic leaders have spent two years focusing on women with wanted pregnancies who were denied emergency abortion care. The party, now firmly in its Kamala Harris era, is widening the lens. Democrats at their convention this week spotlighted stories of unwanted pregnancies, a long taboo subject in politics. (Messerly and Ollstein, 8/22)
CalMatters: How Kamala Harris' Record On Abortion In CA Prepared Her For 2024
She built a reputation in California as a prosecutor who backed abortion rights, and, as attorney general, Kamala Harris threw her weight behind multiple abortion issues with national consequences. Two standouts include investigating claims that Planned Parenthood sold fetal remains and supporting regulation of anti-abortion pregnancy centers. “As long as I have known her, this has always been a core issue,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu. (Hwang, 8/22)
Other health news from the convention —
Politico: Survivors And Relatives Speak Out On Gun Violence In Emotional Speeches
The night took a heart-wrenching turn as survivors and relatives of people killed by gun violence shared their stories with a rapt and tear-filled audience. Abbey Clements, a teacher who survived the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, talked as her voice broke about the day 20 first grade children and six of her colleagues were killed. (Messerly, 8/22)
The New York Times: Members Of ‘Central Park 5’ Say Trump Is Too Dangerous For Second Term
Not long after the rape and beating of a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989, Donald J. Trump took out full-page newspaper ads about the case, calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. The five Black and Latino teenagers accused in the attack — Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Antron McCray, known as the Central Park Five — served years in prison before being cleared in 2002 by DNA evidence and the confession of another man. But Mr. Trump has refused to apologize. (Mays, 8/22)
NBC News: What Is A Nonverbal Learning Disorder? Tim Walz's Son Gus' Condition, Explained
A 2020 study estimated that as many as 2.9 million children and adolescents in North America have nonverbal learning disability, or NVLD, which affects a person’s spatial-visual skills. The number of people who receive a diagnosis is likely much smaller than those living with the disability, said Santhosh Girirajan, the T. Ming Chu professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and professor of genomics at Penn State. (Sullivan, 8/22)
Other election news about 'Medicare for All' and fentanyl —
Fox News: Progressive Leader Urges Harris To Wait On Government Health Care Push
The leader of a progressive group said Medicare for All – previously understood as a top priority for those on the left wing of the Democratic Party and advocated for by then-Sen. Kamala Harris in her brief 2020 presidential run – can wait. "There's a time and place for every policy," Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) co-founder Adam Green told Fox News Digital. (Johnson, 8/22)
KFF Health News: Trump Drastically Inflates Annual Fentanyl Death Numbers
Former President Donald Trump claimed at a recent campaign rally that more than 300,000 Americans are dying each year from the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl, and that the number of fentanyl overdoses was the “lowest” during his administration and has skyrocketed since. ... Trump’s figures appear to have no basis in fact. Government statistics show the number of drug overdose deaths per year is hovering around 100,000 to 110,000, with opioid-related deaths at about 81,000. (Gardenswartz, 8/23)
And Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. has died —
Politico: Bill Pascrell, Fiery New Jersey Rep., Dies At 87
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., the second-oldest member of the House who brought an in-your-face Jersey attitude to the chamber, died Wednesday at age 87. Pascrell had been hospitalized at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in his hometown of Paterson since July 14. It’s the second time this year a sitting New Jersey lawmaker has died in office. (Racioppi and Friedman, 8/21)
