Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Alito Says He Suspects Who Leaked His Dobbs Decision Draft
The New York Times: Alito Says He Has ‘Pretty Good Idea’ Who Leaked Supreme Court Abortion Ruling
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the author of the majority opinion that overruled Roe v. Wade last June, told The Wall Street Journal’s opinion pages that he had “a pretty good idea who is responsible” for leaking a draft of his opinion to Politico. Justice Alito added that he did not have “the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.” That echoed language in the Supreme Court’s report on its investigation of the leak, which said that “investigators have been unable to determine at this time, using a preponderance of the evidence standard, the identity of the person(s) who disclosed the draft majority opinion.” (Liptak, 4/28)
Read the editorial —
The Wall Street Journal: Justice Samuel Alito: ‘This Made Us Targets Of Assassination’
The author of the Dobbs abortion ruling answers attacks on the court’s ‘legitimacy.’ He says he thinks he knows who leaked the draft and is certain about the motive. (James Taranto and David B. Rivkin Jr., 4/28)
In other abortion news —
Salt Lake Tribune: Judge Waits On Utah Abortion Clinic Ban Ruling
Days before a ban on abortion clinics would put a halt to most abortions in Utah, a district court judge said he’ll make a decision as to whether to enjoin the law next week. Planned Parenthood Association of Utah asked Third District Court Judge Andrew Stone to put the law on hold at the beginning of April — one month before its May 3 effective date. Gov. Spencer Cox signed HB467, “Abortion Changes,” into law on March 15. (Anderson Stern, 4/28)
Wyoming Public Radio: Casper Clinic That Provides Abortions Opens After Eleven-Month Delay
Wyoming now has a clinic that provides surgical abortions. The Casper reproductive health clinic opened its doors last week, but its opening was delayed by about 11 months because it was torched by an arsonist one month before its planned opening. Wellspring Health Access Clinic Founder Julie Burkhart said it was just about ready to open. (Kudelska, 4/28)
CBS News: Louisiana Doctors Detail Unintended Consequences Of State's Abortion Ban
"I am more likely to die than my mother was in childbirth. So as a country, our outcomes are getting worse," Dr. Rebekah Gee, an OB-GYN and a former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, told 60 Minutes. (Zubrow, 4/30)
Houston Chronicle: Mifepristone Ban: Potential Impacts On Texas Miscarriage Treatment
The first two miscarriages were difficult enough for Ellen, a Houston woman in her 40s. The next two, late last year, were harder. In both instances, the excitement of hearing a faint heartbeat during an early checkup turned to dread two weeks later when the pulse had stopped. She turned to Planned Parenthood for access to the two-drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, which are commonly used for abortions, to empty her uterus. (Gill, 4/29)
Axios: RNC Chair On Abortion: Republicans Must Address Issue "Head On" In 2024
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said Sunday GOP 2024 presidential election candidates must directly address the issue of abortion. Driving the news: Abortion emerged as a key issue at the Midterm Elections following the conservative-dominated Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, as Democrats won key seats on abortion rights platforms and voters in three states approved protections for the procedure. (Falconer, 5/1)
Also —
The New York Times: Dr. LeRoy Carhart, Fierce Defender Of Abortion Rights, Dies At 81
LeRoy Carhart, a Midwestern doctor who became an archnemesis of abortion opponents and a leading defender of late-term abortions, died on Friday at a hospice in Bellevue, Neb., a suburb of Omaha. He was 81.The cause was liver cancer, his daughter, Janine Weatherby, said. Dr. Carhart came to national prominence in the 1990s as an improbable progressive crusader in one of the nation’s most bitter moral debates. (Traub, 4/30)
