Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Already Dire Situation': Advocates Fearful That Supreme Court Decision On Abortion Will Force Clinic Closures
NBC News: 'Clinics Will Be Forced To Close': Abortion Rights Backers Fearful Of Upcoming Supreme Court Ruling
The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on its first major abortion case since President Donald Trump put in place a conservative majority on the bench. At the heart of the case is a Louisiana law, Act 620, that requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. If the law is upheld, a district court found that Louisiana would be left with one abortion clinic to serve the nearly 10,000 women who seek abortions in the state annually. (Atkins, 6/7)
The Associated Press: Pandemic Means A Silent June At The Supreme Court
It’s the time of the year when Supreme Court justices can get testy. They might have to find a new way to show it. The court’s most fought-over decisions in its most consequential cases often come in June, with dueling majority and dissenting opinions. But when a justice is truly steamed to be on a decision’s losing side, the strongest form of protest is reading a summary of the dissent aloud in court. Dissenting justices exercise what a pair of scholars call the “nuclear option” just a handful of times a year, but when they do, they signal that behind the scenes, there’s frustration and even anger. (Gresko, 6/4)