Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Appeals Court Blocks Missouri's Abortion Ban
The Hill: Federal Appeals Court Blocks Sweeping Missouri Abortion Ban
A federal appeals court blocked a sweeping Missouri law that would place tight restrictions on abortion in the state. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling Wednesday upheld a lower court’s injunction of the law, which would ban the procedure after eight weeks of pregnancy. The statute also specifies that an abortion cannot be performed “solely because of a prenatal diagnosis” indicating a child might have Down syndrome. (Axelrod, 6/9)
The Wall Street Journal: Missouri’s Down-Syndrome Abortion Law Blocked
A divided federal appeals court Wednesday blocked Missouri from enforcing a law limiting abortions for women who want to terminate a fetus for fear that it has Down syndrome. The three-judge panel also blocked other provisions of the law that banned most abortions after eight weeks gestational age. (Gershman, 6/9)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Abortion-Case Ruling Bolsters ACLU Hopes
A ruling handed down Wednesday by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a Missouri abortion dispute is being taken as a hopeful sign for plaintiffs challenging similar abortion laws in Arkansas. A three-judge panel heard arguments in September in the legal battle over a 2019 Missouri law that would prohibit abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy and would prevent a woman from obtaining an abortion because the fetus has Down syndrome. The three judges who made up the panel were Jane Kelly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Roger Wollman of Sioux Falls, S.D., and David Stras of Minneapolis. The panel ruled that prohibiting abortion at any stage before the stage of viability -- regardless of reason -- amounts to an unconstitutional prohibition of abortion, a position the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently taken since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that overturned abortion prohibitions in all 50 states. (Ellis, 6/10)
In other abortion news from North Carolina, Mississippi and the Mid-Atlantic —
AP: N. Carolina Senate Considers Banning Down Syndrome Abortions
North Carolina senators are set to consider a proposal Tuesday that would bar women from getting abortions on the basis of their fetus’s race, sex or a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. If the Senate approves the proposal, it would head to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is unlikely to sign it as he has rejected previous efforts to restrict a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. (Anderson, 6/10)
NBC News: Outside Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic, A Black Activist Ensures Women Are Not Alone
Asia Brown doesn't expect subtlety from the protesters who congregate outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization, always with the same goal in mind — to stop those heading inside from having abortions. She watched this year as a woman with a license plate for one of the state's public universities pulled up to the pink-hued facility, the sole abortion clinic in the state. One of the protesters, an older white man, yelled at the woman that she was "killing" a future recruit for the university's football team. (Harris, 6/10)
The Washington Post: D.C. Abortion Funds Report Higher Demand As Donations Decline
Nonprofit groups that fund abortions for low-income patients in D.C., Maryland and Virginia are wrestling with an explosive surge in demand, reflecting disruptions wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and fluctuations in donations sparked by the racial-justice movement, advocates and leaders say. Funding requests had been climbing since the pandemic spurred widespread layoffs in early 2020, instilling a sense of economic uncertainty that advocates said made more people leery of starting families or having additional children. (Tan, 6/9)
