Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Abortion Ban Begins Today In Iowa, Minnesota Preps For Patient Influx
The New York Times: Iowa’s 6-Week Abortion Ban Is Set To Take Effect On Monday
The Iowa legislation includes exceptions for rape or incest, when the mother’s life is in serious danger or she faces a risk of certain permanent injuries, or when fetal abnormalities “incompatible with life” are present. Officials with Planned Parenthood said in a statement that they would comply with the new law, and would be “prepared to help patients determine whether they can still be seen in Iowa or must travel to different health centers in Minnesota, Nebraska and other neighboring states.” (Smith, 7/29)
Minnesota Public Radio: Minnesota Prepares For Iowa’s Abortion Restrictions To Take Effect On Monday
One of the nation’s strictest abortion laws will take effect in Iowa on Monday. Abortion care providers in Minnesota expect an increase in patients as another border state limits abortion access. The Iowa law prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, when fetal cardiac activity can be detected but before many know they are pregnant. The only exceptions to the ban are in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the patient. (Zurek, 7/28)
AP: Judge Strikes Down A North Carolina Abortion Restriction But Upholds Another
A federal judge ruled Friday that a provision in North Carolina’s abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently, affirming that it was too vague to be enforced reasonably. The implementation of that requirement was already halted last year by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles until a lawsuit challenging portions of the abortion law enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in 2023 was litigated further. Eagles now says a permanent injunction would be issued at some point. (Robertson and Seminera, 7/27)
AP: Arizona Judge Rejects Wording For A State Abortion Ballot Measure. Republicans Plan To Appeal
A judge on Friday rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term “unborn human being” to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters would use to weigh a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Whitten said the wording the state legislative council suggested is “packed with emotion and partisan meaning” and asked for what he called more “neutral” language. The measure aims to expand abortion access from 15 weeks to 24 weeks, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb. (Govindarao, 7/27)
In other reproductive health news —
KFF Health News and WABE: Maternity Care In Rural Areas Is In Crisis. Can More Doulas Help?
When Bristeria Clark went into labor with her son in 2015, her contractions were steady at first. Then, they stalled. Her cervix stopped dilating. After a few hours, doctors at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia, prepped Clark for an emergency cesarean section. It wasn’t the vaginal birth Clark had hoped for during her pregnancy. “I was freaking out. That was my first child. Like, of course you don’t plan that,” she said. “I just remember the gas pulling up to my face and I ended up going to sleep.” (Mador, 7/29)
Chicago Tribune: Illinois Fertility Fraud Lawsuit Shows Challenges In Proving Claims
The young wife sought fertility treatment from a gynecologist in downstate Illinois in 1973 in the hope of conceiving via intrauterine insemination. Her husband had a vasectomy prior to their marriage in 1971. But the couple longed to have a child together. Patient Paula Duvall recalled that Dr. Bradley D. Adams of Christie Clinic in Champaign agreed to perform the procedure, adding that he would use fresh sperm samples from an anonymous University of Illinois medical student whose physical features resembled those of her husband. (Lourgos, 7/28)
