Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Backlash Grows Over Letting Pregnant Women Use Accessible Parking Spots
The Washington Post: Conservatives Want To Allow Pregnant Women To Park In Handicapped Spaces
The conservative movement pushing for more U.S. births and bigger families has a new target for its vision: parking lots. Lawmakers, largely in red states, want to allow pregnant women to use parking spots set aside for disabled people under federal law, regardless of medical necessity. That has drawn opposition from disability advocates, who say the measures violate the Americans With Disabilities Act and allow people without disabilities to use special spaces that are already scarce. (Somasundaram, 11/18)
CNN: About A Quarter Of Pregnant Women In The US Don’t Get Prenatal Care In Their First Trimester, Report Says
Some women rush to their doctor just days after getting a positive pregnant test, but Dr. L. Joy Baker said she often sees patients for the first time just weeks or even days before they give birth. (Howard and Koda, 11/17)
Axios: Where Preterm-Birth Rates Are Highest And Lowest In U.S.
The U.S. has earned a D+ for its preterm-birth rate for the fourth straight year in an annual report from March of Dimes, with the national rate stuck at 10.4%. (Mallenbaum, 11/17)
ProPublica: Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos Continues To Block Postpartum Medicaid Expansion
The most powerful Republican in Wisconsin stepped up to a lectern that was affixed with a sign reading, “Pro-Women Pro-Babies Pro-Life Rally.” “One of the reasons that I ran for office was to protect the lives of unborn children,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told the cheering crowd gathered in the ornate rotunda of the state Capitol. (O'Matz, 11/17)
The 19th: As Abortion Opponents Target IVF, They’re Promoting 'Restorative' Fertility Clinics
Patients come to the Vitae Clinic to become moms. The peaks and valleys of the wooden wall art depict cardiac activity on an ultrasound. The waiting room of the third-floor clinic is full of toys and soft books for babies. To one side is a large box of formula that visitors are encouraged to take. And in the lobby, a sculpture of one of the world’s most famous mothers: the Virgin Mary holding a fetus inside a bowl. (Luthra, 11/17)
NPR: National Abortion Politics Threatens The Survival Of Popular Clinics In Maine
When Ashley Smith arrived to testify before the Maine Legislature during a committee hearing last spring, she was terrified. "I was shaking like a leaf in the wind," she says. She told lawmakers that she was there in support of Maine Family Planning, a 50-year-old network of reproductive health clinics where Smith is a patient. (Simmons-Duffin, 11/18)
KFF Health News: Breast Cancer And Birth Control: A Huge New Study Shows How Science Can Be Distorted
As misinformation about women’s health spreads faster than ever, doctors say new research on the risks of hormonal birth control underscores the challenge of communicating nuance in the social media age. The massive study, which was conducted in Sweden and tracked more than 2 million teenage girls and women under age 50 for more than a decade, found that hormonal contraception remains safe overall, but also found small differences in breast cancer risk based on the hormones used in the formulation. (Gounder, 11/18)
On the use of Tylenol during pregnancy —
Bloomberg: Tylenol Maker Falls As US Court Weighs Reviving Autism Lawsuits
Shares of Kenvue Inc. fell Monday as an appeals court weighed whether to revive lawsuits claiming the company concealed the risks of autism for children if mothers take Tylenol during pregnancy. A three-judge panel raised the possibility Monday that a lower-court judge who blocked 500 cases from going to trial erred in rejecting the scientific evidence behind the autism allegations and the analysis by experts supporting it. (Feeley and Wilmer, 11/18)
