Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Admin Appeals Abortion Pill Case To The Supreme Court
Politico: Abortion Pill Challenge Returns To SCOTUS
The future of the most popular method of terminating a pregnancy is back before the Supreme Court after the Biden administration and pharmaceutical company Danco appealed a lower court ruling rolling back years of FDA policies broadening access to the drug. The Supreme Court is unlikely to consider the case until next year at the earliest, and the justices previously ruled that no changes to federal regulation of the pills will happen until then — leaving the current state-by-state patchwork of access in place for now. (Ollstein, 9/8)
In election updates about abortion —
NBC News: Republicans Try To Find New Term For Pro-Life To Stave Off More Electoral Losses
Republican strategists are exploring a shift away from “pro-life” messaging on abortion after consistent Election Day losses for the GOP when reproductive rights were on the ballot. At a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans this week, the head of a super PAC closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., presented poll results that suggested voters are reacting differently to commonly used terms like “pro-life” and “pro-choice” in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, said several senators who were in the room. ... Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., summarized Wednesday’s meeting as being focused on “pro-baby policies.” (Tsirkin, Santaliz, Leach and Brown-Kaiser, 9/7)
Mother Jones: Restore Roe, Or Go Beyond It? The Question Is Fracturing The Abortion Rights Movement
This battle over what the abortion-rights movement should fight for is playing out across the country, as activists in Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota are working on ballot initiatives, mostly for the 2024 cycle. (Pauly, 9/11)
The New York Times: In Post-Roe America, Nikki Haley Seeks A New Path On Abortion For G.O.P.
In crafting an anti-abortion message that doesn’t alienate moderate Republicans and swing voters, her approach has won both supporters and detractors. (Lerer, 9/9)
USA Today: 'Ridiculous': Kamala Harris Rejects Claim Democrats Want Abortion Rights Until Birth
Vice President Kamala Harris rejected claims from some Republican officials that Democrats want to allow abortions up until a person gives birth. ... Asked by CBS’ Margaret Brennan what “week of pregnancy” Harris believes a potential abortion law should protect, the vice president repeatedly said “We need to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade” and that the Biden administration is “not trying to do anything that did not exist before June of last year.” (Pitofsky, 9/10)
More abortion news —
Missouri Independent: Missouri Planned Parenthood Defunding Push Goes To Appeal
Missouri’s Supreme Court will once again determine whether the state has the authority to restrict public funds from going to Planned Parenthood, after the attorney general formally filed its appeal last week of a December ruling that deemed the effort unconstitutional. (Bates, 9/11)
AP: Republican Opposition To Abortion Threatens Global HIV/AIDS Program That Has Saved 25 Million Lives
The graves at the edge of the orphanage tell a story of despair. The rough planks in the cracked earth are painted with the names of children, most of them dead in the 1990s. That was before the HIV drugs arrived. Today, the orphanage in Kenya’s capital is a happier, more hopeful place for children with HIV. But a political fight taking place in the United States is threatening the program that helps to keep them and millions of others around the world alive. The reason for the threat? Abortion. (Musambi, Amiri, Anna and Knickmeyer, 9/9)
