Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bill Protecting Abortion Providers And Patients Passes Minnesota House
Minnesota Public Radio: Minnesota House Passes Bill That Shields Abortion Providers, Out-Of-State Patients
The Minnesota House of Representatives voted 68-62 Monday for a bill that would offer legal protections to patients who travel to Minnesota for an abortion and the providers that treat them. State leaders have said they are taking steps to offer those legal defenses now but DFL lawmakers at the Capitol said it was important to guarantee the protections in law. (Ferguson, 3/20)
AP: Minnesota Moving To Fortify State Status As Abortion Refuge
Like Planned Parenthood and other providers, Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota in Bloomington has also seen a sharp increase in patients from out-of-state, more than doubling from 2019 to 26% in 2022. “The most remarkable change has come from Texas, where we only saw 2 patients from that state in 2019 to 96 from February 2022 to March of 2023,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, said in an email. (Karnowski, 3/20)
Other abortion news from Tennessee, Ohio, Wyoming, and the Pentagon —
AP: Tennessee House OKs Narrow Abortion Exemption Bill
Tennessee’s GOP-dominant House on Monday advanced legislation that would add a narrow exemption to the state’s strict abortion ban, despite concerns raised by Democrats and medical experts that the bill does not go far enough to protect doctors and pregnant patients. The legislation was drastically reworked from its original version that was introduced just last month after Tennessee’s influential anti-abortion lobbying group came out in opposition. Tennessee Right to Life warned that could face political retribution for voting on a bill that would have allowed doctors to provide abortions based on their “good-faith judgment.” (Kruesi and Mattise, 3/21)
Columbus Dispatch: Lawsuit: Ohio Abortion Amendment Should Be Split Into Multiple Issues
Abortion opponents say the Ohio Ballot Board should have divided the proposed abortion amendment into multiple ballot issues, according to a lawsuit filed at the Ohio Supreme Court Monday. The lawsuit, filed by former Cincinnati Right to Life executive director Meg DeBlase and member John Giroux, asks the Ohio Supreme Court to order the five-member Ohio Ballot Board to reconvene and split the proposed abortion amendment into multiple issues. (Balmert, 3/20)
Jackson Hole Community Radio: Wyoming’s ‘Life Is A Human Right’ Act Went Into Effect Sunday. It Could Be Blocked In The Courts This Week
A near-total abortion ban took effect in Wyoming over the weekend. Dr. Giovannina Anthony, an OB-GYN, is one of two abortion providers in the state. Both are at her clinic in Jackson. Anthony said she already had to cancel three appointments. She serves patients from Wyoming, and Idaho, which also passed some of the harshest restrictions on abortions last year. (Merzbach, 3/20)
American Homefront Project: A New Pentagon Policy Helps Troops Who Travel To Receive Abortions. Republicans Want To Block It.
Even before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, service members struggled to get abortions. Navigating different state laws, trying to obtain leave, and figuring out travel arrangements wasn’t easy. “Having it be so difficult, the barriers I had to overcome and jump over, it reset where I thought I fit into the military,” said Air Force Major Sharon Arana. (Frame, 3/20)
In court updates —
The Hill: Jackson Pens Solo Dissent As Supreme Court Vacates Abortion Ruling
The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a federal court ruling upholding the right for a minor to go to court to get permission to undergo an abortion, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson penning a solo dissent in the case. The ruling from the court on Monday vacated a lower court ruling that a state court clerk could be sued for telling a pregnant teenager that the court must notify her parents of her attempt to get a court order to allow her to obtain an abortion without the consent of her parents. (Neukam, 3/20)
AP: Biden's Appeals Court Nominee Faces Rare Democratic Scrutiny
One of President Joe Biden’s nominees to a federal appeals court has generated rare concern from some Democrats and outside groups over his signature on a legal brief defending a parental notification law in New Hampshire, injecting the issue of abortion into his confirmation fight from an unexpected flank. Michael Delaney, nominated for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston, said in written testimony to senators that he did not write the 2005 brief and otherwise had “extremely limited involvement” in the case that was brought while he was deputy attorney general in New Hampshire. (Kim, 3/20)
