Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California Catholic Hospital To Provide Emergency Abortions As Suit Proceeds
Los Angeles Times: Hospital, Sued By California, Will Provide Emergency Abortion
A Catholic hospital in Eureka has agreed to provide emergency abortion services after a state lawsuit said it had refused to give abortions to pregnant patients in life-threatening emergencies. The lawsuit alleges that, in February, Providence St. Joseph Hospital denied a patient emergency care when her water prematurely broke while she was 15 weeks pregnant with twins. It allegedly placed her life at risk by telling her to drive to Mad River Community Hospital, a smaller critical access hospital 12 miles away, armed with a bucket and towels, while she was hemorrhaging. (Harter, 10/30)
KFF Health News: ‘A Pressure Campaign’: Beverly Hills Settles After Allegedly Blocking Abortion Clinic
The city of Beverly Hills has agreed to train its employees on abortion clinic protections after local officials interfered with the opening of an abortion clinic in “blatant” violation of state law, according to a proposed settlement to be unveiled Thursday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Bonta’s office said the city’s then-mayor, city attorney, and city manager pressured DuPont Clinic’s landlord last spring to cancel the lease and that city officials also delayed permits to the clinic. (Mai-Duc, 10/31)
USA Today: Georgia Abortion Laws Delayed Lifesaving Miscarriage Care, Woman Says
Avery Davis Bell was 18 weeks pregnant with a little boy. ... Bell was suffering a second-trimester miscarriage as she said her medical team at Emory Decatur delayed treatment, navigating her care around Georgia's strict abortion laws. "Your baby is dead or dying inside you, you're just waiting to crash," Bell told USA TODAY, days after she received a life-saving D&E, or dilation and evacuation. "And I wanted to live, of course, for myself and for my existing child, and the baby wasn't going to live no matter what." (Walrath-Holdridge, 10/30)
The New York Times: Late Abortions Rarely Happen, But They Still Dominate Politics
More than 80 percent of abortions in the United States happen before 10 weeks, in the embryonic stage of pregnancy. But in the politics of abortion, the arguments and almost all of the ads focus on the other end, on the much rarer abortions later in pregnancy. This has never been more evident, or consequential, than this year. It’s the first presidential election year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Ten states are voting on abortion rights ballot measures, including states that are battlegrounds for the presidency and control of Congress, and polls show that abortion has newly energized Democrats and women. (Zernike, 10/31)
San Francisco Chronicle: Abortion Fund Support Surged After Roe. Will It Last?
Soon after anti-abortion activists achieved their 50-year goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, financial support began pouring into an unexpected beneficiary: grassroots organizations that help people get abortions. According to the National Network of Abortion Funds, budgets grew an average of 88% nationwide in the 12 months that followed the 6-3 ruling that revoked the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022. (Buller, 10/30)
Abortion updates from the campaign trail —
The New York Times: Republicans Shift Message on Abortion, Sounding More Like Democrats
Across the country’s most competitive House races, Republicans have spent months trying to redefine themselves on abortion, going so far as to borrow language that would not feel out of place at a rally of Vice President Kamala Harris. Many Republicans who until recently backed federal abortion restrictions are now saying the issue should be left to the states. (McCann and Li, 10/30)
The Washington Post: These Women Are All In For Abortion Rights — And For Donald Trump
Kamala Harris is making abortion part of her closing argument. But some voters say they aren’t worried about what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for abortion. (Kitchener, 10/30)
NBC News: Abortion-Related Ads In Nebraska Prompt Health Department Alert
Just a week before an election in which Nebraska voters will decide on two competing ballot initiatives related to abortion rights, the state health department sent doctors an alert about what it called "misleading information" in radio and TV ads. Nebraska’s chief medical officer, Dr. Timothy Tesmer, wrote in the alert that recent ads had generated confusion about Nebraska’s law restricting abortions after 12 weeks’ gestation, though he did not specify which ads. (Bendix, 10/31)
Politico: Pennsylvania Democrats Lean Into Abortion As Closing Election Message
Pennsylvania Democrats believe their path to expanding power in the state Legislature runs through the suburbs — and they’re hammering the importance of protecting reproductive rights to pull it off. Two and a half years after Dobbs, ensuring that voters continue to be swayed by abortion messaging is critical for Democrats in Harrisburg, where the party holds a single-seat majority in the state House and Republicans control the Senate. That’s why Democrats are spending a record amount on abortion-focused campaign ads and knocking on thousands of doors making the case for protecting reproductive rights. (Crampton, 10/30)
AP: Abortion-Rights Groups Raising More Than Opponents On Ballot Measures
The groups promoting ballot measures to add amendments to the constitutions in nine states that would enshrine a right to abortion have raised more than $160 million. That’s nearly six times what their opponents have brought in, The Associated Press found in an analysis of campaign finance data compiled by the watchdog group Open Secrets and state governments. The campaign spending reports are a snapshot in time, especially this late in the campaigns, when contributions are rolling in for many. (Mulvihill, 10/30)
