Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Congress Wades Back Into Battle Over Abortion Rights
Reuters: U.S. House Democrats Advance Abortion Rights Bill, Senate Passage Unlikely
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a bill on Tuesday that would protect the right to abortion and annul some new restrictions passed by Republican-controlled state governments. If the "Women's Health Protection Act" passes the Democratic-controlled House, it is unlikely to succeed in the 100-member Senate, where Republicans also are a minority but hold enough votes to prevent it from reaching the 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation. (9/21)
Roll Call: House Prepares For Abortion Fight
Tensions between Democrats and Republicans over an abortion rights bill that the House is teeing up for a vote this week are rising in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to let Texas essentially ban most abortions for now and its agreement to hear oral arguments in another major abortion case in December. The chamber is expected later this week, likely Friday, to pass the bill that would protect access to abortion and the ability of providers to perform them. (Raman, 9/21)
Dallas Morning News: House Seeks To Cement The Right To Abortion Into Federal Law, Superseding Texas’ New Restrictions
The U.S. House is poised to vote on a bill that would put Roe vs. Wade protections into federal law and cement women’s legal right to an abortion — an effort that would nullify a Texas ban on the procedure as early as six weeks that Gov. Greg Abbott signed this month. “It is important to give women back their rights,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said on the House floor Tuesday. “Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, and we are going to pass that legislation … because people are suffering with the Texas law. It has no place in society. It is a violation of the Constitution of the United States, and it should be quashed with the Roe v. Wade codification.” (Caldwell, 9/21)
In related news about Texas' abortion law —
The Guardian: New Texas Law Bans Abortion-Inducing Drugs After Seven Weeks Pregnancy
By the end of the year Texas may have even more restrictions on the ability to get an abortion after its Republican governor Greg Abbott quietly signed into law new restrictions banning the mail order provision of abortion medication seven weeks into pregnancy. The law prevents providers from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs more than seven weeks into pregnancy, instead of ten weeks, the current limit. It takes effect on December 2. (Schreiber, 9/22)
Bloomberg: Texas Abortion Doctor Lawsuits Filed By Allies May Go Nowhere
The first two lawsuits filed in the wake of a Texas bill that allows private citizens to sue doctors who perform abortions in all but the earliest weeks of pregnancy may have trouble gaining traction. That’s because the lawsuits against Alan Braid, a San Antonio doctor who wrote a newspaper column in which he admitted to violating rules that forbid abortions after about the sixth week of pregnancy, were filed by people who believe the procedure should be legal. Their suits are an attempt to get a judge to toss the law, rather than a bid to just collect the $10,000 bounty it provides to private citizens who take abortion providers and anyone who assists in helping a woman get an abortion to court. (Brubaker Calkins and Wheeler, 9/22)
The Wall Street Journal: Texas Abortion Law Faces Pushback From Some Companies
Dozens of businesses are going public with their opposition to a new Texas law that bars abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, a move that follows weeks of debate inside companies about how to respond. Employers including ride-sharing service Lyft Inc., cloud-storage company Box Inc., online fashion retailer Stitch Fix Inc. and investment group Trillium Asset Management LLC signed a statement set to be released Tuesday that says “restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health, independence, and economic stability of our workers and customers.” (Cutter, 9/21)
CBS News: After Texas' New Abortion Law, Some Clinics In Nearby States Can Barely Keep Up With Demand
The nation's most restrictive abortion law is forcing people to flee Texas in search of clinics elsewhere — and some of those clinics say they can barely meet the new demand. CBS News had rare access to a facility in Denver, where nearly half the patients are from Texas. The Texas law, which took effect three weeks ago, bans 84% of abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. People more than six weeks pregnant now have to cross state lines to get an abortion. (Shamlian, 9/22)
