Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Conservatives Lash Out At Trump Over Possible Change To Abortion Platform
The Washington Post: Tempers Flare As Trump Team Revises Abortion Plank For Republican Platform
Donald Trump has begun to review draft language for the 2024 Republican platform that antiabortion leaders expect will abandon the party’s decades-long call to amend the U.S. Constitution to extend personhood protections to the unborn, according to multiple people involved with the discussions. The escalating behind-the-scenes disagreement over the abortion language has become so tense and acrimonious in recent weeks that some social conservative leaders have issued public warnings of a coming split within Trump’s coalition. Others have started to discuss an effort to issue a “minority report” to the platform at the convention, according to the people involved, who like others for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. (Scherer and Dawsey, 7/5)
The Hill: Fears Grow Among Conservatives Over Abortion In GOP Platform
Prominent anti-abortion, evangelical and social conservative groups are pressuring the Republican National Committee (RNC) not to moderate its stance on abortion, ahead of a meeting to draft a new GOP platform next week. New efforts from groups including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life, and a coalition led by the Family Research Council are aimed at ensuring Republicans don’t make former President Trump’s leave-abortion-to-the states approach the official position of the party. (Weixel, 7/7)
Vanity Fair: Senator J.D. Vance, Echoing Donald Trump, Is Claiming He’s Alright With Abortion Pills
On NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning, Ohio Senator and vice presidential hopeful J.D. Vance said he supports access to the abortion pill mifepristone—echoing what Donald Trump said just over a week ago on the debate stage. ... Previously, Vance has been vehement in his anti-abortion stances. In 2021, after the Texas legislature passed a near-total abortion ban, Vance heralded the move. “My view on this has been very clear,” he said, “it’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term” but “whether a child should be allowed to live even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to society.” (Herchenroeder, 7/7)
BBC: Project 2025: A Wish List For A Trump Presidency, Explained
A think-tank with ties to Trump has set out a far-right vision for another term in office. The former president denies any links. (Wendling, 7/7)
More on abortion policy and the election —
Politico: Anti-Abortion Groups Look To The Left For Latest Strategy
The left has spent two years galvanizing voters against state abortion bans by handing a microphone to the women affected by them. Conservatives are now adopting that playbook in an effort to turn public opinion in their favor. Anti-abortion groups’ new campaign features women speaking directly to the camera — sharing stories of eschewing abortion after being raped, receiving a diagnosis of a fetal anomaly or finding out they were too far along to legally terminate their pregnancy. They aim to match the first-person ads that Democrats and abortion-rights groups have used in key races, like the successful abortion-rights ballot measure in Ohio and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection in Kentucky. (Messerly and Ollstein, 7/8)
KFF Health News: Planned Parenthood To Blitz GOP Seats, Betting Abortion Fears Can Sway Voters
Planned Parenthood is preparing a seven-figure campaign blitz to oust GOP incumbents from California congressional seats, part of a larger national effort by the reproductive rights group to prevent a Republican majority from passing abortion restrictions, including a national ban. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California is targeting eight districts where voters largely backed Republicans in 2022 even as they endorsed a constitutional amendment enshrining access to abortion and contraceptives. (Castle Work, 7/8)
KFF Health News: Abortion And The 2024 Election: A Video Primer
More than a dozen states are weighing abortion-related ballot measures to be decided this fall, most of which would protect abortion rights if passed. KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner and Rachana Pradhan explain what’s at stake in the 2024 election, both at the national and state levels. (Rovner and Pradhan, 7/8)
