Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Court Reinstates Tennessee's 6-Week Abortion Ban
AP: Court Lets Tennessee 6-Week Abortion Ban Take Effect
A federal court on Tuesday allowed Tennessee’s ban on abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy to take effect, citing the Supreme Court’s decision last week overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights case. The action by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes before Tennessee’s other abortion ban, the so-called trigger ban, is expected to restrict abortion almost entirely by mid-August, according to a newly detailed legal interpretation by the state attorney general. Both measures would make performing an abortion a felony and subject doctors to up to 15 years in prison if convicted. (Mattise and Kruesi, 6/28)
From Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin —
AP: Courts Asked To Reinstate Blocked Indiana Anti-Abortion Laws
Indiana’s attorney general is asking federal judges to lift orders blocking several state anti-abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to end constitutional protection for abortion. An appeal of one of those blocked Indiana laws aimed at prohibiting abortions based on gender, race or disability was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019. But that was before former President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett strengthened the court’s conservative majority. (Rodgers, 6/28)
Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Governor Asks Court To Reinstate Six-Week Abortion Ban
Gov. Kim Reynolds and top Republican legislative leaders are asking Iowa courts to reinstate a ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy in the wake of two major court decisions that struck down legal protections for abortion rights. Reynolds signed the so-called “fetal heartbeat” bill into law in 2018, but it was blocked by a court and never enforced. Abortion is still legal in Iowa up until 20 weeks of pregnancy. She is also asking the Iowa Supreme Court to make it even easier for abortion restrictions to survive court challenges. (Sostaric, 6/28)
AP: Wisconsin's Democratic AG Sues To Block State's Abortion Ban
Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the state’s 173-year-old abortion ban, arguing that statutes passed in the 1980s supersede the ban and it’s so old that modern generations never consented to it. Wisconsin passed a law in 1849, the year after the territory became a state, banning abortions in every instance except to save the mother’s life. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling, which essentially legalized abortion nationwide, nullified the ban. (Richmond, 6/28)
From Missouri —
Kansas City Star: Missouri Hospital Stops Offering Plan B, Cites Abortion Ban
A leading health system in Kansas City is no longer providing emergency contraception in Missouri after the state banned abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. Saint Luke’s Health System confirmed the decision to The Star on Tuesday night after word of the change began circulating among advocates for sexual assault victims. Saint Luke’s has a significant presence across Kansas City, operating 16 hospitals and campuses across the region, in both Kansas and Missouri. In a statement, Saint Luke’s spokesperson Laurel Gifford said the health system continues to evaluate the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade and Missouri’s abortion ban, which went into effect following the decision. (Shorman, 6/28)
Kansas City Star: Birth Control Is Not Illegal In Missouri Under Trigger Law
Missouri’s trigger ban on abortions does not explicitly ban birth control. After abortion was banned in Missouri following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, some readers have written to The Star with concerns about access to emergency contraceptives and other forms of birth control. “Birth control and emergency contraception remain legal and accessible in MO,” said Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, in an email to The Star. (Phillips, 6/29)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Aldermanic Panel OKs $1 Million Plan To Help St. Louis Women Get Out-Of-State Abortions
An aldermanic committee on Tuesday advanced a bill to spend $1 million to help St. Louis women get abortions in Illinois, four days after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling activated Missouri’s ban on the practice. “We are living in incredibly troubling times and the ability to fight back at the local level is more important now than ever,” Health and Human Services Committee chairwoman Christine Ingrassia, 6th Ward, said before the panel’s 6-0 vote. The measure, which now goes to the full Board of Aldermen, would allocate federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act for transportation, child care and “other logistical support needs” to provide access to abortion. (Schlinkmann, 6/28)
From Ohio, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama —
WLWT: Ohio Doctors, Lawmakers Talk Next Steps Following Overturning Of Roe V. Wade
The Supreme Court's decision to set back the clock on abortion laws has lawmakers and doctors around the country scrambling to figure out what is next. Ohio follows a Heartbeat Law, which means abortions are legal until there is a heartbeat about six weeks into a pregnancy. Dr. Catherine Romanos, a family and abortion physician, believes the current law does not give people enough time to decide. "This law bans abortion before most people even know that they're pregnant," Romanos said. Since Friday's overturn of Roe v. Wade, Romanos said the phones at abortion clinics have been ringing off the hook. When it comes to the number of procedures canceled, she thinks that number is well into the hundreds, if not thousands. (Cockrell, 6/28)
The Texas Tribune: Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic Is Moving To New Mexico
Shannon Brewer has lived in Mississippi her entire life, but when she realized the U.S. Supreme Court was about to upend her life’s work, she didn’t think twice about trading her state’s lush wetlands for a ragged mountain range. At 50, Brewer has worked nearly half her life at what became Mississippi’s last abortion clinic — whose lawsuit against a statewide ban at 15 weeks into a pregnancy prompted the U.S. Supreme Court’s monumental decision last week eradicating Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. Now, her clinic is closing its doors for good, as will those in Texas and numerous other states. (McCullough, 6/29)
NBC News: Rabbi Fighting Florida's Anti-Abortion Law Is On A Mission To Help Religious Groups Challenge 'Theocratic Tyranny'
The rabbi whose progressive synagogue sued the state of Florida over a bill that would ban abortions after 15 weeks, arguing that it infringes on religious liberty, has created an initiative to help other faith organizations — and atheists — push back against anti-abortion legislation across the U.S. Rabbi Barry Silver's initiative, Helping Emancipate Abortion Rights Today (HEART), seeks to "restore abortion rights in a post-Roe v. Wade world" and defy the "theocratic tyranny" of laws that clash with the Jewish belief that abortion is a basic right and life begins at birth, not conception, he said in a phone interview Tuesday. (Arkin, 6/28)
Axios: Alabama Cites Roe Decision In Urging Court To Let State Ban Trans Health Care
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) on Tuesday urged a federal court to drop its block on the state's ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth arguing such care is not protected by the Constitution. Marshall used the U.S Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade to suggest that since the court rejected the idea that abortion cannot be protected under the 14th Amendment because it's not "deeply rooted" in the nation's history, the same could be said about access to gender-affirming care. (Gonzalez, 6/28)
