Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Democratic House Leadership Endorses Anti-Abortion Texas Rep. Cuellar
Politico: Henry Cuellar, Democrats' Last Anti-Abortion Lawmaker, Gets Leadership Endorsements
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) announced endorsements on Thursday for his 2024 reelection from the entire House Democratic leadership team, a sharp reversal from last year’s midterms, when he was all but abandoned by his party’s top brass. (Ferris, 8/3)
Abortion news from Missouri, Wyoming, Guam, and Texas —
Missouri Independent: Trial Set On Missouri Abortion Rights Amendment Ballot Title
A Cole County judge promised Thursday he would rule quickly after a Sept. 11 trial over the language voters will see when they consider an initiative petition to reinstate the right to an abortion. At a hearing on challenges to the ballot titles written for six proposed petitions, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem told attorneys that he knows whatever he decides will be appealed. And after a recently resolved dispute between State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick and Attorney General Andrew Bailey delayed other action on the petitions for more than 100 days, time is short for the collection of roughly 170,000 signatures needed to make the 2024 ballot. (Keller, 8/3)
Billings Gazette: Suspended Bans And Expanding Access Are Helping Wyoming Women Get Abortions
The Wyoming Department of Health’s 2022 report didn’t capture all abortions in the state. The number of women who received abortions in Wyoming doubled last year to 200, according to the Department of Health’s official 2022 Induced Termination of Pregnancy Report — but even that total appears to fall well short of the actual count. (Hannon Casper, 8/3)
AP: A Federal Appeals Court Just Made Medication Abortions Harder To Get In Guam
People seeking medication abortions on the U.S. Territory of Guam must first have an in-person consultation with a doctor, a federal appeals court says, even though the nearest physician willing to prescribe the medication is 3,800 miles (6,100 kilometers) — an 8-hour flight — away. The ruling handed down Tuesday by a unanimous three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could make it even more difficult for pregnant people to access abortions on the remote island where 85% of residents are Catholic and about 1 in 5 live below the poverty line. The last doctor to provide abortions in Guam retired in 2018, leaving people seeking the procedure without local options. (Boone and Komenda, 8/3)
The Washington Post: An Abortion Ban Made Them Teen Parents. This Is Life Two Years Later.
Two years after the Texas abortion law banned a teen from getting an abortion, she has twin toddlers. A follow on the Pulitzer Prize winning story of Brooke Alexander's journey after she wasn't able to get an abortion. (Kitchener, 8/1)
In other news about pregnancy and childbirth —
Axios: Many Policies Targeting Alcohol Use During Pregnancy Don't Work: Study
Policies intended to discourage or criminalize drinking while pregnant have no effect on infant health, or in some cases can actually be harmful, a new JAMA Network Open study finds. The study is the latest research supporting evidence that criminalizing alcohol and drug use during pregnancy is leading to worse outcomes among newborns, experts say. (Dreher, 8/3)
The New York Times: An Evolutionary Debate On The Risks Of Childbirth
Scientists are revisiting an influential theory that the evolution of big brains made human childbirth risky. (Zimmer, 7/30)
