Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Kavanaugh Defenders Fell Into Pro-Life Defenders' Dangerous Trap; Does Georgia Really Want To Prosecute Women Who Miscarry?
The Washington Post: Abortion Extremists Make Fools Of Kavanaugh Defenders
During the confirmation fight for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, abortion rights activists warned that with his ascension to the Supreme Court, abortions would be criminalized, putting at risk the health and lives of thousands of women who, like their grandmothers’ generation, would be forced to resort to back-alley abortions if they did not have the means to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to a state where abortion was legal. (Jennifer Rubin, 5/13)
The New York Times: Why Politics Should Be Kept Out Of Miscarriages
Georgia’s much-discussed new law on abortion is one of the most restrictive in the nation. Abortion will be banned as early as six weeks into pregnancy — before many women even know they are pregnant. This law goes even further, though: Although the intent of the law is to block abortion, it has opened a vigorous debate about whether women who miscarry could be questioned or even prosecuted. The new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, gives a 6-week-old fetus the legal status of a human being. (Aaron E. Carroll, 5/14)
The CT Mirror: Pregnancy Care Centers Are Under Attack
HB 7070 is discriminatory and misleading. Even the name of the bill, “An Act Concerning Deceptive Advertising Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers” is troubling. The irony is the bill that’s aims to stop deception is itself being deceptive. HB 7070 targets faith-based organization and speech. (Lisa Maloney, 5/12)
The Washington Post: It’s Time To Stop Viewing Pregnant Women As Threats To Their Babies
Last week, the Georgia legislature passed HB 481, a bill that defines an unborn child as a “living, distinct person” entitled to “full legal recognition.”Under this law, not only will abortions be treated as murders, but miscarriages will be subject to criminal investigation, as they already are in a number of states. As many commentators have pointed out, this bill and others like it that grant “personhood” to fetuses display a profound ignorance of the biology of reproduction. Nearly 15 percent of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage — a conservative estimate. The total rate of miscarriages may be as high as 50 percent. (Kathleen Crowther, 5/12)
