Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Real Public Health Crisis Begins When Missouri Shutters Doors On Last Abortion Clinic
Kansas City Star: Missouri’s Attempt To Close Last Abortion Clinic Is Shameful
Missouri’s only remaining abortion clinic may close Friday — the result of a relentless and unconstitutional campaign against women that’s been led by state officials, the legislature and Gov. Mike Parson. Without a court order, Missouri could become the first state in the union in more than four decades to have zero abortion providers, threatening the rights of more than one million reproductive-age women in the state. (5/29)
The New York Times: A Dark Milestone For Women’s Rights: A State With No Abortion Clinics
In this threatening time for reproductive rights in America, a dark milestone is looming: Planned Parenthood announced on Tuesday that it would most likely be forced to stop providing abortions at its clinic in St. Louis, the last abortion clinic in Missouri, making it the only state in the country with zero abortion clinics. The ending of abortion care in St. Louis would make clear that while Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States, continues to protect the right to abortion in all 50 states, that is becoming a right in name only in many places. What good is a legal right to abortion if a woman can’t get one? (5/28)
Bloomberg: Supreme Court Avoids Big Issues On Indiana Selective Abortion Law
Abortion rights aren’t appreciably more in danger after Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on two Indiana laws than they were before. But it’s clear that the drums are beating — and judicial war over abortion is coming, like it or not. The court upheld an Indiana law that says fetal remains can’t be “incinerated” with other medical waste but may be simultaneously “cremated.” Seven of the nine justices agreed with this judgment, signaling that the court’s liberals (except Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) didn’t want a fight over the law. Avoidance was made easier by the fact that abortion-rights activists did not claim the law unduly burdened a woman’s right to choose. (Noah Feldman, 5/28)
Arizona Republic: Roe V Wade Isn't Settled. Maybe State Abortion Laws Will Give Us A Say
Roe isn’t settled law; it’s bad law. Instead of ending the abortion debate, it is igniting new debates in every state almost 50 years later. The ultimate result of these new laws will be that the voters will finally have their say on the issue. (Jon Gabriel, 5/28)
The New York Times: I Want A Baby. I Don’t Want To Force Someone To Have It For Me.
When my husband and I first learned we had fertility issues in 2012, I’d been a patient escort at an abortion clinic in New York City for about six months. I would stand outside the clinic and help patients enter, while watching for any aggressive anti-abortion protesters. Back then, clinic escorting was a fairly simple job. Sure, we had a few regular protesters, who trailed patients from the subway to the front door, all while shoving pamphlets in their faces and begging them not to kill their babies. But mostly, both sides kept to ourselves, and the police rarely got involved. (Elizabeth Keenan, 5/28)
Los Angeles Times: UCSF Drops Affiliation With Catholic Hospitals, A Victory For Reproductive Rights
UC San Francisco announced Tuesday that it is dropping plans for an expanded affiliation with Dignity Health, a Catholic hospital chain that places flagrantly discriminatory restrictions on abortions, transgender care and other services. The decision was announced in a letter to the UCSF community and “concerned citizens” signed by Sam Hawgood, the USCF chancellor, and Mark Laret, CEO of UCSF Health, who had been pushing hard for the plan in presentations to the UC regents. (Michael Hiltzik, 5/28)
The New York Times: Why The Fight Over Abortion Is Unrelenting
In her classic 1984 study, “Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood,” the sociologist Kristin Luker addressed the fundamental question posed by the medical termination of a pregnancy: Why is the debate so bitter, so emotional? Part of the answer is very simple: the two sides share almost no common premises and very little common language. (Thomas B. Edsall, 5/29)
