Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctor Testifies In Ind. AG's Push To Get Abortion Patient Records
AP: Indiana Doctor Defends Actions In 10-Year-Old's Abortion
An Indianapolis doctor who provided abortion drugs to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio defended her actions before a judge Monday in an episode that drew national attention in the weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Dr. Caitlin Bernard testified during the second day of a court hearing on an attempt to block Indiana’s Republican attorney general from seeking patient medical records. (Davies, 11/22)
Indianapolis Star: Indy Doctor Caitlin Bernard Received Threats After Rokita's Fox News Interview
Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Caitlin Bernard testified in court Monday that she was the target of "threats and harassment" after Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita went on Fox News in July and said his office was looking into her conduct. "Multiple emails, calls to my personal cell phone, to my personal email, with threats and harassment," she said Monday. (Magdaleno, 11/22)
In updates from North Dakota and Wisconsin —
AP: N. Dakota Faults Judge's Reasoning In Blocking Abortion Ban
The North Dakota attorney general’s office said Monday that a judge did not use a “rational mental process” when he determined there was a “substantial probability” that a constitutional challenge to the state’s abortion ban would succeed. The state argued in a filing that South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick erred in blocking the ban from taking effect before a lawsuit by North Dakota’s lone abortion clinic is resolved. (Kolpack, 11/21)
AP: Dismissal Motion Could Delay Wis. Abortion Challenge For Months
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said Monday that he wants his lawsuit challenging the state’s 173-year-old abortion ban to move quickly through the courts, but it could be months before anything happens after defense attorneys signaled they would try to dismiss it next year. The case is almost certain to end up in the state Supreme Court. Conservative justices hold a one-vote majority on the court but Democrats are banking on a progressive candidate winning retiring Justice Patience Roggensack’s seat in April’s election, giving liberals the edge. Impending delays in the abortion lawsuit make it likely the case could land at the court after the new justice takes the bench in August. (Richmond, 11/21)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Planned Parenthood Of Wisconsin Adapt Clinics To Expand Services
From birth control to family planning services and, soon, vasectomies, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is trying to adapt clinics that used to be known mostly for providing abortions to a post-Roe Wisconsin. (Shastri, 11/21)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Prenatal, Postpartum Health-Focused Business Moving To Whitefish Bay
Since opening in Glendale last year, Northshore Wellness Collective has outgrown its current space and is planning on moving its studio from Glendale to a new location at 159 E. Silver Spring Drive in Whitefish Bay this spring. The company specializes in all things pregnancy, postpartum and parenthood. Class sessions include prenatal yoga, fitness and labor classes, as well as classes on baby sleep and yoga for kids. (Groth, 11/21)
Also —
Politico: Anti-Abortion Groups Blame GOP Silence For Election Defeat
Abortion opponents are pushing the GOP to campaign more openly and forcefully against the procedure after the party suffered a string of losses in House, Senate, state legislative and ballot initiative fights. Less than six months after celebrating their decades-long goal of toppling Roe v. Wade and watching access to abortion nearly disappear in a quarter of the country, conservatives saw their hard-fought court victory galvanize abortion-rights supporters to outspend and outvote them in the midterms. (Ollstein and Messerly, 11/21)
The Washington Post: American Evangelicals Are Funding The Anti-Abortion Movement In Israel
In a country with one of the world’s most liberal abortion policies, groups funded by conservative American evangelicals are targeting women with a message familiar in the United States but novel to most Israelis: Abortion is “murder.” (Rubin, 11/18)
