Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Effort Begins For An Abortion-Rights Constitutional Amendment In Arizona
AP: Abortion Rights Advocates Push For 2024 Ballot Initiative In Arizona
Abortion rights advocates on Tuesday began a push to ask Arizona voters to create a constitutional right to abortion, injecting the issue into the battleground state’s volatile politics ahead of next year’s election. If proponents collect enough signatures, Arizona will become the latest state to put the question of reproductive rights directly to voters, who have turned out in large numbers to support abortion rights even in conservative states. (Cooper, 8/8)
AP: In Utah And Kansas, State Courts Flex Power Over New Laws Regulating Abortion Post-Roe
State courts have become hot spots in the national abortion debate, with Utah’s top court and a Kansas judge considering Tuesday whether their state constitutions require them to block or invalidate laws regulating the procedure more than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson transformed what was long a debate over the U.S. Constitution, immediately limiting the pathways abortion advocates could take in challenging restrictions from one state to the next. (Metz and Hanna, 8/8)
AP: College Professors Sue Idaho Over A Law That They Say Criminalizes Classroom Discussions On Abortion
Six university professors and two teachers’ unions are suing Idaho over a law that they say violates their First Amendment rights by criminalizing teaching and classroom discussion about pro-abortion viewpoints. The 2021 No Public Funds for Abortion Act prohibits state contracts or transactions with abortion providers and also bans public employees from promoting abortion, counseling in favor of abortion or referring someone to abortion services. Public employees who violate the law can be charged with misuse of public funds, a felony, and be fired, fined and ordered to pay back the funds they are accused of misusing. (Boone, 8/8)
Daily Beast: Vulnerable House Republicans Sweat The GOP’s New Abortion Pill Proposal
Moderate House Republicans, many from battleground districts, are squabbling with members of their own party on whether to advance a controversial provision that would overturn federal guidance allowing mifepristone, a pill that can induce an abortion in the first two months of pregnancy, to be sent by mail. At the crux of the holdup is the political risk for moderates in taking votes on abortion-related issues. (Perano, 8/9)
On pregnancy and maternal care —
Politico: Abortion Fight Erupts Over Pregnant Workers' Protections
Republicans and social conservatives are fuming over the inclusion of abortion language in proposed rules to protect pregnant workers, threatening to mar a law that passed with bipartisan support. The rule put forward Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission includes abortion among the potential medical conditions for which employers may have to make workplace accommodations, such as rest breaks. (Niedzwiadek, 8/8)
Reuters: Alabama Regulators Sued Over 'De Facto Ban' On Birth Centers
A group of midwives and doctors on Tuesday accused Alabama's health department of imposing a "de facto ban" on freestanding birth centers not affiliated with hospitals, which they said reduced much-needed access to maternal and infant healthcare. In a complaint filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, several individual providers and the Alabama branch of the American College of Nurse-Midwives said that the Alabama Department of Public Health exceeded its authority under state law in imposing "onerous" requirements that forced the state's first birth center to shut down earlier this year. (Pierson, 8/8)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Real Alternatives, A Funder Of Crisis Pregnancy Centers In Pennsylvania, Will No Longer Receive State Dollars, Shapiro Administration Says
Gov. Josh Shapiro says his administration will cut ties with an organization that funds “crisis pregnancy centers” when its multimillion dollar state contract expires at the end of the year. Real Alternatives, a Harrisburg nonprofit, for decades has received millions in funding from the state legislature earmarked for programs that offer alternatives to abortion. State lawmakers have also sent Real Alternatives about $1 million per year in federal funding from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, which is intended to provide cash assistance to women and children in poverty. (Whelan, 8/9)
Also —
Axios: Black And Poor People Found Less Likely To Access Medication Abortion
Black pregnant people and pregnant individuals below the poverty line are less likely to access medication abortion, according to surveys of more than 4,700 patients by the Guttmacher Institute. It's evidence of how race and economic status can disadvantage some groups, especially in areas where medication abortion is the only option available. (Dreher, 8/9)
CNBC: Amazon To Offer Reproductive Care To 1 Million Employees
Amazon, the United States’ second-largest employer, will now offer fertility and family planning services to employees through a partnership with Maven Clinic. The free offering will be available to more than 1 million eligible Amazon employees spread across 50 countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. (Goldberg, 8/8)
