Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fall Of Roe V. Wade Could Adversely Impact OB-GYN Training
USA Today: Abortion Bans May Leave Some OB-GYN Residents With Poor Training
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, almost half of the nation's medical residents in obstetrics and gynecology are certain or likely to lack access to in-state abortion training. That opens questions about how those programs can be accredited when a procedure required to be taught is illegal where they are based. "Part of being an OB-GYN is being able to safely remove a pregnancy to save someone's life. It's our job as educators to ensure that everybody has those skills," said Dr. Jody Steinauer, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. "What's going to happen when we have 44% of medical residents in states where it's illegal?" (Weise, 6/27)
North Carolina Health News: Could Overturning Roe Change OB-GYNs Training?
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision last week eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion, dozens of states are moving to either restrict abortions or ban the procedure outright. Almost all of those restrictions leave pregnant patients out of the picture when it comes to levying potential fines and/or prison time. Instead, the laws target health care providers, the ones carrying out procedures to terminate a pregnancy. That not only could have a chilling effect on reproductive health care providers, but it could also create a whole new landscape for how OB-GYNs and other health care providers are trained in medical schools and nursing programs. (Hoban, 6/28)
Other repercussions of the new abortion laws —
Axios: Defining "Life-Threatening" Can Be Tricky In Abortion Law Exceptions
While most state abortion bans include some sort of exception when the life of the mother is at risk, it will fall to doctors to prove whether a patient qualifies in an emergency, or possibly face charges. Every case is unique — and the murky wording of some of the laws could create confusion and put pregnant women's lives at risk, experts say. "What these laws do is they place physicians in an untenable position not knowing that if they serve the medical interests of their patients, whether they'll be subject to criminal liability," Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University, told Axios. (Reed, 6/28)
ABC News: More Than 150,000 Births Could Occur In The US Every Year Following The Reversal Of Roe V. Wade, Report Predicts
The reversal of Roe v. Wade could lead to a dramatic increase of babies born in the United States, including thousands of high-risk births, a new report finds. The data, from health care industry consulting firm Sg2, estimates there will be an additional 150,500 to 159,700 live births each year in the U.S. The projections have not yet been peer-reviewed. (Kekatos, 6/27)
KHN: Three-Year Abortion Trends Vary Dramatically By State
A recent survey from the Guttmacher Institute documented an 8% rise in the number of abortions performed in the U.S. from 2017 to 2020, reversing what had been a nearly three-decade decline in women opting to terminate their pregnancies. But a closer look at the findings, drawn from a comprehensive survey of every known facility providing abortions in the U.S., reveals wide variation in abortion trends among the states. While 33 states reported a rise in abortion numbers, 17 states reported declines. And the swings up or down are striking. (Reese, 6/28)
Jews in America and Israel decry the assault on reproductive freedom —
NBC News: In Wake Of Roe Reversal, Some American Jews See Attack On Religious Liberty
The Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade answered the prayers of conservative Christians across the U.S. who rallied against the landmark 1973 ruling for nearly half a century. But many American Jews are dismayed, and some Jewish leaders view restrictions on reproductive rights as an attack on religious liberty. In statements following the release of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the ruling that overruled Roe, organizations such as the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel International and the Women's Rabbinic Network expressed deep anguish. (Arkin, 6/27)
Axios: Israel Eases Abortion Rules After Roe V. Wade Ruling
Israel eased the country's regulations on abortion access Monday in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Associated Press reports. The Supreme Court ruling Friday elicited a global response with some leaders and countries looking into their own laws and requirements to see if changes need to be made. The Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee in Israel authorized a proposal to amend Israel's criminal code over medical abortion procedures, Haaretz reports. (Scribner, 6/27)
