Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Frenzy Of State Abortion Laws Already In Works After Supreme Court Ruling
The New York Times: The Ruling Was Just the Beginning: Both Sides Mobilize Over Abortion
The Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has unleashed a frenzy of activity on both sides of the abortion fight, with anti-abortion forces vowing to use the ruling to push for near-total bans in every state in the nation, and abortion rights groups insisting they would harness rage over the decision to take to the streets, fight back in the courts and push the Biden administration to do more to protect abortion rights. (Zernike, 6/26)
The Wall Street Journal: Abortion Providers Confront New Landscape After Roe
Abortion providers in several states across the country halted services in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, while supporters and opponents began to shift their focus to pill-based abortions and how new restrictions would be enforced. Clinics in a variety of states, including Texas, Wisconsin and Kentucky, stopped offering services Friday. Providers in other states, like North Dakota and Idaho, were moving ahead with services before more state bans took effect, typically in a matter of days or weeks. (Calfas and Paul, 6/26)
AP: Abortion Foes, Supporters Map Next Moves After Roe Reversal
At the National Right to Life convention in Atlanta, a leader within the anti-abortion group warned attendees Saturday that the Supreme Court’s decision ushers in “a time of great possibility and a time of great danger.” Randall O’Bannon, the organization’s director of education and research, encouraged activists celebrate their victories but stay focused and continue working on the issue. Specifically, he called out medication taken to induce abortion. (Willingham and Bauer, 6/25)
Politico: 18 Ways The Supreme Court Just Changed America
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will create two Americas when it comes to abortion access — the mostly red states where abortion is illegal in most circumstances, and the mostly blue states where it is mostly available with restrictions. But this sudden cleaving in the United States will go far beyond abortion access, affecting healthcare, the criminal legal system and politics, at all levels, in the coming years. (6/25)
How will the laws be enforced? —
The Washington Post: More Than 80 Elected Prosecutors Say They Won’t Enforce Bans
Elected prosecutors across the country, including from 12 states with “trigger bans,” are saying they will not prosecute people who seek or provide abortion care. Over 80 district attorneys and other elected prosecutors signed a statement issued Friday through the Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) group, a national network of elected prosecutors. “Not all of us agree on a personal or moral level on the issue of abortion,” the statement said. “But we stand together in our firm belief that prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions.” (Somasundaram, 6/26)
CNBC: Anti-Abortion States Split On How To Enforce Ban, Whether To Prosecute Or Surveil Doctors
The Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade is not only splitting the country into states where abortion is legal and illegal. It is also illustrating sharp divisions between anti-abortion states on whether to allow exceptions and how to enforce the law. Nearly half of the states had “trigger laws” or constitutional amendments in place to quickly ban abortion in the wake of a Roe v. Wade ruling. Yet lawmakers and governors on Sunday illustrated how differently that may play out. (Repko, 6/26)
Women reel from the blow —
The Hill: Most In New Poll Say Overturning Roe Is ‘Step Backward’
Over half of the Americans questioned in a new poll say the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a “step backward” for the U.S. In the CBS News-YouGov poll released Sunday, 52 percent of voters said the decision was a “step backward,” while 31 percent said it was a “step forward.” Seventeen percent said it was neither. (Scully, 6/26)
AP: A ‘Sucker Punch’: Some Women Fear Setback To Hard-Won Rights
At 88, Gloria Steinem has long been the nation’s most visible feminist and advocate for women’s rights. But at 22, she was a frightened American in London getting an illegal abortion of a pregnancy so unwanted, she actually tried to throw herself down the stairs to end it. Her response to the Supreme Court’s decision overruling Roe v. Wade is succinct: “Obviously,” she wrote in an email message, “without the right of women and men to make decisions about our own bodies, there is no democracy.” (Noveck, 6/25)
Los Angeles Times: Abortion Rights Activists Protest Across Los Angeles Sunday
For the third day in a row, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday to express their grief and anger over the Supreme Court’s decision to end a constitutional right to abortion. Peaceful protesters assembled in the afternoon outside Los Angeles City Hall and then marched through downtown streets, waving signs lambasting the Supreme Court and listening to speakers from local reproductive rights groups. The crowd peaked at 450 people. “When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do?” demonstrators shouted in a call-and-response. “Stand up, fight back!” (Sheets and Newberry, 6/26)
Complete coverage from KHN —
KHN: Conservatives On Supreme Court, As Expected, End Nationwide Right To Abortion
The Supreme Court on Friday formally overturned its 49-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade decision, and with it ended a half-century of constitutionally guaranteed abortion rights in the United States. The 6-3 decision in the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was telegraphed in May by an unprecedented leak of an early draft of the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito. But even though the final, official version was slightly less strident than the leaked document, the impact is the same. The right to an abortion has been eliminated as if it never existed at all. The decision about whether to allow the procedure now falls to individual state governments, and only 16, plus the District of Columbia, have passed laws to preserve the option, while two others have state constitutional protections that have been cited by state courts as protections for abortion. (Rovner, 6/24)
KHN: Five Things To Know Now That The Supreme Court Has Overturned Roe V. Wade
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Health dramatically and rapidly alters the landscape of abortion access in the U.S. The court on June 24 ruled 6-3 to uphold a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but also to overturn the nearly half-century precedent set in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion. With the Dobbs decision, states have the ability to set their own restrictions, so where people live will determine their level of access to abortion. The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, stated that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey [Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992] are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.” (Knight, Pradhan and Rovner, 6/24)
KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Supreme Court Overturns ‘Roe’
The Supreme Court formally overturned the nearly 50-year-old right to abortion. Bolstered by the three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, the 6-3 vote wiped from the books the two cases that had established and reaffirmed abortion rights; 1973’s Roe v. Wade and 1992’s Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Panelists for this special podcast to discuss what the justices did and what the immediate ramifications might be are Julie Rovner of KHN, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Varney of KHN, and Laurie Sobel, associate director for women’s health policy at KFF. (6/24)
