Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Republicans Try To Block Ohio Abortion-Rights Ballot Measure
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Lawsuit Asks Ohio Supreme Court To Block Abortion Rights Measure From November Ballot
After an abortion rights amendment qualified to appear on the November ballot in Ohio, a new lawsuit from Republicans asks the Ohio Supreme Court to block the measure. Filed on Friday, the challenge argues that the abortion rights petition did not identify which state laws would have to be repealed if the constitutional amendment were to be adopted. (Smith, 7/29)
CBS News: GOP Megadonor Pours Millions Into Effort To Hinder Ohio Abortion Amendment
New campaign finance records show Illinois Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein is funding the bulk of the campaign aimed at thwarting a constitutional amendment on abortion in Ohio. Ohio is likely the only state this year to have a measure on the ballot to enshrine abortion access into the state constitution, setting up a test case for how the issue may drive voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. A USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University poll released this week found 58% of Ohioans support a constitutional amendment. (Huey-Burns and Kaplan, 7/28)
ProPublica: Ohio Doctors Join Political Battle Over Abortion Laws
In her eight years as a pediatrician, Dr. Lauren Beene had always stayed out of politics. What happened at the Statehouse had little to do with the children she treated in her Cleveland practice. But after the Supreme Court struck down abortion protections, that all changed. The first Monday after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling was emotional. Beene fielded a call from the mother of a 13-year-old patient. The mother was worried her child might need birth control in case she was the victim of a sexual assault. Beene also talked to a 16-year-old patient unsure about whether to continue her pregnancy. Time wasn’t on her side, Beene told the girl. (Jaramillo, 7/31)
Abortion news from Florida —
The 19th: The Future Of Abortion Law In Florida Could Hinge On Hispanic Voters
The campaign to secure abortion rights in Florida and create a haven for access in the South is facing a tough road to success. To build a winning coalition, rallying support from the state’s Hispanic voters will be crucial. A proposed ballot measure, backed by a coalition of reproductive rights groups under the banner Floridians Protecting Freedom, would guarantee the right to an abortion until fetal viability. Backers are racing against time to get a million Florida voters to sign a petition to say they want it on the ballot. Then they must rally 60 percent of the vote in the November 2024 elections — the threshold to change the state constitution. (Barclay, 7/31)
NPR: Activists On Both Sides Of The Abortion Issue Are Trying To Change Florida's Constitution
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution. (McCarthy, 7/29)
KFF Health News and Tampa Bay Times: To Protect A Mother’s Health: How Abortion Ban Exemptions Play Out In A Post-‘Roe’ World
This pregnancy felt different. After the heartache of more than a dozen miscarriages, Anya Cook was 16 weeks along. She and husband Derick Cook spent a Sunday last December sharing the news with his parents and looking at cribs. As they left a restaurant in Coral Springs, Florida, that evening, Cook’s water broke. Her husband rushed her to the nearest emergency room. (O'Donnell, 7/31)
From Iowa, Delaware, and elsewhere —
The 19th: Kamala Harris Returns To Iowa To Defend Abortion Access
Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Iowa’s capital city Friday to defend abortion access, her second such visit to the ruby-red state this year. The political significance was palpable. Friday marked exactly two weeks since the state’s Republican governor signed into law a six-week abortion ban that was quickly put on legal hold. Harris’ visit also fell on the same day that the major Republican candidates for president — many of whom support more abortion restrictions — were scheduled to speak at a party fundraiser just a few miles away. (Rodriguez, 7/28)
AP: Judge Allows Suit Alleging That Hospital Ignored Parents And Performed Fetal Autopsy Without Consent
A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that a Delaware hospital system performed an autopsy on a 16-week-old fetus despite the parents refusing to give their consent. Superior Court Judge Patricia Winston denied a motion this week by Christiana Care Health Services and Christiana Care Health System to dismiss a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress filed by Maryland residents Meredith and Brandon Boas. (Chase, 7/28)
Slate: How Meta Created a Wild West for Abortion Misinformation
In March, a member of an anti-abortion Facebook group shared a post describing what it claimed was “pro-abortion logic”: “We don’t want you to be poor, starved or unwanted. So we’ll just kill you instead." That same month, another Facebook user shared a link to a news article covering a South Carolina bill that would have criminalized abortion as homicide, thus making it eligible for the death penalty. In the caption, the user criticized lawmakers’ logic that “it’s wrong to kill so we are going to kill you.” On Instagram, another post struck the same tone, criticizing the idea of being “so pro-life” that “we’ll kill you dead if you get an abortion.” (John, 7/31)
In other reproductive health news —
The Washington Post: How A Renowned Fertility Doctor Profits From An Unproven Supplement
Older women struggling to conceive often find hope in an over-the-counter steroid hormone supplement called DHEA. Though evidence for its effectiveness is weak, DHEA has rocketed to prominence as a fertility booster thanks largely to one man: Norbert Gleicher. Gleicher, 74, is among a small cadre of prominent fertility doctors. He said in an interview that he identified “the aging ovary as the issue of the future” more than two decades ago. His small clinic in a neo-Georgian townhouse on New York’s Upper East Side has become a beacon for women in their 40s trying to conceive with their own eggs — a statistical long shot. (Torbati, 7/30)
