Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In Poll, Most Disapprove Of Texas Abortion Restrictions; Abbott Adds More
Dallas Morning News: Gov. Greg Abbott Signs More Texas Abortion Restrictions, Penalties Into Law
A bill adding more restrictions and raising criminal penalties for the use of abortion-inducing medication in Texas goes into effect in December after being signed with no fanfare by Gov. Greg Abbott. Senate Bill 4, which passed during the second special session that adjourned Sept. 2, has been decried as a “back-door ban on abortion” by Planned Parenthood officials because it outlaws providing abortion-inducing drugs to Texans after seven weeks of pregnancy. Abortions have already been severely limited in Texas by the newly enacted Senate Bill 8, which outlaws abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks into a pregnancy. Senate Bill 8, the so-called “heartbeat bill” that passed this spring, also applies to drug-induced abortion. (O'Hanlon, 9/20)
The Washington Post: Broad Majorities Of Americans Oppose Key Provisions Of Restrictive Texas Abortion Law, Poll Finds
Broad majorities of Americans oppose key provisions of a restrictive Texas abortion law, and a majority disagrees with the recent Supreme Court decision that allowed the law, which effectively bans abortions after six weeks, to go into effect, a new poll finds. The new law takes a novel approach, relying on private citizens to sue people who help women get forbidden abortions, effectively eliminating the guarantee in Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court decisions that women have a right to end their pregnancies before viability and that states may not impose undue burdens on that decision. (Wagner, 9/20)
The Texas Tribune: Texas’ Abortion Law Follows Decades Of Lawmakers Targeting Abortion Access
In 2014, dozens of Texans huddled together in the parking lot of a McAllen abortion clinic for a candlelight vigil to mourn its last day open. One of the only abortion providers for hundreds of miles, the clinic had provided the procedure since opening in the 1970s — but a new state law had forced it to shut down. The law, passed by the Legislature in 2013, shuttered almost half of all Texas abortion clinics as it required them to meet hospital-like standards, including minimum sizes for doorways and rooms. Lawsuits would swirl in local and state courts for years before the U.S. Supreme Court eventually struck down the Texas law in 2016 for burdening abortion access. (Bohra, 9/21)
And a Texas abortion doctor is being sued over the new law —
AP: Texas Doctor Who Defied State's New Abortion Ban Is Sued
A San Antonio doctor who said he performed an abortion in defiance of a new Texas law all but dared supporters of the state’s near-total ban on the procedure to try making an early example of him by filing a lawsuit — and by Monday, two people obliged. Former attorneys in Arkansas and Illinois filed separate state lawsuits Monday against Dr. Alan Braid, who in a weekend Washington Post opinion column became the first Texas abortion provider to publicly reveal he violated the law that took effect on Sept. 1. (Stengle, 9/21)
The Washington Post: Alan Braid, Texas Abortion Doctor, Sued Over Ban
A lawsuit that could test the constitutionality of the nation’s most restrictive abortion ban was filed in Texas on Monday against a doctor who admitted to performing an abortion considered illegal under the new law. The details of the civil suit against Alan Braid, a physician in San Antonio, are as unusual as the law itself, which empowers private citizens to enforce the ban on abortion once cardiac activity has been detected — often as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. (Marimow, 9/20)
