Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Investigation Started After Missouri Hospital Blocked Emergency Abortion
AP: Missouri Investigates Hospital Denial Of Emergency Abortion
Missouri’s health department is investigating whether a hospital violated federal health care rules in denying a woman an emergency abortion, an agency spokeswoman confirmed Monday. Missouri Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Lisa Cox in a statement said the agency launched an investigation into southern Missouri’s Freeman Health System’s treatment of Mylissa Farmer. (Ballentine and Ungar, 10/31)
The Kansas City Star: MO Health Department Investigating Hospital Where Woman Denied Abortion
Lisa Cox, a spokesperson for DHSS, said in an email Monday that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services authorized the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act investigation of the hospital on Oct. 20. Cox confirmed the investigation was of the hospital and not the woman. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a 1986 federal law, prohibits hospitals with emergency departments from refusing to treat people with an emergency medical condition. (Bayless, 10/31)
Missouri Independent: Missouri Investigates Hospital After Patient Criticizes Schmitt
Missouri House Democratic leader Crystal Quade on Friday demanded to know why a state agency is investigating a southwest Missouri hospital that treated a woman featured in an ad attacking Attorney General Eric Schmitt over state abortion laws. (Keller, 10/31)
Politico: FDA Says Providers Offering Medication Abortion Before Pregnancy Have Gone Rogue
The FDA said health providers prescribing abortion medication to people who aren’t pregnant are acting without its authorization and that the practice is potentially dangerous for patients. “The FDA is concerned about the advance prescribing of mifepristone for this use,” an FDA spokesperson granted anonymity to describe sensitive agency policies told POLITICO on Friday. “Mifepristone is not approved for advance provision of a medical abortion.” (Leonard, 10/31)
AP: Judge Keeps North Dakota Abortion Ban From Taking Effect
A North Dakota judge ruled Monday that he will keep the state’s ban on abortion from taking effect, saying there’s a “substantial probability” that a constitutional challenge to the law will succeed. Judge Bruce Romanick’s ruling means abortion is still legal in North Dakota, though the state’s only clinic — the Red River Women’s Clinic of Fargo — shut down as it challenged the ban and has moved across the border to neighboring Minnesota. (MacPherson and Kolpak, 10/31)
The 19th: Abortion Bans Dimimish Access To Care For Miscarriages, Ectopic Pregnancies
Major medical groups say that the loss of federal abortion protections has diminished access to pregnancy care such as treatment for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages. The groups are sounding the alarm that racial gaps in pregnancy-related deaths will be exacerbated, according to a new Senate report first shared with The 19th. ... The report was compiled by four Democratic senators: Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Tina Smith of Minnesota. It contains responses to letters Warren sent to the American Medical Association, National Nurses United, the American Pharmacists Association, the American Hospital Association, and Physicians for Reproductive Health, asking them to track how the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision has affected access to pregnancy-related care. The report also cites a public letter from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (Luthra, 11/1)
NBC News: Abortion Bans Impact Latinas The Most Among Women Of Color
Latinas are the largest group of women of color affected by current and future state abortion bans and restrictions: More than 4 in 10 Latinas of reproductive age live in the nearly two dozen states where officials are working to make abortion inaccessible. A new analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, first shared with NBC News, found that close to 6.5 million Latinas (42% of all Latinas ages 15-49) live in 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortions after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade this summer. (Acevedo, 11/1)
