Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lawsuit Challenges FDA Approval Of Abortion Medication
AP: Opponents File Lawsuit Targeting Medication Abortions
Abortion opponents who helped challenge Roe v. Wade filed a lawsuit Friday that takes aim at medication abortions, asking a federal judge in Texas to undo decades-old approval of the drugs that have become the preferred method of ending pregnancy in the U.S. Even before the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion earlier this year, the use of abortion pills had been increasing in the U.S. and demand is expected to grow as more states seek abortion limits. (Weber, 11/18)
Reuters: Anti-Abortion Groups Ask U.S. Court To Pull Approval For Abortion Drugs
The plaintiffs in Friday's lawsuit said the FDA improperly approved mifepristone for abortion in 2000 under an expedited process intended to allow patients quicker access to better treatments for an illness, even though pregnancy is not an illness, and waived a requirement to study it separately for pediatric patients. (Pierson, 11/18)
In abortion updates from Georgia, Indiana, and Missouri —
AP: Georgia Asks Court To Immediately Reinstate Abortion Ban
Georgia officials asked a court on Friday to immediately block a judge’s ruling striking down the state’s abortion ban. The ruling allowed the procedure to again be performed beyond about six weeks of pregnancy. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s decision earlier this week was “remarkable” and relied on a “wholly unsupported theory that has no basis in law, precedent, or common sense,” the state attorney general’s office said in court documents filed with the Georgia Supreme Court. (Thanawala, 11/18)
AP: Indiana Doctor: AG Shouldn't Get Abortion Patient Records
Lawyers for an Indianapolis doctor who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio told a judge Friday that Indiana’s attorney general should not be allowed to access patient medical records for an investigation into undisclosed complaints. Dr. Caitlin Bernard; her medical partner, Dr. Amy Caldwell; and their patients sued Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita on Nov. 3 to try to stop him from accessing the records. The doctors claim Rokita’s conduct “violates numerous Indiana statutes,” including a state requirement that his office first determine consumer complaints have “merit” before he can investigate physicians and other licensed professionals. (Rodgers, 11/18)
St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Woman’s Abortion Triggers Federal Investigation
Missouri’s ban on abortion, enacted minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June, contains an important exception. Not for cases of incest or rape, but for a “medical emergency. ”But that provision, written into the so-called trigger law passed by the Missouri legislature in 2019, only vaguely describes what a medical emergency is and contains no guidance on whether doctors can begin treating a patient before a medical situation becomes so dire that lives are at stake. (Wicentowski, 11/18)
Also —
CBS News: Pence Says Fertility Treatments "Deserve The Protection Of The Law"
"I fully support fertility treatments and I think they deserve the protection of the law," Pence said in an interview with "Face the Nation" that aired Sunday. "They gave us great comfort in those long and challenging years that we struggled with infertility in our marriage." (Quinn, 11/20)
AP: Despite Dangerous Pregnancy Complications, Abortions Denied
Weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Dr. Grace Ferguson treated a woman whose water had broken halfway through pregnancy. The baby would never survive, and the patient’s chance of developing a potentially life-threatening infection grew with every hour. By the time she made it to Pittsburgh to see Ferguson, the woman had spent two days in a West Virginia hospital, unable to have an abortion because of a state ban. The law makes an exception for medical emergencies, but the patient’s life wasn’t in danger at that moment. (Ungar and Hollingsworth, 11/20)
KHN: Patient Mistrust And Poor Access Hamper Federal Efforts To Overhaul Family Planning
Two years ago, after an emergency cesarean section at a Mississippi hospital, Sherika Trader was denied a tubal ligation. Trader, now 33, was told that to have her tubes tied, she had to have a second child or a husband’s permission, even though she wasn’t married. Jasymin Shepherd had heavy menstrual cycles because of a birth control pill prescribed after the birth of her son 13 years ago. The symptoms continued even after she stopped taking the medication. Last year, a doctor in Jackson responded by offering Shepherd, 33, a hysterectomy, which she didn’t want. (Rayasam, 11/21)
