Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Local Anti-Abortion Ordinances Blocked By New Mexico Supreme Court
AP: New Mexico Supreme Court Blocks Local Abortion Ordinances
The New Mexico Supreme Court blocked local anti-abortion ordinances Friday pending the outcome of a case centered on constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. The ruling granted a request by Democratic state Attorney General Raúl Torrez and follows the state’s recent adoption of a new abortion rights bill signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham just weeks ago that overrides any local ordinances aimed at limiting access to abortion procedures and medications. (Bryan, 3/31)
The Washington Post: Expensive Court Race Will Decide Future Of Abortion In Wisconsin
Tuesday’s election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court — the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history — has turned into a caustic, ideological brawl that will determine whether liberals or conservatives control the branch of government that will soon decide the fate of the state’s abortion ban. (Marley, 4/2)
The Boston Globe: Ohio Is Gearing Up For What Could Be The Biggest Abortion Battle Of The Year
Thousands of red-clad fans teemed around downtown on the day the Cincinnati Reds were set to open their season against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Kathy, a volunteer, mingled among them. Armed with a clipboard and pen, the longtime Cincinnati resident saw the fans not as fans, but as voters who could help add a proposal to protect abortion rights to the November ballot. (Villa de Petrzelka, 4/2)
Seattle Times: Idaho Abortion ‘Trafficking’ Bill Opens Pandora’s Box Of Questions For WA
Don’t vacation in Idaho. That’s the advice a Washington-based legal advocacy group is telling some abortion providers because of a just-passed Idaho bill criminalizing “recruiting, harboring or transporting” minors for abortions without parental consent. That’s not because this first-of-its kind bill — which calls such aid to minors “trafficking” and now sits on Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s desk — necessarily applies to Washington abortion providers or others who offer care and resources to minors crossing the Idaho border to end their pregnancies. But the bill has opened a Pandora’s box of questions as more abortion patients come to Washington from Idaho, as well as other states with bans on terminating pregnancies. (Shapiro, 4/1)
In Planned Parenthood news —
AP: Missouri Planned Parenthood Sues Over Transgender Inquiry
Missouri’s state attorney general is investigating gender-affirming care provided by Planned Parenthood, according to a lawsuit filed Friday by the St. Louis health provider. Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey demanded documents from Planned Parenthood after finding out that the clinic provides “life-altering gender transition drugs to children with any therapy assessment,” spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said in a statement. She described that as a departure from standard care. (Ballentine, 3/31)
Also —
The New York Times: Are Abortion Pills Safe? Here’s The Evidence
More than 100 scientific studies, spanning continents and decades, have examined the effectiveness and safety of mifepristone and misoprostol, the abortion pills that are commonly used in the United States. All conclude that the pills are a safe method for terminating a pregnancy. (Walker, Corum, Khurana and Wu, 4/1)
Los Angeles Times: Dutch Doctor Fights To Provide Abortion Pills To The U.S.
It was nearly three decades ago, as a young medical trainee in West Africa, that Rebecca Gomperts witnessed scenes that would set in motion her life’s work. Gruesome hemorrhages, perforated wombs, bloodied young women gasping out their lives: all the aftermath of botched illegal abortions. “The methods — oh, how invasive they were,” the 57-year-old Dutch activist-physician said, shaking her head at the memory of stricken women staggering or being carried into the hospital. “Sticks. Bleach.” (King, 4/3)
AP: Activists' Network In Mexico Helps U.S. Women Get Abortions
Marcela Castro’s office in Chihuahua is more than 100 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, yet the distance doesn’t prevent her from assisting women in the United States in circumventing recently imposed bans on abortion. From the headquarters of Marea Verde Chihuahua, an organization that has supported reproductive rights in northern Mexico since 2018, Castro and her colleagues provide virtual guidance, as well as shipments of abortion pills for women who want to terminate a pregnancy on their own. (Hernandez, 4/2)
Los Angeles Times: LAPD's Abortion Squad Went After Women, Doctors Before Roe Vs. Wade
Housed within the Los Angeles Police Department’s homicide division, the detail investigated what were often known then as “illegal operations.” Officers on the squad questioned young women who had gone to the hospital for antibiotics after an abortion and were reported to law enforcement. They interviewed loved ones of women who died from botched operations. They went on stakeouts and kept dossiers on hundreds of providers of illegal abortions. They posed as boyfriends or brothers to trap people into confessing. The team operated for decades, before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 gave women nationwide the legal right to terminate a pregnancy. (Mejia, 3/31)
