Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Louisiana Set To Lose Last Two Planned Parenthood Clinics
The Hill: Planned Parenthood To Close Louisiana Clinics
Planned Parenthood will close its two clinics in Louisiana on Sept. 30 as the organization faces funding challenges under President Trump’s tax and spending package. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast President Melaney Linton said in a statement the Louisiana closures are a “direct result of relentless political assaults.” “This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare. Anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control have spent decades fighting the concept that people deserve to control their own bodies,” she wrote. (O’Connell-Domenech, 8/6)
Detroit Free Press: Hey Jane Expands To Michigan, Offering Telehealth Medication Abortions, Other Online Care
New York-based Hey Jane has expanded its telehealth business to Michigan, offering abortion pills and emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill or Plan B, as well as birth control and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, yeast infections, urinary tract infections and more. The expansion of Hey Jane into Michigan comes as access to in-person abortion and other reproductive health care shrinks in the state — despite a 2022 ballot initiative that amended the Michigan Constitution to protect the right to legal abortion. (Shamus, 8/5)
NPR: Millions Of Women Could Lose Birth Control Due To Trump Cuts
Contraception is a routine part of life for many Americans and polls show people across political parties agree that it should be legal and accessible. But the Trump administration is walking back access to birth control for some people — including withholding funding from a Nixon-era program that guarantees access to contraception for low income people. (Riddle, 8/7)
Stat: Progress In Women’s Health Runs Up Against Funding Cuts
Scientific breakthroughs — from next-generation vaccines to long-acting medications to prevent HIV — are fueling new hope in women’s health. But experts warn that persistent gaps in funding and access could stall that progress. (MacPhail, 8/6)
Abortion news from Tennessee, Montana, and Pennsylvania —
The Guardian: Tennessee Demands Abortion Data From Hospitals In Ban Exceptions Case
The Tennessee attorney general’s office has subpoenaed four medical groups in the state for records of abortions performed over the last several years as part of a lawsuit over the exceptions to the state’s near-total abortion ban, court documents obtained by the Guardian show. The four subpoenas were issued this spring to Vanderbilt University medical center and a Tennessee hospital run by the national Catholic chain Ascension, as well as two smaller medical practices in Tennessee, Heritage Medical Associates and the Women’s Group of Franklin. (Sherman, 8/6)
Daily Montanan: Groups File Suit To Declare Montana's Right To Abortion Is Unconstitutional
Two groups, which were shot down unanimously by the Montana Supreme Court when they tried to halt a provision to protect the right to an abortion hours before it became part of the state’s constitution, have kept a vow to take the fight to a state district court. The Montana Life Defense Fund and the Montana Family Foundation filed suit in Yellowstone District Court late Tuesday afternoon, asking Judge Thomas Pardy to declare Constitutional Initiative 128, passed overwhelmingly by voters in November 2024, invalid because the full text was not printed on the ballot itself, something the group argues makes not just CI-128 illegal, but every amendment passed since 1978. However, the group is only challenging the passage of the abortion amendment because of a two-year statute of limitations. (Ehrlick, 8/6)
Fox43.Com: Pennsylvania Woman Charged In Daughter's At-Home Abortion Case Will Stand Trial
Shannon Noelle Jones waived her preliminary hearing today, prosecutors said. She allegedly obtained the medication for her daughter against medical advice. She and her daughter then buried the birth remains in the back yard of their home on the 100 block of Village Square Drive in an effort to conceal the pregnancy and subsequent birth from Jones’ husband and others, authorities claim. (Schweigert, 8/6)
