Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Majority Of OB-GYNs Polled Say Dobbs Had Negative Impact On Maternal Health
The Washington Post: Effects Of Dobbs On Maternal Health Care Overwhelmingly Negative, Survey Shows
Sweeping restrictions and even outright abortion bans adopted by states in the year since the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling have had an overwhelmingly negative effect on maternal health care, according to a survey of OBGYNs released Wednesday that provides one of the clearest views yet of how the U.S. Supreme Court decision has affected women’s health care in the United States. The poll by the health research nonprofit KFF reveals that the Dobbs ruling — which ended federal protection on the right to abortion — affected maternal mortality and how pregnancy-related medical emergencies are managed, precipitated a rise in requests for sterilization and has done much more than restrict abortion access. Many OBGYNs said it has also made their jobs more difficult and legally perilous than before, while leading to worse outcomes for patients. (Bellware and Guskin, 6/21)
The 19th: Abortion Bans Are Causing ‘Chilling Effect’ For OBGYNs, Study Says
It’s been one year since the Supreme Court ended the federal right to an abortion, and OBGYNs say that it has impacted their ability to perform miscarriages and react in pregnancy-related emergencies, according to a new KFF national survey released Wednesday. Now, they fear those restrictions have led to worse maternal mortality rates, and they fear for future recruitment and retention in their profession. (Padilla, 6/21)
CNN: Report Finds Nationwide Spike In Preventable Deaths, Maternal Mortality And Medical Bills
A new report puts US states’ health care systems on a scorecard, with Massachusetts coming out on top. But it also highlights alarming trends across the country, especially in areas like premature deaths and women’s health care. (Viswanathan, 6/22)
AP: A Year After Fall Of Roe, 25 Million Women Live In States With Abortion Bans Or Tighter Restrictions
One year ago Saturday, the U.S. Supreme Court rescinded a five-decade-old right to abortion, prompting a seismic shift in debates about politics, values, freedom and fairness. Twenty-five million women of childbearing age now live in states where the law makes abortions harder to get than they were before the ruling. Decisions about the law are largely in the hands of state lawmakers and courts. Most Republican-led states have restricted abortion. Fourteen ban abortion in most cases at any point in pregnancy. Twenty Democratic-leaning states have protected access to abortion. Here’s a look at what’s changed since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling. (Mulvihill, Kruesi and Savage, 6/22)
NPR: Googling 'Abortion Clinic Near Me'? The Top Result Is Often An Anti-Abortion Clinic
When people are looking for abortion services, they often turn to Google, searching a phrase like "abortion clinic near me" or "planned parenthood." Yet the ads they'll see at the top of the Google search results are often not abortion providers at all, but instead misleading ads for anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy centers" — facilities that use various tactics to dissuade or delay pregnant people from getting an abortion. (Wamsley, 6/22)
Abortion updates from Wyoming, New York, Missouri, and Illinois —
AP: Judge To Weigh Suspending Wyoming's First-In-The-Nation Ban On Abortion Pills
Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills will come before a state judge Thursday as the court considers whether the prohibition should take effect as planned July 1 or be put on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit. While other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion, Wyoming in March became the first U.S. state to specifically ban abortion pills. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that access to one of the two pills, mifepristone, may continue while litigants seeking to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of it. (Gruver, 6/22)
Reuters: Challenge To Abortion Clinic 'Buffer Zone' Law Rejected By US Court
A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld a New York county's law barring anti-abortion activists from approaching people outside abortion clinics, teeing up potential review by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Wiessner, 6/21)
Axios: Becerra To Travel To Missouri-Illinois Clinics To Mark Dobbs Anniversary
The nation's top health official plans to visit two Planned Parenthood clinics on opposite sides of the Missouri-Illinois border Friday morning to highlight the differences that have occurred in each state since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, an HHS spokesperson tells Axios. (Reed, 6/21)
In other reproductive health news —
KFF Health News: Black, Rural Southern Women At Gravest Risk From Pregnancy Miss Out On Maternal Health Aid
As maternal mortality skyrockets in the United States, a federal program created to improve rural maternity care has bypassed Black mothers, who are at the highest risk of complications and death related to pregnancy. The grant-funded initiative, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration, began rolling out four years ago and, so far, has budgeted nearly $32 million to provide access and care for thousands of mothers and babies nationwide — for instance, Hispanic women along the Rio Grande or Indigenous mothers in Minnesota. (Tribble, 6/22)
