Medicaid Cuts Lead To Closure Of 20 More Planned Parenthood Locations
The closures come after months of financial struggle due to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill blocking the organization from billing Medicaid. Planned Parenthood has brought the issue to the courts in a battle that is ongoing. Plus: the potential effects of antidepressants on teenage sexuality.
The Washington Post:
Planned Parenthood Warns Of Grim Future For Clinics After Medicaid Cuts
Planned Parenthood has spent tens of millions of dollars providing health care to low-income patients and has closed 20 clinics in the months since the Trump administration blocked the group from billing Medicaid — but weathering the funding cut on its own will soon become untenable, its leaders say. ... The 20 clinics the group has closed since the Medicaid ban became law are in addition to more than two dozen Planned Parenthood clinics that shut down earlier this year because of other federal funding cuts. Those that remain open are “being pushed to the brink,” the report said. (Somasundaram, 11/12)
Other news about reproductive and sexual health —
The New York Times:
More Teens Are Taking Antidepressants. It Could Disrupt Their Sex Lives for Years.
Research on adults who take S.S.R.I.s shows they tamp down sexual desire. Why aren’t we studying what that could mean for adolescents who take them? (Bergner, 11/12)
The New York Times:
What To Know About Teen Sexual Development And S.S.R.I.S
There is basically no research that looks at the impact of antidepressants on emerging sexuality. Here are the key things we do know. (Bergner, 11/12)
CNN:
US Health Leaders Hailed The Benefits Of Hormone Therapy For Menopause. Doctors Are Pushing For Balance
On Monday, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary announced that after 20 years, they were righting a medical wrong — what Makary has called “maybe one of the greatest screw-ups of modern medicine” — by pushing to remove the “black box” warning on hormone therapy for menopause symptoms. (Goodman, 11/12)
CNN:
Women Face A Much Higher Risk Of Homicide, Especially From Guns, During Pregnancy
On April 9, 2020, after Shirley Scarborough made her daily call to a prayer line, she went to work and got another call: from the police department in Richmond, Virginia. Her youngest daughter, Francesca Harris-Scarborough, had been killed the night before. (Christensen, 11/10)
If you need help —
More health news from across the U.S. —
Fox News:
Tiburon, California Town Council Unanimously Bans All Tobacco Products Sales
Officials in Tiburon, California, have moved to prohibit the sale of all tobacco. On Wednesday, the town council unanimously passed an ordinance that would ban the sale of cigarettes, cigars, vapes, e-cigarettes and all other nicotine products. Tiburon Mayor Holli Thier told Fox News Digital in a statement that she is "pleased to have sponsored" and "voted to save lives and save our environment." (DiMella, 11/11)
AP:
Former Aide To California Gov. Gavin Newsom Indicted On Federal Charges
A former top aide to California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been indicted on federal charges alleging her involvement in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Health Secretary Xavier Becerra. Dana Williamson was arrested and appeared in court Wednesday in Sacramento. She pleaded not guilty to all charges, and a judge ordered her released from custody. (Nguyễn and Ding, 11/13)
St. Louis Public Radio:
Eddie Vedder Doc On Rare Skin Disease To Screen In St. Louis
Those with epidermolysis bullosa can tear their fragile skin by brushing their teeth, eating or partaking in other everyday acts. The rare genetic disease leaves skin as fragile as “butterly wings,” forcing patients to wear and change bandages multiple times a day. (Fentem, 11/13)
MedPage Today:
Woman Born Without Most Of Her Brain Celebrates Her 20th Birthday
Doctors told her parents she wasn't expected to survive past age 4, but a Nebraska woman born without cerebral hemispheres celebrated her 20th birthday last week. Alex Simpson was diagnosed with hydranencephaly, a rare congenital malformation, when she was 2 months old. "Technically, she has about half the size of my pinky finger of her cerebellum in the back part of her brain, but that's all that's there," Alex's father, Shawn Simpson, told KETV in Omaha. (George, 11/12)
KFF Health News:
‘They Don’t Return Home’: Cities Across US Fail To Curb Traffic Deaths
Kris Edwards waited at home with friends for his wife, Erika “Tilly” Edwards, to go out to dinner, but she never made it back to the house they had purchased only four days earlier. Around 9 p.m. on June 29, a hit-and-run driver killed Tilly as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Hollywood. "I’ve just got to figure out how to keep living. And the hard part with that is not knowing why,” Edwards said of his wife’s death. (Giles, 11/13)
