Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Missouri's 8-Week Abortion Ban Will Be Allowed To Go In Front Of Voters, Appeals Court Rules
The Associated Press: ACLU Effort To Put Abortion Ban To Vote Can Proceed
An appellate court panel ruled Monday that the American Civil Liberties Union can soon begin collecting signatures that would put a new Missouri law banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy to a public vote. A three-judge panel of the state's Court of Appeals found that GOP Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was "without authority" to reject petitions to put the law on the 2020 ballot on constitutional grounds. The 31-page ruling was issued just hours after the panel heard oral arguments in the case. (Hollingsworth, 7/8)
St. Louis Public Radio: Referendum Aimed At Overturning 8-Week Abortion Ban Can Move Forward
While the ruling revives an effort from the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri to scrap the abortion ban, supporters won’t have a lot of time to gather roughly 100,000 signatures. And there could be more legal fights to come about whether a provision that goes into effect right away will derail the referendum in the future. Ashcroft rejected the referendum from the ACLU, as well as two other similar ones, because part of the abortion law went into effect right away under what’s known as an emergency clause. But the Western District Court of Appeals ruled that Ashcroft didn’t have the authority to make that decision. (Rosenbaum, 7/8)
Kansas City Star: Act Now To Put Missouri Abortion Ban Repeal On 2020 Ballot
The ACLU argued that the emergency clause that Republicans used to make that one aspect of the bill effective immediately was invoked “not because of an immediate need to preserve the public peace, health, or safety,” as the law requires, “but rather in order to defeat any attempt to refer the bill for voter approval or rejection under the fundamental right of referendum.” The court almost immediately ruled in their favor. (7/8)
The Associated Press: Abortion Arguments At Play In Limiting Veterans' IVF Benefit
A federal program to help injured veterans and their spouses conceive children through in vitro fertilization is being hobbled by anti-abortion forces that oppose how the process can lead to embryos being destroyed. Since 2012, Democrats in Congress have repeatedly championed legislation permanently extending IVF benefits to veterans whose injuries in the line of duty have left them unable to conceive children otherwise. But those bills have fizzled in the face of opposition from Catholic bishops and others in favor of a temporary program that must be reauthorized every year, complicating efforts by eligible veterans to begin or extend their families. (Carr Smyth, 7/8)
The Associated Press: Kansas Judge Won't Give Go-Ahead For Telemedicine Abortions
A state-court judge declined Monday to give a Kansas clinic permission to provide telemedicine abortions. Shawnee County District Judge Teresa Watson rejected a request from the Trust Women Foundation for an injunction to block the state from subjecting the clinic and its doctors to enforcement of state laws against telemedicine abortions. She did so despite another judge's ruling that no ban can be enforced and a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in April that access to abortion is a "fundamental" right under the state constitution. (Hanna, 7/8)
CNN: 'Americanized' Anti-Abortion Protests Are On The Rise In The UK. But A Fight Back Has Begun
Monika Neall was standing outside an abortion clinic in Manchester when she saw a woman in her mid-20s dart out the doors. The woman moved towards a parked car, then suddenly froze. On the ground nearby lay plastic fetus models, candles and images of mothers gazing adoringly at babies. Panicking, she caught Neall's eye. "That's my car," she said, her voice starting to crack. Most Saturday mornings, Neall puts on a pink vest and joins a small group of women from the volunteer organization Sister Supporter. They stand outside the Marie Stopes clinic in the northern English city to oppose the anti-abortion protests that are held there weekly. (Woodyatt, 7/9)
