Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Oklahoma House Passes Strict Anti-Abortion Bill
Oklahoman: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt To Decide On Bill To Make Abortion A Felony
As abortion rights groups rallied at the Oklahoma state Capitol on Tuesday, Republican House lawmakers gave final passage to legislation that would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison or fines of up to $100,000. The GOP-backed bill that passed the Senate last year now goes to Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has vowed to sign all anti-abortion bills that come to his desk. Planned Parenthood Great Plains Interim President and CEO Emily Wales said Senate Bill 612 is "clearly unconstitutional." (Forman, 4/5)
NBC News: Oklahoma Legislature Passes Bill To Make Performing Abortions A Felony
The state House passed a bill Tuesday that would make performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, has said he will sign any anti-abortion rights bill sent to him. If he signs this one, it will go into effect this summer. Another House bill, 4327, would allow private citizens to file lawsuits against doctors who perform abortions and would only allow a woman to have an abortion if her life were at stake. It now goes to the state Senate. (Rice, Barrett and Brooks, 4/5)
The Texas Tribune: Oklahoma’s Total Abortion Ban Will Limit Texans’ Options Further
Once in place, the law would have major regional impacts. More Texans have sought abortions in Oklahoma than in any other state since a Texas law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy went into effect Sept. 1. “Oklahoma is going from a state where we’ve been a haven for refugees who’ve needed support to a state that has chosen to make refugees of its own citizens,” said Emily Wales, the interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates clinics in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. (Klibanoff and Cai, 4/5)
In abortion news from Oregon, Iowa, Georgia, and elsewhere —
NPR: Oregon Braces For Neighboring Idaho's Abortion Ban
In the wake of Idaho's recent ban on nearly all abortions, Oregon is investing millions in its abortion infrastructure as it prepares to receive an influx of patients seeking the procedure. Barring legal intervention, the Idaho law will take effect April 22 and allows family members of what the law called a "pre-born child" to sue abortion providers for carrying out the procedure after six weeks. Many women are unaware they are pregnant at this early stage. (Riddle, 4/6)
Des Moines Register: Iowa Senate Votes To Fund Pregnancy Groups That Oppose Abortion
Iowa would spend $1 million on nonprofits that counsel pregnant women not to get abortions, under a bill passed Tuesday by the Iowa Senate. Senators voted 32-16 to pass the proposal, Senate File 2381. Every Republican voted in favor. They were joined by two Democrats, Sens. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, and Kevin Kinney, D-Oxford. Every other Democrat voted no. The bill would create a "More Options for Maternal Support" program under the Iowa Department of Human Services, which would receive $1 million to contract with nonprofits that counsel pregnant women to choose adoption or other alternatives to abortion. (Gruber-Miller, 4/5)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Abortion, Gambling, Marijuana, Pay Raise Bills Fell Short At Georgia Capitol
In a late-night voting frenzy at the Georgia Capitol, some bills failed to cross the finish line on hot-button issues such as abortion, gambling and free speech. This year’s legislative session ended with many bills left on the cutting-room floor. While lawmakers approved many of their priorities for tax cuts, permit-less gun carrying and mental health, other measures will have to wait until next year. Here’s a look at several bills that fell short: Abortion pill restrictions. A proposal that would have banned women from receiving the abortion pill through the mail never came up for a final vote Monday in the state House. (Niesse and Salzer, 4/5)
The New York Times: Abortion Pills, Once A Workaround, Are Now A Target
Last year, after Texas passed its strict abortion ban, surgical abortions in the state dropped by half. Many women found a workaround: pills. The week the law took effect, requests for medication abortion shot up to 138 a day from 11 a day at just one service that delivers the pills by mail. Anti-abortion lawmakers in the state were already on it. That same week, they passed another law making it a felony to provide abortion pills through the mail and requiring doctors to comply with new testing and reporting procedures to prescribe them. (Zernike, 4/6)
KHN: Doctors Trying To Prescribe Abortion Pills Across State Lines Stymied By Legislation
Soon after Dr. Mai Fleming finished her medical residency in the San Francisco Bay Area, she got to work on her Texas medical license. The family medicine doctor had no intention of moving there but invested nine months to master Texas medical law, submit to background checks, get fingerprinted, and pay hundreds of dollars in licensing fees. It’s a process she has since completed for more than a dozen other states — most recently New Mexico, in February. (Bluth, 4/6)
Also —
The Washington Post: Medical Waste Company Denies Giving Fetuses To Antiabortion Activists
Antiabortion activists said Tuesday they obtained five fetuses from a medical waste disposal driver who was outside a Washington abortion clinic, an assertion the waste disposal company denies. Plainclothes officers removed the fetuses from a Southeast apartment where one of the activists was staying. D.C. police are still working to determine how the fetuses were obtained and whether any laws were broken. (Boorstein, Hermann and Lang, 4/5)
AP: Group Claims Fetuses In DC Home Proof Of Illegal Abortions
An anti-abortion group said Tuesday that the five fetuses found last week in a member’s home came from the medical waste being disposed by a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic. The group, known as the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, claimed it contacted the police to collect the fetuses in hopes that an autopsy would prove that the clinic was conducting federally illegal late-stage abortions. (Khalil, 4/5)
