Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
On 2nd Anniversary Of Dobbs Ruling, Not Much Has Improved For Doctors
ABC News: 2 Years After Roe V. Wade, Physicians Still Struggle To Provide Essential Care
Obstetrics and gynecological care in much of the U.S. has transformed in the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, leaving physicians facing tough decisions as they try to provide patients with quality care and struggle to interpret unclear, confusing and strict state abortion laws. Physicians interviewed by ABC News across several states said they are relying on each other to determine what emergency and lifesaving care they can legally provide patients. (El-Bawab, 6/24)
Chicago Tribune: Dobbs, 2 Years Later: Out-Of-State Medical Providers Flock To Illinois For Abortion Training As Opportunities Dwindle
Obstetrics and gynecology resident Dr. Cory Reiter travels more than 200 miles round trip from Indianapolis to an Illinois clinic once a week to learn how to perform abortions, which she deems a vital aspect of health care. Yet opportunities for learning how to terminate a pregnancy have dwindled in Indiana since the state’s near-total abortion ban went into effect in August, spurring Reiter and other OB-GYN residents at Indiana University School of Medicine to come to Illinois for abortion training. (Lourgos, 6/23)
USA Today: Two Years Ago, SCOTUS Overturned The Right To An Abortion. Here Is How Each State Changed
Here is a state-by-state guide to abortion laws today and how they have changed in the last two years. (Crowley, 6/23)
Vox: Abortion In America After The End Of Roe, In 8 Charts
Dobbs has had a devastating effect on pregnant people in huge swaths of the country. While the number of abortions across the country actually increased last year — thanks in large part to increasingly cheap and accessible medication abortion — that has not changed the fundamental realities of post-Dobbs America. Large reproductive care deserts have emerged in which there are no abortion providers for hundreds of miles. Pregnant people are being denied necessary medical care as their doctors fear the legal repercussions of providing it. All of this has exacerbated long-standing inequities. (Narea, 6/24)
The Hill: Vice President Harris: Anti-Abortion Laws Pose Health Care 'Crisis'
Vice President Harris on Sunday argued the implications of anti-abortion laws go beyond the medical procedure and present a larger “crisis” for other women’s health treatments. Harris, speaking with MSNBC on Sunday, and two years since the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, warned “everything is at stake” in the upcoming election regarding abortion and other reproductive freedoms. (Nazzaro, 6/23)
What's ahead in the abortion fight —
Politico: Inside The $100-Million Plan To Restore Abortion Rights In America
A new coalition of abortion-rights groups is marking the second anniversary of the fall of Roe v. Wade with a pledge to spend $100 million to restore federal protections for the procedure and make it more accessible than ever before. In plans shared first with POLITICO, groups including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Reproductive Freedom for All are banding together to form Abortion Access Now — a national, 10-year campaign that will both prepare policies for the next time Democrats control the House, Senate and White House, and build support for those policies among lawmakers and the public. At a private event Monday evening in Washington, they will pitch a group of influential progressives on going on offense at a time when abortion is outlawed in a third of the country. (Ollstein, 6/24)
The New York Times: In Abortion Cases, Legions Of ‘Friends’ Seek To Persuade Supreme Court
When the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, establishing a constitutional right to abortion, it noted that it had received 14 friend-of-the-court briefs and listed them in a snug footnote at the beginning of the decision. ... In the decision that overturned Roe in 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court was flooded with more than 140 amicus briefs. The footnote had metastasized, spanning seven pages. Those 50 years of amicus briefs tell a cumulative story. (Liptak, 6/24)
KFF Health News' 'What The Health?' Podcast: Live From Aspen: Health And The 2024 Elections
Health policy may not be the top issue in this year’s presidential and congressional elections, but it’s likely to play a key role. President Joe Biden and Democrats intend to hold Republicans responsible for the Supreme Court’s unpopular ruling overturning the right to abortion, and former President Donald Trump aims to take credit for government efforts to lower prescription drug prices — even in cases in which he played no role. (6/21)
On pregnancy and maternal health —
The New York Times: Abortion Debate Shifts To Pregnancy And Fertility As Election Nears
Tresa Undem, who has been polling people on abortion for 25 years, estimated that before the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that overturned Roe, less than 15 percent of the public considered abortion personally relevant — women who could get pregnant and would choose an abortion. “Now it’s about pregnancy, and everybody knows someone who had a baby or wants to have a baby or might get pregnant,” she said. “It’s profoundly personal to a majority of the public.” (Zernike, 6/24)
The Wall Street Journal: More Women Risk IUD Pain To Prevent Unwanted Pregnancies
Michele Von Hatten is willing to endure a day of pain twice a decade for reliable birth control. Von Hatten uses an intrauterine device, or IUD, among the most effective reversible forms of birth control and an increasingly popular one. More women are choosing IUDs despite a common experience of pain during insertion that can be severe. Broader insurance coverage and improved doctor training have encouraged more women to use them. (Calfas, 6/23)
Axios: How The Health System Is Trying To Improve Postpartum Care
America has become much more aware of the health risks facing new mothers, but the health care system is still trying to catch up. More than half of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States occur up to one year after birth, a largely preventable tragic toll that disproportionately affects Black and Native American women. (Goldman, 6/24)
