Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
On Same Day As March For Life, Trump Threatens California Over Requirement That Private Insurers Cover Abortion
The Washington Post: ‘I Am Fighting For You’: Trump Rallies Antiabortion Activists In Unprecedented Appearance At The March For Life
President Trump on Friday became the first president to attend the March for Life event in Washington, expressing solidarity with tens of thousands of conservative and evangelical voters that his campaign considers a core constituency for his reelection bid. Trump made no mention of the ongoing Senate impeachment proceedings taking place just blocks away at the Capitol as he addressed throngs of antiabortion activists on the Mall. But his relatively brief appearance offered an implicit split screen for a president who has been consumed with the Democrats’ efforts to oust him. (Nakamura, 1/24)
The Hill: Trump Campaign Launches 'Pro-Life' Coalition For Reelection Bid
President Trump's campaign has launched a coalition of anti-abortion advocates Friday that will work to reelect the president in 2020. The "Pro-Life Voices for Trump" coalition will mobilize voters who oppose abortion to support Trump in November. The coalition is led by Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a campaign group that supports Trump and other anti-abortion candidates running for office. (Hellmann, 1/24)
WBUR: President Trump Faces Friendly Crowd At March For Life
Trump's appearance before thousands of mostly supportive anti-abortion rights activists comes at a key moment — during the impeachment trial, and just months to go before the 2020 election. Trump has leaned in to his connection to religious and social conservatives, frequently praising "the evangelicals" who make up a key portion of his base and courting anti-abortion rights groups such as the Susan B. Anthony List. (McCammon, 1/24)
The New York Times: Trump Administration Threatens California Over Abortion
In an announcement on the morning of the March for Life, the high-profile annual anti-abortion rights demonstration, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would give California 30 days to commit to lifting the requirement. If the state does not do so, the administration said it will take steps to cut off money from one or more federal funding streams. “People should not be forced to participate, or pay for, or cover other people’s abortions,” said Roger Severino, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services. (Belluck, 1/24)
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Strikes At California’s Abortion-Coverage Mandate
Religious groups say the mandates force them to violate their beliefs by purchasing health insurance that covers abortions or by using their premiums to help pay for other consumers’ abortions. Abortion-rights groups say that states have the long-held right to regulate their own insurance markets. They say that abortion, which has been legal nationally for decades, is a medical procedure that should be covered just like prenatal and maternity care. (Armour and Lucey, 1/24)
The Associated Press: California Defies Threat Of Fund Loss Over Abortion Coverage
California’s Democratic leaders were defiant Friday after the Trump administration threatened to cut federal health care funding to the nation’s most populous state over its requirement that insurance plans cover abortions. The administration's announcement came hours before President Donald Trump became the first president to address participants in the anti-abortion March for Life in person, telling marchers gathered in the nation's capital that “unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.” (Thompson and Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/24)
The Washington Post: Trump Administration Threatens Funds To California Over Requirement That Health Plans Cover Abortion
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) dismissed the threat as a political maneuver. “The Trump administration would rather rile up its base to score cheap political points and risk access to care for millions than do what’s right,” he said in a statement. “California will continue to protect a woman’s right to choose, and we won’t back down from defending reproductive freedom for everybody — full stop.” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said on Twitter that California would defend the law. (Wan and Abutaleb, 1/24)
Politico: Trump Threatens To Cut California Funding Over Abortion Coverage
While public insurance programs like Medicaid have long been barred from covering abortion services, Friday’s announcement also marks an escalation of the administration’s efforts to extend the prohibition to private coverage. In December, HHS unveiled a rule requiring private insurers on Obamacare markets to send patients separate monthly bills to separate the portion of the premium that goes toward abortion coverage. The added administrative burden could prompt some insurers to drop abortion care altogether. (Ollstein, 1/24)
The Hill: Trump Administration Threatens To Cut Health Funding For California Over Abortion Insurance Law
The decision by HHS also serves as a warning to the five other states that mandate abortion coverage in insurance plans, including Maine, Illinois and New York. (Hellmann, 1/24)
San Francisco Chronicle: New Federal Rule Requires Separate Bill For Abortion Insurance In Covered California
While threatening to cut off federal health care funding to California because it requires insurers to cover abortion, the Trump administration has quietly enacted a separate rule ordering insurers to bill separately for abortion and non-abortion services — a mandate that could lead to cutoffs of coverage. Under the rule, which took effect this month, the 1.4 million recipients of insurance under Covered California, the state entity overseeing coverage under the federal health care law sponsored by former President Barack Obama, will start receiving two bills a month as of June 27: one for the small amount of their premium that pays for abortion, the other for non-abortion care. (Egelko, 1/24)
The Associated Press: Thousands Of Abortion Opponents March In San Francisco
Thousands of people who want to outlaw abortion marched across downtown San Francisco on Saturday in the 16th annual Walk for Life. The event, which included a Roman Catholic Mass and a rally near City Hall, came three days after the 47th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. It also came a day after the March for Life in Washington, where President Donald Trump became the first sitting president to speak at the annual gathering that is one of the movement’s highest profile and most symbolic events. (1/25)
KQED: Some ‘Walk For Life’ Attendees Divided Over Trump
Thousands took to downtown San Francisco on Saturday for an anti-abortion march, just one day after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold funds from the state over requirements that insurance plans cover abortion. The event began with the National Anthem followed by a prayer. Attendees held signs saying, “Vote Life” and “Abortion Hurts Women” as they marched through downtown. The first event of this kind took place in Washington D.C. in 1974, one year after the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade — the ruling that affirmed women’s legal right to have an abortion. (McDede, 1/25)
Politico Pro: Once ‘Pro-Choice In Every Respect,’ Trump Cements His Status As An Anti-Abortion Hero
Two decades after Donald Trump described himself as “pro-choice in every respect,” abortion opponents now unanimously regard him as their greatest convert and champion.So it wasn’t a surprise to the thousands of March for Life participants gathered on the National Mall on Friday that Trump became the first president to personally address them. Three years into his presidency, the once-unapologetic womanizer has not only earned the trust of the anti-abortion community, he’s irrevocably changed its standards for future Republican leaders. (Orr, 1/24)
In other news —
The CT Mirror: Senate Democrats Pledge To Reverse Federal Funding Cuts To Planned Parenthood
Senate Democrats pledged Friday to replenish $2.1 million in federal funds the Trump administration has stripped from Planned Parenthood clinics in the region. But it remains to be seen whether the lawmakers will be able to maneuver around a state spending cap that will continue to clamp down on spending in the coming year. (Phaneuf, 1/24)
