Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Without The Supreme Court's Action, Reproductive Rights Will Be In Jeopardy In Louisiana; Anti-Abortionists Defend Viable Infants
The New York Times: How The Supreme Court’s Inaction Could Decide The Future Of Abortion
Unless the Supreme Court takes action by Monday, Louisiana may be down to one or two abortion-care doctors for nearly a million women of reproductive age across the state. My organization, the Center for Reproductive Rights, has filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court, asking it to put on hold a medically unnecessary law in Louisiana that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital no more than 30 miles away. (Nancy Northup, 1/31)
The Hill: Voters Are Repulsed By No Holds Barred Abortion Legislation
The New York legislators who cheered as Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed the Reproductive Health Act may soon find themselves explaining why they’re letting babies die. So, could politicians in other states who are attempting to follow suit. They will certainly be asked why they felt it was proper to refuse to protect the rights of viable infants, as these bills all legalize abortion into the 40th week of pregnancy. (Grazie Pozo Christie and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, 1/31)
The Hill: New York Leads The Way Again On Abortion Policy
The new Reproductive Health Act (RHA) goes further, decriminalizing abortion in New York and treating it as a matter of public health. It also brings New York in line with Roe by allowing abortions after 24 weeks to protect the health of the mother, which was never part of the 1970 New York law. In addition to physicians, it permits licensed nurse practitioners, physician assistants and licensed midwives to provide abortion services. The RHA puts New York back in the vanguard of states seeking to protect reproductive rights, even as other states and the federal government attack them, and many fear the U.S Supreme Court will overturn Roe. (Jennie Wetter, 1/31)
The New York Times: Fake News About Abortion In Virginia
Under current law in Virginia, third-trimester abortions are permitted when a woman’s physician and two other doctors certify that continuing a pregnancy would result in a mother’s death, or “substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.” This week Kathy Tran, a Democrat in Virginia’s House of Delegates, testified in favor of a bill that would end the requirement for two extra doctors to sign off on such abortions, and strike the words “substantially and irremediably” from the existing law. Similar legislation has been introduced in past years. Despite what you might have heard, at no point did Tran try to legalize infanticide. (Michelle Goldberg, 2/1)
