Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Planned Parenthood Files Federal Suit Over Kansas' Decision To Strip Its Medicaid Funding
The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Sues Kansas For Ending Medicaid Funds
Two Planned Parenthood affiliates filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday over a decision by Kansas to cut off Medicaid reimbursements to the abortion provider that was largely based on allegations lodged against its affiliates in other states. The lawsuit filed by the Planned Parenthood affiliate for Kansas and Mid-Missouri and another for the St. Louis region came only a day after the state Department of Health and Environment sent a letter to the Kansas and Mid-Missouri organization that its Medicaid funding would be cut off as of next week. (5/4)
Reuters: Abortion Provider Planned Parenthood Sues Kansas Over Plan To Cut Funding
Planned Parenthood, a U.S. women's healthcare and abortion provider, has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Kansas over a plan to strip it of government healthcare funding, court records showed. (O'Brien, 5/4)
The Associated Press: Oklahoma Medicaid Agency Ending Planned Parenthood Contracts
Oklahoma is ending its contracts with two Planned Parenthood organizations that provide health services to thousands of mostly low-income women and families, the head of the state's Medicaid agency said Wednesday. Oklahoma Health Care Authority Chief Executive Officer Nico Gomez said the agency notified Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma and Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma in February of its intent to terminate provider agreements with the two affiliates. (5/4)
The New York Times: When Can Fetuses Feel Pain? Utah Abortion Law And Doctors Are At Odds
Starting later this month, women in Utah seeking an abortion 20 weeks or more into a pregnancy will first have to be given anesthesia or painkillers — drugs that are intended not for them, but for the fetus. Those are the terms of a new law that has made Utah the first state in the country to require what doctors here are calling “fetal anesthesia” for the small percentage of abortions that occur at this point in a pregnancy. The law, passed by the Republican-controlled State Legislature and signed in late March by Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, has opened a new front in the heated debate over fetal pain. (Healy, 5/4)
The Associated Press: Alabama Passes Bill To Close Abortion Clinics Near Schools
At least one Alabama abortion clinic will be forced to move under a bill the state Legislature passed Wednesday. The House of Representatives voted 73-19 for the legislation in the final hours of the 2016 session, sending it to the governor. The bill prohibits the Department of Public Health from issuing or renewing licenses for clinics within 2,000 feet of any K-8 public school. Proponents of the legislation say the bill is to safeguard school children from anti-abortion protests outside of clinics. (Brown, 5/4)
Meanwhile, when one doctor spoke out, she says her hospital tried to silence her —
NPR: Can A Hospital Tell A Doctor To Stop Talking About Abortion?
One of the country's most outspoken abortion providers has filed a civil rights complaint against the hospital where she works, saying that it has wrongly banned her from giving media interviews. Last fall Diane Horvath-Cosper, an obstetrician and gynecologist, did a lightning round of media interviews after a shooting attack killed three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic, raising new safety concerns at health care facilities that perform abortions. But one week after that, Horvath-Cosper says, she was called to a meeting with top officials at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in the District of Columbia. They said it was a security matter. (Ludden, 5/5)
