Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Recount Affirms Kansas Abortion Vote As Campaign Donors Are Revealed
Kansas City Star: Kansas Abortion Vote Confirmed With Partial Amendment Recount
Kansas reaffirmed its landslide vote to uphold abortion rights after election officials on Sunday finished a recount that never had any chance of changing the outcome but was sought by an election denier and anti-abortion activist advancing baseless allegations of fraud. (Bernard and Shorman, 8/21)
AP: Spielberg Among Donors In $22M Kansas Campaign On Abortion
Abortion opponents and abortion rights advocates together spent more than $22 million on a ballot question this month in Kansas, and famed film director and producer Steven Spielberg contributed to the successful effort to affirm abortion rights. Finance reports filed by 40 groups and individuals with the state as of this week showed that abortion rights supporters spent $11.3 million on their campaign to defeat a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to allow the Republican-controlled Legislature to further restrict or ban abortion. Abortion opponents who pushed the measure spent nearly $11.1 million. (Hanna and Hollingsworth, 8/19)
In other election news —
Reuters: As U.S. Midterms Loom, New York Race Tests Abortion's Sway With Voters
Democrat Pat Ryan did not mince words in laying out his version of the stakes in Tuesday's New York state special congressional election, telling supporters that Republican attacks on abortion are contributing to an "existential" threat to U.S. democracy. "This is not the country I fought to defend, when the government is telling women what to do with their bodies, and ripping away their rights," Ryan, an Army combat veteran, told several dozen Democratic supporters last week at a Woodstock home overlooking the Catskill Mountains about 100 miles (160 km) north of New York City. (Ax, 8/21)
The Washington Post: In Upstate N.Y., A Test For Democrats Running On Abortion To Stop GOP Wave
When the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats here quickly mobilized to make the Aug. 23 special election for the U.S. House a referendum on abortion rights. After the decision, Democratic nominee Pat Ryan unveiled new campaign signs, white on pink, that read “CHOICE IS ON THE BALLOT.” The state Democratic Party’s own signs show a red slash over “Roe v. Wade” with the message: “This is what happens when YOU don’t vote! Vote blue in ’22!” To Ryan, the 40-year old Democratic Ulster County executive, the strategy was clear: “We’re going to continue to focus on an issue that affects tens of millions of women and people and families.” (Weigel, 8/22)
KHN: Abortion Is Shaking Up Attorneys General Races And Exposing Limits To Their Powers
As the country grapples with states’ newfound power to regulate abortion in the aftermath of this summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, state attorney general candidates are staking claims on what they’ll do to fight or defend access to abortion — and that’s attracting cash and votes. “By pretty much every indicator there is in a campaign, the Dobbs decision has energized and supercharged our race,” said Kris Mayes, a Democrat running for attorney general in Arizona. “People are outraged about this, and you can feel it in the air.” (Weber and Whitehead, 8/19)
In other news about reproductive rights —
AP: Walmart Expands Abortion Coverage For Employees
Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, is expanding its abortion coverage for employees after staying largely mum on the issue following the Supreme Court ruling that scrapped a nationwide right to abortion. In a memo sent to employees on Friday, the company said its health care plans will now cover abortion for employees “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability.” (Hadero, 8/19)
The Wall Street Journal: Websites Selling Unapproved Abortion Pills Are Booming
A murky online market for abortion pills is thriving as some U.S. states tighten abortion restrictions. Dozens of websites state they ship abortion drugs anywhere in the U.S. without a prescription, which violates Food and Drug Administration rules. Most of the sites don’t clearly state who operates them or where they get the pills. The operator of one website said demand for abortion pills has surged since the Supreme Court removed constitutional protection for abortion in June. (Mosbergen and Agarwal, 8/21)
KHN: Policies To Roll Back Abortion Rights Will Hit Incarcerated People Particularly Hard
Policies governing abortion and reproductive health care services in U.S. prisons and jails were restrictive and often hostile even before the Supreme Court removed Roe v. Wade’s constitutional protections for abortions. After the June ruling, many reproductive services stand to be prohibited altogether, putting the health of incarcerated women who are pregnant at risk. That threat is particularly urgent in states where lawmakers have made clear their intentions to roll back abortion rights. (Graf, 8/22)
