Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Advocates Still Waiting For Trump To Deliver On His Pro-IVF Pledges
NBC News: Trump Promised To Make IVF Free. What Happened?
President Donald Trump, who has referred to himself as the “father of IVF” and the “fertilization president,” promised on the campaign trail that he would make in vitro fertilization free. Advocates say they’re still waiting. (Bendix and Kapur, 8/24)
MedShadow Foundation: The Experimental Fertility Treatment Dividing IVF Physicians
Rapamycin is gaining popularity as an experimental IVF treatment, but experts disagree over whether the evidence supports its off-label use. (Tjandra, 8/21)
Newsweek: Baylor Genetics Data Breach Sparks Warning To IVF Patients
Patients who underwent genetic testing through Baylor Genetics are being notified after a cybersecurity incident exposed sensitive personal and medical information. Cybersecurity experts warn it could be particularly problematic because the affected people have undergone or are undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). The breach could pose risks beyond traditional identity theft because fertility and genetic-testing information can give criminals personal context that makes scams more convincing. (Fink, 8/24)
In other reproductive health news —
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Suit: ‘Illegal’ Abortion Conducted By St. Louis Planned Parenthood Led To Executive’s Firing
An executive at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers has sued the St. Louis-based abortion provider, claiming it fired her after she alleged an unauthorized and illegal abortion was conducted at its Fairview Heights clinic in Illinois. Former human resources Vice President Jacqueline C. Colyer’s complaint says an abortion was performed after hours on a Sunday in the clinic’s basement on a mother whose fetus was 28 weeks old — at or near viability. Colyer reported the incident via an anonymous tip line to Planned Parenthood, she says in her 26-page complaint filed late last week in federal court in St. Louis. Two weeks after making the tip, she was disciplined, her suit says. Less than five months after that, she was fired. (Bauman, 8/24)
MedPage Today: What New Research Shows About Prenatal Pesticide Exposure And Autism Traits
Relatively low levels of prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides showed no relationship with social communication problems and other traits related to autism in children, data from the prospective ECHO study showed. (George, 8/24)
MedPage Today: Study Offers Reassurance On Inhaled Corticosteroid Use For Asthma In Pregnancy
Women with asthma who continued taking inhaled corticosteroids during the first trimester of pregnancy did not suffer higher rates of adverse outcomes compared with those who discontinued use, a South Korean nationwide cohort study found. (Robertson, 8/24)
CIDRAP: Study Ties COVID Infection At Delivery To Increased Risk For Mom And Baby
A paper published in PLOS One finds that maternal COVID-19 infection during delivery increases the risk of poor maternal and fetal outcomes, with the most severe effects noted during the Delta variant wave early in the pandemic. “Overall, this study demonstrates that obstetric risk associated with COVID-19 was not static but evolved across variant periods, highlighting the need for ongoing maternal health surveillance and adaptive healthcare policies as infectious disease patterns change,” wrote the authors, led by researchers from the US Department of Health and Human Services. (Holohan, 8/24)
A request for mistrial is denied in the Clancy case —
The New York Times: Religious References In Lindsay Clancy Trial Anger Judge And Defense
Religion became a point of contention on Monday in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother charged with murder in the strangling deaths of her three young children. For the second time since the trial opened last month, a reference to “mortal sin,” a concept that is part of the Catholic faith, incensed the judge, who sternly instructed jurors to disregard any references to it. ... Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, citing postpartum psychosis. (Spoto and Fortin, 8/24)
The New York Times: Why The Lindsay Clancy Case Is Dividing Americans
Tasha Kenney woke up at 4 a.m. on Thursday, donned a pink T-shirt and drove to the courthouse in Plymouth, Mass., to show support for Lindsay Clancy, the mother on trial for killing her three young children. Ms. Kenney, a teacher who lives 90 minutes away, joined hundreds of other pink-clad women gathered on the courthouse lawn because she had suffered from severe postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter a decade ago. And she believes the Clancy children could have been saved if the warning signs had been heeded. (Dewan, 8/22)
