Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
RNC Pressures GOP To Pass Strictest Anti-Abortion Legislation Possible
The Hill: RNC Calls On Candidates To ‘Go On Offense’ On Anti-Abortion Laws In 2024
The Republican National Committee is doubling down on its anti-abortion stance by urging all GOP candidates and lawmakers to “go on offense” in the 2024 election cycle and pass the strictest anti-abortion legislation possible. In a resolution passed Friday during its winter meeting, the committee called on Republicans to pass laws “that acknowledge the beating hearts and experiences of pain in the unborn.” Such language has been used to pass “heartbeat” bills that would ban abortions at six weeks, before many people know they are pregnant. (Weixel, 1/30)
AP: Attorney General Asks Court To Reconsider Abortion Ruling
South Carolina’s attorney general on Monday asked the state’s high court to reconsider its ruling striking down the state’s six-week abortion ban. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a rehearing request with the South Carolina Supreme Court. The court, in a 3-2 decision earlier this month, ruled that the 2021 law banning abortions when cardiac activity is detected, about six weeks after conception, violated the state constitution’s right to privacy. (1/30)
Stateline.org: Republican Leaders In Some States Now Want To Add Abortion Ban Exceptions
With Tennessee’s so-called trigger law already on the books, the state enacted its abortion ban almost immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June. Yet even as anti-abortion legislators and advocates celebrated, they considered how much further they could go — perhaps by barring Tennesseans from seeking abortions in other states, or by restricting contraception. (Elliott, 1/30)
AP: Massachusetts Abortion Hotline Now Offers Free Legal Advice
Massachusetts launched a hotline Monday offering free legal advice to people seeking abortions in the state, as well as their health care providers and helpers — joining several other states in a move spurred by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer, which has led to increasingly restrictive abortion laws in other states. “It will help people and families, including those who travel from out of state seeking care, access these critical health care services,” Attorney General Andrea Campbell said at a news conference. (Pratt, 1/30)
Also —
Stateline: Looming Court Rulings To Decide Future Of Abortion Pills
Medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States, has become more common since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion this summer. But in federal courts and state legislatures, abortion opponents are trying to limit the use of abortion-inducing pills. Meanwhile, abortion rights supporters have filed lawsuits arguing the opposite — that federal approval of the drugs should prevail over state restrictions. (Vestal, 1/30)
The Washington Post: George Washington Students Get Emergency Contraception Vending Machine After Demands
The vending-machine company is supplying the pills and neither the school nor the students purchased or subsidized the product, according to a university spokeswoman. GWU previously offered emergency contraception through its student health center. (Svrluga, 1/30)
