Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Safety Concerns For Justices Prompt Senate Action
The Hill: Senate Passes Security Bill For Supreme Court Family Members
The Senate on Monday easily cleared a bill to extend security protections to the immediate family members of Supreme Court justices. The bill — spearheaded by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) — passed the Senate by unanimous consent, meaning all 100 senators had to sign off in order for it to pass without a formal vote.It still now heads to the House for passage. (Carney, 5/9)
ABC News: White House Responds To Abortion-Related Protests At Homes Of Supreme Court Justices
The demonstrations sparked a response Monday from the White House that justices shouldn't have to worry about their "personal safety.""[President Joe Biden] strongly believes in the Constitutional right to protest," press secretary Jen Psaki said in a Twitter post. "But that should never include violence, threats, or vandalism. Judges perform an incredibly important function in our society, and they must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety." Republicans had accused the administration of not condemning violent threats after Psaki's initial response to protests taking place at the justices' homes. (Hutzler, 5/9)
Fox News: Protests Erupt Outside Home Of Justice Alito
Demonstrators rallied outside the Northern Virginia home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Monday evening to protest his draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Videos of the protesters flanked by cameramen showed people marching up and down the street chanting slogans like: "our bodies, our voice!" and "Alito is a coward!" Some members of the crowd carried a banner that read: "Repro Freedom For All." (Betz and Bennatan, 5/9)
Bangor Daily News: Pro-Abortion Chalk Message Appears On Susan Collins’ Bangor Sidewalk
Sen. Susan Collins was confronted with a pro-abortion rights message Saturday night when an unknown person or persons wrote in chalk on the sidewalk outside her West Broadway home in Bangor, prompting a police response. “Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA —–> vote yes, clean up your mess,” the message read, according to a Bangor police report. WHPA refers to the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify the right to abortion into law and ban restrictions on abortion access. (Russell, 5/9)
In other news about Roe v. Wade —
Axios: Overturning Roe Creates A Tempest For Reproductive Health
If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it could begin a ripple effect that subsumes many other facets of reproductive health care — a reflection, in part, of decades' worth of medical advances that make the subject much more complicated than it was 50 years ago. Striking down the federal right to abortion could impact how people prevent becoming pregnant, how families grow and how miscarriages are managed. If a leaked draft of the SCOTUS opinion to overturn abortion rights is finalized, states would decide whether abortion is legal, under what terms and even how abortion is defined. (Owens, 5/10)
NBC News: Asian Tropes In Sex-Selective Abortion Bans Have Advocates Worried About What's To Come
Amid discussions over reproductive rights, Asian American organizers and scholars emphasize that restrictions based on erroneous racial stereotypes have long been plaguing the community — and they fear there could be more instances to come. Experts say that sex-selective abortion bans, or restrictions perceived to be sought based on the predicted sex of a fetus, have repeatedly been passed and proposed across several states in recent years. Critics say that legislators have justified it by invoking tropes about Asian families’ preference for sons. (Yam, 5/9)
NPR: How Period Tracking Apps And Data Privacy Fit Into A Post-Roe V. Wade Climate
In the wake of the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, privacy experts are increasingly concerned about how data collected from period-tracking apps, among other applications, could potentially be used to penalize anyone seeking or considering an abortion. Millions of people use apps to help track their menstrual cycles. Flo, which bills itself as the most popular period and cycle tracking app, has amassed 43 million active users. Another app, Clue, claims 12 million monthly active users. The personal health data stored in these apps is among the most intimate types of information a person can share. And it can also be telling. The apps can show when their period stops and starts and when a pregnancy stops and starts. That has privacy experts on edge, because if abortion is ever criminalized, this data — whether subpoenaed or sold to a third party — could be used to suggest that someone has had or is considering an abortion. (Torchinsky, 5/10)
