Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sen. Murkowski Will Not Vote For Health Law Repeal That Also Defunds Planned Parenthood
The Hill: GOP Senator Won't Vote To Defund Planned Parenthood
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) says she will not vote for an ObamaCare repeal bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. In her address to Alaska's state legislature Wednesday, the moderate Republican offered her firmest commitment yet that she will not support defunding Planned Parenthood. "I, for one, do not believe that Planned Parenthood has any place in our deliberations on the Affordable Care Act," she said. (Hellmann, 2/23)
The Associated Press: St. Louis Ordinance Seeks To Pre-Empt Missouri Abortion Laws
A new ordinance in St. Louis prohibits discrimination based on "reproductive health decisions," an effort by the heavily Democratic city to pre-empt a slew of anti-abortion measures advancing through Missouri's Republican-controlled Legislature. (Kull, 2/23)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Doctors Urge FDA To Loosen Restrictions On Abortion Pill
A group of reproductive health experts has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to loosen regulation of the "abortion pill" so women can get it by prescription in pharmacies without necessarily seeing a doctor. The commentary, in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, comes as the Trump administration, which has been hostile to abortion rights, prepares to appoint a new FDA commissioner. The FDA last year updated the prescribing information for the abortion pill, mifepristone, marketed as Mifeprex, to let women use it later in pregnancy, with two visits to the doctor rather than three. But special restrictions still prohibit the sale of the drug in pharmacies; it can only be dispensed in clinics, hospitals, and medical offices by health-care providers who undergo a certification process. (McCullough, 2/23)
