Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
South Carolina Governor Cuts $16M In Health Funding From Budget To Limit Money Going To Abortion Providers
The Associated Press: GOP Governor Cuts Health Care To Take Anti-Abortion Stand
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster removed $16 million for health care from the state budget, saying Friday he wanted to make sure no taxpayer money goes to abortion providers. The Republican governor said he was keeping a promise he made repeatedly as he campaigns for a full term, disagreeing with Democrats and some Republicans who said Planned Parenthood gets less than $100,000 of the money and all of it goes for family planning and not abortion. (7/6)
The Hill: GOP Governor Cuts Health Care Budget To Prevent Planned Parenthood Funding
"Taxpayer dollars must not directly or indirectly subsidize abortion providers like Planned Parenthood," McMaster told The State. "There are a variety of agencies, clinics and medical entities in South Carolina that receive taxpayer funding [that] offer important women's health and family-planning services without performing abortions." (Wise, 7/6)
And abortion news comes out of Indiana, Texas and Arizona, as well —
The Associated Press: Indiana Sees Increase In Abortions For First Time Since 2009
The number of abortions performed in Indiana increased last year for the first time since 2009, a state report shows. Nearly 7,800 women opted to terminate pregnancies in Indiana in 2017, almost 500 more than the previous year, according to an annual report released June 30 by the Indiana State Department of Health. The report looks at abortion trends over a five-year period. (7/6)
Houston Chronicle: Texans Paid $500,000 To Anti-Abortion Activists. Here’s What They Got.
The Texas Attorney General has drawn on a network of pro-life advocates to defend the state’s abortion restrictions in federal court, spending half a million in taxpayer dollars for testimony that has done little or nothing to help the state make its case. The attorney general’s office has paid 21 expert witnesses to testify in legal challenges to a string of abortion laws and regulations enacted since 2013. Judges disregarded the testimony of six of the state’s experts and gave little or no weight to the others, according to their rulings and comments in court. (Matos, 7/7)
Arizona Republic: Arizona Still Has A Law Banning Abortion On Its Books
According to the Guttmacher Institute, nine other states have pre-Roe bans similar to Arizona's on the books: Alabama, Alaska, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Four states have post-Roe laws that would immediately ban abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned: Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota. (Castle, 7/7)
