Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Supreme Court Asked To Uphold Roe V. Wade In Another Major Abortion Case
The New York Times: Supreme Court Urged To Reject Mississippi’s Attack On Roe V. Wade
Abortion providers in Mississippi urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reaffirm Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. The filing came in the most important abortion case in decades, in which officials in Mississippi have asked the court’s newly expanded conservative majority to overrule Roe and to sustain a state law that largely bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Liptak, 9/13)
The Hill: Abortion Providers Warn Of 'Chaos' If Supreme Court Overrules Roe V Wade
Abortion rights advocates on Monday warned that “chaos would ensue” if the Supreme Court were to overrule long-standing precedent protecting the constitutional right to abortion. The assertion came in a court filing by abortion providers in Mississippi who are challenging the state’s ban on virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Kruzel, 9/13)
The Washington Post: Mississippi Abortion Law Would Invite Widespread Bans, Providers Tell Supreme Court
Abortion providers told the Supreme Court on Monday that approving a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks would “scuttle a half-century of precedent and invite states to ban abortion entirely.” They said in their brief that Mississippi’s request that the court overturn its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade was based on the state’s hope that a “changed composition” of the court would reject years of legal precedent. (Barnes, 9/13)
In news about Texas' abortion law —
CNN: Texas Judge Issues Injunction Against Anti-Abortion Group On Enforcing New Law
A Texas state judge issued an injunction against anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, blocking it from trying to enforce the new six-week abortion ban against Planned Parenthood in Texas. The injunction, issued by Judge Karin Crump of the Travis County court, applies to anyone affiliated with the group and stops them from filing a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for any potential violation of SB8, the law that effectively bans most abortions in Texas. The law gives private citizens the power to enforce it. (Schneider and de Vogue, 9/13)
WTOP: Abortion-Rights Advocates March On Kavanaugh’s Chevy Chase Home
Local activists took their demands for abortion access to Brett Kavanaugh’s suburban Maryland home late Monday, two weeks after the Supreme Court justice joined four of his colleagues in refusing to block a wide-reaching Texas law banning most abortions in the state. About 50 people gathered in a Chevy Chase park around dusk for an abortion-rights march demanding Kavanaugh resign, and that President Joe Biden respond by expanding the number of seats on the court. (Alvarez, 9/14)
The Washington Post: Abortion Pills Are Booming Worldwide. Will Their Use Grown In Texas?
In the 1980s, women in Brazil began spreading the word about a pill used to treat ulcers. Sold over the counter, the drug carried a warning: Don’t use during pregnancy; risk of miscarriage. It flew off the shelves. Hundreds of thousands of women, desperate for abortions in a country where the procedure was criminalized, now had an option. In the decades since, medical professionals say, medication abortion has become one of the safest and most common ways to terminate a pregnancy up to 10 weeks of gestation, including in countries where the procedure is illegal. In the United States, where the abortifacients misoprostol and mifepristone have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, abortions by pill made up more than a third of all abortions in 2017. (Schmidt and Westfall, 9/14)
