Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Abortion Law Back In Full Effect After Appeals Court Lifts Injunction
Vanity Fair: As Texas’ Near-Total Abortion Ban Is Reinstated, SCOTUS Urged To “Stop This Madness”
The pause on Texas’ near-total abortion ban lasted only two days before a federal appeals court reinstated the ban Friday night at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request. The Republican AG had asked a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit, which leans conservative, to lift an injunction from U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman. Last week, Pitman sided with the Justice Department when he ordered Texas to halt its ban on abortions after six weeks—before many people know they’re pregnant. But now, with the ban temporarily back as litigation continues, some abortion-rights activists have had enough and want the Supreme Court to get involved. (Klein, 10/10)
The Daily Beast: Chaos Continues As Court Swiftly Brings Back Texas’ Abortion Ban
Almost as quickly as it was stopped, the infamous Texas abortion law was back again. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a temporary injunction on Texas’ controversial six-week abortion ban Friday, once again barring most pregnant people in Texas from accessing the service. ... The court back-and-forth sent abortion clinics in the state—some of which have stopped providing abortions altogether since the law took effect Sept. 1—into a state of confusion, unsure of how long the reprieve from the restrictive law would last. Planned Parenthood and Whole Woman’s Health, the two largest providers in the state, were both waiting to see what the Fifth Circuit would do before deciding if they would resume abortions past six weeks. (Shugerman, 10/8)
AP: US Appeals Court Lets Texas Resume Ban On Most Abortions
A federal appeals court Friday night quickly allowed Texas to resume banning most abortions, just one day after clinics began racing to serve patients again for the first time since early September. A one-page order by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the nation’s strictest abortion law, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. It makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. “Patients are being thrown back into a state of chaos and fear,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents several Texas clinics that had briefly resumed normal abortion services. (Weber, 10/9)
NPR: Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Reinstates Texas' 6-Week Abortion Ban
The Department of Justice now has until Oct. 12 to reply to the ruling, and the ban remains in effect until then. Before a lower court intervened, Texas was allowed to keep its abortion law, Senate Bill 8, in effect for roughly five weeks. In that time, providers say they were forced to turn away hundreds of people seeking abortions. (Lopez, 10/8)
In related news —
AP: Texas Abortion Law Foes Target Lawmakers' Corporate Donors
Foes of Texas’ strict abortion ban are taking aim at companies that donated money to the bill’s sponsors, hoping consumers will pressure corporate America to join the fight against a surge of restrictions. The television and digital ads begun this past week by the groups Corporate Accountability Action and American Bridge 21st Century, the Democratic Party’s opposition research arm, highlight AT&T’s contributions to Texas Republican lawmakers. There are plans to expand the campaign to Florida, where a similar abortion proposal has been introduced. (Whitehurst, 10/10)
Axios: Large Parts Of The United States Already Have Little Access To Abortion Providers
Now that a Texas law has banned abortion in the state after six weeks, more states are expected to follow suit, making access to women’s health care in certain parts of the country even harder than it already is. Large areas of the U.S. — particularly in the central region of the country — already have no options within a 250-mile drive, and some counties are at least 350 miles from the nearest abortion provider. (Reed, Oide and Wise, 10/9)
Also —
ABC News: Following One Texas Woman's Abortion Journey Over State Lines: Reporter's Notebook
After calling more than a dozen clinics across the state, only one doctor agreed to talk to us on the record. Others declined, expressing outrage over the new law but concerns about possible litigation. We traveled to Houston to meet Dr. Bhavik Kumar inside Planned Parenthood. He told us he typically performs 20 to 30 abortions a day. But the first day the law went into effect, on Sept. 1, he saw six patients and had to turn half of them away. (Scott, 10/10)
The New Republic: Why Norma McCorvey Switched Sides
It is perilous for a person to become a political symbol. Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff at the center of Roe v. Wade, knew perhaps better than anyone the difficulties of representing something much larger than herself. When she stepped into public view, identifying herself as Jane Roe, she became an important voice in the pro-choice movement—the woman who carried her own unwanted pregnancy to term in order to secure the rights of millions of women not to. Later, she made a shocking conversion, transforming herself into a crusader for the pro-life cause. All along, she courted the attention: She told her story countless times to journalists and filmmakers, to the co-writers of her memoirs (one published before she switched sides, one after), to almost any organization willing to pay her to speak. What did she think she was doing? (Cogan, 10/11)
Reuters: Pelosi Meets Pope As Abortion Debate Rages Back Home
Pope Francis met on Saturday with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who has come under criticism from some bishops in the United States for her support for abortion rights. Their meeting took place several weeks before Joe Biden is expected to meet the pope while the U.S. president is in Rome for talks between leaders of the Group of 20 major economies. (Pullella, 10/9)
