Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Lawmakers Pass Strict Abortion Bill, Shifting Priority From Protecting Mother To Protecting Fetus
Texas Tribune: Texas House Approves New Abortion Restrictions
GOP House lawmakers took a sweeping approach to anti-abortion legislation on Friday, giving an initial OK to a measure that would ban the most common form of second-trimester procedure and change how health care providers dispose of fetal remains. Under the broad strokes of Senate Bill 8, any health care facility, including hospitals and abortion clinics, would have to bury or cremate any fetal remains whether from abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth, and they would be banned from donating aborted fetal tissue to medical researchers. (Evans, 5/19)
The Associated Press: Texas House Approves New Limits On Abortion
Texas’ Republican-controlled Legislature has advanced tough new limits on abortion, hitting back at a United States Supreme Court decision last summer that struck down most of the sweeping restrictions on the procedure that the state approved four years ago. (5/20)
Austin American-Statesman: Texas House Votes To Expand Abortion Regulations
After almost six hours of sometimes heated, sometimes tearful debate Friday, the Texas House approved legislation that would greatly expand abortion regulations in Texas. Senate Bill 8 would require abortion clinics and health centers to ensure that fetal tissue from abortions and miscarriages to be buried or cremated, with the ashes properly scattered — similar to a state agency rule that a federal judge voided earlier this year for limiting access to abortion without offering any health benefits. (Lindell, 5/19)
The Associated Press: Missouri Appeals Judge's Blocking Of Abortion Restrictions
Missouri is asking a federal appellate court to put on hold a judge's order blocking abortion-restricting rules in the state, arguing the judge "categorically refused even to consider the state's evidence justifying its regulations." (Suhr, 5/19)
Meanwhile, in news about Planned Parenthood —
The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood To Close 10 Health Centers Across Midwest, Southwest
Planned Parenthood affiliates announced the closures of 10 health centers across the Midwest and Southwest this week, citing a variety of reasons including political attacks by antiabortion lawmakers. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said it planned to close four clinics across Iowa because of the recent budget signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad, who pledged to “defund” the women’s health organization. (Somashekhar, 5/19)
Denver Post: Planned Parenthood Will Close Clinics In Longmont And Parker, Blames Obamacare
Planned Parenthood says it will close clinics in Longmont, Parker and four others in the region, citing a tough financial landscape in the reproductive health care field due to effects of the Affordable Care Act. ... “They would come in and get a pap smear and pay out of pocket,” [spokeswoman Whitney] Phillips said. “Under the ACA, a lot of patients were given the opportunity to be on Medicaid. Again, that’s wonderful, but it meant that rather than bill them directly, we had to bill Medicaid. And Medicaid reimburses at a very low rate.” (Antonacci, 5/19)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia 6th: Ossoff Slams Handel’s ‘Nonsense’ Planned Parenthood Stance
Democrat Jon Ossoff held a roundtable Friday with women’s health advocates and breast cancer survivors as his campaign stepped up the attack on Republican Karen Handel’s stint at a breast-cancer charity. A split on abortion is one of the starkest contrasts between the two candidates in the nationally-watched June 20 runoff to represent suburban Atlanta’s 6th District. (Bluestein, 5/19)
Roll Call: Sparring Over Women’s Health In Georgia’s 6th District
As the June 20 runoff election in Georgia’s 6th district approaches, Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel are facing off with competing ads on women’s health and anti-abortion groups have joined in the fight. Ossoff’s broadcast cable ad, released Tuesday, features an ob-gyn doctor criticizing Handel for her move to “cut off funding for Planned Parenthood cancer screenings when she was an executive at Susan G. Komen.” Handel, then senior vice president of public policy at Susan G. Komen Foundation, spearheaded the organization’s decision to stop funding cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood. When the foundation overturned that decision, Handel resigned. (Raman, 5/19)
