Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Says National Abortion Ban Is 'Off The Table' For Now
The Hill: Trump Says National Abortion Ban Is ‘Off The Table,’ But ‘We’ll See What Happens’
Former President Trump said Sunday that a national abortion ban is “off the table,” but he left the door open on the conversation by saying “we’ll see what happens.” “Let me just tell you, I think that it’s something that’s off the table now, because I did something that everybody has wanted to do, I was able to get it back to the states,” Trump said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” (Irwin, 10/13)
Abortion updates from Florida, Idaho, and Montana —
AP: Florida Government Finds Fault With Abortion Ballot Measure Over Ads And Petitions
Separately, on Friday, the Office of Election Crimes and Security issued a report claiming a “large number of forged signatures or fraudulent petitions” were submitted to get the question on the ballot. The state also announced a $328,000 fine against the ballot-measure group. The campaign director for the group says that the campaign has been “above board” and that the state government is acting improperly to try to defeat the amendment. (Mulvihill, 10/14)
Tallahassee Democrat: Abortion Fight: Florida Official Hit With Elections Fraud Complaint
A Palm Beach County attorney has filed an elections fraud complaint against a top Florida health official, alleging he has illegally used his position to try to tank the state's abortion access ballot measure. (Soule, 10/14)
Reuters: American Hospital Association Urges 9th Circuit To Limit Idaho Abortion Ban In Emergencies
The American Hospital Association has urged a federal appeals court to stop Idaho from enforcing its near-total abortion ban in cases where doctors believe abortion is needed to save a pregnant woman's life or prevent serious harm. The AHA, along with the Association of American Medical Colleges, a medical school and teaching hospital group, and America's Essential Hospitals, which represents hospitals serving low-income communities, said in an amicus brief on Friday that the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should find that a federal law requiring hospitals that receive federal funds to provide certain emergency care takes precedence over the state ban. Otherwise, it said, patients could be endangered. (Pierson, 10/14)
NBC News: Crisis Pregnancy Center's Forms Give Rare Insight Into Anti-Abortion Practices
A free family planning center in Twin Falls, Idaho, asks its visitors for sensitive, private information, including nonmedical questions about religion and financial status, according to documents obtained by NBC News. While the Sage Women’s Center promises to protect the information of its clients, it isn’t bound by medical privacy laws and may be misleading women who are coping with unplanned pregnancies, consumer advocates say. (Brooks, 10/13)
Stat: Yes On Abortion, No On Tester? A Democratic Senator’s Struggle Underscores His Party’s Conundrum
Montana's role as a safe haven for abortion care in the rural West is at stake in November's election. (Owermohle, 10/14)
Also —
The Atlantic: Human Embryo Models Are Raising Deep Ethical Questions
The little clump of cells looked almost like a human embryo. Created from stem cells, without eggs, sperm, or a womb, the embryo model had a yolk sac and a proto-placenta, resembling a state that real human embryos reach after approximately 14 days of development. It even secreted hormones that turned a drugstore pregnancy test positive. To Jacob Hanna’s expert eye, the model wasn’t perfect—more like a rough sketch. It had no chance of developing into an actual baby. (Brown, 10/8)
