Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Family Planning Just Got A Lot Harder For Low-Income Families; Put Vaccines On Back-To-School To-Do Lists
The New York Times: It Just Got Harder To Get Birth Control In America
This has been an ominous year for reproductive rights in America, with states including Georgia, Alabama and now Tennessee in a race to the bottom to pass the most extreme anti-abortion law in the nation. But while those high-profile abortion bans make their way through the courts — they were designed to provoke legal challenges that could threaten Roe v. Wade — a more immediate threat to women’s health care has been brewing. The Trump administration has quietly been working to gut the Title X family planning program, which helps poor women afford birth control, cancer screenings and testing for H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted infections. On Monday, the administration’s efforts paid off: Planned Parenthood, which serves about 40 percent of Title X patients around the country, felt forced to withdraw from the program. (8/19)
Los Angeles Times: The New Title X Gag Rule Means Miserably Long Waits At Clinics For Reproductive Healthcare
If you’re a woman of limited means in need of reproductive healthcare, prepare to wait a long time or drive a long way for it. As of Monday evening, all Planned Parenthood affiliates will have officially withdrawn from the federal Title X program, which has, provided funding for family planning and reproductive healthcare for low-income individuals for nearly half a century. Other healthcare providers are also leaving the program, including Maine Family Planning, which has been the sole recipient of Title X funding in the entire state of Maine. All are leaving because the Trump administration has foisted upon Title X grant recipients a ludicrous rule that would, among other things, forbid healthcare providers to refer patients to an abortion service when they request one. (8/20)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Ashcroft's Delay Tactics Defy Missourians' Right To Challenge Abortion Law
Despite Missourians’ widespread support of Roe v. Wade and access to safe, legal abortion, legislators in Jefferson City have made it their mission to pass extreme abortion laws like House Bill 126. The law, which becomes effective next week, bans abortion after eight weeks with no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest, and certainly no exceptions for fetal anomalies like Grace’s. My husband and I have made the two-hour drive from our St. Louis County home to the Capitol multiple times, sharing our story and testifying against these bans. We have explained how laws like HB 126 would only hurt babies like Grace, who would have been forced into a brief life of agony — but the lawmakers simply did not listen. (Robin Utz, 8/19)
The Hill: Are Vaccines On Your Back-To-School Checklist?
As public health practitioners, we believe in the scientific evidence that shows vaccines to be safe and effective. More importantly, as parents, we believe in taking every possible measure to minimize our children’s risk of illness. It’s why we’re part of the 94 percent of U.S. parents who choose to vaccinate our kids. It’s why we hope you are, too. And, it’s why we fight so hard to help all kids get the immunizations they need to remain healthy and safe. (Lori Tremmel and Chrissie Juliano, 8/19)
USA Today: How Colleges And Universities Can Combat The Opioid Overdose Epidemic
Dropping a son or daughter off at college for their first year is a rite of passage — a special time of transition that combines separation, love, anxiety and excitement. But it’s also fraught with risk. My family experienced the pain of this transition gone wrong, with the loss of our son Jonathan to a drug overdose during his first week of college. We are immensely grateful that his school — the University of Denver — has since tackled this problem head-on in order to reduce the risk for other families. (James A. Winnefeld Jr. , 8/20)
The Washington Post: Trump’s Predictable Cave On Gun Safety Has Arrived
To the surprise of no one who has watched President Trump cater to the National Rifle Association’s whims and repeatedly pull back from meaningful gun safety legislation, the president is already sounding timorous on new legislation he briefly seemed interested in following the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio. On Sunday, he told reporters, “I’m saying Congress is going to be reporting back to me with ideas.” He then qualified immediately that suggestions will “come in from Democrats and Republicans. And I’ll look at it very strongly.” And then the NRA-approved line: “But just remember, we already have a lot of background checks. Okay?” (Jennifer Rubin, 8/19)
Stat: Drug Safety Testing Should Include Tools Based On Human Biology
The field of toxicology — determining whether a product is safe or harmful — is evolving rapidly. Many innovative drug safety technologies based on human biology, rather than the biology of other animals, are available for assessing whether potential medicines are likely to be safe or toxic in humans. Unfortunately, many of these new methods have yet to influence the FDA’s decision-making, even though it has a program in place that could be adapted to include human-based methods for nonclinical assessment. (Elizabeth Baker, 8/20)
The Hill: Air Pollution Is As Harmful As Smoking A Pack A Day
Every person breathes thousands of gallons of air each day, making air the greatest potential source of toxin exposure known to humankind. Occupational exposure to air contaminated with toxins found in coal or radioactive dust can lead to recognized health conditions such a black lung disease or lung cancer. Many of us assume that avoiding toxins found in poor quality simply requires avoiding occupational exposure, or at most, refraining from tobacco use, either by not smoking, or by not being in a room occupied by smoking individuals. Unfortunately, we cannot avoid exposure to airborne toxins so easily. It is becoming increasingly clear that the overall quality of the air we breathe has a direct link to our health. Julia Krauchanka, William Schlesinger and H. Kim Lyerly, 8/19)
