Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Indiana's Abortion Ban Is Extreme; Disabled People Deserve Bodily Autonomy
The Washington Post: Indiana’s Cruel Abortion Bill Is A Warning Of Post-Roe Reality
On Saturday, the Indiana Senate voted to make abortion illegal in the state. The measure passed with the bare minimum number of votes — not because lawmakers flinched at outlawing abortion but because so many of them believed the bill, with its exceptions for rape and incest, wasn’t strict enough. (Ruth Marcus, 7/31)
The New York Times: Leave My Disability Out Of Your Anti-Abortion Propaganda
Thirty years ago, when my mother was pregnant, an ultrasound revealed troubling abnormalities: the fetus’s organs were misarranged. This condition, she was told by her doctor, correlated with a wide variety of disabilities that could cause the baby to die at birth. The doctor told my mother that she could seek an abortion. She wanted her to know her options. (Kendall Ciesemier, 7/31)
The Boston Globe: My Apps Tracked My Pregnancy And My Abortion: Will Deleting Them Protect Me?
When my husband and I decided we wanted to start our family, I did what most people are told to do: I found an app for that. I downloaded period and ovulation tracking apps as we tried (for longer than we wanted) to become first-time parents. I gave those apps whatever they wanted because I wanted a baby. (Amanda Munger, 8/1)
Politico: More Republican Women Than You Think Have Had Abortions. Here’s How I Know.
Republican-dominated legislatures continue to pass abortion bans with very few exceptions, and Republican politicians either ignore the issue or articulate extreme and alienating views. The party’s lack of compassion on the topic is harmful. There is a growing mismatch between the party’s stance on abortion and the complex beliefs voters in this country have on abortion. (Sam Zaleski, 7/31)
The Atlantic: What Counts As The Life Of The Mother?
For me, pregnancy was “obscene,” in the phrasing of one of my doctors. And mysterious. Over the course of my two pregnancies, more than 40 physicians and midwives, by my count, failed to explain why my blood work kept coming back with so many anomalies, why so many debilitating complications kept piling up in an otherwise healthy woman. (Annie Lowrey, 8/1)
Also —
Los Angeles Times: The Debt Crisis That Sick Americans Can't Avoid
The millions under the weight of medical debt deserve help, both because medical debt is a uniquely unfair form of predatory lending and because of its devastating ripple effects on American families. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 7/31)
The New York Times: In The I.C.U., Dying Sometimes Feels Like A Choice
During my medical training, death happened in one of two ways. It was either a moment of crisis, doctors rushing into a room, all sound and fury and chest compressions for minutes that felt like hours. Or it was something quieter, entirely divorced from machines, family gathered for the last breaths when the lungs were failing, or the cancer had spread too far. (Daniela J. Lamas, 7/31)
