Politico: FDA Dramatically Narrows Use Of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 Vaccine 
The Food and Drug Administration has restricted the use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to adults who are unable or unwilling to get the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA shots. The decision comes after the agency completed an updated risk analysis of developing thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, a rare and possibly fatal combination of blood clots and low platelet counts one to two weeks after receiving the vaccine, the agency said Thursday. (Foley and Gardner, 5/5)

Stat: FDA Limits Use Of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 Vaccine
Peter Marks, the FDA’s vaccines lead, told STAT the agency reached its decision after a recent review of the data on the vaccine revealed another person in this country had died after receiving it — the ninth such death — in the first quarter of the year. The vaccine is made by J&J’s vaccines division, Janssen. (Branswell, 5/5)

AP: FDA Restricts J&J's COVID-19 Vaccine Due To Blood Clot Risk 
The Food and Drug Administration said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J’s vaccine. U.S. authorities for months have recommended that Americans get Pfizer or Moderna shots instead of J&J’s vaccine. FDA’s vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said the agency decided to restrict the vaccine after taking another look at the data on the risks of life-threatening blood clots and concluding that they are limited to J&J’s vaccine. ... The problem occurs in the first two weeks after vaccination, he added: “So if you had the vaccine six months ago you can sleep soundly tonight knowing this isn’t an issue.” (Perrone and Neergaard, 5/6)

Bloomberg: J&J’s Covid Shot Restricted By FDA On Rare Clotting Disorder
Uptake of the J&J vaccine has paled in comparison to those made by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., which require two doses for a full regimen. Hundreds of millions of their messenger RNA shots have been administered. While some 18.7 million doses of J&J’s vaccine have been administered to U.S. adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 31 million doses have been delivered to vaccine sites, suggesting a surplus of unused shots. The agency decided to limit the authorized use of J&J’s shot after conducting an investigation and analysis of reported cases of blood clots in combination with low levels of blood platelets, known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, that occurred one to two weeks following administration of the shot. (Griffin, 5/5)

The New York Times: The F.D.A. Further Limits The Use Of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid Vaccine.
The F.D.A. said that weighing the risks of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine against the benefits, it had decided to limit its use to adults who cannot access Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccines, or for whom those shots are not “clinically appropriate.” One example would be people who experienced an extreme allergic reaction to the other two vaccines, the agency said.It said the vaccine could also be given to adults who “would otherwise not receive a Covid-19 vaccine.” (LaFraniere, 5/6)

The New York Times: Democrats Plan A Bid To Codify Roe, But Lack The Votes To Succeed 
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, moved on Thursday to set up a vote next week on a bill to codify abortion rights into federal law, acting quickly in the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade, despite clear evidence that the measure lacks the support to be enacted. The plan is little more than an effort to send a political message before the midterm elections and a seismic ruling that could have major legal, cultural and electoral consequences, with deep significance for voters across the political spectrum. (Karni, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Sen. Collins Voices Opposition To Democratic Legislation That Would Create Statutory Right To Abortion 
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), one of two prominent Republican senators who support abortion rights, said Thursday that she does not support a Democratic measure that would create statutory right to the procedure, arguing that the legislation does not provide sufficient protection to antiabortion health providers. The statement from Collins comes as the Senate is preparing to vote next week on the legislation, known as the Women’s Health Protection Act, and as the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a woman’s right to an abortion. (Sonmez and DeBonis, 5/5)

The Hill: Democrats Worry They Lack A Plan To Fight Back On Roe V. Wade
Democrats are worried their party lacks a clear plan to push back at what is certain to be an onslaught of abortion restrictions in the wake of a Supreme Court draft ruling striking down Roe v. Wade. While Democrat after Democrat has cried out over the possibility a conservative Supreme Court could eviscerate abortion rights, strategists say little is being offered in terms of a clear way to fight back.  Some also say the party wasn’t ready for something that was clearly coming down the pike. (Chalfant and Parnes, 5/6)

The Washington Post: Why Democrats Probably Won’t Get Rid Of The Filibuster For Abortion 
Democrats don’t have 50 votes among themselves to change the filibuster for abortion. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) explicitly said this week that they opposed changing the filibuster for abortion. The two blocked Democrats’ effort a few months ago to eliminate the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. “The filibuster is the only protection we have in democracy,” Manchin told reporters this week. “We’ve protected women’s rights with the filibuster.” Sinema called the filibuster and other Senate rules “more important now than ever.” (Phillips, 5/5)

More on lawmakers' reactions and the midterm elections —

The Washington Post: A Pair Of Four-Pinocchio Abortion Claims From Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Scott 
Sometimes we come across potential fact checks that are so easily reviewed that it hardly seems worth the trouble. But at the same time, it’s important to set the record straight. In this case, we have a matched pair of Four-Pinocchio claims on abortion made by lawmakers, one by a Democrat [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and the other by a Republican [Sen. Rick Scott]. In both cases, the spokesperson for the lawmaker refused to respond to our questions — usually a good sign that the lawmaker messed up. (Kessler, 5/6)

The Wall Street Journal: After Leak Of Roe V. Wade Opinion, Parties Make Dueling Bets On Power Of Abortion Issue
Democrats hope that the Supreme Court’s draft opinion ending a constitutional right to abortion will accomplish what President Biden and his party in Congress so far haven’t: Injecting urgency into the midterm elections so that Democrats feel the need to vote. Republican leaders, by contrast, argue that the prospect of a long-sought abortion victory will energize their own voters—and that Democratic enthusiasm will continue to lag behind due to unhappiness with inflation, Covid-19 and what they portray as the majority party’s limited legislative accomplishments in Washington. (Zitner and Jamerson, 5/5)

The Washington Post: The Trailer: Four Ways The Leaked Draft Abortion Opinion Has Altered The Midterms 
Democrats are furious, which helps (some) Republicans right now. During the 2020 campaign, plenty of Democrats, President Biden included, adapted to the reality of a Trump-shaped Supreme Court by promising to “codify” Roe at the federal level. They never had a plan to pull that off — which was clear at the time, and is more obvious now that Senate Democrats have scheduled a vote next week on a bill that would create a legal right to abortion. That’s going to become a sideshow, with Democrats far short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster and two votes short of the 51 votes needed to eliminate the filibuster. (Weigel, 5/5)

What are Biden, Trump, Pence, and Clinton saying? —

AP: Once Conflicted, Biden Embraces Role As Abortion Defender
Although Biden called for protecting Roe v. Wade in his State of the Union speech in March, since becoming president he had never publicly uttered the word “abortion” until this week, when the draft court decision leaked. And he still prefers to frame the issue around privacy and people’s ability to make their own decisions free from government interference. “This is about a lot more than abortion,” he said Wednesday at the White House. He often references other court decisions on same sex marriage or birth control. “What are the next things that are going to be attacked?” It’s the kind of rhetoric that he deployed successfully during the 1987 confirmation hearings for Robert Bork, President Ronald Reagan’s nominee to the Supreme Court. (Megerian, 5/5)

Politico: Trump Set The Stage For Roe’s Demise. For Now, He Doesn’t Wanna Talk About It. 
It should be Donald Trump’s crowning achievement, one that fulfilled the deepest wish many conservatives have held for generations.Three of the Supreme Court justices appointed by the former president signed onto the initial draft opinion that appears to signal the end of the landmark abortions right case, Roe v. Wade. ... The former president, never one to shy away from taking credit for accomplishments, real or imagined, has yet to crow about the majority draft opinion. And when asked about it in interviews, he steered clear of anything resembling a victory lap. Instead, he expressed displeasure that the draft leaked and sidestepped weighing in on the issue of abortion rights. On Wednesday night at Mar-a-Lago, he told POLITICO he was waiting to see “finality” in the case. (McGraw and Lemire, 5/5)

AP: Pence: Leaked Abortion Draft Opinion Helps Some '22 Hopefuls 
Former Vice President Mike Pence applauded the essence of a leaked draft opinion suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide, predicting that the decision could have favorable impacts for anti-abortion candidates in midterm elections across the country. “I hope and pray that the Supreme Court draft opinion will hold and become part of the law of the land, returning the question of abortion to the states and to the American people,” Pence said. “I also have no doubt that the women and men who are standing for public office at every level who have taken a strong stand for the unborn and the sanctity of life will be favorably impacted by this decision, particularly at the state level.” (Kinnard, 5/6)

ABC News: 'We're Not Going Back': Hillary Clinton Speaks Out On Abortion Rights 
Reproductive rights were top of mind for Hillary Clinton and others at the grand opening of the new Global Embassy for Women in Washington, D.C., on Thursday -- just days after an unprecedented Supreme Court leak revealed a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. "I know this is quite an ironic week for us to be opening the headquarters, but in a way, it's probably appropriate because no advance is ever permanent," said Clinton, former first lady and secretary of state, before hosting a panel on the state of women's rights. "There are always forces at work to turn the clock back, particularly on women and we know there still is a double standard about what is or is not expected and appropriate for how women make the choices in our own lives." (Stewart, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Chief Justice John Roberts Says Supreme Court Leak Won’t Alter Deliberations 
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told a crowd of judges and lawyers Thursday that the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade is “absolutely appalling,” but will not affect the final outcome of the court’s historic deliberations on the abortion issue. “A leak of this sort — let’s assume that’s what it is — is absolutely appalling, and if the people behind it, or person behind it, thinks that it’s going to have an effect on our decision process, that’s absolutely foolish,” Roberts told the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference meeting here. (Barnes, 5/5)

CNN: John Roberts Calls Supreme Court Leak 'Absolutely Appalling' 
Roberts was speaking at a meeting of lawyers and judges at the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference, while the court is on a brief recess. The justices will meet together again during their closed-door conference in Washington on May 12. ... Roberts did not want to completely overturn Roe v. Wade, meaning he would have dissented from part of the opinion, sources tell CNN, likely with the court's three liberals. The court has confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion, but stressed that it was not final and did not reflect the final position of any member of the court. (de Vogue and Cartaya, 5/5)

AP: It’s Chief Justice Roberts' Court, But Does He Still Lead? 
John Roberts is heading a Supreme Court in crisis. The chief justice has already ordered an investigation of the leak this week of a draft opinion suggesting the court could be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case legalizing abortion nationwide. What comes next could further test Roberts’ leadership of a court where his vote already appears less crucial in determining the outcome in contentious cases. “This is a time when the court is under siege, both externally and internally now,” said Roanoke College professor Todd Peppers, who writes about the court. “I just don’t think the spotlight has ever been brighter on the court in recent history.” (Gresko, 5/6)

Who leaked the draft opinion? —

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Hunt For Who Leaked Draft Roe V. Wade Opinion Has No Road Map 
The Supreme Court marshal tasked with finding out who leaked a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion-rights case, is a retired Army colonel with untested investigative powers to uncover the breach, which was extraordinary but might not be criminal. Gail Curley, whose public duties include calling the court to order with “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,” will seek to determine the source who shared the draft, which was published Monday by Politico. (Gurman, 5/5)

NBC News: How The Supreme Court Could Proceed With The Roe Leak Probe
Administration officials said the Justice Department’s view, at this early stage, is that the leak did not constitute a federal crime. Accordingly, neither the FBI nor other federal law enforcement organizations are involved in any investigation, the officials said. Asked about the matter at a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland had nothing to add. “The chief justice has announced that the marshal of the court will be doing the investigation,” he said. (Williams, 5/5_

Newsweek: Ted Cruz Speculates Clerk Of Sonia Sotomayor 'Most Likely' Leaked Roe Draft
Texas Senator Ted Cruz speculated that a liberal law clerk, "most likely" for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, leaked the high court's majority draft opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade. ... On his podcast Verdict, Cruz and his co-host Michael Knowles discussed the SCOTUS leak and described it as "a big damn deal." Cruz said he didn't believe one of Alito's colleagues was behind the leak, but thinks a clerk from one of three liberal judges is behind the uproar. "I think it is very very likely a law clerk. And it is very very likely a law clerk for one of the three liberal justices," Cruz said. "If I were to guess, the most likely justice for whom the law clerk is clerking is Sonia Sotomayor because she's the most partisan of the justices." (McKnight, 5/5)

More news about the Supreme Court —

The New York Times: Draft Opinion Overturning Roe Raises A Question: Are More Precedents Next? 
As an appeals court judge, Samuel A. Alito Jr. repeatedly drew criticism from his colleagues for disrespecting precedents and established understandings of the law. Fellow judges said, for example, that one of his dissents ignored “our precedent” and another deviated from the axiom that laws must be interpreted “by well-recognized rules.” Two decades later, a leaked draft opinion shows that the Supreme Court may soon overturn precedents like Roe v. Wade and eliminate women’s constitutional right to have an abortion. Justice Alito wrote the draft, devoting 30 pages to arguing that it was unnecessary for the court to follow decisions that had affirmed abortion rights for nearly 50 years. (Savage, 5/5)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Leaked Abortion Opinion Rocks Washington’s World
People who pay attention to the Supreme Court have been expecting the justices to scale back the right to abortion when they issue their ruling on a Mississippi abortion law by the end of the current session. What no one expected was that a draft of that opinion — which called for a full overturn of the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision — would be leaked to Politico. The reaction has been swift and loud from both sides of the divisive debate and could affect the coming midterm elections. (5/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Judge Who Overturned California’s Prop. 8 Blasts Draft Roe V. Wade Opinion: ‘It Makes The Justices Look Like Politicians’
Retired Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has harsh words to describe the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade: “It’s just not a very impressive piece of work.” Walker, who famously overturned California’s Proposition 8 in a 2010 ruling that struck down a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, said a leaked version of the draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito has many flaws, but the most obvious is its lack of a clear rationale to undo a 50-year established legal precedent of a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. (Gardiner, 5/5)

Politico: Law Enforcement Officials Brace For Potential Violence Around SCOTUS Draft Opinion 
Law enforcement officials across the country are preparing for unrest in the wake of the Supreme Court’s anticipated reversal of Roe v. Wade. On Wednesday, more than 150 officials nationwide joined a call to discuss concerns about growing threats in the wake of the news, including potential danger to Supreme Court justices. The National Fusion Center Association, representing dozens of intelligence-sharing hubs around the country, hosted the call, which included state and local law enforcement officials along with officials from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. The call focused on threats that have metastasized in the wake of POLITICO’s publication of an initial draft opinion that indicates the Supreme Court could overturn federal abortion protections, according to two people on the call who described it to POLITICO. (Swan, 5/5)

ABC News: High Fence Erected Outside Supreme Court As Abortion-Related Protests Continue 
An imposing, "unscalable" eight-foot-high fence has been erected at the U.S. Supreme Court in the wake of protests over a bombshell draft opinion on abortion. ... The protests outside the court's marble front steps have been largely peaceful, prompting some to question why the new security barrier -- reminiscent of the unscalable fencing placed around the U.S. Capitol after the violence of Jan. 6, 2021 -- is necessary. (Hutzler, 5/5)

Salt Lake Tribune: Utahns March In SLC In Support Of Roe V. Wade
Hundreds of Utahns – mostly teenagers and young adults – attended a rally Thursday afternoon on the steps of the state Capitol in response to news that the U.S. Supreme Court may restrict abortion access. The speakers, some of whom were as young as 16, emphasized the importance of bodily autonomy and supporting Utahns in making their own decisions in their lives, while others shared their personal stories about abortion and sexual assault. “The power is with us,” not the courts, one speaker said to a cheering crowd. (Jacobs, 5/6)

Newsweek: Roe V. Wade Protesters Are Mailing Coat Hangers To The Supreme Court
Abortion-rights advocates are sending coat hangers to the Supreme Court after a leaked document indicated a majority of the justices plan to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which effectively legalized access to abortions across the U.S. After the draft document leaked earlier this week, many people took to social media platforms and forums, including TikTok and Reddit, in which they claimed to have sent coat hangers to the high court in Washington D.C. (Anglesey, 5/5)

Newsweek: Writers Guild Asks Hollywood Not To Film In States That Ban Abortions
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) has urged Hollywood not to shoot films and TV shows in states that ban abortions. The guild's announcement came after a draft Supreme Court opinion leaked on Monday revealed that the court's majority was prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade. "In light of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on abortion rights, we want to reaffirm our Guild's commitment to fighting on our members' behalf against inequality and discrimination," the labor union said on Twitter Wednesday. WGAW represents writers in film, television, radio and internet programming. (Bartov, 5/5)

And reaction from Latinos who are against abortion —

NBC News: Anti-Abortion Latinos Look Forward To Future Without Roe V. Wade
The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark law that legalized abortion nationwide, has emboldened Latinos who are fighting to end abortions in the U.S. "It gives me a lot of hope. ... This is the way that I was hoping it would go," said Maria Oswalt, 27, of Rehumanize International, a nonprofit organization that opposes abortion. “It was shocking, in a good way, to see that the opinion was very unapologetically overturning Roe V. Wade." (Acevedo and Sesin, 5/6)

How corporations are responding —

Bloomberg: Marco Rubio Targets Citi, Amazon With Bill On Abortion-Travel Benefits
Senator Marco Rubio is sending a message to Amazon Inc., The Walt Disney Co., Citigroup Inc. and other U.S. companies that have vowed to pay travel costs for their employees to access abortion services or gender-affirming care for their children: Republicans want to make it more expensive. The Florida Republican, a potential contender for the GOP nomination in 2024, is proposing legislation that would prevent companies from writing off these costs for their employees and their families. The tax code generally allows companies to deduct their business costs, including employee health coverage and other benefits. (Davison and Ceron, 5/5)

Bloomberg: Goldman, JPMorgan Weigh Covering Abortion Travel Amid Uproar
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are discussing extending abortion benefits to cover travel after an internal debate was reignited this week by the leak of a draft Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade. The finance giants could follow the lead of Citigroup Inc. and pay travel expenses for employees seeking to end pregnancies away from states with restrictive abortion laws, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Some senior leaders remain wary of the growing criticism by Republican lawmakers. (Natarajan and Abelson, 5/5)

Axios: These Companies Are Helping Employees Access Abortions
Companies across the United States are announcing plans to help workers who live in states with abortion restrictions gain access to reproductive health care. A leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft ruling indicated that the court could soon overturn Roe v. Wade. Abortion would become illegal in at least 13 states if the Supreme Court overturns the decision, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez writes. (Scribner, 5/5)

NPR: Abortion Law Fights Between States Are A Possible Outcome Of Removing Roe
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, abortion law soon could be in the hands of states. And if that happens, roughly two dozen states are expected to ban or severely curtail abortion. Some lawmakers also are trying to limit patients' options even in states without such restrictions. Several weeks ago, for instance, a Missouri state lawmaker introduced a bill that would let private citizens sue someone who helps a person cross state lines to obtain abortion care. Such legislation raises a number of legal questions, NYU law professor Melissa Murray tells Morning Edition. (Treisman, 5/5)

AP: Efforts To Enshrine Abortion Rights In New Hampshire Fail
New Hampshire Republicans on Thursday thwarted attempts by Democrats to respond to this week’s leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft by enshrining the right to an abortion in state law. New Hampshire has outlawed abortion after 24 weeks gestation since Jan. 1, thanks to a budget provision Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law last year. Anticipating the Supreme Court action, Democrats have sought to enshrine abortion rights into state law and the state constitution, only to have the bills tabled in the House earlier this year. (Ramer, 5/6)

The Washington Post: Louisiana Abortion Bill Would Make Abortion A Crime Of Homicide
Republicans in the Louisiana House advanced a bill Wednesday that would classify abortion as homicide and allow prosecutors to criminally charge patients, with supporters citing a draft opinion leaked this week showing the Supreme Court ready to overturn Roe v. Wade. The legislation, which passed through a committee on a 7-to-2 vote, goes one step further than other antiabortion bans that have gained momentum in recent years, which focus on punishing abortion providers and others who help facilitate the procedure. Experts say the bill could also restrict in vitro fertilization and emergency contraception because it would grant constitutional rights to a person “from the moment of fertilization.” (Kitchener, 5/5)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgians On Abortion Front Line Adjust To Prospect Of Roe’s Defeat
About a month ago, as speculation grew that the U.S. Supreme Court was preparing to overturn the landmark decision that made abortion legal throughout the country, Planned Parenthood’s Southeastern office quietly created a new position. The new staffer, based in Atlanta, was envisioned as essentially an abortion air traffic controller for a post-Roe v. Wade South, a region likely to take away or severely restrict access to the procedure if the federal constitutional protection is lifted. Among the staffer’s duties would be helping pregnant women get to states where abortion remained legal. (Hart and Hallerman, 5/6)

Kansas City Star: KS, MO Constitutions Central To Future Of Abortion Rights 
If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, as a leaked draft opinion indicates it will, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt will soon after issue a legal opinion confirming the decision and triggering a near-total abortion ban in the state. But that will only mark the beginning of Missouri’s post-Roe fight over abortion. “It doesn’t end, trust me,” said Samuel Lee, a lobbyist for Campaign Life Missouri. The question of abortion rights almost certainly won’t be answered in any semi-permanent way until it’s settled in the state constitution, either by an amendment that affirms or rejects the right to the procedure — or a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court on whether the state constitution already protects the right to an abortion. (Shorman, Bayless and Desorchers, 5/6)

Oklahoman: Who Can Be Sued Under Oklahoma's Abortion Ban? What Exceptions Exist?
If the court reverses Roe, abortion will immediately become outlawed in nearly all instances across Oklahoma because of a “trigger law” Stitt signed in 2021. But for now, abortions are still legal in Oklahoma if they occur within the first six weeks of pregnancy, though that’s before many women know they’re pregnant. State data from 2017 through 2020 shows that the majority of abortions recorded in Oklahoma happen after six weeks’ gestation. After the implementation of Senate Bill 1503, women further along in their pregnancies may be pushed out of state to Kansas, New Mexico or Colorado to get an abortion. Here’s what we know — and what we don’t — about how Oklahoma’s restrictive new abortion law works and who it affects. SB 1503 took effect immediately Tuesday. (Branham and Forman, 5/6)

The Texas Tribune: More Texans Might Visit Mexico Seeking Abortion Drugs 
Maria laid the pregnancy test facedown on the counter in her boyfriend’s bathroom in McAllen and set a timer for the longest three minutes of her life. She watched the timer tick down, mentally running through her litany of reassurances: They’d used a condom; she’d taken the Plan B pill; maybe her missed period was just an anomaly. “I was just praying, please don’t let this be the case,” she said. “I had no idea how I’d navigate the situation. But what can I do but flip this test over?” It was positive. (Klibanoff, Ferman and Garcia, 5/6)

Dallas Morning News: Beto O’Rourke, Democrats Bring Abortion, Roe V. Wade Into Texas Governor’s Race
Abortion is moving to center stage as Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke and other Democrats move to gain politically from the possible overturning of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. In contrast, Gov. Greg Abbott so far has remained somewhat muted on the subject, isolating his remarks to conservative talk radio. And even in those settings, Abbott has eschewed celebration of the possible ruling that was leaked to Politico on Monday. O’Rourke is now making abortion a centerpiece of his campaign, appearing Thursday at an Austin news conference with former state Sen. Wendy Davis, who rose to prominence with her 2013 filibuster of a restrictive abortion law. “This issue, I guarantee, is going to bring people out,” said O’Rourke, who also guaranteed record turnout in the November election. (Jankowski, 5/5)

AP: 'Roe' Under Threat, California Leans In As Abortion Refuge 
California Democrats have accelerated their plan to make the nation’s most populous state a sanctuary for women seeking abortions, propelled by the release this week of an early draft of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has ignited a surge of activism among the state’s vast network of providers and advocacy groups. The draft — which could change when a final ruling is issued, likely next month — would end nearly 50 years of federal abortion protections. Just hours after a leaked copy was published, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s top legislative leaders said they would seek voter approval to make abortions a constitutional right in California, a move designed to shield the state from future court rulings and a potential federal abortion ban should Republicans win control of Congress. (Beam, 5/6)

Los Angeles Times: False Claim About Reproductive Health Bill Goes Viral 
As The Times has reported, California intends to become a haven for those seeking reproductive health care in America if the U.S. Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion overturning Roe vs. Wade becomes the law of the land. This may make the state a target, as it has been in the past for its progressive laws on immigration, the environment and other policy areas. One way that people can attack the state is through misinformation and disinformation. A misinterpretation of a California bill has already gone viral online. (Ray, 5/5)

Modern Healthcare: Roe Reversal Wouldn't Cause Health Insurers Like Blue Cross Parent HCSC Much Disruption
With the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned, health insurance companies will likely be forced to navigate a new set of patchwork, state-by-state regulations related to abortion. About half the states are expected to tightly restrict or completely ban abortion if the Supreme Court reverses the long-standing precedent, likely ushering in more restrictions on whether insurance companies can cover abortions. Some states already have laws restricting coverage of abortion by private insurance plans. Other states, like Illinois, require insurers to cover most reproductive services, including abortion. (Davis, 5/5)

How many abortions are performed in the US? —

USA Today: How Many Abortions In US? Birth Control Responsible For Declining Rate
Abortion rates in the United States have been falling steadily for decades, long before restrictive statutes began to make the procedure difficult to obtain in some areas. Experts say access to better birth control is one of the main reasons. Abortions in the U.S. peaked in 1981, at a rate of 29.3 per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since then, the number has fallen by three-fifths. In 2019, the last year for which numbers are available, the rate was 11.4. The decline has been seen in almost all states, regardless of whether abortion access was restricted, according to research by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.  (Weise, 5/5)

Green Bay Press-Gazette: Wisconsin Abortions Declined 60% In Three Decades, New Report Shows
At a time when abortion is back, front and center in the national debate on reproductive health care, an annual report released this week gives a detailed picture of the prevalence of abortion in Wisconsin. According to the data compiled by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the state has seen a steep decline in the rate and number of induced abortions since the late 1980s, which follows in lockstep with the national trend. The decline speaks to both the advancement of contraceptives and the dearth of abortion clinics in the state, according to experts who follow the issue. (Eilbert, 5/5)

The Wall Street Journal: What Are Abortion Pills And How Widely Are They Used? 
Two medications—mifepristone and misoprostol—are typically used in a medication abortion regimen. A single dose of mifepristone is followed by a course or several courses—depending on the number of weeks of pregnancy—of misoprostol pills. The regimen is safe and highly effective, reproductive health experts say, with efficacy rates of 95% if administered at 10 weeks of pregnancy or earlier. (Mosbergen, 5/5)

ABC News: Abortion In US With No Roe V. Wade Would Get Very Complicated, Attorney Kathryn Kolbert Says 
Attorney Kathryn Kolbert has spent a majority of her career thinking about the after-effects on reproductive rights if the Supreme Court was to overturn Roe v. Wade. She believes prohibiting abortions will force some women to turn to unsafe practices to terminate pregnancies that will put their lives in danger. “Women are crafty,” said Kolbert. “I'm not advocating that they break the law, but the reality is, as in the days before Roe, the underground market will operate.” (Yamada and Mielke, 5/5)

Providers brace for more patients —

Detroit Free Press: Roe V. Wade Draft Leak Leads To Clinic Calls, Plan B Purchase Uptick
Several "what if" questions about birth control have emerged this week after a confirmed draft opinion that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to the public. There has been a surge of calls, clinics say. Most are from women who are seeking to learn more about their options, particularly about contraceptive medication, such as Plan B, and devices. "It is causing panic," Renee Chelian, founder and CEO of Northland Family Planning in Southfield said Thursday, adding that other reproductive health clinics are getting calls, too. "We also have seen a lot of posts on Facebook." (Witsil, 5/5)

NBC News: ‘All Hands On Deck’: Some States Brace For Influx Of Patients If Roe Is Struck Down
In southern Illinois, a few miles from the Missouri border, a clinic that provides abortion procedures is preparing for a deluge. The Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights is surrounded by “trigger law” states that would immediately ban abortions if Roe v. Wade is struck down. If that happens, the clinic could see upward of 15,000 more patients a year, about half of the additional patients expected to flow to Illinois. It’s trying to get ahead of the inundation. The clinic has posted five new positions, and it’s considering operating seven days a week, up from six, with 12-hour day and nighttime shifts.  (Ali, 5/5)

Axios: Abortion Providers Plan For The End Of Roe
Abortion clinics are already preparing to shift people and resources away from red states, in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Blue states — including California, Oregon, Minnesota, Maryland and Massachusetts — are taking steps to prepare for a potential influx in patients seeking abortion care if Roe falls. Many abortion providers "are planning to move or travel to places where they will be able to continue to care for patients," Alhambra Frarey, an OB-GYN in Pennsylvania and a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in a statement. (Gonzalez and Van Oot, 5/6)

NPR: Governments Have Undercounted The COVID-19 Death Toll By Millions, WHO Says
The COVID-19 pandemic directly or indirectly caused 14.9 million deaths in 2020 and 2021, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, in its newest attempt to quantify the outbreak's terrible toll. That's around 2.7 times more than the 5.42 million COVID-19 deaths the WHO says were previously reported through official channels in the same 2-year period. (Chappell, 5/5)

Fox News: Nearly 15M Deaths Worldwide Associated With COVID-19: WHO
That number is more than double Johns Hopkins University's official death toll of more than 6 million, with the majority of excess mortality – calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that have occurred and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic based on previous data – in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas. (Musto, 5/5)

The New York Times: Death Toll During Pandemic Far Exceeds Totals Reported By Countries, W.H.O. Says 
Most of the excess deaths were victims of Covid itself, the experts said, but some died because the pandemic made it more difficult to get medical care for ailments such as heart attacks. The previous toll, based solely on death counts reported by countries, was six million. Much of the loss of life from the pandemic was concentrated in 2021, when more contagious variants tore through even countries that had fended off earlier outbreaks. Overall deaths that year were roughly 18 percent higher — an extra 10 million people — than they would have been without the pandemic, the W.H.O.-assembled experts estimated. (Mueller and Nolen, 5/5)

Stat: WHO: Nearly 15M Died As Result Of Covid-19 In First Two Years Of Pandemic
The analysis has already been a source of controversy, with the Indian government reportedly having delayed its release. The WHO analysis suggests 4.74 million people in India died in the first two years of the pandemic. India itself reported only 481,000 deaths for that entire period, though on Tuesday it acknowledged there were 475,000 extra deaths in 2020 alone. India was hit with a devastating second wave of infections in the spring of 2021, becoming the first country to report more than 400,000 new infections a day. Its official death toll has long been questioned. (Branswell, 5/5)

Also —

The Boston Globe: BU Professor: True Death Toll Of COVID-19 Pandemic Could Now Be As High As 1.22 Million In United States
A Boston University professor estimated Thursday that the death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States could now be as high as 1.22 million, substantially higher than the nearly 1 million that official counts are approaching. “We passed the million mark some time ago,” said Andrew C. Stokes, an assistant professor in the Department of Global Health at the Boston University School of Public Health.He said the additional deaths in his count reflected deaths from COVID-19 that were not recorded due to “pervasive underreporting,” as well as deaths caused by “indirect mechanisms” such as interruptions in health care, people delaying care, and economic hardship and food insecurity. (Finucane, 5/5)

The New York Times: Can Covid Lead To Impotence? 
For a respiratory disease, Covid-19 causes some peculiar symptoms. It can diminish the senses of smell and taste, leave patients with discolored “Covid toes,” or even cause a swollen, bumpy “Covid tongue.” Now scientists are examining a possible link to an altogether unexpected consequence of Covid: erectile dysfunction. A connection has been reported in hundreds of papers by scientists in Europe and North America, as well as in Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Thailand. (Rabin, 5/5)

In updates on Paxlovid —

Reuters: Evidence Mounts For Need To Study Pfizer's Paxlovid For Long COVID, Researchers Say 
Additional reports of patients with long COVID who were helped by Pfizer Inc's oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid offer fresh impetus for conducting clinical trials to test the medicine for the debilitating condition, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. Three new case studies follow earlier reports of long COVID patients who experienced relief of their symptoms after taking the treatment, which is currently only authorized for high-risk people early after onset of COVID symptoms. (Steenhuysen, 5/5)

The Atlantic: Paxlovid Mouth Is Real—And Gross
More than two years into this pandemic, we finally have an antiviral treatment that works pretty darn well. Paxlovid cuts a vulnerable adult’s chances of hospitalization or death from COVID by nearly 90 percent if taken in the first few days of an infection. For adults without risk-heightening factors, it reduces that likelihood by 70 percent. Also, it might make your mouth taste like absolute garbage the whole time you’re taking the pills. In Pfizer’s clinical trials, about 5.6 percent of patients reported an “altered sense of taste,” called dysgeusia in the medical literature. A Pfizer spokesperson assured me that “most events were mild” and “very few patients discontinued study as a result”; the outer packaging of the drug doesn’t mention it at all, and the patient fact sheet breezes past it. But Paxlovid-takers told me it’s absolutely dysgeusting. (Gutman, 5/5)

And more on the spread of the coronavirus —

KHN: A Guide To Help You Keep Up With The Omicron Subvariants 
Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, Americans can be forgiven if they’ve lost track of the latest variants circulating nationally and around the world. We’ve heard of the alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron variants, but a new Greek-letter variant hasn’t come onto the scene in almost half a year. Instead, a seemingly endless stream of “subvariants” of omicron, the most recent Greek-letter variant, has emerged in the past few months. How different are these subvariants from one another? Can infection by one subvariant protect someone from infection by another subvariant? And how well are the existing coronavirus vaccines — which were developed before omicron’s emergence — doing against the subvariants? (Jacobson, 5/6)

Fox News: COVID-19 Subvariant XE: What To Know
It’s nicknamed Frankenstein, but experts say that shouldn’t scare you. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently issued a preliminary report on the new COVID-19 "Frankenstein" subvariant called XE, which is a mix of the omicron BA.1 variant and the "stealth" variant BA.2, with the agency declaring it’s still part of the omicron variant, but not a variant of interest or concern yet, according to a recent Euronews report. The XE strain was first detected in the United Kingdom on January 19, with now over 1,000 cases spreading by community transmission, with the majority in the east of England, London, and South East London, per the report. (Sudhakar, 5/5)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Workplaces, Schools See Rising Coronavirus Cases
Coronavirus cases are on the rise at Los Angeles County workplaces and schools, underscoring the need to take additional precautions to prevent outbreaks, officials said. The additional infections documented in these settings reflect what’s been a steady, weekslong increase in coronavirus activity countywide. But officials say schools and worksites can be at higher risk of transmission, as both are typically places where people gather indoors in close proximity for hours at a time. (Lin II and Money, 5/5)

Des Moines Register: Drake University COVID-19 Cases Spike On Campus; Finals To Be Online
Drake University officials are asking students to move out of residential housing as COVID-19 cases at the school continue to rise. The request comes as Drake is dealing with 255 confirmed cases of the virus and 500 pending tests, according to a letter from university President Marty Martin to students. As of Wednesday, 75 of those cases were students living in university housing. The spike in cases comes just two months after the university let its mask mandate expire and days after the Drake Relays ended. Officials hope the move will make room for students who are sick or need to isolate and help limit the spread of the virus. (Hernandez, 5/5)

Detroit Free Press: Kalamazoo Superintendent Says Mask-Optional Prom Spread COVID
The superintendent of Kalamazoo public schools is blaming a high school prom held last month at the Fetzer Center on the Western Michigan University campus for spreading the coronavirus. "Unfortunately, it ended up being a superspreader event causing multiple seniors to get sick and miss school," Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Rita Raichoudhuri told MLive.com. The Free Press left messages with Loy Norrix High School, which held the prom, and Kalamazoo Public Schools officials. The district’s COVID-19 count showed 20 reported cases among students the week prior to prom. After prom, the district reported 104 new cases in less than two weeks. (Witsil, 5/5)

Bloomberg: Carnival Cruise Passengers Complain After Covid-19 Outbreak
Guests aboard a Carnival Corp. ship with an outbreak of Covid-19 say the staff was overwhelmed by the number of cases, showing the cruise industry is continuing to struggle with the illness. Carnival didn’t say how many people were infected on the Carnival Spirit, which docked Tuesday in Seattle and has a capacity of more than 2,000 passengers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into the situation, according to its website. (Wanna, 5/5)

AP: Audit: Urgent Response Lacking In Outbreak At Veterans Home 
Sluggishness, poor compliance with existing rules and little help from state public health officials crippled the response by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration to a November 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at a northern Illinois veterans home that claimed 36 lives, according to a state audit released Thursday. The review by Auditor General Frank Mautino contends the Illinois Department of Public Health “did not identify and respond to the seriousness of the outbreak.” For nearly two weeks after the problem was identified Nov. 1 at the LaSalle Veterans Home, IDPH officials failed to visit the site and offered no assistance. LaSalle staff testing for the virus was slow and poorly coordinated, the review said. (O'Connor, 5/5)

Stat: White House Documents Detail A Looming Squeeze On Covid-19 Boosters
The White House could run out of Covid-19 vaccines if it moves forward with plans to encourage all adults to get a second Covid-19 vaccine booster dose by roughly Sept. 1, according to a tranche of budget documents sent to Congress that have not previously been made public. Although Food and Drug Administration officials have hinted that all American adults may be encouraged to get second boosters this fall, right now, second booster doses are only available to people over the age of 50. The budget documents make it clear that if the administration does want to push second boosters, it will need more money to make it happen: it needs at least 87 million more vaccines for adult boosters, and another 5 million more for first boosters for kids. (Cohrs, 5/6)

In related news about coverage and treatment —

AP: Hill Bargainers Seek Ukraine Aid Deal, COVID Aid In Question 
Lawmakers are working toward compromise on President Joe Biden’s $33 billion Ukraine aid request, even as signs emerge that Democrats may need to swallow another COVID-19 setback and drop their goal of wrapping pandemic spending into the package. Bipartisan talks among House and Senate Appropriations committee leaders are underway in hopes of producing legislation Congress could vote on as soon as next week, members of both parties say. Changes in Biden’s proposal are likely — the price tag, particularly for military spending, could rise — but there’s wide agreement on the urgency of helping Kyiv and regional allies resist Russia’s 10-week-old onslaught. (Fram, 5/6)

AP: COVID Coverage For All Dries Up Even As Hospital Costs Rise
For the first time, the U.S. came close to providing health care for all during the coronavirus pandemic — but for just one condition, COVID-19. Now, things are reverting to the way they were as federal money for COVID care of the uninsured dries up, creating a potential barrier to timely access. ... “We haven’t turned anybody away yet,” said Dr. Mark Loafman, chair of family and community medicine at Cook County Health in Chicago. “But I think it’s just a matter of time ... People don’t get cancer treatment or blood pressure treatment every day in America because they can’t afford it.” (Hollingsworth and Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/6)

Stat: Prisons Didn’t Prescribe Many Covid Treatments, Even When They Had Them
Federal prisons used just a fraction of the antiviral drugs they were allocated to keep incarcerated people from getting seriously ill or dying of Covid-19, according to new internal records from the Bureau of Prisons. Prison officials have only prescribed 363 doses of antivirals since the first such drug proven to work, Gilead’s remdesivir, was authorized in May 2020. At least 55,000 of the roughly 137,000 people held in federal prisons have contracted Covid-19; roughly 300 have died. (Florko, 5/5)

In other news about the vaccine rollout —

CIDRAP: Two Doses Of J&J, Pfizer Vaccines Effective Against Omicron Variant
A study of more than 160,000 COVID-19 tests of South African healthcare workers concludes that two doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are about 71% effective against hospitalization caused by Omicron 1 to 2 months after the second dose, with little waning at 5 months or longer. (5/5)

CIDRAP: Studies Show Promise For 2 New COVID Vaccine Platforms
Two studies based on phase 3 clinical trials published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine show promising results for two novel COVID-19 vaccine platforms—a plant-based coronavirus-like particle vaccine, and a receptor-binding domain (RBD)–dimer-based vaccine. And neither vaccine requires extreme cold chain storage, which makes them appealing candidates for low- and middle-income countries, a key component of global COVID-19 vaccination efforts. (Soucheray, 5/5)

AP: Bill Allowing Preteen Vaccines Without Parental OK Advances
A California measure that would allow children age 12 and up to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent, including against the coronavirus, cleared its first legislative hurdle Thursday. If the proposal becomes law, California would allow the youngest age group of any state to be vaccinated without parental permission. Minors age 12 to 17 in California currently cannot be vaccinated without permission from their parents or guardians, unless the vaccine is specifically to prevent a sexually transmitted disease. California state law already allows people 12 and older to consent to the Hepatitis B and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. (Thompson, 5/5)

WUSF Public Media: A Column By Florida's Former Surgeon General Contradicts The State’s Vaccine Guidance For Minors 
Florida’s former surgeon general, Dr. Scott Rivkees, has issued a rebuke to the vaccine guidance for youth recommended by his replacement, Dr. Joseph Ladapo. In a column written for the March issue of Time, “Setting the Record Straight about COVID-19 Vaccines for Children,” Rivkees contradicts much of the evidence the Florida Department of Health offered in issuing its guidance. In Florida, the surgeon general leads the department. Following a March announcement from Ladapo, the department released guidance that says the risks of providing COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children may outweigh the benefits. In his column, Rivkees presents data and research that he says shows the opposite is true. (Bruner, 5/5)

On vaccine and mask mandates —

Axios: Travel Industry Urges White House To End COVID Testing For U.S. Entry
Over 260 travel industry and business organizations are calling on the Biden administration to end its COVID testing requirement for vaccinated international passengers entering the U.S. The travel industry has taken multiple blows over the last two years due to the pandemic and emerging variants. Companies are looking to rebound despite another rise in cases. (Chen, 5/5)

KHN: Sweeping, Limited, Or No Powers At All? What’s At Stake In The Mask Mandate Appeal 
The definition of “sanitation.” An old court case that involves an underwear manufacturer. Whether people had a fair chance to express their opinions about wearing masks on planes. These disparate factors are in the spotlight as the Biden administration challenges a U.S. District Court ruling that overturned a federal mask mandate on public transportation. The outcome could determine the limits of federal public health officials’ power not only during the covid-19 crisis but also when the next pandemic hits. Sound complicated? It is. (Appleby, 5/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s How Many San Francisco Police Officers Have Been Fired For Refusing To Get COVID Vaccines
Ten San Francisco police officers have been fired to date for failing to receive COVID-19 vaccines, and 13 others may soon follow, according to records provided by the city’s Department of Human Resources. The potential 23 firings represents only about 1% of the department’s roughly 1,723 sworn members, but comes at a time when police officials say they’re facing staffing shortages. (Cassidy, 5/5)

Stat: Omicron Squeezed Hospitals More Than Health Insurers In The First Quarter
The beginning of 2022 was kinder to health insurers than it was to hospitals. Many hospitals endured their most financially turbulent period of the pandemic, as the cushion of federal bailout funds faded and labor and supply costs exploded. Conversely, while health insurance companies paid out more to hospitals and doctors than they did a year ago, insurers arguably remain as rich and diversified as ever — especially as they dip even further into taxpayer-funded insurance programs. The early wave from the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which was as brief as it was virulent, ultimately drove a lot of the choppiness. But some experts say even with as much disruption as the virus has caused, hospitals and insurers keep coming out ahead. (Bannow and Herman, 5/6)

In other corporate news —

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals See Growing Financial Impact From 340B Discount Restrictions
The mounting number of drugmakers imposing restrictions on 340B discounts has led safety net hospitals to expect a larger financial impact, according to survey results published Thursday. Disproportionate share hospitals, rural referral centers and sole community hospitals expect to lose a median of $2.2 million a year in contract pharmacy savings due to 340B discount limits, according to a survey of 550 hospitals conducted for the hospital group 340B Health in March. For 10% of those hospitals, losses are expected to be at least $21 million. Critical access hospitals expect to lose a median of $448,000 a year, up from $220,000 in December. (Goldman, 5/5)

WJCT News: UF Health Jax To Open Combined ER And Urgent Care Centers 
UF Health Jacksonville celebrated construction Wednesday of a new emergency care concept that combine an emergency room with an urgent care center. The event introduced a new center on New Kings Road, where UF Health Jacksonville will see the first patient in October. Other centers are planned on Lane Avenue, opening in November, and off Baymeadows Road, which will open in December. The centers will have a full-service emergency room open 24 hours a day and an urgent care center open in the same building seven days a week. Each facility will be equipped with lab equipment and a radiology suite with X-ray and multi-slice CT scanners. (5/5)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna Launches Digital Cancer Consult Service
Cigna launched a digital consult service for cancer patients and their providers, the company said Thursday. The service, operated through the company's Evernorth healthcare services division, connects patients with lung, breast, colon and other complex cancers and their local oncologists with specialists at National Cancer Institute centers. Experts at the more than 20 NCI facilities nationwide can review patients' treatment plans and diagnoses and recommend testing, therapies or clinical trial opportunities. (Tepper, 5/5)

Modern Healthcare: EHR Vendor, Research Group Partner To Expand Clinical Trial Access, Diversity
Electronic health record vendor NextGen Healthcare and Circuit Clinical are teaming up to help providers connect diverse populations of patients to clinical trial access through federally qualified health centers, the companies said Wednesday. NextGen has 14,000 provider and 300 health center clients, and the collaboration with Circuit Clinical, an integrated research organization, will improve clinical trial recruitment. The companies hope that will lead to enhanced treatment options and improved health outcomes for patients of color. (Devereaux, 5/5)

In pharmaceutical news —

Bloomberg: Centene to Sell Two Pharmacy Businesses for $2.8 Billion
Centene Corp. will sell two pharmacy businesses it acquired in recent years to separate buyers for a total of $2.8 billion in the latest steps of a portfolio review under new Chief Executive Officer Sarah London. The health insurer will divest Magellan Rx to Prime Therapeutics LLC and PantherRx Rare to a group of private equity buyers, according to a statement Thursday. Both businesses were acquired in the last two years under Centene’s former CEO, Michael Neidorff. Neidorff died earlier this year soon after stepping down from the role. (Tozzi, 5/5)

Axios: The Trouble With Telehealth Prescriptions
Mental telehealth startups such as Cerebral and Done Health are coming under increased scrutiny for the way they prescribe drugs with a high potential for abuse like Adderall. Cerebral announced quality and safety changes on Wednesday, telling clinicians it will stop prescribing Adderall and other controlled substances to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for new patients. (Reed, 5/5)

USA Today: Pig Heart Transplant: Pig Virus May Have Had Role In Patient's Death
The death of David Bennett Sr., who received a pig heart in place of his own, may have been hastened by another thing he got from the pig: a common virus. In Bennett's weakened state, the virus called pig cytomegalovirus or CMV might have been one of several factors that contributed to his eventual demise, according to Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, who co-led the University of Maryland Medicine team, that performed the Jan. 7 transplant. Bennett died two months after receiving the pig heart, which itself was a last-ditch effort to save his life. (Weintraub, 5/5)

AP: Virus Found In Pig Heart Used In Human Transplant
Researchers trying to learn what killed the first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig have discovered the organ harbored an animal virus but cannot yet say if it played any role in the man’s death. A Maryland man, 57-year-old David Bennett Sr., died in March, two months after the groundbreaking experimental transplant. University of Maryland doctors said Thursday they found an unwelcome surprise — viral DNA inside the pig heart. They did not find signs that this bug, called porcine cytomegalovirus, was causing an active infection. (Neergaard, 5/5)

More on organ donation —

Modern Healthcare: HBCUs Partner To Recruit Black Organ Donors
The nation's four historically Black medical schools have formed a partnership aiming to diversify the pool of organ donors and to recruit more Black workers in the organ transplantation field. The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Morehouse School of Medicine have teamed up with the Organ Donation Advocacy Group and the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, they announced Thursday. (Hartnett, 5/5)

In other research —

AP: Study Uncovers Clues To Rise In Uterine Cancer Death Rates 
A rare but aggressive kind of uterine cancer appears to be driving an increase in U.S. deaths from the disease, particularly among Black women, researchers reported Thursday. Over eight years, deaths from the aggressive type rose by 2.7% per year, while deaths were stable for the less aggressive kind, their study found. Black women had more than twice the rate of deaths from uterine cancer overall, and of the more aggressive type, when compared to other racial and ethnic groups. (Johnson, 5/5)

Fox News: Taking Ibuprofen With Certain High Blood Pressure Medications May Damage Kidneys, Study Says
Patients who are prescribed a diuretic and a renin-angiotensin system (RSA) inhibitor, such as an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), to control their hypertension (high blood pressure), should avoid taking ibuprofen, according to new research published in the journal Mathematical Biosciences. Diuretics and RSA inhibitors are available by prescription under a variety of pharmaceutical brand names while painkillers such as ibuprofen are mostly available over-the-counter under different name brands such as Advil or Motrin. (McGorry, 5/5)

WUSF Public Media: Walgreens Settles With Florida In Opioid Case For $683 Million 
Walgreens has settled with Florida in a lawsuit that accused the pharmacy chain of fueling the opioid crisis, Attorney General Ashley Moody announced on Thursday. The suit that wrapped up in Pasco County also concludes several years’ of state litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmaceutical companies. Walgreens agreed to pay the state $683 million, most of which will be paid out over the next two decades, with a smaller portion going toward legal fees. The funds bring the total Florida has collected from opioid lawsuits to more than $3 billion. (Colombini, 5/5)

AP: MN Senate Passes Bill To Distribute $300M From Opioid Suit
The Minnesota Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to create a framework for distributing about $300 million that the state is receiving as part of a settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers. Counties and cities across Minnesota will be receiving a portion of the settlement, including more than $42 million to Hennepin County, the state’s most populous county, $10 million to the city of Minneapolis and $8 million to St. Paul. (Ibrahim, 5/5)

In other news about the drug crisis —

KHN: Can A Monthly Injection Be The Key To Curbing Addiction? These Experts Say Yes 
Dr. Andrew Herring has a clear goal walking into every appointment with patients seeking medication to treat an opioid use disorder: persuade them to get an injection of extended-release buprenorphine. At his addiction clinic at Highland Hospital, a bustling public facility in the heart of Oakland, Herring promotes administering a shot of buprenorphine in the belly to provide a month of addiction treatment rather than prescribing oral versions that must be taken daily. For him, the shots’ longer-acting protection is a “game changer” and may be his only chance to help a vulnerable patient at risk of overdose. (Gold, 5/6)

Columbus Dispatch: Drug Overdose Leads To OSU Student Death, 2 Hospitalizations
One Ohio State University student has died, another is in critical condition, and a third was treated after apparent drug overdoses Wednesday at an off-campus house, the university announced Thursday. In a letter sent to students by OSU President Kristina Johnson declined to identify the victims, saying the university would not share personal information. On Wednesday night, just before 11 a.m., Columbus Fire medics responded to a residence on the first block of East Lane Avenue just east of North High Street on a report of three drug overdoses, Columbus dispatchers confirmed. Two victims were transported to a hospital in critical condition, and another in stable condition. (Behrens, 5/5)

And more public health news —

WUSF Public Media: Fewer Children Are Receiving Routine Vaccines. Health Officials Fear COVID Could Be The Reason 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that fewer children are getting routine vaccinations required to enter school. During the 2020-21 school year, the rate of children who received vaccinations for measles, whooping cough and chickenpox before kindergarten fell by 1% nationally to 94%. And in Florida, Politico reports that the rate of routine immunizations in county-run facilities for 2-year-olds fell from 92.1% in 2019 to 79.3% in 2021. (Bruner, 5/5)

Press Association: A Week Off Social Media Reduces Depression And Anxiety - Research
Taking a break from social media for as little as a week can reduce depression and anxiety, according to new research. People who took a break from platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for seven days reported an increased sense of wellbeing, a study by the University of Bath found. Researchers split a sample of 154 people aged 18 to 72 into two groups - one of which was banned from social media while the other was not. On average, participants used social media for eight hours a week. Participants were quizzed on their baseline levels of anxiety and depression, and their sense of wellbeing, using three recognised tests. (de la Mare, 5/6)

Health News Florida: How 'Unmasking' Leads To Freedom For Autistic And Other Neurodivergent People 
Roughly 2% of adults in the United States have autism spectrum disorder – that’s about 5.4 million people over the age of 18. And a lot of them go through life “masking.” Social psychologist Devon Price explains that masking is any attempt or strategy “to hide your disability.” Price’s new book, Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity, explores masking, and how to “unmask” and live more freely. In addition to hiding from others, Price says, masking is also a coping mechanism. “You know that if you show your discomfort with eye contact, people will find you untrustworthy and treat you very differently,” he says. (Garcia and Keane, 5/5)

AP: Mysterious Case Of Hepatitis Diagnosed In North Dakota Child
North Dakota has become the latest in a growing number of states that is investigating a mysterious case of hepatitis in a child where all the usual causes have been ruled out. The child from Grand Forks County is recovering at home after a brief stay in the hospital, North Dakota Health Department officials said Thursday. (5/5)

The Washington Post: Unusual Cases Of Hepatitis In Children: Your Questions, Answered
The Alabama children’s symptoms ranged from gastrointestinal problems like vomiting and diarrhea to upper respiratory symptoms, according to the CDC. Eight showed yellowing of the whites of their eyes. Seven had enlarged livers and one had encephalopathy, or evidence of impact on the brain, the CDC said. Three of the children suffered liver failure, and two needed liver transplants. All have either recovered or are recovering. (Stead Sellers, 5/5)

In news about meningitis —

WFSU: Leon County Confirms Three Cases Of Meningitis-Causing Disease 
A potentially deadly disease that can cause meningitis is now in Tallahassee after health officials warned of a statewide outbreak last month. The Florida Department of Health in Leon County reports three college students between the ages of 18 and 22 have been infected with meningococcal disease. Health officials say fraternity and sorority members, along with students who live on campus, face a higher risk of contracting the disease. (Crowder, 5/5)

In other health news from across the US —

AP: Alabama's New Transgender Care Felony Faces Federal Test
A federal judge will hear arguments Thursday on a challenge to Alabama’s plan to outlaw the use of gender-affirming medications to treat transgender youth. U.S. District Judge Liles Burke has scheduled a hearing on a request to block the law’s enforcement while it’s challenged in court. The law, which would otherwise take effect on Sunday, makes it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for medical providers to give puberty blockers and hormones to people under age 19 to help affirm their gender identity. (Chandler, 5/5)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Pilot Program To Send Mental Health Professional Instead Of Police To Some Incidents
A new pilot program in Cincinnati will give 911 dispatchers the option to send a mental health professional to certain low-risk incidents instead of police, officials announced Thursday. Called "alternative response," these programs are popping up across the country as cities seek to reform police departments in the wake of the 2020 protests prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. "There are [911] callers who can best be helped by another resource," Mayor Aftab Pureval said in a press conference Thursday. "Our communities are asking for this service." (Knight, 5/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Berkeley Council Votes To Reimagine Public Safety By Creating New Department
Berkeley city leaders took a big step Thursday to reimagine policing by creating a new community safety department and expanding the city’s effort to divert nonviolent 911 calls away from police. Berkeley is already working to launch a team of social workers and civilians to respond to some mental health and homelessness calls — part of a Bay Area trend. But Mayor Jesse Arreguín wants the program, which would be overseen by a nonprofit, to become part of a new community safety department made up of city employees. He’d also like to eventually create a new unit of mediators to respond to community conflicts. (Ravani, 5/5)

AP: Arkansas Governor Names Interim Health Secretary, Director 
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday named an interim secretary of health and a new director of the state Health Department. Hutchinson named Renee Mallory as interim secretary, replacing outgoing Secretary Dr. Jose Romero. Romero announced last month he was leaving to serve as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. (5/5)

CIDRAP: Connecticut Confirms Its First Tick-Borne Powassan Case Of 2022
Yesterday the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH) confirmed the state's first Powassan virus infection of the year, in a man in his 50s from Windham. The state logged three cases of the sometimes-deadly tick-borne disease last year. The man became ill on Mar 4 and was hospitalized for symptoms of central nervous system involvement after a tick bite, the CDPH said in a news release. Tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the presence of Powassan virus. The man is now recovering at home. (5/5)

AP: Military College Student Sues Armed Forces Over HIV Policy
A military college student said in a lawsuit filed Thursday that armed services officials deemed him unfit for service because he tested positive for HIV. The 20-year-old student from Revere, Massachusetts, said in the complaint against state and federal military officials that he tested positive for HIV in October 2020 during his sophomore year at the nation’s oldest private military college, Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. (Marcelo, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Memories Of Pre-Roe America And Navigating Abortions 
Growing up in the 1960s, Susan Shurin learned that not getting pregnant was a matter of access. Shurin, now a 77-year-old retired physician and former head of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, attended high school and college in Massachusetts at a time when it was illegal to sell or dispense contraception in the state. She knew people who found ways around those restrictions — traveling to New York to get diaphragm contraceptives or, if they were already pregnant, abortions. But, she said, doing so required “money and know-how.” (Branigin and Hatzipanagos, 5/5)

NBC News: They Moved To Red States — And They're Worried About The Future Of Abortion Rights
In the fall, Patrice Douglas was looking for a change. She decided to move from Philadelphia to Austin, Texas, a modern-day mecca for liberal-minded young professionals like herself. She started working in the gaming unit of a technology company and soaked up the city’s youthful energy. But on Monday, after Politico published a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Douglas felt “appalled.” She is a strong supporter of reproductive rights, and she was shaken by the idea of living in one of the 23 states that could ban abortions if the 49-year-old landmark decision is reversed. “I am questioning my decision to move,” said Douglas, 29, “but it also makes me want to be more involved in local politics.” (Arkin, 5/5)

The Washington Post: TFMR: Parents Who Ended A Pregnancy For Medical Reasons Are Helping Each Other Cope 
Emma Belle was hopeful about this pregnancy. Anxious, but hopeful. In their quest to have a baby, Belle and her husband had been through three rounds of ovulation induction, a miscarriage at five weeks and two rounds of intrauterine insemination. When she was still pregnant after a few months in late 2020, she began to allow herself to imagine actually parenting a child. Then the bad news came. Belle, who lives part time in the United Kingdom and part time in Dubai, recalls that at her 12-week scan, “the sonographer’s face changed. She said, ‘I can’t not tell you what I can see.’ ” A genetic test later found a 99 percent chance the baby had Edwards syndrome, also known as Trisomy 18. Doctors told Belle that the baby would likely either die in utero before 28 weeks or live only a few hours or days. (Maloy, 4/26)

The New York Times: In France, The Film ‘Happening’ Has Women Sharing Abortion Stories 
“Happening,” Audrey Diwan’s film about a 1960s back-street abortion in France, isn’t for the fainthearted. In fact, audience members have fainted at several screenings, including at the Venice Film Festival last September, where it won the Golden Lion. “It’s often men who say the experience took them to the limit of what they could bear,” Diwan said in a recent interview, “because they had never imagined what it might be like.” While “Happening,” which will be released in the United States on May 6, has struck a chord with viewers worldwide, it has also fed into larger debates in France around the perception of abortion. The film is based on a real-life experience — that of the celebrated French author Annie Ernaux, who chronicled her 1963 abortion in a book of the same name, published in 2000. At the time, ending a pregnancy was illegal in France, and it would remain so until 1975. (Cappelle, 5/4)

Also —

The 19th: Doulas Are Ensuring Parents Can Safely Feed Babies During Hurricane Season
When Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana in August 2020, over 10,500 residents from the southwestern part of the state fled their homes for New Orleans. A central evacuation resource hub where evacuees could go to find basic necessities like food, water and clothing was set up downtown. Malaika Ludman, a doula and certified lactation consultant, along with others from the Birthmark Doula Collective, had been planning for a moment like this — they had weathered hurricane season with their clients for years.  The New Orleans Breastfeeding Center, a program run by the collective, had previously created emergency infant feeding kits tailored to nursing parents, yellow drawstring backpacks filled with things like ice packs to keep milk cold, nursing covers, water and sanitizer that Ludman and others were prepared to distribute. (Kutz, 5/5)

The New York Times: New Report Confirms Most Working Parents Are Burned Out
For two years, working parents in America have been running on fumes, hammered by the stress of remote schooling, day care closures, economic instability and social isolation. Now, a new report says that 66 percent of working parents meet the criteria for parental burnout — a nonclinical term that means they are so exhausted by the pressure of caring for their children, they feel they have nothing left to give. (Pearson, 5/5)

Stat: Surgeons Navigating Pregnancies See A Bleak Picture Getting A Bit Brighter
When a surgeon asked Sharona Ben-Haim during a 2008 interview for a neurosurgery residency program whether she planned to have children, she responded the only way she felt she could: a resounding no. “I was very much trying to hide being a woman, just trying to fit in,” said Ben-Haim, who now directs the surgical epilepsy program at the University of California, San Diego. Ben-Haim and other researchers studying the experiences of surgeons and surgical residents who are pregnant or considering pregnancy have found a bleak picture. (Shuchman, 5/6)

ABC News: Exclusive: Sen. Ben Ray Lujan In Emotional Interview About Recovering From His Recent Stroke 
It was a cold, sunny morning in late January when Sen. Ben Ray Lujan awoke on his farm in New Mexico. His girlfriend was leaving early for a visit with friends, and he had set the alarm for 5:45 a.m. Lujan got up, made coffee, and helped out with packing the car. After seeing his girlfriend off, he headed back to bed for a bit more shut-eye. (Turner and Scott, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Take It Slow When Returning To Running With Long Covid 
Elise McDonnell was slowly trying to return to running after contracting the coronavirus in August. “I was constantly having to stop and huff and puff,” said McDonnell, 41, a high-altitude ultrarunner from Fort Collins, Colo., about returning to a trail she had run “a million times.” But McDonnell struggled with each step and had to turn back. (Rothenberg, 4/23)

The Washington Post: When Are You Too Old To Drive?
Aging often brings impairments to vision, including cataracts, macular degeneration and loss of peripheral vision, as well as other physical and cognitive problems. Cataracts can be corrected, but drivers often struggle through a period when reduced vision makes driving difficult — if not dangerous — before cataracts become disabling enough for Medicare, the health insurance of most older Americans, to cover the cost of their removal. (Hamilton, 4/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Dermal Fillers Promise To Make Us Look Younger And Fresher. But Only If Used Correctly. 
“Trout pout” is a term used to describe a common effect of too much dermal filler: when, because of overzealous injections, one’s lips are so inflated they begin to curl outwards. The other frequently cited filler fail occurs when cheeks become bloated and broaden, something comedian Amy Schumer called out on her Instagram a few months back: After test-driving filler, Schumer said she looked like the pointy-cheeked Disney villain Maleficent. According to the Aesthetic Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), among nonsurgical procedures performed by board-certified plastic surgeons in the U.S., fillers are second in popularity only to Botox. Despite the name recognition, though, dermatologists say there is still plenty of confusion about what fillers should and shouldn’t be used for.  (Valdesolo, 5/4)

The Washington Post: What To Do About Traveler's Diarrhea And Constipation 
During the height of the pandemic, concerns about classic traveler’s diarrhea faded into the background, because few people were traveling anywhere. Now that we’re traveling again, you should be aware that 11.5 percent of patients with covid-19 experience diarrhea, according to a 2020 systematic review of 43 studies, and a different 2020 systematic review found that up to 1 in 6 of such patients have only GI symptoms. So, it’s always worth having rapid antigen tests handy on vacation. But traveler’s diarrhea also should be on our radar, advised Ronald Blanton, chair of the Department of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Up to half of travelers from high-resource regions of the world develop diarrhea, which is usually caused by a bacteria such as E. coli, according to a 2017 study published by researchers from Helsinki. (Pasricha, 5/5)

The New York Times: An Abortion Provider Confronts The End Of Roe
For almost a decade as a family doctor in California, I have provided first-trimester abortions and trained family medicine residents to do the same. My colleagues and I believe that offering competent, compassionate abortion care is a core aspect of reproductive health, and an important part of caring for families and communities. It is gratifying work, knowing I’m helping people choose the life path that makes the most sense for them. And I have been comfortable doing that work in a cultural environment that largely celebrates what I do as an act of feminist activism. (Dr. Alison Block, 5/6)

Bloomberg: Supreme Court Abortion Leak: Congress Must Stand Up For Women Before Roe Falls 
Barring a reversal, the court will hand the matter of women’s rights over to the states, just as abortion opponents have always wanted — and just as opponents of abolition, integration, and interracial and same-sex marriage had all urged in their day. That comparison will undoubtedly anger abortion opponents. But fundamental freedoms — whether on race or gender — should never be allowed to be determined by state legislatures and local plebiscites. Freedom for women is not merely equality under the law with men. It is the autonomy and authority to be in control about when and whether to have a child. (Michael R. Bloomberg, 5/5)

Newsweek: What The SCOTUS Leak Means For Black Women 
But abortion in particular affects the Black community in unique ways, raising the stakes of the debate for our community. Should the Supreme Court indeed do away with Roe, it would unleash legislation in Republican-led states throughout the South that includes criminalizing abortion as well as anyone involved in procuring one. This could potentially spur a new wave of mass incarceration and over-policing of Black women in states with strict abortion laws. (Pamela Denise Long, 5/5)

Wall Street Journal: Did Supreme Court Nominees Lie To Congress?
One media narrative congealing after this week’s Supreme Court leak is that President Trump’s nominees lied to Congress by claiming they wouldn’t overturn the abortion precedent of Roe v. Wade. So allow us to check the tape—and explain why respecting past decisions doesn’t bind the Court to stand by serious constitutional errors. (5/5)

The Wall Street Journal: The End Of Roe V. Wade Will Be Good For America
And you have to respect that as a wound, the Roe v. Wade decision never healed, never could. Josh Prager, in his stupendous history of that decision, “The Family Roe,” noted the singular fact of this ruling: Other high court decisions that liberalized the social order—desegregation of schools, elimination of prayer in the schools, interracial marriage, gay marriage—were followed by public acceptance, even when the rulings were very unpopular. Most came to have overwhelming support. But not Roe. That was the exception. It never stopped roiling America. (Peggy Noonan, 5/5)

The Boston Globe: A Pediatrician’s Point Of View: Antiabortion Is Anti-Child 
As a hospital pediatrician, I find the argument that banning abortions protects children particularly hard to bear. The opposite is true: Antiabortion legislation hurts children. Parental health is infant health, and maternal health is fetal health. This is why news that the Supreme Court may soon strike down Roe v. Wade is so alarming: Children will suffer. (Rebekah Diamond, 5/5)

Scientific American: Abortion Rights Are Good Health And Good Science 
The U.S. Supreme Court is about to make a huge mistake. If the leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a true indication of the Court’s will, federal abortion rights in this country are about to be struck down. In doing so the Court will not only side against popular opinion on a crucial issue of bodily autonomy, but also signal that politics and religion play a more important role in health care than do science and evidence. (5/5)

The Atlantic: How To Win The Abortion Argument 
In May 2016, three women walked into a police station in Derry, Northern Ireland, and gave themselves up. They were unlikely criminals—all born in the 1940s, they arrived wearing warm coats and jeans. But Colette Devlin, Diana King, and Kitty O’Kane were deadly serious about their willingness to spend years in prison. Their offense: These three women had bought abortion pills on the internet. (Helen Lewis, 5/5)

Los Angeles Times: Pregnancy Is Risky. Losing Access To Abortion Puts Women's Lives At Stake 
As the United States struggles with the imminent demise of Roe vs. Wade, politicians and voters need to remember one thing ahead of the midterm elections: Abortion saves women’s lives. The Supreme Court’s decision, a draft of which was leaked this week, will all but eliminate abortion rights in half of the country by returning the decision over abortion to the states. (Tamara Kay, Susan L. Ostermann and Tricia C. Bruce, 5/6)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘I Was Lucky. I Didn’t Die.’ Regi Elion And Dangerous Abortions Before Roe
Readers of this column might have noticed that I try to avoid going over old ground or digging up long-gone columns and presenting them again. We’re not much for reruns around here. But, of the more than 6,000 columns I have written for The Baltimore Sun, few have remained as relevant as the one I wrote 30 years ago about Regi Elion’s abortion. (Dan Rodricks, 5/5)

Bloomberg: Abortion Rights Falter As Democracy Slides
Global progress on basic reproductive issues has, by and large, been steady and encouraging; as women gain economic and political power, religion eases its grip and societal attitudes mellow. Ireland cleared the path for legal abortion in 2018. Latin America, though still home to some of the world’s most restrictive bans, has taken significant strides, with Argentina permitting elective abortions in late 2020 and Mexico and Colombia decriminalizing the procedure. In Africa, Benin has just brought in a groundbreaking abortion law. Today, even if huge numbers of women still face significant hurdles, only 5% of women of reproductive age live in countries that forbid abortion without exception. Of 36 developed nations, 34 offer abortion on request or on broad social and economic grounds — only Malta and Poland fall short. (Clara Ferreira Marques, 5/5)

Kansas City Star: Decisions Involving Pregnancy, Abortion Should Be A Woman’s 
As the Supreme Court’s draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade leaks, I would like to share my story. It painfully highlights the ignorance, inconsistency and unintended consequences of anti-abortion laws. It’s 2009. I’m in a Catholic hospital, in labor with my first child at 21 weeks. They tell me the labor cannot be stopped. My baby will be born preterm and die this day. My contractions are painful, but not progressing. The nurse quietly explains that the hospital cannot offer me Pitocin, a drug regularly used to help women deliver healthy babies, to speed things up. I later understand that the hospital’s Catholic policy considers this an abortion. (Theresa Prenger, 5/6)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Transforming Mental Illness Into Mental Wellness
We are in a mental health crisis. Data continues to pour in that the pandemic has only made this crisis worse. Locally, Prevention First recently reported that more than half of our middle and high school students say they have high levels of stress, with close to 40% saying they feel anxious or nervous most of the time.  A recent survey by Mason-based Myriad Genetics found only about half of parents believe their young adult child would be comfortable talking with them about their mental health struggles. (Paul Crosby and Scott Robertson, 5/5)

Miami Herald: Florida Needs Data From Youth Risk Behavior Survey 
The Sunshine State is forcing adolescent health into the shadows — and the consequences could be far-reaching. The Florida Department of Education recently — and quietly — ended its decades-long participation in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a nationwide survey of high school students sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Abruptly ending Florida’s survey participation after 30 years means that critically important data needed to support adolescents’ health in Florida and nationwide will no longer be available. (Laura Lindberg and Morgan Philbin, 5/5)

Stat: Exploitation In The Name Of Biomedical Innovation Can't Be Tolerated 
Biogen’s announcement on Tuesday that it is “substantially eliminating” its spending on Aduhelm caps a remarkable story of drug development gone bad. In a controversial move in June 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved the Alzheimer’s drug, disregarding the strong objections of a panel of independent experts that said the science didn’t support approving the drug. In early April of this year, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services announced it would cover the cost of Aduhelm only for patients enrolled in clinical trials supported by the CMS, FDA, and the National Institutes of Health. That decision was scientifically based and politically courageous — the drug is clinically ineffective, unsafe, and expensive. (Anand Kumar, 5/5)

Scientific American: New Prenatal Genetic Screens Pose Underappreciated Ethical Dilemmas 
Imagine you are an expectant parent. Just a couple of months into your pregnancy, you opt for an easy genetic screen. A result comes back: the fetus is likely missing a chunk of DNA at site 11.2 on the long arm of the 22nd chromosome—a variant associated with serious medical and developmental issues. ... No one can give you solid risk factors because our knowledge of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (also known as DiGeorge syndrome) is riddled with “ascertainment bias”: only people with telltale problems are likely to be tested for it. Confronted with such profound uncertainty, what do you do? (Daniel Navon, 5/5)

Modern Healthcare: A New Appreciation For The Value Of Organized Medicine As The AMA Turns 175 
At a time when membership is declining in many professional associations, the American Medical Association has grown its membership 11 years in a row. What makes the AMA different? (Dr. Gerald Harmon, 5/5)

Stat: Health Care Workers Need Rescuing. It's Time For A Dunkirk Moment 
In the late spring of 1940, thousands of soldiers stranded on the beaches of northern France were spent, demoralized, and facing near-certain defeat at the hands of Nazi forces. The British government undertook one of the boldest rescue operations in military history. Using military ships, merchant navy vessels, and, famously, a flotilla of civilian watercraft, more than 330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops were rescued and evacuated to Britain. Because of this “miracle of Dunkirk,” Great Britain’s military got a chance to fight another day. Today, on the west side of the Atlantic, the U.S. health care system is facing its own Dunkirk moment. (Andrew Morris-Singer and Brian Souza, 5/6)