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Some states have tried to crack down on crisis pregnancy centers, accusing them of deceptive practices. But now conservative lawmakers are pushing legislation to increase protections for the organizations, which work to dissuade women from abortions.
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Louisiana is one of the worst-performing states when it comes to health outcomes of mothers and infants. New Orleans is trying to catch health issues early and get families off to an easier start by adding health visits during the crucial first months of life.
Alabama, a state with one of the nation’s highest infant mortality rates, is betting on robots to help fix its maternal care crisis. But the state’s plan for telerobotic ultrasounds in rural areas has raised doubts.
Prenatal care can make a huge difference to the long-term health of both the parent and baby. Every state offers health coverage to lower-income pregnant women who might otherwise go uninsured.
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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Native American women face higher rates of death than other demographics. In response, Native Americans have been working with state and federal officials to boost tribal participation and leadership in maternal mortality review committees to better track and address pregnancy-related deaths.
A proposed abortion ban in South Carolina would have allowed the criminal prosecution of women who obtain the procedure. It’s unlikely to become law, but this bill and other proposals across the country show how some conservative lawmakers are embracing increasingly punitive abortion restrictions.
Abortion bans like Iowa’s have put OB-GYNs under increasing strain and surveillance, complicating the standard medical treatments for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, premature membrane rupture, and other pregnancy problems. As many rural areas face worsening maternity care deserts, some physicians fear these laws could drive much-needed doctors out of state and dissuade others from moving in and establishing a practice.
Participants in an FDA panel discussion warned the public about risks from using antidepressants in pregnancy. But mental health issues, including suicide and overdoses, are the leading cause of maternal death in the United States. Antidepressants are a safe, well-studied way to help prevent those deaths, medical experts say.
A CDC panel is reconsidering the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Renewed doubt could lead to fewer kids getting vaccinated, leaving them vulnerable to an incurable, preventable virus that can be acquired by indirect contact with infected blood.
New details from health officials suggest the whooping-cough surge may be part of a national pattern driven by slipping vaccine coverage and waning immunity, with infants bearing the brunt of the consequences.
Fueled by covid backlash, a libertarian author created the Brownstone Institute in 2021. In recent months, people with ties to the group have catapulted to the highest levels of U.S. government, exercising significant authority over access to vaccines and scientific research.
Through shrouded bureaucratic maneuvers, White House budget director Russell Vought and DOGE have quietly upended outbreak response, HIV treatment, and dementia care in communities across America.
Massachusetts researchers examine how growth and learning are subtly shaped among children whose mothers had covid while pregnant.
A standoff in Congress is keeping much of the government shut down as open enrollment begins in most states for Affordable Care Act plans. Democrats are demanding Republicans agree to extend ACA tax credits, but there has been little negotiating — even as customers are learning what they’ll pay for coverage next year. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is telling states they can’t pass their own laws to keep medical debt off consumers’ credit reports. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
The HHS office that administers the Title X family planning program has been effectively shut down. And with cuts to federal funding for other family health programs, expected Medicaid cuts, and the potential lapse of ACA subsidies, health leaders fear they are seeing the biggest setback to U.S. reproductive care in half a century.
In a rambling news conference that shocked public health experts, President Donald Trump — without scientific evidence — blamed the over-the-counter drug acetaminophen, and too many childhood vaccines, for the increase in autism diagnoses in the U.S. That came days after a key immunization advisory panel, newly reconstituted with vaccine doubters, changed several long-standing recommendations. Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official Demetre Daskalakis joins KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories. Meanwhile, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join Rovner with the rest of the news, including a threat by the Trump administration to fire rather than furlough federal workers if Congress fails to fund the government beyond the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year.
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