Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Gains On The Right In Abortion Wars Often Attributed To Well-Executed Game Plan. But What Was Left's Role In Losing Ground?
In late September, a woman in her 70s arrived at a skilled nursing facility in suburban Houston after several weeks in the hospital. Her leg had been amputated after a long-ago knee replacement became infected; she also suffered from diabetes, depression, anxiety and general muscular weakness. An occupational therapist named Susan Nielson began working with her an hour a day, five days a week. Gradually, the patient became more mobile. With assistance and encouragement, she could transfer from her bed to a wheelchair, get herself to the bathroom for personal grooming and lift light weights to build her endurance. (Dias and Lerer, 12/1)
A bill being considered by state legislators in Pennsylvania would require health care facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains after an abortion or miscarriage.聽House Bill 1890, which was introduced by predominantly Republican group of lawmakers in September and passed by the GOP-led state House last week, is now being considered in the state Senate.聽(Folley, 12/1)
A bill introduced in Ohio鈥檚 legislature would make physicians who end pregnancies guilty of 鈥渁bortion murder鈥 suggests that doctors should try to save ectopic pregnancies, in which a pregnancy grows outside of the uterus, by reimplanting the fetus in the uterus. It鈥檚 a procedure that does not exist. (Law, 12/1)
The Ohio bill would also outlaw abortion and add new crimes, 鈥渁bortion murder鈥 and 鈥渁ggravated abortion murder鈥 to its laws to punish doctors who perform abortions. According to the proposed bill, aggravated abortion murder would be punishable by death. Ohio already has a six week abortion ban on the books. (Wade, 11/30)
The聽U.S. has continued to see a drop in the number of reported abortions, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There were 623,471 abortions performed in areas across the country that reported data to federal officials in 2016, the latest available year for data, down from聽636,902 the previous year, the CDC found. (Frazin, 11/27)
Meanwhile, in other news 鈥
Massachusetts officials are struggling to understand why the state has been blacklisted by San Francisco over the state's abortion laws. Last month, San Francisco officials announced a ban on travel by city employees to Massachusetts and 21 other states whose abortion laws were deemed too restrictive by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The ban starts Jan. 1, 2020. San Francisco will not allow city contracts with Massachusetts-based companies after that date either. (Bebinger, 11/29)
