Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Planned Parenthood Assailed At GOP Convention
Republicans showcased President Donald Trump鈥檚 anti-abortion achievements and offered a graphic account of the procedure on Tuesday as they sought to mobilize their base of religious conservatives amid signs of wavering support. During the second night of the Republican National Convention, they also held out Trump鈥檚 appointment of conservative judges and called Joe Biden and the Democrats extremists on the issue. (Miranda Ollstein, 8/25)
Former Planned Parenthood employee Abby Johnson took the stage at the Republican National Convention Tuesday, to decry her former employer and speak out against abortion rights in the country. Details of her story and facts about the organization -- which she had spoken of in the past -- had already been scrutinized, and serious questions had been raised about the validity of her stories. (Siegel and Pereira, 8/26)
Also 鈥
Under the bright lights of the Republican National Convention on Monday night, California entrepreneur Natalie Harp said President Trump literally saved her life. 鈥淲hen I failed the chemotherapies that were on the market, no one wanted me in their clinical trials,鈥 Harp said in an emotional address. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 give me the right to try experimental treatments, Mr. President. You did, and without you, I鈥檇 have died waiting for them to be approved.鈥 But experts cast doubt on that story: They point out that Harp鈥檚 description of the treatment she received and her timeline for receiving it make it unlikely Trump had any effect on her case. (Wan, 8/25)
Clinicians, a cancer survivor, and the father of a student slain in a school shooting were among President Trump's fiercest allies on the first night of the Republican National Convention Monday, which was conducted, for the most part in an auditorium near the White House. Trump advocates praised his response to the pandemic, his commitment to "Right to Try" laws that allow certain patients to access investigational drugs, and his support for the Second Amendment. (Firth and Frieden, 8/25)