Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Scientists Take Issue With Anti-Abortion Movement's 'Pro Life Is Pro Science' Slogan
In recent months, anti-abortion advocates have advocated for the cancellation of a federal research contract for fetal tissue procurement and pushed to halt other research they view as immoral. The results: a $2 million project to test HIV drugs derailed and another pair of studies, including one to develop cancer immunotherapies, left in limbo. The movement鈥檚 latest objective: to force President Trump to fire the renowned director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, the country鈥檚 top biomedical research scientist. (Facher and Thielking, 1/15)
Vice President Pence will speak at聽a fundraiser聽commemorating the country's largest anti-abortion march,聽organizers said Monday.聽The Rose Dinner, taking place Friday night, follows the March for Life, the annual march against abortion in Washington. (Hellmann, 1/14)
In other news聽鈥
More than 400 abortions restrictions have become law in the last seven years throughout the United States, Wen said during a Friday interview. Twenty abortion-access related cases are one step beneath the Supreme Court 鈥 and if the high court takes any of them, the landmark 1973 case that guaranteed abortion rights could be further neutered, or erased. 鈥淭he decision about someone鈥檚 health should not be made by politicians, whether they鈥檙e politicians in Washington or politicians in statehouses around the country,鈥 [Leana] Wen said. (Kilpatrick, 1/13)
Emboldened by two conservative justices added to the U.S. Supreme Court in the past two years, a top Republican legislator believes Kentucky could be at the forefront of an effort to end legalized abortion nationwide. ...Undeterred by costs of litigation, lawmakers say Kentucky will push forward with a "fetal heartbeat" bill certain to face an immediate legal challenge if enacted. (Yetter, 1/14)