Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Anti-Abortion Activists To Target Retail Pharmacies Selling Abortion Pills
Anti-abortion advocates are organizing pickets outside CVS and Walgreens in early February in at least eight cities, including Washington, D.C., in response to the companies’ plans to take advantage of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision last week allowing retail pharmacies to stock and dispense abortion pills in states where they’re legal. (Miranda Ollstein and Gardner, 1/11)
Florida law requires patients to have an in-person visit with a physician at least 24 hours before an abortion procedure, including for medication abortion. The patient then needs to make another appointment to take the first dose in person. (Carter, 1/10)
In other news relating to abortion from across the states —
A Tennessee-based health care provider announced plans in May — just one week after POLITICO published the draft Supreme Court opinion that foreshadowed the end of federal abortion protections — to open a clinic in Carbondale, Ill. The provider, Choices, is seeing a steady stream of abortion patients from Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas since it set up space in a shuttered dermatology office last fall, its only location outside Memphis. (Kapos, 1/11)
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants the Ohio Supreme Court to reinstate the state's ban on most abortions sooner rather than later. Yost's office appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court after the 1st District Court of Appeals sent a dispute over Ohio's abortion ban back to a Hamilton County judge. The court's decision allows abortions to continue in Ohio through 21 weeks and 6 days into pregnancy. (Balmert, 1/11)
Illinois lawmakers on Tuesday approved a measure protecting Illinois’ access to abortion from out-of-state meddling, making the state the latest to pursue such protections since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June. (Savage, 1/11)
With Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) pushing to ban abortion in Virginia after 15 weeks, Rouse, a former football safety for the Green Bay Packers, made defending abortion access a key campaign issue. He focused two of his three TV ads on the topic. Although Adams did not make it a focus during his campaign, he had said he favors Youngkin’s proposal, which includes exceptions for rape, incest and to preserve the mother’s life. (Elwood, 1/10)
