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A few weeks ago, America received the horrifying news that over 100,000 people died from overdoses in 2020. To combat this crisis, New York City announced today that it is preparing to open its first safe injection site in an effort to curb the massive amount of overdoses. Social justice organizations are celebrating this as a big win, but as a recovering addict who has lost too many friends to overdoses to count, I have to disagree. Safe injection sites are not how we address this crisis; they're no better than putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. (Chris Boutee, 11/30)

Dwayne E. Walls was a Korean War Veteran and an investigative reporter at the Charlotte Observer. Throughout his distinguished career, he wrote stories on social justice issues from the inner circles of the Ku Klux Klan and the homes of poor Black farmers; about voter fraud and the dysfunctions of the coroner system. His best stories were about vulnerable populations. Little did he know he would one day become part of one. Walls developed Alzheimer’s disease. When he declined and his wife, Judy Hand, could no longer care for him at home, she moved him to a nursing home in South Carolina. (Eilon Caspi, 11/29)

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the first frontal, explicit challenge to Roe v. Wade in almost 30 years. Roe is the 1973 decision holding that women have a constitutional right to decide to have an abortion before viability, usually around 24 weeks. The last time the court was asked to overrule Roe, in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, it reaffirmed women’s right to decide when and whether they have children. (Leah Litman, 12/1)

Anyone listening to today’s oral argument on abortion could not miss that something historic was happening. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, involves a Mississippi law that bans abortion at 15 weeks. Such a ban is clearly unconstitutional under current law—Roe v. Wade and its successor case, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, recognize a right to choose abortion until fetal viability, which is at roughly 24 weeks. To uphold Mississippi’s law, the Supreme Court’s conservative justices have two options: They can ditch the viability line or get rid of Roe altogether. (Mary Ziegler, 12/1)

Abortion is a common, safe health care procedure. One in four women in the U.S. will have one by the age of 45 according to current projections. But abortion opponents have been chipping away at abortion rights since Roe, enacting over 1,300 abortion restrictions at the state and federal levels. One of the most severe is Texas' recent SB 8 abortion ban. It outlaws abortion at as early as the sixth week of pregnancy, rendering abortion rights under Roe effectively meaningless. One out of 10 women of reproductive age in the U.S. live in Texas and have had their abortion rights effectively suspended by this law. (Bridget Kelly, 12/1)

Every week, I read articles about the eviction crisis in our region. Growing housing insecurity is not isolated to our region; nationwide it is the tip of the iceberg for economic inequity. Yet having a safe, stable roof over your head is inarguably essential for health. Recent data shows that eviction-led housing insecurity exacerbated the spread of COVID-19 in our communities: People living in non-affluent areas were at twice-greater risk for COVID-19 when eviction bans were allowed to expire. (Qiana Thomason, 12/1)

What are the most important ethical considerations for artificial intelligence (AI) in health care? The World Health Organization tried to answer this question in its recent report “Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health.” It offers recommendations on how to design safe, transparent, and equitable AI products and applications that can help providers make informed medical decisions and help patients achieve positive outcomes. (Ben Glocker, 11/30)