Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pentagon To Fund Abortion Travel For Service Members And Families
The Pentagon will provide travel funds and support for troops and their dependents who seek abortions but are based in states where they are now illegal, according to a new department policy released Thursday. The military will also increase privacy protections for those seeking care. The order issued by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin outlines the rights and protections service members and their dependents will have regardless of where they are based, which was a key concern of troops after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. (Copp, 10/20)
鈥淥ur Service members and their families are often required to travel or move to meet our staffing, operational, and training requirements. Such moves should not limit their access to reproductive health care,鈥 Austin wrote. The 鈥減ractical effects of recent changes鈥 will ultimately hurt military readiness, Austin wrote, referring to the Supreme Court鈥檚 June decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. (Seligman, 10/20)
President Biden made his own move to support abortion rights 鈥
President Biden would support a federal fund for people who need to take time off work and pay for childcare to obtain an abortion, he said in an interview forum with NowThis that will air Sunday on social media. (Fischer, 10/20)
In news from Arizona 鈥
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, almost every clinic in Arizona immediately stopped providing abortions, worried that a ban passed in 1864 might now outlaw the procedure entirely.聽Over the next three and a half months, the laws would bounce from court to court as different judges offered different interpretations of the right to abortion in Arizona and whether clinics could provide any abortions at all. (Luthra, 10/20)
Also 鈥
KHN: Awaiting Voters鈥 Decision On Abortion, When Medicine And Politics Collide
The fight over abortion is steaming toward a political resolution across the state as activists, policymakers, politicians, providers, and would-be-patients eye the Nov. 8 election. Voters will decide on Proposal 3, which, if approved, would install protections for a woman鈥檚 right to have an abortion in the Michigan Constitution. (King Collier, 10/21)