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Abortion access has continued to evolve almost by the hour since the court on Friday overruled Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that for almost half a century protected a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Abortions are now largely unavailable in about a dozen states, either because of new bans or legal uncertainty, while another half dozen or more states could ban or restrict abortion in the coming days and weeks. ... Several early post-Roe legal developments came Monday, with state judges in Louisiana and Utah issuing restraining orders that temporarily blocked abortion bans in those states, while a federal judge cleared the way for South Carolina to enforce a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. (Kusisto, Calfas and Paul, 6/27)

“It’s all about the states from here on out,” said Jessie Hill, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who has worked on abortion rights cases. “We can fantasize about federal solutions to this issue or nationwide settlements of the abortion question, but I think that after Dobbs, I don’t see a lot of possibilities at the federal level.” ... Professor Hill is part of a team of lawyers challenging in federal court an Ohio law that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. A judge allowed that law to take effect after the Supreme Court ruling. But Professor Hill said she believed that protections for individual rights in Ohio’s Constitution could make for a compelling argument that abortion is protected in the state. (Hubler and Smith, 6/27)

It’s been four days since the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade — dismantling a constitutional right that’s been in place for a half-century and granting states the green light to ban abortion — and a lot has happened. (Berg and Olander, 6/27)

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at protests objecting to the ruling. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some have seen incidents of police violence – including attacks on protesters – and an incident of a car driving dangerously through marchers. Law enforcement cracked down on protests in multiple states, wielding batons and forcibly removing protesters from public spaces and firing teargas in Arizona. Over two dozen pro-choice activists were arrested in New York City as protests took place in Washington Square Park, Union Square and in front of the NewsCorp building in midtown, home to Fox News studios. (Salam, 6/28)

The Supreme Court’s abortion decision is likely to set off a wave of legal and political disputes among states and the federal government unlike anything seen since the years before the Civil War, legal experts say. With some states allowing private lawsuits against out-of-state abortion providers — and other states prohibiting cooperation with abortion investigations — the abortion issue is likely to pit state law enforcement agencies and court systems against one another in dramatic fashion. The federal government, meanwhile, faces a choice over how to deal with states that seek to ban Food and Drug Administration-approved abortion medication, now used in about half of pregnancy terminations. And whatever the Biden administration does, federal policy could change dramatically if the Republicans take the White House. (Dilanian, 6/27)

A law restricting abortions in South Carolina after six weeks of pregnancy can take effect immediately in the state, a federal court ruled Monday. The U.S. District Court in South Carolina lifted its prior hold on the enforcement of a state law passed last year that bans most abortions if an ultrasound detects a so-called fetal heartbeat, usually around six weeks into a pregnancy. (Collins, 6/27)

Abortion will be illegal in Mississippi starting July 7, after Attorney General Lynn Fitch certified that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade Monday morning. The state's abortion trigger law, passed in 2007, bans abortion 10 days after the attorney general certifies the court's decision. Once the ban takes effect, anyone who performs or attempts to perform an abortion will be charged with a felony punishable by a prison sentence of up to 10 years. (Perlis, 6/27)

Jackson Women's Health Organization, Mississippi's only abortion clinic, filed suit against the state Monday afternoon in an attempt to halt the trigger law that would ban abortion in 10 days. The lawsuit comes only hours after Attorney General Lynn Fitch certified that Roe v. Wade had been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, setting the trigger law into motion. The clinic, often called the Pink House, is being represented by a number of firms including the Mississippi Center for Justice, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. (Perlis, 6/27)

Louisiana and Utah’s abortion trigger bans were blocked Monday after lawsuits were filed in separate state courts. A state district judge in New Orleans temporarily blocked an immediate statewide abortion ban until July 8, when the court will consider the legal challenge. A judge in Utah also blocked a ban for the next 14 days after Planned Parenthood filed against its trigger law. More lawsuits are coming in other states with trigger laws and pre-Roe bans on abortion. (Padilla, 6/27)

BHSH System reversed course Saturday after blowback from a previous decision to ban abortion at its 22 hospitals a day earlier. Michigan's largest health system had previously said Friday in a memo to employees it planned to follow a 1931 abortion ban on Michigan that is currently on hold under a judge's injunction. That court order means abortion remains legal in Michigan even after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday. But after immediate backlash, BHSH said in a statement posted late Saturday on its website that its thinking has "evolved." (Walsh, 6/27)

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer again pressed the Michigan Supreme Court for quick action on her abortion lawsuit Monday, citing confusion — including from the state's largest hospital system — that has emerged in Michigan since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday. Friday's ruling "has already resulted in uncertainty, confusion, and efforts to contract abortion access in Michigan," despite a court order in another lawsuit that is supposed to temporarily maintain the status quo, Whitmer said in a court filing. (Egan and Boucher, 6/27)

Reproductive health providers on Monday asked a Florida judge to block a new 15 week abortion ban from taking effect this week, arguing that the state constitution guarantees access to the procedure. Planned Parenthood and other health centers are seeking a temporary emergency injunction to stop the law approved this year by Florida’s GOP-controlled legislature and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It is set to go into effect Friday. (Izaguirre, 6/27)

A federal appeals court has asked attorneys on both sides of the challenge to Georgia’s anti-abortion law to file additional documents in response to last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Reproductive rights groups and abortion providers sued Georgia in 2019 after the Legislature passed an abortion law outlawing the procedure in most cases once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, typically about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. (Prabhu, 6/27)

Kentucky’s new abortion ban is being challenged by abortion-rights supporters, who filed a lawsuit Monday that says women are being “forced to remain pregnant against their will” in violation of the state’s constitution. The state’s Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, responded by vowing to fight any “baseless claim” made against enforcing the abortion ban. The suit takes aim at a 2019 Kentucky law that called for an immediate halt to nearly all abortions in the event that the Roe v. Wade ruling were to be overturned. The state law went into effect Friday — and abortions ended abruptly in Kentucky — when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to end federal constitutional protections for abortions. (Schreiner and Lovan, 6/27)

Anti-abortion groups in Wisconsin say they’ll work with lawmakers next year to pass legislation that will update or replace the state’s 1849 abortion ban, which led doctors across Wisconsin to stop providing abortions on Friday after the Supreme Court struck down the landmark abortion rights decision in Roe v. Wade. Some Democrats and abortion rights supporters have questioned the validity of a law that had been on the books for 173 years but wasn’t enforced due to the Roe decision. (Venhuizen, 6/27)

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vowed over the weekend to grant clemency to anyone charged under the state’s 1849 law banning most abortions. That law, enacted more than a century before Roe v. Wade, has remained on the books in the state and has technically retaken effect following the Supreme Court ruling Friday overturning the landmark case. (Edelman, 6/27)

Texas abortion providers are making a last-ditch effort to temporarily resume procedures by challenging a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban that has not been enforced for nearly a half-century, but that some abortion opponents argue could be enforced after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion. The providers filed a lawsuit on Monday, and a Harris County judge will hear arguments on Tuesday for implementing a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the old ban, which criminalized both performing abortions and assisting anyone who performs abortions in Texas. (Oxner and Douglas, 6/27)

Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said she will enforce Texas laws on abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In a statement posted to Twitter on Friday, Wilson said her office will review all cases submitted to it; if facts warrant prosecution, she will present cases to a grand jury for consideration. (Bahari, 6/27)

Texas abortion funds have played a critical role over the past 10 months for women trying to evade the state’s new six-week abortion ban, helping them pay for and travel to providers in states where the procedure is still legal. But when the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, upending nearly 50 years of federal abortion protections, those same groups were not offering help. Many announced instead they are “pausing” their operations while they reviewed the ruling and existing state laws. “We want to protect our abortion fund staff and volunteers to the greatest degree possible from the risk of arrest and involvement with the racist criminal justice system,” the Lilith Fund, the oldest abortion fund in the state, said in a statement. (Blackman and Goldenstein, 6/27)

A proposal to require Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities to promise they are not conducting research or experiments with fetal tissue from elective abortions was added to a state budget bill by House Republicans on Monday. The chamber voted 108-92, with three Republicans crossing party lines, for the amendment to legislation that will send more than $597 million combined next year to Penn State, Lincoln, Temple and Pitt. (Scolforo, 6/27)

Residents of California will be able to vote to add abortion rights to their state's constitution on their midterm election ballots in November. The state Assembly voted Monday to amend Article 1 of the California Constitution to say, "The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives." Midterm elections are Nov. 8. The bill passed the state Senate last Monday, and does not need the governor's approval. (Archie, 6/28)

New Mexico’s Democratic governor took steps Monday to ensure safe harbor to people seeking abortions or providing abortions at health care facilities within the state. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order that prohibits cooperation with other states that might interfere with abortion access in New Mexico, declining to carry out any future arrest warrants from other states related to anti-abortion provisions. The order also prohibits most New Mexico state employees from assisting other states in investigating or seeking sanctions against local abortion providers. (Lee, 6/28)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade precedent has prompted donations large and small to aid those in Maryland and from out of state seeking an abortion. Abortion remains legal in Maryland, and providers are gearing up to accept a larger influx of people from other states seeking care here. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott pledged $300,000 to help that cause immediately after the ruling was issued last week, with the money going to create an account at the Baltimore Civic Fund to provide grants to organizations that provide abortion and family planning services. (Cohn, 6/28)

Strong support in Massachusetts for abortion rights could prove attractive to employers as they grapple with how the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade affects their employees, Governor Charlie Baker said Monday. “I do believe that -- having listened to and heard from a lot of companies over the course of the past several days about what this decision means with respect to their work forces and their benefit plans -- that there may in fact be a big opportunity here for Massachusetts,” Baker told reporters. (Goldberg, 6/27)

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley has joined dozens of prosecutors from across the country in pledging to avoid charging those who seek or provide abortions. “Prosecuting individuals who seek or provide abortion care makes a mockery of justice; prosecutors should not be part of that,” says a letter signed by about 90 county and district attorneys. The letter comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, enabling the states to decide the issue. Within minutes of the ruling Friday, the office of Ohio Attorney General asked U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett to dissolve a three-year-old injunction on the state’s “heartbeat bill.” (6/27)

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein announced Monday that he will join a group of prosecutors from across the country in pledging not to prosecute abortion cases after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Ohio all but banned the procedure. Late Friday, an Ohio law set to take effect if Roe v. Wade was overturned that makes providing an abortion in the state after cardiac activity can be detected, or about six weeks into pregnancy, a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to one year in prison. (Laird, 6/27)

While Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, has led the fight in limiting abortion rights in the state, his son and daughter-in-law feel differently -- posting publicly on Facebook that they believe abortion should remain a woman’s choice. On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade -- which had generally offered women nationwide the right to an abortion. Within an hour of the high court’s decision, Yost’s office filed paperwork in federal court, seeking to limit abortion rights to around six weeks. Since 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Barrett had blocked the state’s “heartbeat” law from going into effect. By Friday evening, however, Barrett was persuaded by Yost’s arguments and dissolved the injunction, meaning that abortion is now illegal when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is before many woman know they are pregnant. Now women with abortion appointments in Ohio are having to seek care in other states. (Hancock, 6/27)

There is no clear blueprint for corporate engagement on abortion. After numerous companies came forward to announce that they would cover travel expenses for their employees to get abortions, executives have had to move swiftly to both sort out the mechanics of those policies and explain them to a work force concerned about confidentiality and safety. Few companies have commented directly on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights. Far more have responded by expanding their health care policies to cover travel and other expenses for employees who can’t get abortions close to home, now that the procedure is banned in at least eight states with other bans set to soon take effect. (Goldberg, 6/27)

Some companies with large Iowa operations will cover travel expenses for employees seeking abortions in the wake of Friday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave states the ability to ban the procedure. The human resources department of Wells Fargo & Co. sent workers an email Monday, informing them that the banking giant's health care plan will reimburse them for "reasonable and necessary" transportation and lodging expenses tied to abortions beginning July 1. The announcement follows similar policy changes at other national employers, including companies with prominent central Iowa locations like Amazon.com and Bridgestone Americas. (Jett, 6/27)

Technology giant Google says workers who live in parts of the country where abortion is no longer legal after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade may relocate to states where their rights are protected, no questions asked, according to reports. Google's health insurance will also cover the cost of employees' out-of-state abortion procedures for workers who travel across state lines to seek care. (Cerullo, 6/27)

Hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, Tucker Carlson took to the airwaves to rail against companies that would pay for employees’ abortion-travel costs. “They’re against families,” the Fox News host said of the firms on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” But as Carlson was offering his commentary, an image from his show was actually being put to a starkly different use: raising money for groups that facilitate abortion. (Zeitchik, 6/27)

When it comes to protecting abortion rights, Democrats want Joe Biden to get aggressive. And fast. Frustration is building among liberals over what some see as a slow executive response from the president, despite weeks to prepare following POLITICO’s publication of a draft majority opinion forecasting the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. White House officials contend that things are more complicated than they seem, but that’s doing little to turn down the temperature in the party. (Everett, Ferris, Cancryn and Lemire, 6/27)

Congressional Democrats are pressuring President Biden to take aggressive steps to protect abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, pinning their hopes for now on executive action because of the near impossibility of passing national legislation to stop bans in Republican-controlled states. But despite a push that began weeks ago after a leaked draft court opinion, Biden has taken only limited steps since the decision was released Friday to preserve women’s access to abortion. He vowed to protect the rights of women to travel to another state to seek an abortion and to access federally approved abortion medication through the mail, but has stopped short of issuing executive actions that would put him in direct conflict with GOP-led states and potentially the Supreme Court, such as offering abortions on federal property. (Puzzanghera, 6/27)

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush on Monday called on President Joe Biden’s administration to declare a “public health emergency” in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing states to outlaw abortion. “This is an emergency, and it demands an emergency response,” Bush said at a news conference in Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ office. “This is why I’m calling on the administration to declare the attack on abortion rights a public health emergency.” Bush, D-St. Louis, said the administration should use its executive authority to “open up resources for abortion services” and expand and protect access to abortion pills. (Schlinkmann, 6/27)

A senior White House official said Biden is simply being honest with the public about what he can do unilaterally, adding that the president is “taking major actions under executive authority as he fights this extreme decision very hard — but being clear and honest that only Congress can fix the situation.” White House officials note that the administration has moved to protect access to the so-called abortion pill even in states that try to ban it, and that the president has pledged to protect women who seek to travel across state lines to get an abortion. (Abutaleb, Wootson Jr. and Sotomayor, 6/27)

The White House signaled Monday that it is not pursuing a Senate Democratic proposal that says the Biden administration could offer abortion services on federal lands after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week. Just days after the court ruled to strike down the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed abortion rights nationwide, a White House official said that the Democratic proposal was “well-intentioned” but that it “could put women and providers at risk.” (Lederman and Richards, 6/27)

Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision legalizing abortion, is likely to endanger other rights, including those of gay marriage and birth control. She said Justice Clarence Thomas, who cast doubt on those rights in a concurring opinion, was merely saying “the quiet part out loud” as the court’s conservative wing increasingly asserts itself. (Brewster, 6/27)

In the days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats at rallies and protests in Texas said the November election is key for protecting reproductive rights. In an interview after a Sunday rally in Austin, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke told The Texas Tribune he would work to repeal Texas’ abortion ban and expand access to reproductive health care if he is elected. Rochelle Garza, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, said she would partner with other lawyers to stop enforcement of the state’s abortion laws. (Dey, 6/27)

Mitch McConnell is indisputably a chief architect — if not the chief architect — of the conservative court that has shaken the nation over the past week with a string of rulings on abortion, guns and religion — a trifecta of searing cultural issues. While much of the public recoiled at the decisions and the prospect of more to come in the years ahead, Mr. McConnell, a deep admirer of Justice Antonin Scalia, saw the culmination of a personal push to reshape the court in the image of the conservative judicial icon. Mr. McConnell said his goal had been “to move us back to where Scalia would have taken us to a textualist, originalist majority. And we have that for the first time in history.” (Hulse, 6/27)

Two Cabinet secretaries met with insurers Monday to ensure they provide contraceptives without cost to enrollees. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh convened the meeting with 14 major health insurers and payer groups days after a Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade leaving states to decide abortion’s legality. In a concurrent opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should reconsider its 1965 ruling that established a right to contraception. (Owermohle, 6/27)

In a statement, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said they are concerned about complaints that some plans are not following the law and denying coverage in certain instances. “The departments expect plans and issuers to immediately take steps to ensure that they are complying, and they may take enforcement or other corrective actions as appropriate,” they said. The ACA requires that insurers cover at least one form of contraception for each method that’s been cleared or approved by the Food and Drug Administration without cost sharing. (Weixel, 6/27)

CVS Health Corp. and Rite Aid Corp. pharmacies are limiting purchases of emergency contraceptive pills as demand for the medication surged following the US Supreme Court decision that struck down the constitutional right to abortion. CVS is temporarily limiting purchases to three pills per customer to ensure equitable access and consistent supply on store shelves, a spokesperson said Monday. The pharmacy chain has ample supply of the emergency contraceptives Plan B and Aftera, both online and in store, the spokesperson said. Rite Aid is also limiting purchases of Plan B to three per customer due to increased demand, a spokesperson for the company said. (Rutherford and Nicole Smith, 6/27)

People across the U.S. can still buy and access contraception, USA Today reported. In his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, "Overruling Roe does not mean the overruling of" precedents involving the right to contraception, though Democratic-nominated justices and legal analysts disagree. Deciding the best option for emergency contraception depends on several factors: 1) time lapsed after unprotected sex, 2) a woman’s weight, 3) if a woman is breastfeeding, 4) cost and 5) which type is most easily accessible, according to Planned Parenthood. Emergency contraception is a safe and effective way to prevent pregnancy within 5 days after unprotected sex that works by preventing sperm from meeting an egg, according to the non-profit’s website. (Sudhakar, 6/27)

Morning after pills or emergency contraceptives, like Plan B are still available in Missouri following the state’s trigger ban on nearly all abortions. Pharmacies around Kansas City including Walgreens, CVS, Target and Walmart all have emergency contraception pills in stock and available for purchase. After abortion was banned in Missouri following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, some readers have written to The Star with concerns about access to emergency contraceptives and other forms of birth control. Here’s what we know so far about Plan B in Missouri. (Phillips, 6/27)

Surveys show that roughly a quarter of American women have, at some point in their lives, used emergency contraception pills to prevent an unintended pregnancy. This type of contraception is effective, safe and legal throughout the United States. And yet researchers are finding it's not always available when people need it. Take, for example, levonorgestrel, a form of emergency contraception better known under the brand name Plan B, although it's also available in generic versions with names including My Way, Take Action and My Choice, to name a few. Borrero says Plan B is supposed to be available over the counter, on the shelf, stocked for all ages. (Godoy, 6/28)

Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. Such social media posts ostensibly aimed to help women living in states where preexisting laws banning abortion suddenly snapped into effect on Friday. That’s when the high court overruled Roe v. Wade, its 1973 decision that declared access to abortion a constitutional right. (Seitz, 6/28)

“Woman’s Choice,” the sign proclaims in bold pink letters. But despite promising abortion information and free pregnancy testing, the facility in Charleston, West Virginia, is designed to steer women facing an unwanted pregnancy away from choosing an abortion. That will become much easier now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states like West Virginia can make abortion illegal. (Kruesi and Willingham, 6/27)

Meanwhile, the crisis pregnancy nonprofits are sharpening their digital skills, investing their donations and state funding into outreach on social media, targeting teens and young adults. The centers have poured money into advertising on search and social media products such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. And some of them have begun using these platforms to spread not merely marketing messages but also what physicians and other health care professionals say is harmful misinformation. On Snapchat, for instance, the centers appear to have been using the app to gain exposure to teenagers and women in their early 20s, Snapchat’s core audience. When searching in California, each of the nine businesses listed on Snap Maps under “pregnancy tests” are anti-abortion clinics. That's also true for all all but one of the 10 listed when searching for “pregnancy.” Eleven of the 24 locations listed under “abortion” on Snap Maps in the same location were anti-abortion clinics. Three offered the so-called abortion reversal pill, which is considered dangerous by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, due to risk of hemorrhaging. (Murphy, 6/27)

Jenny and Lisa had two very different experiences when they each decided to visit the Alabama Women's Center in Huntsville, nearly two weeks apart. Lisa, 18, was able to undergo an abortion procedure on June 10, she told CNN Monday. Jenny, 18, came in Monday unaware that the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade -- thus allowing states to limit abortion access -- had taken immediate effect. "I didn't know it was already causing places to stop doing them," Jenny said. "I just started crying." (Vera and Kaye, 6/28)

Diane Horvath leaned across the table to read the latest list off her phone: operating room lights, waiting room furniture and a storage closet. An abortion clinic closing in Georgia offered to sell all of it, cheap. Horvath, a physician, and Morgan Nuzzo, a certified nurse-midwife, are scrambling to amass secondhand medical equipment, raise money, hire staff and complete renovations in preparation to open a clinic in College Park. In the seven weeks since a leaked draft opinion showed the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling legalizing abortion nationwide, Horvath and Nuzzo have been part of a nationwide reshuffling of providers, equipment and even buildings. The National Abortion Federation created an online members-only marketplace where buyers and sellers can connect. (Portnoy, 6/27)

As numerous states have started to ban abortion in wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, volunteers in California are mobilizing to help people who want to travel to their state for care. Californian Lee Mitchell posted a message on Facebook, written in code: "If you are a person who suddenly finds yourself with a need to go camping in another state friendly towards camping, just know that I will happily drive you, support you, and not talk about the camping trip to anyone ever." Abortion remains legal in California. But her veiled offer was focused on women in other states, who now might be desperate for access to abortion services — for whatever reason. She envisioned picking them up at the airport in San Francisco, driving them to a local clinic for an abortion, then offering them a place to sleep on her couch, and maybe even a hand to hold. (Dembosky, 6/27)

Forty-nine percent of abortion patients have an income below the poverty line, according to the Guttmacher Institute. And in Louisiana, where Haywood lives, the maternal mortality rate is one of the worst in the nation, especially among Black women. The state has since shuttered its abortion clinics, though a Louisiana judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the state's "trigger" abortion ban Monday. (Scott and Su, 6/28)

On Friday, Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion rights organization Naral Pro-Choice America, was on a Zoom call with her team when the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade came out. She said the news “felt like a gut punch.” But what drove that home for her in the moment was a text she received from her mom, Chaya Timmaraju, shortly after. “This is no country for women … any longer,” the text read. (Tingley, 6/27)

Ireland Baldwin revealed that she had two abortions, one as the result of rape and the other during a former relationship. ... Baldwin said that her first abortion happened after she was raped as a teenager and that she told no one at the time what had happened. She said she later got pregnant in a relationship that has since ended. “We were very unhappy together,” she said in the video. “And he made it pretty clear that he never wanted kids or marriage — he barely wanted to be in a serious relationship.” “I chose to get an abortion because I know exactly what it felt like to be born between two people who hated each other,” she said. Baldwin’s parents are the actors Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, who married in 1993 and divorced in 2002, when Ireland was 7. (Sole, 6/27)

Entertainment industry professionals began sharing their own abortion experiences across social media platforms in efforts to slam SCOTUS following the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade last week. The decision made by SCOTUS on Friday effectively ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion which has been in place since 1973, and gives individual states the power to allow, limit or ban the practice altogether. "Dancing with the Stars" pro Cheryl Burke called the ruling a "personal attack" while sharing her abortion story in a three-minute-long TikTok. (Wright, 6/28)

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, almost half of the nation's medical residents in obstetrics and gynecology are certain or likely to lack access to in-state abortion training. That opens questions about how those programs can be accredited when a procedure required to be taught is illegal where they are based. "Part of being an OB-GYN is being able to safely remove a pregnancy to save someone's life. It's our job as educators to ensure that everybody has those skills," said Dr. Jody Steinauer, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. "What's going to happen when we have 44% of medical residents in states where it's illegal?" (Weise, 6/27)

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision last week eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion, dozens of states are moving to either restrict abortions or ban the procedure outright. Almost all of those restrictions leave pregnant patients out of the picture when it comes to levying potential fines and/or prison time. Instead, the laws target health care providers, the ones carrying out procedures to terminate a pregnancy. That not only could have a chilling effect on reproductive health care providers, but it could also create a whole new landscape for how OB-GYNs and other health care providers are trained in medical schools and nursing programs. (Hoban, 6/28)

While most state abortion bans include some sort of exception when the life of the mother is at risk, it will fall to doctors to prove whether a patient qualifies in an emergency, or possibly face charges. Every case is unique — and the murky wording of some of the laws could create confusion and put pregnant women's lives at risk, experts say. "What these laws do is they place physicians in an untenable position not knowing that if they serve the medical interests of their patients, whether they'll be subject to criminal liability," Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University, told Axios. (Reed, 6/28)

The reversal of Roe v. Wade could lead to a dramatic increase of babies born in the United States, including thousands of high-risk births, a new report finds. The data, from health care industry consulting firm Sg2, estimates there will be an additional 150,500 to 159,700 live births each year in the U.S. The projections have not yet been peer-reviewed. (Kekatos, 6/27)

KHN: Three-Year Abortion Trends Vary Dramatically By State 

A recent survey from the Guttmacher Institute documented an 8% rise in the number of abortions performed in the U.S. from 2017 to 2020, reversing what had been a nearly three-decade decline in women opting to terminate their pregnancies. But a closer look at the findings, drawn from a comprehensive survey of every known facility providing abortions in the U.S., reveals wide variation in abortion trends among the states. While 33 states reported a rise in abortion numbers, 17 states reported declines. And the swings up or down are striking. (Reese, 6/28)

The Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade answered the prayers of conservative Christians across the U.S. who rallied against the landmark 1973 ruling for nearly half a century. But many American Jews are dismayed, and some Jewish leaders view restrictions on reproductive rights as an attack on religious liberty. In statements following the release of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the ruling that overruled Roe, organizations such as the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel International and the Women's Rabbinic Network expressed deep anguish. (Arkin, 6/27)

Israel eased the country's regulations on abortion access Monday in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Associated Press reports. The Supreme Court ruling Friday elicited a global response with some leaders and countries looking into their own laws and requirements to see if changes need to be made. The Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee in Israel authorized a proposal to amend Israel's criminal code over medical abortion procedures, Haaretz reports. (Scribner, 6/27)

The ruling was unanimous, though the justices disagreed on the precise rationale. They were united, however, in saying that prosecutors needed to prove more than that the doctors had violated objective standards. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for six members of the court, said that, so long as doctors were authorized to dispense controlled substances, prosecutors “must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that he or she was acting in an unauthorized manner, or intended to do so.” (Liptak, 6/27)

The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled that prosecutors need to prove that doctors knowingly prescribed drugs in aberrant ways to win convictions against them for unlawful distribution of controlled medicines. The decision came in a case brought by two doctors who were sentenced to decades in prison for unlawfully prescribing opioids. The doctors had argued they were acting in “good faith” trying to provide care for their patients. (Joseph, 6/27)

Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor announced a $250 million settlement on Monday with three companies that distributed opioids in the state, and he said the money will be used to prevent and treat opioid addiction. The settlement with McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. must be approved by local government leaders in Oklahoma. Attorneys' fees will not be taken out of the $250 million but will be paid separately. O’Connor announced the settlement a day ahead of his Republican primary contest on Tuesday with Tulsa attorney Gentner Drummond. (Casteel, 6/27)

A newly formed nonprofit is in charge of $440 million secured by Ohio from lawsuits against opioid distributors, but an advocate is raising questions about transparency. There's been only two meetings so far of the 29-member OneOhio Recovery Foundation Board, the most recent being Thursday, in addition to further meetings of "working groups." Despite the amount of money at stake, public notices were hard to find. Working group meetings are private. Basic details of the meetings are scant. (Wu, 6/27)

Emergency departments (EDs) are an important point of care for people with opioid use disorder. But EDs in the United States have been slow to meet patient needs for opioid use treatments like buprenorphine, past research shows. A new tool developed by Yale researchers aims to close this gap by helping physicians feel more prepared to offer these medications. In a recent trial, the researchers found that the tool — called EMergency department-initiated BuprenorphinE for opioid use Disorder (EMBED) — increased the number of physicians initiating buprenorphine treatment in the ED. Their findings were reported June 27 in the BMJ, a global medical journal. (Locklear, 6/27)

A panel of independent experts advising the Food and Drug Administration is set to recommend on Tuesday whether to update existing Covid-19 vaccines to target a newer version of the coronavirus in a booster shot that Americans could get in the fall. The federal government is hoping to improve the vaccine to better boost people’s immunity before a likely resurgence of the virus this winter. But to move that quickly, it may need to abandon the lengthy human trials that have been used to test coronavirus vaccines over the past two years in favor of a faster process that relies more on laboratory tests and animal trials. (LaFraniere, 6/28)

U.S. health authorities are facing a critical decision: whether to offer new COVID-19 booster shots this fall that are modified to better match recent changes of the shape-shifting coronavirus. Moderna and Pfizer have tested updated shots against the super-contagious omicron variant, and advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will debate Tuesday if it’s time to make a switch — setting the stage for similar moves by other countries. “This is science at its toughest,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told The Associated Press, adding that a final decision is expected within days of the advisory panel’s recommendation. (Neergaard, 6/27)

In a reversal for President Joe Biden, a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Monday agreed to reconsider its own April ruling that allowed the administration to require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The new order from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans vacates an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that upheld the mandate. The new order means a block on the mandate imposed in January by a Texas-based federal judge remains in effect, while the full court’s 17 judges take up the appeal. (McGill, 6/27)

Though both complications were rare, data from Ontario show higher rates of myocarditis and pericarditis with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine than with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but the rates were lower for both vaccines if the spacing between receiving two doses was extended, according to a study late last week in JAMA Network Open. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis involves swelling of the thin membrane around the heart. (Wappes, 6/27)

More than two years after the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, a new scorecard finds that 19 of 26 pharmaceutical companies that marketed vaccines or therapeutics to contain the virus rank poorly when it came to complying with human rights principles. The rankings were compiled by examining actions taken to provide access to products, including commitments and measurable targets; transparency in disclosing R&D and production costs, and profits; the extent to which international cooperation was pursued and patents were enforced; and a willingness to provide fair pricing, equitable distribution, and technology transfers, among other things. (Silverman, 6/27)

A new Danish study found COVID-19 outpatients had a higher risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke and bleeding into the brain when compared with COVID-19 negative patients, but most neurological disorders were not more frequent after COVID-19 than after other respiratory infections, according to a recent study published in Frontiers in Neurology this June. "More than two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the precise nature and evolution of the effects of COVID-19 on neurological disorders remained uncharacterized," said lead author Dr. Pardis Zarifkar, member of the Department of Neurology at Rigshospitalet hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Sudhakar, 6/27)

The Journal of Infectious Diseases has published studies demonstrating lower COVID-19 incidence—but a higher risk of severe disease—in people with Down syndrome (DS), and a lower COVID vaccine immune response. ... People with DS were 32% less likely to contract COVID-19 than non-DS matches, but they had severe COVID-19 six times more often. (6/27)

The success of vaccination campaigns has narrowed disparities in COVID death rates in California, especially for the Latino community, which has been disproportionately affected with coronavirus infection during the pandemic. Since the state began tracking deaths in April 2020, more than 91,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 — approximately 230 deaths per 100,000 people — according to the Public Policy Institute of California, a policy research nonprofit with offices in San Francisco and Sacramento. (Narayan, 6/27)

A year ago, when world leaders gathered at the annual Group of Seven summit, the Covid pandemic was omnipresent — from restrictions on those traveling for the gathering to the pledge by those present to donate a billion vaccine doses. But as the leaders of the wealthiest democracies met again this week in the Bavarian Alps, combating the pandemic had fallen off the agenda, even as much of the developing world remains unvaccinated and health officials warn of another winter surge. (Pettypiece, 6/28)

Douglas County has reported Nebraska's first suspected case of monkeypox. The patient is a man in his 30s with a history of international travel, the Douglas County Health Department said in a news release. He is isolating at home and the health department said contact tracing is underway to find anyone else who may have been exposed to the disease. (Olberding, 6/27)

Minnesota health officials say a Twin Cities adult has contracted the state’s first presumed case of monkeypox, a disease that has emerged in more than 50 countries and 26 U.S. states. The state public health lab identified the infection, a case which has been forwarded to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation. The person identified with the disease in Minnesota is receiving outpatient treatment for the infection that likely was contracted during overseas travel, according to health officials. (6/27)

A case of monkeypox has been found in a person living in the Columbus area. Columbus Public Health is investigating a case of the disease in a 48-year-old man who is now in isolation, according to a news release. The infection marks the second case of monkeypox found in Ohio during the current outbreak. Columbus Public Health serves both the City of Columbus and Worthington. The risk of monkeypox to the general public is low, as the disease remains uncommon, according to Columbus Public Health. (Filby, 6/27)

DC Health yesterday announced that it would open 300 free, confidential appointments for the vaccine JYNNEOS which is given in two doses, 28 days apart. (Cirruzzo and Chen, 6/28)

Doctors diagnosing monkeypox should be on the lookout for symptoms that don't quite match the typical descriptions of the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned June 14. The monkeypox virus belongs to the same family and genus as the virus that causes smallpox and triggers similar, but milder, symptoms, according to the CDC ... At the start of the infection, people usually develop fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue. Then the characteristic rashes associated with monkeypox begin to appear. These rashes typically progress through several stages, initially looking like discolored patches of skin then raised bumps, then blisters and finally large, pus-filled pimples; eventually, these skin lesions scab over and fall off. (Lanese, 6/28)

A new payment model targeted at improving Medicare cancer care will begin in mid-2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday. Known as the Enhancing Oncology Model, the voluntary program builds off the Oncology Care Model, which will end Thursday after six years. Two risk arrangements will be available in the new model, but both will require participants to take on some downside risk. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will launch the new model on July 1, 2023, for a five-year test period. (Goldman, 6/27)

For decades, researchers have tried to enroll more women in clinical trials so research into drugs and medical treatments reflects sex differences and detects possible risks of newly developed cures. But despite gains — and legal requirements — progress has stalled. That’s the conclusion of a study published in Contemporary Clinical Trials that looks at female participation in clinical trials in recent years. (Blakemore, 6/27)

As more machine learning tools reach patients, developers are starting to get smart about the potential for bias to seep in. But a growing body of research aims to emphasize that even carefully trained models — ones built to ignore race — can breed inequity in care. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and IBM Research recently showed that algorithms based on clinical notes — the free-form text providers jot down during patient visits — could predict the self-identified race of a patient, even when the data had been stripped of explicit mentions of race. It’s a clear sign of a big problem: Race is so deeply embedded in clinical information that straightforward approaches like race redaction won’t cut it when it comes to making sure algorithms aren’t biased. (Palmer, 6/28)

On June 28, 2012, a joint press release went out from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announcing a new paper in Science from an international team of researchers based there. “Programmable DNA Scissors Found for Bacterial Immune System,” it declared, hinting that the discovery could lead to a new “editing tool for genomes.” That paper, “A Programmable Dual-RNA-Guided DNA Endonuclease in Adaptive Bacterial Immunity,” has now been cited by more than 15,000 publications and downloaded nearly 65,000 times. It laid out the inner workings of a system called CRISPR/Cas9, transformative work for which two of its authors, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry just eight years later. (Molteni, 6/28)

R1 RCM's latest acquisition is expected to add about $240 million to the company's 2022 revenue, executives said Monday. The revenue-cycle management company completed its acquisition of Cloudmed, announced in January, last week. Cloudmed is a technology company that uses artificial intelligence and automation to analyze medical records, payment data and medical insurance models to help healthcare providers manage claims and payments. R1 has sought to differentiate itself from competitors by developing technology tools with robotic process automation, machine learning and natural language processing. (Kim Cohen, 6/27)

KHN: Listen: He Was Denied Care Because He Owed His Doctor Less Than $100 

Ariane and Samantha Buck of Arizona have had their lives upended by $50,000 in medical debt. They rely on family to provide Christmas gifts for their three children. But Ariane Buck was still surprised when his doctor refused to see him because he owed a balance of less than $100 to the practice. “That’s just not right,” Buck told KHN’s Noam N. Levey. “Everyone should at least be able to get to a doctor when they feel ill.” Levey discussed the Bucks’ predicament with Mary Louise Kelly on NPR’s “All Things Considered” on June 22. (6/28)

Using recreational marijuana is associated with a higher risk of emergency room care and being hospitalized for any reason, a new study has found. "Cannabis use is not as benign and safe as some might think," said study author Nicholas Vozoris, assistant professor and clinician investigator in the division of respirology at the department of medicine at the University of Toronto. "Our study demonstrates that the use of this substance is associated with serious negative outcomes, specifically, ED (emergency department) visits and hospitalizations," Vozoris said in an email. (LaMotte, 6/27)

Even some of the nation’s top tobacco experts were surprised by the Food and Drug Administration’s stated rationale for pulling Juul off the market: It said it had concerns about the company’s toxicology data. Some of the FDA’s statements hinted at the potential for public health concerns with Juul products. The agency noted, for example, that Juul hadn’t adequately answered the FDA’s questions about its worry that caustic chemicals could leach from the company’s proprietary pods. (Florko, 6/28)

The pandemic-era federal aid that made school meals available for free to all public school students — regardless of family income levels — is ending, raising fears about the effects in the upcoming school year for families already struggling with rising food and fuel costs. For families already strained by inflation and the end of other federal help like expanded child tax credits, advocates say cuts to the aid could mean turning more frequently to food banks. (Rathke, 6/27)

Researchers from the CDC and their state and territorial health partners detailed their interim findings in a Jun 24 early online edition Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). They include 296 patients who were diagnosed as having unexplained hepatitis between Oct 1, 2021, and Jun 14, with a detailed analysis of 123 patients. Of the total, 18 kids needed liver transplant and 11 died. In a separate weekly case-count update, the CDC said as of Jun 22, 305 cases have been reported from 42 states or territories. (Schnirring, 6/27)

KHN: ‘American Diagnosis’: Indigenous Advocates Work For Better Reproductive Care

‘Rezilience,’ Season 4 of the ‘American Diagnosis’ podcast, traces the resilience of Indigenous peoples in the U.S. taking action to protect the health and well-being of their communities. (6/28)

School shootings in 2020-21 soared to the highest number in two decades, according to a new federal report that examines crime and safety in schools across the United States. The 31-page report, released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, also pointed to a rise in cyberbullying and in verbal abuse or disrespect of teachers over the decade that ended with the onset of the pandemic in spring 2020. (St. George, 6/28)

With President Joe Biden signing legislation that will incentivize states to enact red flag laws, some states already are trying to find ways to make their current red flag laws more effective in preventing gun violence. Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have laws that allow law enforcement—and sometimes family members and school administrators—to petition civil courts to confiscate firearms from people who may be a danger to themselves or others. Judges decide whether to grant petitions, often called extreme risk protection orders, after a hearing. The orders usually last a year. (Vasilogambros, 6/27)

KHN: Sheriffs Who Denounced Colorado’s Red Flag Law Are Now Using It 

Dolores County Sheriff Don Wilson never expected to use Colorado’s red flag law when it was passed in 2019. He thought the law made it too easy to take a person’s guns away. The statute allows law enforcement officers or private citizens to petition a county court to confiscate firearms temporarily from people who pose an imminent threat to themselves or others. “All it is is one person’s word against another,” said Wilson, whose sparsely populated territory is in southwestern Colorado near the Utah border. (Hawryluk, 6/28)

Ashley Nichols rarely drinks, but she made an exception on a Saturday in late April, rendezvousing with co-workers attending a medical conference at a Quincy hotel. Nichols, 36, a surgical tech, arrived at the pub at Best Western Adams Inn around 2 p.m., after pulling an extra shift at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She ordered a cocktail and a plate of nachos to share. She had two more cocktails over the next two and half hours before she and her friends decided to leave. The next thing she remembers is waking up on a gurney, covered in vomit and missing a shoe, her worried husband hovering beside her, cradling their infant son. (Pan, 6/27)

A pilot program that puts teams of health specialists on Metro Transit trains and regional hubs is seeing early results — and its organizers are eying further expansion. Run by the nonprofit health provider Chestnut Health Systems, the program debuted in St. Clair County, Illinois, in April 2021. By March 2022, the company reported that its specialists connected 177 riders with services like drug treatment, emergency housing and food. “Our main thing that we are addressing is the unhoused population, followed by substance use and mental health,” Emily Schwaegel, Chestnut Health’s MetroLink project coordinator, said on Monday. (Wicentowski, 6/27)

Women in Missouri die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth at higher rates than women in just six other states. And Black mothers in the state are four times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related issues, higher than the nationwide average. Yet Missouri is not among the many states that are seeking to take advantage of an offer from the federal government to pay for extended health care for postpartum mothers. Currently, Missouri provides coverage to low-income mothers during pregnancy and up to 60 days after childbirth. In an effort to improve maternal health and address racial disparities, the American Rescue Plan Act, which Congress approved last year, allows states to extend their postpartum Medicaid coverage up to a year after birth. The new option is available to states for five years, starting April 1 of this year. (Cunningham, 6/27)

For years, Colorado lawmakers have worked relentlessly to reform the state’s health care system. But that work has often focused on just one narrow area: health insurance. From expanding access to Medicaid, to setting up a state health insurance exchange, to engineering a complicated reinsurance program to creating the Colorado Option, a government-designed health plan, the brightest minds in health policy in Colorado have spent a lot of the last decade thinking about how to get more people covered at lower prices. That focus is now starting to change, though, simply because there’s not a lot left to do on insurance, according to one of the state’s most prominent thinkers on health care and reform. (Ingold, 6/27)

After two years of pandemic disruptions for Oklahoma students, all candidates for state schools superintendent say mental health services should remain a priority in public schools, but some question certain counseling initiatives. For the past eight years of Superintendent Joy Hofmeister’s tenure, the Oklahoma State Department of Education boosted the number of counselors in schools, hosted yearly summits on student trauma and organized a statewide counseling team to deploy to schools in crisis. The four Republicans and lone Democrat in the race to succeed Hofmeister, who is term-limited, say the agency should continue to focus on programs supporting mental health. The candidates differ on how schools should deliver those services. (Martinez-Keel, 6/27)

Flooded streets have become such a way of life in South Florida that most people wade right through the puddles. Sometimes, when the ponds are a bit deeper, they even pull out kayaks, paddleboards or wakeboards. That makes public health experts cringe because that floodwater is likely pretty gross, often tainted with human and animal waste, among other foul things. It’s so gross that Miami-Dade County regularly warns residents to stay out of it or scrub up after touching it. “It is absolutely full of bacteria and god knows what else,” said Rachel Silverstein, Miami Waterkeeper. “I don’t even want to think about all the industrial runoff.” (Harris, 6/27)

The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday settled little about how abortion restrictions may be enacted and enforced. Thanks to legal precedent established by conservative activists, the issue is more complicated than it might have been before the COVID-19 pandemic. (David Coale, 6/28)

Medicine is practiced and administered according to a national standard of evidence-based care, not by the dictum of politicians — and justices elected by those pols — with biased agendas. As ACOG included within its recent statement, “There is no room within the sanctuary of the patient-physician relationship for individual lawmakers who wish to impose their personal religious or ideological views on others.” That is why all physicians adhere to the Hippocratic oath to do no harm. (Edward Linn and Miles Zaremski, 6/27)

With the six Republican-appointed justices on U.S. Supreme Court now authorizing states to cancel freedom of abortion for mothers, Connecticut and other Democratic-led states will maintain protections once established by Roe v. Wade.  Many Republican-led states, however, have moved in the opposite direction, banning freedom of abortion well before fetal viability and as early as conception. These states have made no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape — and other states are preparing to target exceptions that would save the life of the mother.  As extreme as it is to have no exceptions, other states are considering going further, seeking to curb abortion-related freedoms, including contraception, as recommended by Justice Clarence Thomas. (Riju Das, 6/28)

There are virtually no precedents in American law in which a right — declared fundamental by the Supreme Court — was erased. While the court has overhauled constitutional protections before, the complete retraction of the right to abortion sets the nation on a course it has never seen. From 1910 to 1937, the court recognized a right to freedom of contract, but this rarely functioned as a liberty for workers — often, the court used this “right” to strike down laws protecting workers. And in the 1970s, four years after ruling that the death penalty as applied in the U.S. was unconstitutional, the court reinstated capital punishment after states revised their laws to meet the court’s requirements, leading to the executions of more than 1,500 people in the decades since. (Mary Ziegler, 6/26)

It wasn’t so long ago that it was unthinkable for millions of American women to lose the fundamental right to control their bodies and their destiny. But the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday overturning Roe vs. Wade has made that reality. After decades of decisions gradually expanding Americans’ rights, the court now has a majority of justices willing to use their power to rip away personal freedoms. (6/28)

As if dealing with continued waves of Covid-19 isn’t enough, the U.S. is facing a new outbreak — monkeypox — that highlights just how close the U.S. public health system is to its breaking point. While monkeypox has not technically been categorized as a sexually transmitted infection (STI), it looks and acts like common STIs and shares the same barriers to detection and treatment, including stigma and access to knowledgeable providers. For people like me who are working inside the broad national response to monkeypox, there are loud echoes of the earliest days of Covid-19 and, longer ago, of AIDS. But understanding the country’s capacity to contain monkeypox requires an examination of the STI epidemic that the nation has ignored for years, which is why these diseases continue to be out of control. (David C. Harvey, 6/28)

President Biden’s cancer “moonshot” received a big boost from the Food and Drug Administration, thanks to its aggressive actions aimed at curtailing smoking. Three recent proposals — reducing nicotine in cigarettes, ordering e-cigarette maker Juul to take its products off the market and banning menthol-flavored cigarettes — have the potential to save many lives. (Leana S. Wen, 6/27)

Massachusetts has the highest rate of health insurance coverage in the nation. How many times have you heard that? The Commonwealth has earned those bragging rights, of course. Nearly every year, the state ranks near or at the top among all states. In 2019, only 3 percent of its residents were uninsured, the lowest rate in the country. And yet, those bragging rights, oddly, might make lawmakers complacent. Indeed, such impressive coverage rates sometimes mask small yet important gaps that are nonetheless urgent to fill. (Marcela Garcia, 6/27)

We waited for vaccines, for boosters and for lockdowns to be lifted. Major life events were postponed or — worse — missed. But the hope was that life would resume on the other side of the pandemic and we would make up for lost time. Those fortunate enough to weather the pandemic with their savings intact dreamed of having a wedding, traveling or continuing their education. (Maggie Mulqueen, 6/27)

Today there is greater awareness of the social determinants of health in healthcare circles than ever before. But how can we translate this heightened awareness into action? The still-prevalent fee-for-service payment model doesn't support SDOH initiatives. And good intentions only go so far. (Joseph Fifer, 6/27)