Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Illinois Planned Parenthood Closing Four Clinics, Citing Financial Trouble
Citing a 鈥渇inancial shortfall,鈥 Planned Parenthood of Illinois announced Wednesday 鈥 on the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade 鈥 that it will be closing four clinics across the state, including one on Chicago鈥檚 South Side. The health center shutdowns come as Illinois is already grappling with a surge in patients traveling here from other states for abortion care after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision Roe v. Wade in June 2022, ending federal abortion rights. (Lourgos, 1/22)
The largest Planned Parenthood health center in the U.S. has opened in downtown Oakland, officials said. The building, located at 1400 Broadway, is officially named the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Barbara Lee Oakland Health Center, officials said. It opened on Dec. 17 and a ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for the center on Feb. 1. (Parker, 1/22)
In other reproductive health news 鈥
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed two bills into law earlier this week that will allow pharmacists in the state to prescribe聽hormonal birth control. House Bill 5436 gives Michigan pharmacists the ability to write prescriptions for hormonal contraceptives like birth control pills, emergency contraceptive pills, patches and vaginal rings. Whitmer also signed a second piece of legislation, House Bill 5435, which requires insurance companies to cover the cost of pharmacist-prescribed hormonal contraception in the state. (O鈥機onnell-Domenech, 1/22)
State legislators are considering a bill that would force pregnant Wyomingites to get an ultrasound at least 48 hours before being prescribed medication for an abortion. HB 64, sponsored by House Speaker Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), passed out of the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Wednesday. (Clements, 1/22)
Senate Republicans failed on Wednesday to invoke cloture on a bill legislating care for infants 鈥渂orn alive鈥 during attempted abortions, with the motion largely serving to get Democrats on the record as voting against a bill being framed as anti-infanticide. Republicans sought cloture on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill that requires health care practitioners to provide the 鈥渟ame degree of professional skill, care, and diligence鈥 for a child born alive during an attempted abortion, as they would during normal childbirth. (Choi, 1/22)
A state senator in Mississippi has filed a bill entitled the 鈥淐ontraception Begins at Erection Act.鈥 As written by Sen. Bradford Blackmon, the bill would make it 鈥渦nlawful for a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.鈥 There are also fines involved, the third strike resulting in the loss of $10,000 from the perpetrator. (1/22)