Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicaid Funding Restored To Planned Parenthood Clinics Nationwide
A federal judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction blocking language in the GOP budget reconciliation law that made Planned Parenthood ineligible for Medicaid reimbursements for one year. (Raman, 7/28)
On abortion and contraception in Iowa, Texas, Georgia, and Missouri —
This week marks one year since a state law went into effect banning abortion when cardiac activity is detected. This can be as early as six weeks of pregnancy. The law includes exceptions for rape, incest, life of the pregnant person and fetal abnormalities, but it has still had drastic effects on abortion care in the state. (Krebs, 7/28)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking legal action against a New York county clerk for refusing to file a judgment and court summons against a doctor who allegedly prescribed and mailed abortion medication to a woman in Texas. Paxton’s office has submitted a petition seeking a writ of mandamus to force Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck to enforce the judgment against the doctor and ensure she pays the Texas penalty, according to a statement. (O’Connell-Domenech, 7/28)
Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News: A Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman Was Kept Alive In Georgia. It's Unclear If State Law Required ItÂ
A Georgia woman declared brain-dead and kept on life support for more than three months because she was pregnant was removed from a ventilator in June and died, days after doctors delivered her 1-pound, 13-ounce baby by emergency cesarean section. The baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit. The case has drawn national attention to Georgia’s six-week abortion ban and its impacts on pregnancy care. (Mador, 7/29)
St. Louis residents can now find a morning-after pill on convenience store shelves next to the condoms. California-based Cadence OTC began selling its over-the-counter emergency contraceptives, The Morning After Pill, in convenience stores and gas stations in Missouri this year. Its products are available in 24 locations statewide and 30 in the St. Louis area including Illinois. (Mizelle, 7/28)
In other reproductive health news —
After being born at 21 weeks and 0 days gestation, Nash Keen beat the odds and celebrated his first birthday this month, receiving the unique honor of earning the Guinness World Record for the world's most premature baby. The record was previously held by an infant born at 21 weeks and 1 day gestation, which Nash beat by just 1 day, making him 133 days premature. Little Nash, who weighed just 10 oz and measured 24 cm at birth, spent 6 months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). (Robertson, 7/28)
A new mother from Alabama is warning pregnant patients after she says eating an "everything bagel" for breakfast before giving birth to her second child upended her family last spring. It all stemmed from the unexpected results of one urine drug test -- a routine test given to thousands of maternity patients across the country. It illustrates the findings of a joint investigation between "CBS Sunday Morning" and The Marshall Project that found the percentage of false positive results from urine drug tests to be as high as 50%. (Moriarty, Aviv, Walter and Earl, 7/27)