Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Legislatures Key To GOP Strategy To Roll Back Abortion Rights
Republicans are more united than they have been in years on a national strategy to roll back abortion rights, using state legislatures and the new GOP Congress to push for banning the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy — a platform that also has the backing of the party’s presidential candidates. (Everett and French, 1/11)
This year, Texas anti-abortion groups are pushing lawmakers to exclude Planned Parenthood from the screening program. The combined federal and state-funded program provides free cancer screening and diagnostic tests for women aged 21 to 64 who are uninsured or underinsured and meet low-income requirements. Planned Parenthood saw about 3,300 of the nearly 33,600 women screened through the program in 2014. (Martin, 1/10)
A Kansas doctor scrutinized for referring young patients for late-term abortions remains barred from practicing medicine after a state board declared Friday that her inadequate record-keeping justified the revocation of her license. The State Board of Healing Arts stripped Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus of her license to provide charity care in 2012, finding she had performed substandard mental health exams in 2003 for 11 patients ages 10 to 18 before referring them to the late Dr. George Tiller's clinic in Wichita. (Hegeman and Hanna, 1/9)