Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Legislatures Take On Fetal-Tissue Research After Release Of Controversial And Covert Planned Parenthood Videos
The release of videos about Planned Parenthood is spurring state legislative efforts to ban or restrict use of fetal tissue for medical studies and treatments. Republicans in Arizona, California, Ohio, New Jersey and Wisconsin have introduced bills or taken action to restrict or oversee fetal tissue—pitting antiabortion advocates who say the practice of using it in research is immoral against scientists who say it is vital for breakthroughs that save lives. (Armour, 8/19)
Planned Parenthood says it will resume performing abortions in the last two weeks of a woman’s first trimester of pregnancy after receiving new guidance from the Florida government. Florida Planned Parenthood clinics had filed for an injunction and stopped performing abortions for such pregnancies after the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) found violations at three clinics earlier this month. (Sullivan, 8/29)
The seventh in the string of videos from the Center for Medical Progress released Wednesday again features a tissue procurement technician, this time explaining how she obtained a brain from an aborted fetus. (Haberkorn, 8/19)
Americans broadly support providing federal funding for free women's health exams, screenings and contraception services, a Reuters/Ipsos poll has found, suggesting risks for Republicans criticizing Planned Parenthood as part of the 2016 campaigns. Support for federal funding of Planned Parenthood itself to provide those services was even stronger, according to the Reuters/Ipsos released on Wednesday. The non-profit's image has taken a hit, the poll found, after an anti-abortion group earlier this year began releasing videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for aborted fetal tissue. (Stephenson, 8/19)
In other news -
An El Paso clinic shuttered by Texas’ tough abortion laws is set to become the first to reopen since the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked enforcement of key restrictions nearly two months ago. The reopening of the Reproductive Services facility would mean the country’s second most-populous state has 20 abortion clinics — down from 41 in 2012. (Weissert, 8/19)