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Although I’ve heard every argument about abortion, pro and con, over the years, the anti-abortion case made by three Republican-led states in a recent Federal District Court filing stopped me in my tracks. (Linda Greenhouse, 11/18)

Nothing brought Olivia more joy than when her daughter and grandchild visited her group home in Brooklyn in the early 2000s. Each hug and shared laugh lit up her face with pride like any mother’s, grounded in love, family, and connection. Olivia’s story should not be remarkable, but history almost denied her the chance to experience her family. For more than a century, Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), like Olivia, were subject to forced sterilization — a brutal legacy of eugenics aimed at erasing their place in our communities and families. (Consuelo Senior, 11/18)

On Oct 25, Rithvik Talluri, a second-year medical student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, rushed away from The View Condominiums’ parking garage as several police officers set up sniper rifles to target an unknown, armed assailant at the top of the building. At 2 p.m., just before Rithvik’s arrival at the parking garage, another resident of the building took one of his 12 weapons to fire from the 19th floor without purpose or reason at the street below. (Samuel Kim, 11/15)

Modern public health is one of civilization’s great achievements. In 1900, up to 30 percent of infants in some U.S. cities never made it to their first birthday. Since that time, vaccines, sanitation and effective medications have eliminated many previously commonplace illnesses and consigned others to extreme rarity. It’s easy to take much of that for granted, especially as those days have receded from living memory, but those achievements are fragile and can be lost. (Zeynep Tufekci, 11/16)

There are many reasons to strenuously oppose President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services. But this one matters most: his willful disregard for the scientific process. (Leana S. Wen, 11/15)