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What does it really mean to live in a country where abortion is no longer a constitutional right? Since 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, many states have made it all but impossible to get abortion care within their borders, and have done their best to isolate people facing unwanted or complicated pregnancies, making them afraid to reach out to medical providers or even to friends and loved ones who might help them. (10/17)

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, South Carolina banned abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy. The law does have a few exceptions, including for rape and incest. Dr. Kristl Tomlin, a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist, saw what those exceptions look like in practice for young victims of rape — and she decided to leave the state. (10/17)

Like our younger counterparts, we too must be able to make informed choices about our health. We deserve access to affordable, competent medical care and treatment from trained professionals. We have every right and reason to demand lawmakers and political leaders invest in our well-being, our dignity, our humanity. Nor are we some niche special interest group. There are legions of us, 75 million strong in the U.S., in some stage of perimenopause, menopause or post menopause. (Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Tamsen Fadal, 10/17)

With no big health reform debate to command the attention of the nation and no big health proposal from either candidate, this is not a “health care election,” except, of course, for the impact abortion will have on voting and turnout, whatever the outcome on November 5. But health care has played a role in the campaign and the election in the following significant ways. (Drew Altman, 10/16)

The notion of flu season is a relic of times when one virus could transfix our response efforts and dominate our collective consciousness. Influenza in 1918. H.I.V. in 1980s and ’90s. Ebola in 2014. We can no longer afford to react on a case-by-case basis. Today we need a broader vision. (David Quammen, 10/17)

Over the summer, the Food and Drug Administration announced the creation of the Rare Disease Innovation Hub to serve as a point of collaboration and connectivity between the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), patient organizations, and product innovators with the goal of ultimately improving outcomes for patients. But how can it become more than just another case of an aspirational agency press release’s best intentions failing to make a difference? (Peter J. Pitts, 10/17)

The nation’s leading scientific academies recently issued an important report calling for urgent federal action to protect the public from the harms of rising cannabis use. Policymakers should heed these recommendations — many of which don’t even require legislation. (Leana S. Wen, 10/16)