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There's little doubt: Zika is coming to the continental United States, bringing frightening birth defects — and, most likely, newly urgent discussions about abortion and contraception. Fearful they might bear children who suffer from brain-damaging birth defects caused by Zika, more women are expected to look for ways to prevent or end pregnancies. But the highest risk of Zika spreading is in Southern states where long-lasting birth control and abortions are harder to procure, and where a mosquito that transmits the virus already is plentiful. (Stobbe, 5/11)

Zika aid could find a place in the two-bill appropriations package heading to the floor after the chamber wraps up work on the Energy-Water spending bill, Republican and Democratic senators said Wednesday. (Mejdrich, 5/11)

Gov. Rick Scott, expected to travel to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, reiterated Tuesday that he intends to push federal officials to craft a plan to attack the spreading Zika virus. (5/11)

Florida health officials confirmed two new Zika infections in Miami-Dade on Tuesday, raising the statewide total to 109 people who have contracted the virus this year, more than any state. In Miami-Dade, where most of Florida’s Zika cases have been reported, 44 people have been infected with the virus, said the state health department, but the disease has not been transmitted locally by mosquito bites. Broward County has reported 15 cases of Zika. (Chang, 5/11)

Ten Massachusetts residents became infected with Zika while traveling to areas where the virus is prevalent, but no local transmission of the illness has been reported, and it’s “extremely unlikely” that will happen, a top state disease tracker told public health officials Wednesday. (Freyer, 5/11)