Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Oklahoma Moves Forward Measure That Would Automatically Ban Abortions In State If Roe Is Overturned
Oklahoma would automatically ban abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide under a bill that has cleared a Senate panel. While abortion opponents chanted, prayed and sang hymns outside the committee room, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 11-4 on Monday for the so-called "trigger" abortion ban . Similar bills already have passed in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota. (2/25)
Planned Parenthood cannot resume abortions at a clinic in central Missouri after a federal judge ruled that state restrictions were not "undue" burdens on women seeking abortions. Current Missouri law requires clinics that provide abortions to have physicians with admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. The Columbia clinic has been unable to secure a physician with those privileges after a panel of medical staff at University of Missouri Health Care decided to stop offering the privileges in 2015 during a Republican-led legislative investigation on abortion in the state. (2/25)
The Arkansas House on Monday approved a proposal to ban abortion 18 weeks into a woman's pregnancy, moving the state closer toward enacting what could be the strictest prohibition in the country. Without any debate, the majority-Republican House approved the ban by a 77-13 vote. Arkansas already has some of the strictest abortion limits in the country and bans the procedure 20 weeks into a woman's pregnancy. The bill advanced Monday includes an exemption for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest. The 18-week ban now heads to the majority-Republican Senate. (2/25)
