Category: Politics
Michigan Legislature Asks Court to Allow Enforcement of 1931 Abortion Ban
Michigan’s pre-Roe statute would expose health care professionals in the state to felony charges and fines for performing an abortion except to save the life of the patient. It also would criminalize advertising or selling medications to induce an abortion.
New Washington laws on guns, shooter drills, abortion take effect Thursday
Dovetailing with the hot-button issues of gun violence and abortion in the news recently, several bills passed by the Washington State Legislature this year will go into effect on Thursday.
Birth Control Limits to Follow Abortion Bans?
Many advocates on reproductive health issues think U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade will further fuel some conservatives’ efforts to limit access to birth control. Although Alito specifically said in the draft that the ruling would not pertain to other rights courts also grounded in privacy, activists worry opponents will marshal his argument on privacy to attack birth control or gay marriage, for example.
Impending demise of Roe v. Wade puts a spotlight on a major privacy risk: Your phone reveals more about you than you think
Using a maps app to plan a route, sending terms to a search engine and chatting online are ways that people actively share their personal data. But mobile devices share far more data than just what their users say or type. They share information with the network about whom people contacted, when they did so, how long the communication lasted and what type of device was used.
The Fractious Evolution of Pediatric Transgender Medicine
Pediatric transgender medicine is a new field with a lot of questions yet to be answered by science. What is the long-term impact of blocking puberty on a young person’s health? Can practitioners correctly determine which youngsters will still identify as trans when they are adults? Do the psychological assessments contribute to children’s suffering by delaying access to puberty blockers and hormones? Why has the number of teens coming forward to receive transgender medical care, particularly those assigned female at birth, risen so dramatically in recent years?
As Politics Infects Public Health, Private Companies Profit
For some counties and cities that share a public health agency with other local governments, differences over mask mandates, business restrictions, and other covid preventive measures have strained those partnerships.
Missouri’s War on Public Health Shows Extent of National Rift
At least 1 in 5 Americans live in places that had lost their top local public health official amid a wave of threats to the profession and chronic stress that led to firings, resignations, and retirements since the pandemic began. Such blows endanger the public health system’s ability to respond to other issues in the future, public health officials said.
Justices Block Broad Worker Vaccine Requirement, Allow Health Worker Mandate to Proceed
The OSHA rules are opposed by many business groups, led by the small business advocacy organization the National Federation of Independent Business. It argued that allowing the rules to take effect would leave businesses “irreparably harmed,” both by the costs of compliance and the possibility that workers would quit rather than accept the vaccine.
Compliance and Defiance: States React to New CDC Mask Guidelines
CDC’s reversal on mask recommendations led to more disagreement between Republican and Democratic politicians over masks and other pandemic-related public health precautions.
GOP Legislators in Missouri Oppose Vaccine Efforts as State Becomes COVID Hotspot
When State Rep. Bill Kidd, from the Kansas City suburbs, revealed that he has been infected by the coronavirus, he wrote: “No, we didn’t get the vaccine . . . We’re Republicans”
Supreme Court Declines to Overturn ACA — Again
Justices ruled that the suing states and the individual plaintiffs lacked “standing” to bring the case to court.
How America’s partisan divide over pandemic responses played out in the states
States with Republican governors saw more cases, more deaths.
As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills to Curb Them
Fed up with a lack of federal action , state legislators are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels.
What Biden Can Do to Combat COVID Right Now
Should he set up a shadow COVID effort, to compete with the Trump administration’s task force?
GOP Lawsuits Restrain Governors’ COVID-19 Actions
Republican say governors need legislative approval to shut down businesses, require mask-wearing or force residents to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19.