The Republican presidential debate Wednesday highlighted how a 15-week federal ban on abortions has become a key marker in the party’s struggle to coalesce around a position on the crucial issue. Candidates are trying to walk a tightrope by staking out a “pro-life” position that won’t turn off a majority of voters in a general…
Author: Nathaniel Weixel
1 in 5 women feel mistreated during maternity care, CDC finds
About 1 in 5 women reported experiences of mistreatment and discrimination during pregnancy and delivery care, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the highest rates reported by Black, Hispanic and multiracial women. The types of mistreatment most commonly reported by women were being verbally abused, having…
FDA taps leader for new human foods program in wake of baby formula crisis
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Wednesday the first leader of a new program dedicated to human foods, part of an agency-wide reorganization effort launched in the wake of a contaminated baby formula crisis last year. James Jones, a former official at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will serve as the new deputy commissioner…
Biden administration investing up to $24 million for cancer-fighting mRNA tech
The Biden administration’s new biomedical research agency said Wednesday it is investing up to $24 million to develop mRNA platforms that can train the immune system to more effectively fight cancer and other diseases. The research will be led by a team at Emory University in Atlanta. The project will be funded through the administration’s…
South Carolina’s ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion ban upheld as constitutional
South Carolina’s law banning abortion after detection of a “fetal heartbeat” is legal, and there is no constitutional right to an abortion, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The legislation, which was signed into earlier this spring by Gov. Henry McMaster (R), bans abortions after an ultrasound detects cardiac activity, which is usually at about…
Families sue Florida after being kicked off Medicaid during state ‘unwinding’
A pair of consumer advocacy groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging Florida is ending people’s Medicaid coverage without proper notice. The groups are representing a mother and her two-year-old with cystic fibrosis living in Jacksonville, and a one-year-old in Miami. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, claims the child with cystic fibrosis…
DOJ settles price fixing charges against generic drug giants
Two major generic drug companies on Monday settled charges of criminal price fixing with the Justice Department (DOJ). The U.S. division of Israel-based Teva will pay a $225 million criminal penalty over five years, and the U.S. division of India-based Glenmark will pay a $30 million criminal penalty, DOJ announced. The two companies entered into…
Federal judge pauses Georgia law banning hormone therapy for transgender minors
A federal judge has temporarily blocked part of a Georgia law that bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors. In a ruling late Sunday, Judge Sarah E. Geraghty in the Northern District of Georgia said the state’s law banning hormone therapy “is substantially likely to violate the Equal Protection Clause.” Geraghty said the plaintiffs, four anonymous…
What to know about new COVID-19 shots, RSV treatments
The U.S. will head into this year’s fall and winter respiratory virus season with new tools aimed at easing the threat of infections due to a “tripledemic” of COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu. Last year saw scores of young children infected by RSV, overwhelming children’s hospitals and emergency rooms across the country. The…
Nebraska abortion rights group begins 2024 ballot initiative push
An abortion rights group in Nebraska is taking initial steps to put the issue on the ballot in 2024. A political campaign committee called Protect Our Rights filed paperwork earlier this month in support of a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to protect the right to an abortion. Language for the measure…