Health care
Bill prohibiting discrimination for organ donation passes Senate
The Alabama Senate Thursday approved a bill that would prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities who need organ transplants. HB 122, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wood, R-Valley, would ban organizations from placing people lower on a transplant list because of their disability. “My colleague and my district House member that has worked very hard on […]
Alabama House committee approves bill creating legal sex and gender definitions
An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved a bill that would put legal definitions of man, woman, boy, girl, father, mother, male, female and sex in the Code of Alabama. HB 405, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, passed the House Health Committee on a party-line vote of 8-5. Rep. Craig Lipscomb, R-Rainbow City, abstained. The […]
Suicide and crisis hotline bill moves out of Alabama Senate committee, stalls in House
A bill to fund the Alabama 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline remains in a House committee following disagreements over funding. HB 389, sponsored by House Ways and Means General Fund chair Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, would create a 988 Suicide and Crisis Call hotline for suicide prevention and crisis management. It would also require the Department […]
Lawmakers debate violence against abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers
WASHINGTON — Republicans at a U.S. House hearing aired frustration with the Department of Justice this week for what they contended is a lack of enforcement of a Clinton-era law that protects access to reproductive health care at anti-abortion pregnancy centers and abortion clinics. GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee expressed anger that the […]
Three-judge panel in U.S. appeals court hears arguments in abortion pill case
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel quizzed lawyers during oral arguments Wednesday over a Texas judge’s decision that could end access to the abortion pill nationwide. Observers see the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as a legal way station for the case, in which anti-abortion groups sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, […]
‘What Is A Woman’ bill faces criticism in Alabama House committee meeting
The sponsor of a bill that would try to legally define man, woman, boy, girl, father, mother, male, female, and sex faced criticism from LGBTQ individuals and members of the Alabama House Health Committee on Wednesday. HB 405, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, is titled the ‘What Is A Woman’ Act. She said the […]
Arguments on landmark abortion pill case to be heard Wednesday in appeals court
WASHINGTON — The lawsuit over access to the abortion pill goes before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday, the next step on a path that will likely end at the U.S. Supreme Court. The three-judge panel will decide whether to keep, overturn, or alter a ruling from U.S. District Court […]
Alabama GOP legislators push for tougher abortion laws as Democratic repeal efforts stall
In the waning days of the 2023 legislative session, Democratic efforts to ease Alabama’s near-total ban on abortion remain stalled. And Republicans appear to be pushing even tougher bills, including one that would make a woman who had an abortion subject to a murder charge. “There were all kinds of barriers in the way already, […]
Health experts urge FDA to approve over-the-counter birth control in unanimous vote
Dyvia Huitron started having sex when she was 16. Worried about getting pregnant, she talked to her parents about getting on hormonal birth control. Instead, they grounded her. The now-19-year-old had expected pushback – she was living in a religious community in conservative McAllen, Texas. But she underestimated how many years it would eventually take […]
As the COVID public health emergency ends, prepping for a new pandemic is next
WASHINGTON — After more than three years and 1.1 million deaths, the United States on Thursday will end the public health emergency for COVID-19 — and Congress is attempting to better prepare for a possible resurgence of that virus or another. The expiration of the designation, originally put in place in January 2020, means alterations […]
Post-Roe abortion bans force pregnant people with life-threatening complications to travel
Jennifer Adkins’ first pregnancy was near-perfect. She sailed through her appointments and screenings with no complications, ticking every box and making lists of all the right questions to ask her medical professionals. By the time her unmedicated labor was over and the nurses placed her newborn son on her chest, Adkins felt like a superhero. […]
From credit card restrictions to wastewater: What abortion foes have been up to since Dobbs leaked
Anti-abortion leaders could not stop paraphrasing Winston Churchill last June after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a victory that took 50 years to realize. “While we celebrate the momentous ruling in Dobbs, we must remember that overturning Roe was not the beginning of the end, but it was the end of the […]