What We're Reading - July 6
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Good morning, everyone and happy Friday! As the country continues to suffer from an oppressive heat wave, things are heating up in the states. Here’s what we’re reading this morning…
Romney keeps promising to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but what’s his plan? “Health care reform: Obama camp: What’s Mitt Romney's plan?”—“The Obama campaign says it’s been consistent on the tax vs. penalty issue — but what it really wants to know is what Mitt Romney intends to do after he repeals the Affordable Care Act. In an appearance on CNN’s “Starting Point” on Thursday, President Barack Obama’s campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt was insistent that the administration considers the individual mandate of the health care law a penalty, not a tax… But the more pressing issue when it comes to health care is how Romney will ensure that Americans have insurance coverage after he repeals the Affordable Care Act as he’s promised on the campaign trail, LaBolt continued. ‘Mitt Romney’s going to have to explain what his alternative to the Affordable Care Act is because he said he’ll kill Obamacare dead on the first day,’ he said. ‘Where does that leave the millions of people who have pre-existing conditions in this country? Is he going to allow insurance companies to continue to discriminate against women and charge them a billion dollars more a year for their health insurance?’”
An initiative to restrict access to women’s health fails in Oregon. “Abortion opponents concede they will fall short”—“One day before Friday’s deadline, abortion opponents conceded they will fall short of the signatures required to qualify a ban on public funding for a statewide vote. Oregon voters defeated similar measures in 1978 (initiative) and 1986 (constitutional amendment). Voters also rejected measures to require advance notice to parents (1990, 2006) and to ban abortion with three exceptions (1990). The latest measure, in the form of a constitutional amendment, would require 116,284 valid signatures to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot. ‘With just two days left to deliver signed petitions to the secretary of state, we’ve got only about 70,000 signatures in hand – less than half of our 150,000 signature goal,’ chief petitioner Jeff Jimerson wrote to his supporters. The message was hailed by supporters of abortion rights, who opposed the measure. ‘Oregonian voters have proven once again that they are committed to protecting access to health care for all women in our state, and they saw that this vague and confusing proposal posed a real threat to that,’ said Maura Roche, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon spokesperson.”
The fate of women’s health care in Mississippi hangs in the balance. “Will The Courts Save Mississippi’s Lone Abortion Clinic?”—“A Mississippi law is compelling the courts to test the limits of permissible anti-abortion legislation, challenging the premise of Roe v. Wade. Earlier this week a district court issued an eleventh-hour stay to block a Mississippi law designed to shut down the state’s last surviving abortion clinic. It’s the only one that has muscled through a spate of regulations aimed at making Mississippi ‘abortion-free,’ in the words of Gov. Phil Bryant (R). ‘The Court has considered the parties’ arguments and finds Plaintiffs satisfy the requirements for temporary injunctive relief to maintain the status quo until the newly framed issues can be more thoroughly examined,’ wrote U.S. district judge Daniel P. Jordan III. Bryant’s intentions are clear: make Mississippi the first state without access to abortion. But that’s a tricky legal proposition as a result of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the two key Supreme Court rulings that protect abortion rights. The question before the courts is whether the new state law is legitimate under Roe and Casey. If so, pro-choice advocates fear it would threaten abortion rights protections nationwide.”
