Friday News Roundup for Feb 16, 2024

Missouri Supreme Court again says state can’t deny Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood

BY: ANNA SPOERRE - FEBRUARY 14, 2024 3:46 PM

https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-supreme-court-again-says-state-cant-deny-medicaid-funds-to-planned-parenthood/

for the second time in four years, Missouri’s highest court rebuked lawmakers’s efforts to ban abortion providers and their affiliates from receiving Medicaid reimbursements.

The legislature included a line in the 2022 state budget to spend $0 for any Medicaid-covered services if the provider also offers abortions or is affiliated with an abortion provider. 

Abortion is illegal in Missouri. The two Planned Parenthood affiliates operating in the state – Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri – no longer provide abortions in Missouri, though their counterparts in Kansas and Illinois do.

In a decision Wednesday, the Missouri Supreme Court once again ruled the legislature’s attempt to defund Planned Parenthood through the budget was unconstitutional. 

The state’s Medicaid program, which serves low-income and disabled Missourians, has long banned funding for abortion, with limited exceptions. Medicaid has reimbursed Planned Parenthood in the past for reproductive health services that do not include abortion, including STI and cancer screenings, as well as contraceptives. 

Planned Parenthood has said it hasn’t received any state funds for nearly two years as this legal fight played out in court, though the organization’s clinics continued to treat all patients, regardless of insurance.

Advocates for Planned Parenthood have said cutting off Medicaid funding only hurts those most in need of care. 

in a joint statement, Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, and Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, called the ongoing efforts to defund Planned Parenthood “cruel and irresponsible.”

“Today, the Missouri Supreme Court again reaffirmed our patients’ right to access critical care like cancer screenings, birth control, annual exams, STI testing and treatment, and more at Planned Parenthood health centers. Over and over again, the courts have rejected politicians’ ongoing attempts to deprive patients of their health care by unconstitutionally kicking Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program. But the fight for patient access is far from over.”

Kansas bill would require abortion seekers be asked for reasons before terminating pregnancy

BY: ALLISON KITE - FEBRUARY 15, 2024 9:45 AM

https://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/15/kansas-bill-would-require-abortion-seekers-be-asked-for-reasons-before-terminating-pregnancy/

Kansas abortion providers would have to ask patients why they are terminating pregnancies under legislation critics argue represents an effort to “harass, intimidate and shame” pregnant women.

A Kansas House committee heard Wednesday from anti-abortion groups — who argued collecting data on abortion patients would allow policymakers establish programs for those who are pregnant — and abortion-rights groups that questioned the motives behind the bill.

The legislation, requested by a group called Kansans for Life, would require providers have patients rank their top reasons for seeking an abortion, such as financial difficulty, a threat to their health posed by pregnancy, or the pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.

Providers would also have to collect demographic information, including age, race, marital status, state or country of residence, highest level of education, educational attainment, and whether the patient has reported domestic violence, has a safe place to live or received financial assistance from an organization that supports individuals during pregnancy. If a patient declined to answer why they sought the abortion, the provider would be required to record that.

The bill would apply even to minors.

Taylor Morton of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes said “Kansans have made it abundantly clear that they do not want politicians in their exam rooms,” referencing Kansas voters’ overwhelming rejection in August 2022 of an amendment that would have removed the right to an abortion from the Kansas Constitution.

“All the legislation would do, is undermine the relationship between patients and health care providers.  There’s no reason for the state to demand and collect this deeply personal information from patients.”

“Patients seeking literally any other form of necessary health care are not and would never be subjected to such intrusive and personal questioning, nor are pregnant people subjected to such questioning when they decide to carry a pregnancy to term.”

Rep. Stephanie Clayton, D-Overland Park, questioned how patients’ privacy could be protected if they reported being a victim of domestic violence or rape in a publicly released report. If a child seeks an abortion following a rape, she asked, and there aren’t many such incidents reported each year, could someone connect the dots and identify them?

“If someone is the victim of that terrible crime as a child, they should be able to go on, week therapy and heal and live a full, adult life without having their privacy invaded because they were the victim of a crime,” 

Amber Sellers, director of advocacy for Trust Women Foundation, argued the legislation would be unnecessarily burdensome.

She said the right to an abortion required no more justification than the right to free speech.

“These questions are confusing, and they’re stigmatizing. They lack relevance, and they’re medically unnecessary. They’re deeply invasive.”

Ban on sale, transfer of ‘assault weapons’ back at Colorado Capitol

BY: SARA WILSON - FEBRUARY 14, 2024 2:29 PM

https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/ban-on-sale-transfer-of-assault-weapons-back-at-colorado-capitol/

Two progressive Denver Democrats are backing an effort to ban the purchase and transfer of semi-automatic weapons in Colorado, a second attempt after a similar bill died in committee last year.

Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández are the prime sponsors of House Bill 24-1292, which was introduced Tuesday. Epps also sponsored last year’s version. As introduced, the bill has 14 other House Democrats signed on as sponsors.

the bill’s legislative declaration reads, “Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are disproportionately used in public mass shootings, and the reasons are both obvious and irrefutable. Assault weapons are uniquely lethal by design. They entail tactical features designed for warfare, refined to maximize killing large numbers of people quickly and efficiently,” 

The bill would prohibit the manufacture, sale, import, transfer and purchase of many semi-automatic weapons. It would define “assault weapon” as a semi-automatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine and has at least one of the following characteristics: a pistol grip, a folding or detachable stock to help conceal the weapon, a muzzle brake, a grenade launcher, a shroud on the barrel that lets the user hold it with their non-trigger hand and not get burned, or a threaded barrel. The bill includes a page and a half of specific examples of would-be banned weapons, including ​​AK-47s and all AKs, AR-15s and all ARs, and all Thompson rifles.

It would also ban the sale and purchase of certain .50 caliber rifles, semi-automatic pistols and semi-automatic shotguns.

Additionally, the bill would ban the possession of trigger activators that greatly increase the rate of fire.

It includes exemptions for members of the military and police officers. Gun dealers who still have an inventory of the defined assault weapons by August could sell them to a non-Colorado resident if the transfer takes place out of state.

People who already own these types of firearms would be allowed to keep them.

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have some sort of assault weapon ban, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Virginia’s Democratic-controlled Legislature recently passed an assault weapons ban similar to the Colorado bill, but its future is uncertain as it lands on Republican Gov. Glen Youngkin’s desk.

Suicide is on the rise in Ohio

This article is about suicide. If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

BY: ROB MOORE

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/02/15/suicide-is-on-the-rise-in-ohio/

Five Ohioans die of suicide every day.

This is just one of the many data points released in a new publication by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. Here are some of the top findings from the release.

Suicide is a leading cause of death for working-age Ohioans.

Over 1,400 Ohioans died from suicide in 2022, the most recent year we have data for. This makes suicide the fifth-leading cause of death for working-age Ohioans, after cancer, heart disease, COVID-19, and unintentional deaths like drug overdose and motor vehicle crashes.

Suicide rates were highest in 2022 for working-age adults, higher than the rate for young adults, retirement-age adults, and children. Suicide was most common in Appalachian counties, with 15 of Ohio’s 22 counties with the highest suicide rates located in Appalachia.

But Suicide is on the rise for nearly everyone.

Since 2007, suicide rates have increased for men and women, white, Black, and Hispanic Ohioans, and Ohioans in every age group. The only major demographic group that has seen a flat suicide trend are Asian and Pacific Islander Ohioans.

Risk factors for high school students are also becoming more common.

Compared to 2019, female Ohio high school students were more likely in 2021 to feel sad or hopeless, seriously consider suicide, make a plan to commit suicide, or attempt suicide. 

The increase in suicide rate is driven by firearms.

Suicide deaths involving a firearm increased 60% from 2007 to 2022. This accounted for 75% of the total increase in suicides over that time period. 

If you or someone you know needs help, call 988, the national suicide hotline.

Michigan State University students ask lawmakers how they will prevent the next school shooting

BY: ANNA LIZ NICHOLS - FEBRUARY 15, 2024 8:23 PM

https://michiganadvance.com/2024/02/15/michigan-state-university-students-ask-lawmakers-how-they-will-prevent-the-next-school-shooting/

A year after the tragic shooting that claimed the lives of three students on Michigan State University’s campus, students are still healing and trying to honor everything they lost on Feb. 13, 2023.

And as the MSU, Northern Illinois University and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School communities deal with painful anniversaries of shootings at their schools this week, a mass shooting on Wednesday during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory celebration injured more than 20 people, with one death confirmed as of Thursday.

There have been 49 mass shootings in 2024 so far.

A Michigan State student speaking at the Capitol steps said, “It’s everywhere. It’s all the time. We can’t escape it. No words can really describe what the past year has been like, but I can say that despite the anger, sadness, grief, confusion, and just trying to be a college student, we never stopped showing up. I’m proud of the tireless work of students who showed up right here at the Capitol a year ago, and every day since to demand change.”

MSU student and gun violence prevention organizer Maya Manuel recalled meeting with lawmakers last year, including state Sen. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), saying “I remember looking at you, directly in your eyes and saying that the next one is going to be on you. And you took that and you went to your colleagues and you pushed out those bills just two days later.”

The new laws, written in response to the MSU shooting, require gun owners to safely store firearms from minors, implement universal background checks when purchasing a firearm, create extreme risk protection orders and expand prohibitions on firearm ownership for those convicted of crimes involving domestic violence.

But more progress is needed to prevent gun violence in Michigan, Manuel said.

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