| | | |   | | | | | The hazy legal landscape for abortion pills  Alex Hogan/STAT
The building debate over abortion pill access could pitch the country into a battle over FDA authority versus state law that hasn’t really been tested until now.
The agency’s label update this month, letting pharmacists register to dispense the drug mifepristone rather than limiting it to doctors’ offices, throws open a door for easier abortion access — in willing states. In others, like the 12 with near-total abortion bans, pharmacists and doctors are unlikely to test the legal grounds, leaving patients with few options outside of travel or mail orders (which many abortion-restrictive states also ban).
And while the Biden administration has touted boosted mifepristone access in its effort to shore up abortion rights, a legal battle already underway in Texas — with a conservative judge presiding — could see the drug entirely pulled from market, at least until an appeal.
That would cause “absolute chaos,” said Greer Donley, a University of Pittsburgh bioethicist. “[If it is] removed from the market, even for a few months, it will cause serious, serious problems accessing abortion nationwide.” Read more here. | HHS comes under fire for oversight of research that alters pathogens Federal oversight of studies known as gain-of-function research has vague guidelines, a lack of transparency, and “does not fully meet the key elements of effective oversight,” a nonpartisan federal watchdog found, my colleague Rachel Cohrs reports.
The GAO report is only the beginning of the debate that will rage over research oversight in the coming weeks. Mark your calendars: the NIH has an advisory board for biosecurity that’s expected to discuss a draft review of the agency’s oversight of this kind of research at a Jan. 27 meeting, and the materials are expected to be released ahead of time.
Republican House Energy & Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said the report validates some of her concerns about HHS oversight of gain-of-function research. Expect more oversight to come, and read the full story here. | Apply for STAT Madness! Has your institution innovated in ways worth celebrating? Submit your application to be considered for our bracket-style tournament to find the best innovations in science and medicine here. | Becerra heads west to rally for reproductive rights HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra is on the road again today, this time hitting Minnesota and Wisconsin to talk abortion access and reproductive care.
His trip comes a week after the Minnesota state legislature’s House chamber approved a bill that would permanently remove barriers to abortion access, including a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that minors get parental consent. It goes next to the state Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow majority and its fate isn’t clear. Earlier this month, A state House committee also advanced a bill to codify abortion rights in state law, lobbing it to another committee for its next vote.
With a court decision last year ensuring the right to abortion and removing other barriers, Becerra’s trip to Minnesota takes him to a virtual island of abortion rights in the northern Midwest. In neighboring Wisconsin, a near-total abortion ban enacted in the 1800s was triggered after the fall of Roe. Wisconsin also bans telehealth-related abortion, i.e., mifepristone through the mail. | House committees lock down members Congressional committees continue to take shape, though there are lingering questions about who will fill health subcommittee spots and some Senate assignments, especially among Democrats.
The House Oversight Committee, now chaired by James Comer (R-Ky.), will include Republican hardliners Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, Lauren Boebert from Colorado and Scott Perry from Pennsylvania. Boebert and Perry, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, were holdout votes on Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for Houser Speaker, though Perry made a pivotal switch to ‘yes’ and Boebert voted ‘present’ after McCarthy conceded to a series of demands that included ending all coronavirus mandates and funding.
Greene, who Twitter temporarily banned early last year for Covid-19 misinformation, released a statement on the appointment saying the committee would probe “waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement” in “every three and four letter agency.”
Over in the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, Republican leadership announced new members last week but hasn’t made subcommittee assignments just yet. Those should be finalized “in the coming weeks,” but Democrats need to ratify their committee assignments first, said a person with knowledge of the matter. | What we're reading - Mental health benefits of gender-affirming hormones for teens persist for two years in new study, STAT
- DeSantis wants to permanently ban Covid vaccine, mask requirements for Florida workers, The Miami Herald
- Verily leans into Onduo as it looks to enter the lucrative world of running medical research, STAT
- Republicans want the DEA to go after tranq dope. Experts say it won’t help, Vice
- Mix-it-yourself Wegovy? Some are trying risky sources for weight-loss drugs, STAT
| | | Thanks for reading! More next week,  | |
No comments