News: Axios Vitals: Next abortion battleground

Monday, April 4, 2022

Axios Vitals: Next abortion battleground

Open in app View in browser

Presented By PhRMA

Axios Vitals

By Tina Reed ·Apr 04, 2022

Welcome back to a new week, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 782 words or a 3-minute read.

😝 First up: Saturday Night Live hit it a little too on the nose this weekend with its post-COVID game show: "Is my brain okay?" Note to self: Make plans to socialize outside of my house this week...

👋 Don't miss it: Emerson Collective founder & president Laurene Powell Jobs and chef, humanitarian and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés will speak Tuesday at Axios' inaugural What's Next Summit. Register here to watch.

1 big thing: The next abortion battleground

Illustration of a chain and padlock enclosing a pill capsule.

Illustration: Megan Robinson/Axios

As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the fate of Roe v. Wade, advocates on both sides of the fight are already positioning themselves for the next battle, over medication abortions or so-called abortion pills.

Why it matters: The pills for a medication abortion, mifepristone and misoprostol, are FDA-approved for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The FDA lifted long-standing restrictions in December and paved the way for doctors to prescribe them online and mail them to patients.

Republican states, meanwhile, are moving to increasingly limit access to the pills, setting up a new round of legal battles over who'll have the final say over the distribution of the drugs.

What they're saying: "That's where the entire conflict is going to turn," Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University specializing in reproductive health, tells Axios.

Since those drugs can only be used before 10 weeks of pregnancy, the right to surgical abortions will continue to loom large, Ziegler says.
Yes, but: "The kind of low visibility and flexibility of medication abortion is going to be really, really consequential" if the high court strikes down or guts Roe, she adds.

Go deeper.

2. Some parents warming to COVID shots, poll finds

Illustration of a round bandaid in the shape of smiley face on a child's arm

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

A growing segment of the wait-and-see crowd may be warming to the idea of getting a COVID-19 shot for kids 5 and under, according to a poll provided exclusively to Axios from The Harris Poll.

Driving the news: In particular, Harris found nearly half of parents who were unvaccinated themselves said they'd get the vaccine for their little kids, up from 35% in early February.

It's also well above the low of 22% later on in February after a delay in Pfizer's FDA authorization process was announced.

Why it matters: While many polls tend to generalize the unvaccinated as partisan and unwilling to change their minds, this data shows more nuance to how parents weigh what's best for their kids, said John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll.

By the numbers: More than one in four parents with kids 5 and under said they were unvaccinated and 46% of those parents said they would be likely to vaccinate their kids.

52% of Republican parents and rural parents, respectively, said they would get their kids vaccinated.
"This is about parenting, not politics. Many unvaccinated parents wanted more proof. And now, as a result, many are changing their minds," Gerzema said.

3. Quote du jour

"Instead of telling poor people they're lazy for not being physically active, why not make their neighborhoods safer so they aren't afraid to go outside and exercise? ... The only way to move the needle is to reform a system that prioritizes cures and new drugs over prevention."

Sudip Bajpeyi, a researcher at the University of Texas at El Paso, told the New York Times that America needs to change its approach to diabetes in light of disparities and the impact COVID had on diabetics. (Subscription required)

A message from PhRMA

Insured Americans face barriers to care

Nearly half of insured Americans who take prescription medicines encounter barriers that delay or limit their access to medicines.

Learn more about the abusive insurance practices that can stand between patients and the care they need in PhRMA's new report.

4. ICYMI: The state of cancer

Data: Journal of the National Cancer Institute; Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios

Death rates for many individual cancer types, such as melanoma, have seen historic drops in the last decade, we reported as part of the Axios' Cancer Deep Dive over the weekend.

At the same time, a few cancers like pancreatic cancer have remained stubbornly unchanged. Others like colorectal cancer have even seen worrisome increases.

The big picture: Between 2000 and 2021, cancer death rates in the U.S. dropped 27%, from 196.5 to 144.1 deaths per 100,000 people.

Much of that progress occurred since the human genome was sequenced, allowing major changes in how we understand cancer, screen for it, and ultimately treat it with personalized therapies, experts say.
Where the advent of immunotherapies expanded treatments, there's been a particular success with some lung and blood cancers and melanoma, said Karen Knudsen, CEO of the American Cancer Society.

The bottom line: "It's truly transformational stuff," that's happening in cancer research, Bryan McIver, the Moffitt Cancer Center's deputy physician-in-chief, told Axios.

Yes, but: There's still a lot of work to do. Cancer was the second leading cause of death after heart disease in 2020, killing 602,350 people. (COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death, according to the CDC.)

Read the Deep Dive series.

5. Catch up quick

Former President Obama will return to the White House on Tuesday to join President Biden for an event celebrating the former commander-in-chief's signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act. (Axios)
A number of states have passed laws guaranteeing patients can get visits from their loved ones, particularly those in long-term care, even if there's an outbreak. (NPR)
While global dealmaking topped $1 trillion in the first quarter, health care saw its M&A fall across the board. (Axios)
The U.S. House on Friday voted to decriminalize cannabis on the federal level. But don't hold your breath for Senate passage. (Axios)