RESUMO
The Alabama Supreme Court recently held, in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, that the parents of human embryos that were negligently destroyed at a fertility clinic could bring an action for damages under the State's wrongful death statute. Although the Alabama legislature promptly enacted a law essentially overturning the state supreme court's decision, concerns have been raised that the court's decision might influence courts in other States to interpret their wrongful death statutes, or possibly even their fetal homicide statutes, to apply in similar circumstances, thereby threatening the availability of in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology. This article addresses those concerns.With respect to wrongful death statutes, only fourteen States (excluding Alabama) have interpreted their statutes to apply to unborn children without regard to their stage of gestation or development. The majority of States impose a gestational requirement (typically, viability) which would preclude their application to the destruction of human embryos. Even with respect to the minority of States that impose no limitation on the cause of action, those statutes, either by their express language or by fair interpretation, would not apply to unimplanted human embryos.With respect to the fetal homicide statutes in thirty-one States that do not have any gestational or developmental limitation, the statutes in twenty-six of those States apply only to acts causing the death of an unborn child in utero. As to the statutes in the other five States, the structure of the statute, considered in light of the applicable case law, strongly suggests that there would be no liability for causing the death of an unborn child before implantation. In sum, the Alabama Supreme Court's decision in LePage is not likely to be followed as a precedent in interpreting either the wrongful death statutes or the fetal homicide statutes of any other State.
Assuntos
Fertilização in vitro , Homicídio , Humanos , Homicídio/legislação & jurisprudência , Fertilização in vitro/legislação & jurisprudência , Estados Unidos , Gravidez , Feminino , Direito de não Nascer , Alabama , Imperícia/legislação & jurisprudência , Decisões da Suprema CorteRESUMO
This study examines voting in the 2022 United States congressional elections, contests that were widely expected to produce a sizable defeat for Democratic candidates for largely economic reasons. Based on a representative national probability sample of voters interviewed in both 2020 and 2022, individuals who changed their vote from one party's congressional candidate to another party's candidate did not do so in response to the salience of inflation or declining economic conditions. Instead, we find strong evidence that views on abortion were central to shifting votes in the midterm elections. Americans who favored (opposed) legal abortions were more likely to shift from voting for Republican (Democratic) candidates in 2020 to Democratic (Republican) candidates in 2022. Since a larger number of Americans supported than opposed legal abortions, the combination of these shifts ultimately improved the electoral prospects of Democratic candidates. New voters were especially likely to weigh abortion views heavily in their vote-shifting calculus. Likewise, those respondents whose confidence in the US Supreme Court declined from 2020 to 2022 were more likely to shift from voting for Republican to Democratic congressional candidates. We provide direct empirical evidence that changes in support for the Supreme Court, a nonpartisan branch of the federal government, are implicated in partisan voting behavior in another branch of government. We explore the implications of these findings for prevalent assumptions about how economic conditions influence voting, as well as for the relationship between the judiciary and electoral politics.
Assuntos
Política , Estados Unidos , Humanos , Feminino , Aborto Legal/legislação & jurisprudência , Gravidez , Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Decisões da Suprema Corte , VotaçãoAssuntos
Armas de Fogo , Violência com Arma de Fogo , Saúde Pública , Decisões da Suprema Corte , Humanos , Armas de Fogo/legislação & jurisprudência , Armas de Fogo/estatística & dados numéricos , Saúde Pública/estatística & dados numéricos , Suicídio , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Violência com Arma de Fogo/legislação & jurisprudência , Violência com Arma de Fogo/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
This cross-sectional study evaluates changes in tubal ligation and vasectomy procedures among younger adults following the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.
Assuntos
Anticoncepção , Esterilização Reprodutiva , Humanos , Adulto Jovem , Anticoncepção/métodos , Decisões da Suprema Corte , Esterilização Reprodutiva/tendênciasRESUMO
In this Viewpoint, the Supreme Court case FDA v AHM is used to illustrate the tension the FDA faces between science and politics, and state authority over abortion vs federal authority over which drugs may be marketed nationwide.
Assuntos
Abortivos , Aborto Induzido , Mifepristona , Política , Decisões da Suprema Corte , United States Food and Drug Administration , Feminino , Humanos , Gravidez , Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Induzido/métodos , Aborto Legal/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Legal/métodos , Estados Unidos , United States Food and Drug Administration/legislação & jurisprudência , Mifepristona/uso terapêutico , Abortivos/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
This Viewpoint describes how the overturning of Chevron deference would shift the ability to make policy decisions about public health and the environment from administrative agencies to the courts.
Assuntos
Regulamentação Governamental , Decisões da Suprema Corte , United States Government Agencies , Humanos , Estados Unidos , United States Government Agencies/legislação & jurisprudênciaRESUMO
This Viewpoint describes implications for medicine and public health if the US Supreme Court decides to overturn or narrow Chevron deference.
Assuntos
Regulamentação Governamental , Saúde Pública , Decisões da Suprema Corte , United States Government Agencies , Humanos , COVID-19/prevenção & controle , Saúde Pública/legislação & jurisprudência , Estados Unidos , United States Government Agencies/legislação & jurisprudência , Vacinas contra COVID-19/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
Importance: The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned the right to choose abortion in the US, with at least 16 states subsequently implementing abortion bans or 6-week gestational limits. Prior research indicates that in the 6 months following Dobbs, approximately 32â¯360 fewer abortions were provided within the US formal health care setting. However, trends in the provision of medications for self-managed abortion outside the formal health care setting have not been studied. Objective: To determine whether the provision of medications for self-managed abortion outside the formal health care setting increased in the 6 months after Dobbs. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cross-sectional study using data from sources that provided abortion medications outside the formal health care setting to people in the US between March 1 and December 31, 2022, including online telemedicine organizations, community networks, and online vendors. Using a hierarchical bayesian model, we imputed missing values from sources not providing data. We estimated the change in provision of medications for self-managed abortion after the Dobbs decision. We then estimated actual use of these medications by accounting for the possibility that not all provided medications are used by recipients. Exposure: Abortion restrictions following the Dobbs decision. Main Outcomes and Measures: Provision and use of medications for a self-managed abortion. Results: In the 6-month post-Dobbs period (July 1 to December 31, 2022), the total number of provisions of medications for self-managed abortion increased by 27â¯838 (95% credible interval [CrI], 26â¯374-29â¯175) vs what would have been expected based on pre-Dobbs levels. Excluding imputed data changes the results only slightly (27â¯145; 95% CrI, 25â¯747-28â¯246). Accounting for nonuse of medications, actual self-managed medication abortions increased by an estimated 26â¯055 (95% CrI, 24â¯739-27â¯245) vs what would have been expected had the Dobbs decision not occurred. Conclusions and Relevance: Provision of medications for self-managed abortions increased in the 6 months following the Dobbs decision. Results suggest that a substantial number of abortion seekers accessed services despite the implementation of state-level bans and restrictions.
Assuntos
Abortivos , Aborto Induzido , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Decisões da Suprema Corte , Feminino , Humanos , Gravidez , Abortivos/provisão & distribuição , Abortivos/uso terapêutico , Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Induzido/métodos , Aborto Legal/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Legal/métodos , Estudos Transversais , Mifepristona/provisão & distribuição , Mifepristona/uso terapêutico , Misoprostol/provisão & distribuição , Misoprostol/uso terapêutico , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Autocuidado/métodos , Autocuidado/tendências , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde/legislação & jurisprudência , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde/estatística & dados numéricos , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde/tendências , InternacionalidadeRESUMO
This Viewpoint outlines the potential effects of the Supreme Court case regarding mifepristone restrictions: a decision for the FDA would allow current dispensing, while ruling against the FDA would severely curtail access to reproductive health options.
Assuntos
Abortivos , Aborto Legal , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Mifepristona , Serviços de Saúde Reprodutiva , Decisões da Suprema Corte , United States Food and Drug Administration , Humanos , Estados Unidos , United States Food and Drug Administration/legislação & jurisprudência , Mifepristona/uso terapêutico , Abortivos/uso terapêutico , Medicamentos sem Prescrição/uso terapêutico , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde/legislação & jurisprudência , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde/tendências , Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Induzido/métodos , Aborto Induzido/tendências , Aborto Legal/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Legal/métodos , Aborto Legal/tendências , Serviços de Saúde Reprodutiva/legislação & jurisprudência , Serviços de Saúde Reprodutiva/tendênciasRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court released a landmark decision in which they held that the right to abortion is not protected by the U.S. Constitution, ending almost 50 years of federally legal abortion in the United States. Because prior research demonstrates linkages between reproductive health and substance use at multiple socioecological levels, in this special section, we present studies that take a broad scope to understanding how addictive behaviors and reproduction-related behaviors, options, and access to care interrelate across a variety of contexts. METHOD: In this introduction, the guest editors detail the impetus for this special section, provide a brief overview of the present studies, discuss policy and intervention implications, and suggest future research directions. RESULTS: The five studies presented in this special section span a wide range of populations, methods, and substance use and reproduction-related issues, including reasons for past abortions among women with opioid use disorder, alcohol effects on men's condom use resistance, considerations regarding alcohol-involved rape on implementation of "rape exceptions" to abortion bans, the role of early exposure to substance use and sexual abuse on reproductive health outcomes, and the effects of exposure to abortion-related media coverage on alcohol use intentions following the Supreme Court decision. CONCLUSIONS: The studies in this special section highlight the ways in which substance use and reproductive health are inextricably intertwined. Recent and future changes in reproductive health legislation and policy underscore the critical need for continued empirical inquiry into these intersecting public health concerns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias , Feminino , Humanos , Gravidez , Aborto Legal , Decisões da Suprema Corte , Estados Unidos , Saúde da MulherRESUMO
Have perceptions of the U.S. Supreme Court polarized, much like the rest of American politics? Because of the Court's unique role, for many years, it remained one of the few institutions respected by both Democrats and Republicans alike. But the Court's dramatic shift to the right in recent years-highlighted by its Dobbs decision in 2022-potentially upends that logic. Using both eight waves of panel data and 18 nationally representative surveys spanning two decades, we show that while there was little evidence of partisan polarization in earlier years, in 2022 and 2023, such patterns are clear in favorability, trust, legitimacy, and support for reform. Factors that used to protect the Court-like knowledge about it and support for key democratic values-no longer do so. The Court has also become more important to voters, and will likely remain a political flashpoint, with disquieting implications for the Court's place in our polity.
Assuntos
Opinião Pública , Decisões da Suprema Corte , Estados Unidos , Política , Inquéritos e Questionários , ConfiançaAssuntos
Aborto Induzido , Legislação de Medicamentos , Mifepristona , Decisões da Suprema Corte , Feminino , Humanos , Gravidez , Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Induzido/métodos , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar/legislação & jurisprudência , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar/métodos , Estados Unidos , Mifepristona/farmacologia , Legislação de Medicamentos/tendênciasRESUMO
Nurses are at the front line.
Assuntos
Aborto Legal , Feminino , Humanos , Gravidez , Aborto Legal/enfermagem , Decisões da Suprema CorteRESUMO
Scientists fear wider research impacts if other states label frozen embryos "children".
Assuntos
Transferência Embrionária , Preservação da Fertilidade , Fertilização in vitro , Feminino , Humanos , Alabama , Criopreservação , Preservação da Fertilidade/legislação & jurisprudência , Fertilização in vitro/legislação & jurisprudência , Decisões da Suprema CorteRESUMO
In June 2022, the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision ended the constitutional right to the professional practice of abortion throughout the United States. The removal of the constitutional right to abortion has significantly altered the practice of obstetricians and gynecologists across the US. It potentially increases risks to pregnant patients, leads to profound changes in how physicians can provide care, especially in states with strict bans or gestational limits to abortion, and has introduced personal challenges, including moral distress and injury as well as legal risks for patients and clinicians alike. The professional responsibility model is based on the ethical concept of medicine as a profession and has been influential in shaping medical ethics in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. It provides the framework for the importance of ethical and professional conduct in obstetrics and gynecology. Viability marks a stage where the fetus is a patient with a claim to access to medical care. By allowing unrestricted abortions past this stage without adequate justifications, such as those concerning the life and health of the pregnant individual, or in instances of serious fetal anomalies, the states may not be upholding the equitable ethical consideration owed to the fetus as a patient. Using the professional responsibility model, we emphasize the need for nuanced, evidence-based policies that allow abortion management prior to viability without restrictions and allow abortion after viability to protect the pregnant patient's life and health, as well as permitting abortion for serious fetal anomalies.
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Gestantes , Gravidez , Feminino , Humanos , Estados Unidos , Viabilidade Fetal , Aborto Legal , Decisões da Suprema CorteRESUMO
Supreme Court decision this summer could gut FDA's authority over drugs.