Healthcare
Feds order changes to TennCare block grant program
The federal government is ordering TennCare to change its modified block grant program a year and a half after the Trump Administration approved it just days before leaving office in early 2021. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a letter to TennCare Director Stephen Smith last week notifying him of adjustments the […]
Memphis City Council approves reproductive autonomy bill
(This story has been updated.) The Memphis City Council passed a resolution Tuesday labeling reproductive autonomy a necessity as part of a larger effort by local elected officials to combat strict state laws on abortion. Last week, Memphis City Council member JB Smiley announced he would introduce a resolution aiming to discourage local law enforcement […]
Democrats introduce strategy for abortion access
Calling Tennessee’s new abortion restrictions an “abomination,” House and Senate Democrats announced Tuesday they plan to try to codify Roe v. Wade and pass other measures in 2023 to allow access to the procedure. “It is unconscionable that a group of politicians who mostly neglect families that look like mine now have the power to […]
Vice president discusses abortion access with Democratic legislative leaders
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris met Friday with Democratic state legislators from Indiana, Florida, South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana to discuss ways to protect reproductive rights. “The U.S. Supreme Court took away a constitutional right,” Harris said, adding that the overturning of Roe v. Wade was one of the most pressing issues facing the […]
As abortion crisis engulfs red states, advocates press White House for a bolder plan
WASHINGTON — Frustrated abortion rights advocates are imploring President Joe Biden to make sweeping moves to protect abortion access, saying now is the time for Democrats to be bold as Republican-led states rapidly implement restrictions and outright bans. Stymied in the U.S. Senate by the filibuster, congressional Democrats are highly unlikely to approve legislation that […]
Biden unveils executive order on abortion access, cites case of 10-year-old Ohio rape survivor
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, who has repeatedly been criticized as slow to respond to a widely expected U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended the nationwide right to an abortion, signed an executive order Friday that could preserve some access to abortion in states where the procedure remains legal. Biden in a White House speech […]
Abortion ruling adds urgency to need for uninsured Tennesseans to gain coverage
In the decade since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling left Medicaid expansion decisions to individual states, healthcare advocates have tried — and failed — to get Tennessee’s GOP-led General Assembly and Republican governors on board. The court’s decision last month ending the Constitutional right to abortion creates an even greater need for urgent action to […]
Democratic governors call on Biden to use federal facilities for abortion access
A group of Democratic governors urged President Joe Biden on Friday to use federal facilities to provide access to abortions, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade on June 24. In a video conference with nine governors, including Kate Brown of Oregon, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New […]
Molotov device, vandalism found at Nashville pregnancy center
Federal and local authorities are investigating an overnight attack Thursday on a pregnancy counseling center in Nashville, where a window was left smashed with an un-ignited Molotov cocktail device found inside, according to Metro Nashville police who called it the “first act of vandalism seen as related to the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision.” The […]
Roe v. Wade and male contraception: An angry grandmother is confused
Now that Roe v. Wade has been overruled, this grandmother is very confused because decisions about our bodies have been taken over by the government. Females are now subject to government control about what they can and cannot do with their ability to reproduce. So in fairness I want the next topic addressed by lawmakers […]
Stockard on the Stump: Dems call Roe v. Wade aftermath “emergency” situation
Legislative Democrats led by women are putting together a strategy to combat Tennessee abortion restriction laws triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Though they’ll meet fierce resistance from supermajority Republicans, the group is planning efforts to codify the constitutional right to have an abortion, in addition to legislation to change […]
Biden says he supports filibuster exception for abortion rights legislation
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday said he supports an exception to the U.S. Senate filibuster in order to enshrine Roe v. Wade in federal law, after the Supreme Court last week struck down the case that established abortion as a constitutional right. “I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade in the […]