Kaiser Updates

A panel of the Santiago, Chile, Appeals Court on Thursday overturned a temporary injunction issued by the court earlier this month that suspended the government's plan to distribute emergency contraceptive pills in public clinics to girls ages 14 and older at no cost and without parental consent Reuters AlertNet reports.

Teenage births cost Arizona taxpayers at least $268 million annually, according to a report based on 2004 data by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, the AP/Arizona Republic reports.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Tuesday signed into law a bill that extends to privately funded laboratories a provision under Proposition 71 that says scientists receiving state embryonic stem cell research funds can reimburse egg donors only for their expenses and cannot pay them, the Los Angeles Times reports. He also signed other measures: AB 2583, which requires the state pharmacy board to post a sign in a visible place informing patients of their right to timely access to a prescribed medication or device that a pharmacist has refused to provide based on ethical, moral or religious grounds; and SB 1245, which requires health plans to cover the HPV test upon referral by a health care provider.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday approved 45-0 a bill (HR 5472) that would reauthorize CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program -- which offers screening services to low-income women without insurance -- through fiscal year 2011, CQ Today reports.

The docket for the U.S. Supreme Court term beginning Monday is scheduled to include a Department of Justice appeal to uphold a federal law banning so-called "partial-birth" abortion USA Today reports.

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott on Wednesday ruled that an Ohio law (HB 126) that would restrict the use of Danco Laboratories' Mifeprex to induce a medical abortion is unconstitutional because it is vague and could jeopardize women's health, the AP/Akron Beacon Journal reports.

The South Dakota chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on Wednesday in a statement criticized a law (HB 1215) banning abortion in the state except to save a woman's life, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.

The Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good on Thursday announced that it will distribute one million copies of its voter guide before the November elections in an effort to emphasize church teachings on various issues, including abortion and contraception, the Washington Post reports.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline's (R) request for the medical records of 90 women and girls who in 2003 underwent late-term abortions at two clinics and the lack of resulting prosecutions have become "key issues" in the November election, the AP/Kansas City Star reports.

A district attorney involved in a case that Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (R) has cited as an example of how his office discovered evidence of a crime by conducting wide-ranging investigations about possibly illegal late-term abortions and sex crimes against children recently responded to Kline's comments, the AP/Wichita Eagle reports. Supposedly, Kline has "absolutely nothing to do" with the case.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday without comment denied an appeal by the Alaska Right to Life Committee to a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said Alaska's campaign finance laws do not violate the First Amendment, the AP/Anchorage Daily News reports.

The health department that serves Michigan's Alcona, losco, Ogemaw and Oscoda counties from 2003 through 2005 violated federal rules by overcharging low-income women for birth control and contraceptive supplies, according to a report conducted by the state Department of Community Health's Office of the Auditor General, the Bay City Times reports.

NARAL Pro-Choice America on Monday filed a friend-of-the-court brief with U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico in a case involving a New Hampshire parental notification law saying that state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R) essentially is asking the judge to rewrite the law -- a function that the group says should be left to the state Legislature, the AP/Manchester Union Leader reports.

Illinois state Rep. John Fritchey (D) on Tuesday introduced a bill (HB 5840) that would repeal and replace a parental notification law revived recently by the state Supreme Court, the AP/Belleville News Democrat reports.

The federal trial for Chicago-based HMO Amerigroup Corporation -- who has been charged with denying pregnant women and seriously ill people health care coverage -- began Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune reports.