TV News LIES

The Supreme Court on May 4 reinstated mail-order access to the widely used abortion drug mifepristone, a temporary decision that gives the justices more time to consider the issue.

The court intervened after the Food and Drug Administration was ordered on May 1 to revive a requirement that doctors prescribe the drug only after an in-person exam. It was the first time access to mifepristone had been significantly curtailed during years of litigation over the drug, which was first approved in 2000.

At the request of drugmakers, Justice Samuel Alito paused until May 11 the restrictive ruling by a lower court while the full court decides what the rules for mifepristone should be as Louisiana challenges expanded access.

“This ruling is not final − keep watching,” Nancy Northup, head of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “Getting abortion pills through telehealth has been a lifeline for women since Roe v. Wade was overturned. There is no reason people shouldn’t be able to get mifepristone at a pharmacy or through the mail.”

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Three people have died in an outbreak of a dangerous respiratory virus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the World Health Organization.

At least six people are believed to have been infected with a hantavirus, including one whose infection has been confirmed by a laboratory, and five other suspected cases. Three people have died and one is currently in intensive care in South Africa, the WHO said.

"Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations. Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing," the agency said.

The agency is also "facilitating coordination between" WHO member states and the ship's operators to evacuate two passengers showing symptoms "as well as full public health risk assessment and support to the remaining passengers on board," the WHO said.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unintentionally published Social Security data for at least 100 health providers, according to multiple outlets.

The department took down its National Provider Directory after The Washington Post flagged the information to CMS officials. The webpage serves to connect seniors with healthcare professionals, and it includes data about more than 7 million providers.

The Hill has reached out to CMS for comment. 

A CMS spokesperson told theMore... Post that the issue stems from providers entering their Social Security data in the incorrect place on the form.

“The agency has taken steps to address it promptly and reinforce safeguards around data submission and validation,” CMS said in a statement to the outlet.

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A federal appeals court late Friday blocked the ability of doctors to prescribe the abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth and dispensed through the mail.

A three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Louisiana in a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The court issued a temporary nationwide injunction that reinstates a 2021 nationwide requirement that mifepristone must be prescribed and dispensed in person.

Mifepristone is one of the two drugs commonly used in medication abortions.

The FDA permanently lifted the in-person requirement in 2023, leading to a surge in pills prescribed over the internet in the wake of the Dobbs ruling that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.

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A former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is facing charges over an alleged scheme to hide federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Dr. David Morens, 78, was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month and charged with five counts, including conspiracy, destruction of records in federal investigations, and concealment of records. He made his initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge Monday and is set to be arraigned next week.

Morens served as a senior adviser to NIAID's Office of the Director from 2006 through 2022. Dr. Anthony Fauci led the institute for nearly 40 years, serving under seven presidents, and retired in 2022 during then-President Joe Biden's administration.

Prosecutors allege that Morens and two unnamed, unindicted co-conspirators worked together to defraud the U.S. by shielding federal records related to the pandemic from the public. The first co-conspirator, identified as "co-conspirator 1," served as the president and CEO of a New York-based nonprofit group that received a grant in 2014 titled "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence."

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A Pennsylvania court on Monday said that the state’s constitution guarantees a right to abortion while striking down a decades-long law banning the use of state Medicaid funds to cover abortion costs.

The ruling by a divided seven-judge panel of the appellate-level commonwealth court is a major victory for Planned Parenthood and abortion clinic operators who first sued Pennsylvania over its Medicaid funding restrictions in 2019.

While the case initially centered over state Medicaid limitations, the stakes significantly expanded after the US supreme court in 2022 ended nearly a half-century of federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v Wade.

The court’s finding on Monday marks the first time that the right to an abortion is protected by the Pennsylvania constitution, joining a handful of states where reproductive rights advocates have found success in protecting abortion access by pointing to state constitutions.

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