Study: Abortion restrictions lead to poorer health

The study, however, was paid for by groups that support abortion rights. Elsewhere, California's Catholic Church leadership files a civil-rights complaint over making insurance plans cover abortion.

Texas Tribune: Abortion Restrictions Tied To Poor Health
States that put tight restrictions on abortion generally perform worse on women's and children's health outcomes, according to a new report released by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health, both groups that support abortion rights. The report tracked 14 types of abortion restrictions that state legislatures have implemented across the country, including requirements that a woman undergo counseling or have an ultrasound before getting an abortion. The authors then plotted each state's number of restrictions against a wellness score for women and children, based on a "broad perspective" evaluation of health outcome statistics and the number of state policies the authors deemed "supportive" of those outcomes. States with conservative leadership, including Texas, scored slightly lower on health outcomes, were less likely to support state-funded health programs and were more likely to restrict access to abortion, the study found (Walters, 10/1).

The Associated Press: California Catholic Leaders Challenge State Health Rule On Abortion
California's Catholic leadership has filed a federal civil-rights complaint over a state requirement that health insurance cover abortions. The California Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops and archbishops, sent a letter Tuesday to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It contends that California's Department of Managed Health Care discriminated against people morally opposed to abortion and requests an investigation (10/1). 

Sacramento Bee: Catholic Group Challenges California Abortion Coverage
A California skirmish in a national clash over religious objections to health care coverage flared on Wednesday, with a Catholic group challenging a policy requiring abortion coverage. A letter from the California Catholic Conference to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services assailed a California Department of Managed Health Care directive instructing seven major insurance companies that they must cover voluntary abortions because the procedure constitutes basic health care (White, 10/1).

And Maryland's gubernatorial race gets heated over abortion issues --

Baltimore Sun: Hogan Fights Back On Women's Issues
Using a daughter's compelling testimonial and a rally in Annapolis, Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan is fighting rival Anthony G. Brown's attempt to persuade voters that Hogan would take the state backward on such matters as abortion and birth control. Hogan's counteroffensive comes after a sustained ad blitz in which Brown's campaign and its allies seek to portray Hogan as a closet right-wing extremist who would roll back the clock on social issues if he could. The Republican addressed a crowd of about 100 outside the State House on Wednesday -- half of them wearing pink Women for Hogan T-shirts -- at a rally focused on the issues of breast cancer and domestic violence (Dresser and Fritze, 10/1).