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Category: Health

  • MIL-OSI Global: Inaccurate and misogynistic: why we need to make the term ‘hysterectomy’ history

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Theresa Larkin, Associate Professor of Medical Sciences, University of Wollongong

    Panuwat Dangsungnoen/Getty Images

    Have you had a tonsillectomy (your tonsils taken out), appendectomy (your appendix removed) or lumpectomy (removal of a lump from your breast)? The suffix “ectomy” denotes surgical removal of the named body part, so these terms give us a clear idea of what the procedure entails.

    So why is the removal of the uterus called a hysterectomy and not a uterectomy?

    The name hysterectomy is rooted in a mental health condition – “hysteria” – that was once believed to affect women. But we now know this condition doesn’t exist.

    Continuing to call this significant operation a hysterectomy both perpetuates misogyny and hampers people’s understanding of what it is.

    From the defunct condition ‘hysteria’

    Hysteria was a psychiatric condition first formally defined in the 5th century BCE. It had many symptoms, including excessive emotion, irritability, anxiety, breathlessness and fainting.

    But hysteria was only diagnosed in women. Male physicians at the time claimed these symptoms were caused by a “wandering womb”. They believed the womb (uterus) moved around the body looking for sperm and disrupted other organs.

    Because the uterus was blamed for hysteria, the treatment was to remove it. This procedure was called a hysterectomy. Sadly, many women had their healthy uterus unnecessarily removed and most died.

    The word “hysteria” did originally came from the ancient Greek word for uterus, “hystera”. But the modern Greek word for uterus is “mitra”, which is where words such as “endometrium” come from.

    Hysteria was only removed as an official medical diagnosis in 1980. It was finally recognised it does not exist and is sexist.

    “Hysterectomy” should also be removed from medical terminology because it continues to link the uterus to hysteria.

    Common but confusing

    About one in three Australian women will have their uterus removed. A hysterectomy is one of the most common surgeries worldwide. It’s used to treat conditions including:

    • abnormal uterine bleeding (heavy bleeding)
    • uterine fibroids (benign tumours)
    • uterine prolapse (when the uterus protrudes down into the vagina)
    • adenomyosis (when the inner layer of the uterus grows into the muscle layer)
    • cancer.

    However, in a survey colleagues and I did of almost 500 Australian adults, which is yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, one in five people thought hysterectomy meant removal of the ovaries, not the uterus.

    It’s true some hysterectomies for cancer do also remove the ovaries. A hysterectomy or partial hysterectomy is the removal of only the uterus, a total hysterectomy removes the uterus and cervix, while a radical hysterectomy usually removes the uterus, cervix, uterine tubes and ovaries.

    There are important differences between these hysterectomies, so they should be named to clearly indicate the nature of the surgery.

    Research has shown ambiguous terminology such as “hysterectomy” is associated with low patient understanding of the procedure and the female anatomy involved.

    There are different types of hysterectomies, and the label can be confusing.
    Olena Yakobchuk/Shutterstock

    Uterectomy should be used for removal of the uterus, in combination with the medical terms for removal of the cervix, uterine tubes and ovaries as needed. For example, a uterectomy plus cervicectomy would refer to the removal of the uterus and the cervix.

    This could help patients understand what is (and isn’t) being removed from their bodies and increase clarity for the wider public.

    Other female body parts and procedures have male names

    There are many eponyms (something named after a person) in anatomy and medicine, such as the Achilles tendon and Parkinson’s disease. They are almost exclusively the names of white men.

    Eponyms for female anatomy and procedures include the Fallopian tubes, Pouch of Douglas, and Pap smear.

    The anatomical term for Fallopian tubes is uterine tubes. “Uterine” indicates these are attached to the uterus, which reinforces their important role in fertility.

    The Pouch of Douglas is the space between the rectum and uterus. Using the anatomical name (rectouterine pouch) is important, because this a common site for endometriosis and can explain any associated bowel symptoms.

    Pap smear gives no indication of its location or function. The new cervical screening test is named exactly that, which clarifies it samples cells of the cervix. This helps people understand this tests for risk of cervical cancer.

    Language matters in medicine and health care

    Language in medicine impacts patient care and health. It needs to be accurate and clear, not include words associated with bias or discrimination, and not disempower a person.

    For these reasons, the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists recommends removing eponyms from scientific and medical communication.

    Meanwhile, experts have rightly argued it’s time to rename the hysterectomy to uterectomy.

    A hysterectomy is an emotional procedure with not only physical but also psychological effects. Not directly referring to the uterus perpetuates the historical disregard of female reproductive anatomy and functions. Removing the link to hysteria and renaming hysterectomy to uterectomy would be a simple but symbolic change.

    Educators, medical doctors and science communicators will play an important role in using the term uterectomy instead of hysterectomy. Ultimately, the World Health Organization should make official changes in the International Classification of Health Interventions.

    In line with increasing awareness and discussions around female reproductive health and medical misogyny, now is the time to improve terminology. We must ensure the names of body parts and medical procedures reflect the relevant anatomy.

    Theresa Larkin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Inaccurate and misogynistic: why we need to make the term ‘hysterectomy’ history – https://theconversation.com/inaccurate-and-misogynistic-why-we-need-to-make-the-term-hysterectomy-history-257972

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How do sleep trackers work, and are they worth it? A sleep scientist breaks it down

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Dean J. Miller, Senior Lecturer, Appleton Institute, HealthWise Research Group, CQUniversity Australia

    Many smartwatches, fitness and wellness trackers now offer sleep tracking among their many functions.

    Wear your watch or ring to bed, and you’ll wake up to a detailed sleep report telling you not just how long you slept, but when each phase happened and whether you had a good night’s rest overall.

    Surfing is done in the ocean, planes fly in the sky, and sleep occurs in the brain. So how can we measure sleep from the wrist or finger?

    The gold standard of sleep measurement

    If you’ve ever had a sleep study or seen someone with dozens of wires attached to their head, body and face, you’ve encountered polysomnography or PSG.

    Eye movements, muscle tone, heart rate and brain activity are measured and assessed by experts to detect which stage of sleep or wakefulness a person is in.

    When we sleep, we cycle through different stages, generally classified as light sleep, slow-wave sleep (also known as deep sleep), and rapid eye movement or REM sleep.

    Each stage has an effect on brain activity, muscle tone and heart rate – which is why sleep scientists need so many wires.

    Accurate? Absolutely. Convenient? Like two left shoes.

    This is where the convenience of wearable at-home sleep trackers comes in.

    What sensors are in sleep trackers?

    Since the 1990s, sleep researchers have been using actigraphy to measure people’s sleep outside the laboratory.

    An actigraphy device is similar to a wristwatch and uses accelerometers to measure the person’s movement. Coupled with sleep diaries, actigraphy assumes a person is awake when they’re moving and asleep when still. Simple.

    While this is a scientifically accepted method of estimating sleep, it’s prone to mislabelling being awake but at rest (such as when reading a book) as sleep.

    There’s one key addition that makes wrist-worn sleep trackers more accurate – PPG or photoplethysmography.

    It’s hard to pronounce, but photoplethysmography is a key driver in the explosion of wearable health tracking.

    It uses those little green lights on the skin-side of the wearable to track the amount of blood passing through your wrist at any given time. Clip-on pulse oximeters used by doctors are the same type of tech.

    The addition of PPG to a wrist tracker allows for the measurement of raw data like heart rate and breathing rate. From this data, the wearable can estimate a number of physiological metrics, including sleep stages.

    Since fitness wearables already have accelerometers and PPG to track your physical activity and heart rate, it makes sense to use these sensors to track sleep too. But how accurate are they?

    Many fitness trackers leverage the sensors used to measure your fitness activities and heart rate for sleep tracking.
    The Conversation

    How do scientists test sleep trackers?

    Two main factors determine the accuracy of sleep trackers. How well does the device detect whether you’re asleep or awake? And how well can it distinguish the sleep stages?

    To answer these questions, sleep scientists conduct validation studies. Participants sleep overnight in a laboratory while wearing both a sleep tracker and undergoing PSG.

    Then, scientists compare the data from both methods in 30-second blocks called “epochs”. That means for a nine-hour sleep there will be 1,080 epochs to compare.

    If both the device and PSG indicate “sleep” for the same epoch, they’re in agreement. If the device indicates “wake” and PSG indicates “sleep” for the same epoch, that’s considered an error. The same is done for sleep stages.

    How accurate are sleep trackers?

    In a 2022 study of several popular trackers, most correctly identified more than 90% of sleep epochs. But because light sleep and restful wake are so similar, wearables struggle more to estimate wakefulness, correctly identifying between 26% and 73% of wake epochs.

    When it comes to sleep stages, wearables are less precise, correctly identifying between 53% and 60% of sleep stage epochs. However, for some devices and some sleep stages the precision can be greater. A recent validation study showed that a latest generation ring-shaped wearable didn’t differ from PSG for estimating light sleep and slow wave sleep.

    In short, most modern sleep trackers do a decent job of estimating your total sleep each night. Some are more accurate for sleep staging, but this level of detail isn’t essential for improving the basics of your sleep.

    Do I need a sleep tracker?

    If you’re struggling with sleep, you should speak to your doctor. A sleep tracker can be a useful tool to help track your sleep goals, but ultimately your behaviour is what will improve sleep.

    Keeping regular bedtimes and wake-up times, having a distraction-free sleep space, and keeping home lighting low in the evenings can all help to improve your sleep.

    If you love tracking your sleep, make sure your device has been independently validated. While sleep stage data may not be essential, devices that perform well in estimating sleep stage also tend to be more accurate at detecting when you’re asleep or awake. When reviewing your data, look at long term trends in sleep rather than day-to-day variability.

    If you don’t love your sleep tracker, you can take it off or ignore it. For some people, access to sleep data can negatively impact sleep by creating stress and anxiety for getting a perfect night’s sleep. Instead, focus on improving your healthy sleep strategies and pay attention to how you feel during the day.

    Dr Dean J. Miller is a member of a research group at Central Queensland University that receives support for research (i.e., funding, equipment) from WHOOP Inc, a smart device maker.

    – ref. How do sleep trackers work, and are they worth it? A sleep scientist breaks it down – https://theconversation.com/how-do-sleep-trackers-work-and-are-they-worth-it-a-sleep-scientist-breaks-it-down-258304

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: TODAY: Baldwin Fights Back Against Republicans’ Relentless Attacks on Women’s Reproductive Rights

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) marked the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by introducing legislation to restore abortion access nationwide and continuing her fight against attacks from the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress to strip away access to comprehensive reproductive care.

    To begin the day, Senator Baldwin led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans.

    On the Senate floor, Senator Baldwin delivered a speech underscoring the impact of the Dobbs decision in Wisconsin – forcing women to travel out of state just to access health care. Baldwin highlighted the importance of passing her legislation, especially as the Trump Administration further attacks a woman’s right to choose and Congressional Republicans barrel ahead with a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood.

    Additionally, Senator Baldwin joined her Senate colleagues for a press conference and hosted a forum focused on the devastation caused by the Dobbs decision. During the forum, Senator Baldwin questioned advocates and providers about why federal protection is essential for improving care for women nationwide and how the Republicans’ dangerous bill will make it harder for women to access reproductive health care both under Medicaid and private insurance.

    Full text of Senator Baldwin’s bill is available here. A one-pager on the bill is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: On Anniversary of Decision that Overturned Roe v. Wade, Cortez Masto Calls Out Republican Efforts to Restrict Access to Reproductive Health Care

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto

    “It might not be front-page news every day, but when you take all of these actions together, it is clear that this administration and Republicans at every level of government are taking the steps they need to implement a nationwide abortion ban.”

    Video of the spotlight forum is available here.

    Video of her speaking on the floor of the Senate is available here.

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) called out Republican attempts to further take away access to reproductive health care for women across the United States, including efforts that could restrict access for women in Nevada. Today marks three years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which the Court overturned the protections of Roe v. Wade.

    Cortez Masto participated in a spotlight forum with patient, provider, and reproductive rights leaders to highlight the devastation caused since Dobbs, and the continued attacks from the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress to strip away access to abortion care, family planning services, and Medicaid and Affordable Care Act health coverage. Additionally, the Senator spoke on the Senate floor to call attention to the various ways the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans are working to create a backdoor national abortion ban, ripping away millions of women’s access to abortion care and right to control their bodies.  

    Senator Cortez Masto also joined all Democratic Senators in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The bill’s introduction comes as the Trump Administration further attacks a woman’s right to choose and Congressional Republicans barrel ahead with a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood.

    Senator Cortez Masto has been a fierce advocate for women’s reproductive rights. In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Cortez Masto introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act to ensure legal protections for women traveling across state lines to receive reproductive care. She’s championed legislation torepeal the Comstock Act, an arcane 1873 law that anti-choice extremists have repeatedly invoked as a backdoor means to effectively ban abortion nationwide without a single act of Congress. In the last Congress, the Senator also cosponsored legislation to codify the right to contraception and IVF.

    Below are her floor remarks as prepared for delivery:

    M. President, right now, this administration is causing so much chaos and confusion that it’s sometimes hard to take stock of the damage being done.

    But the anniversary of the day Roe v. Wade was overturned is a reminder that we can’t let all that chaos distract us from the work being done to roll back women’s reproductive rights right under our noses.

    Take the Republicans’ billionaire tax giveaway bill as an example.

    We all know that this bill will cut $800 billion in Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, but the legislation that passed the House would also decimate women’s health care. Not only would it force cuts to critical services, but it also cuts off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.

    That Medicaid funding wouldn’t be going toward abortions. Planned Parenthood providers distribute birth control, conduct wellness exams, test for and treat STIs, and provide lifesaving cancer screenings.

    For many Americans with Medicaid, especially in underserved areas, Planned Parenthood is the only accessible source of this care.

    Defunding it jeopardizes basic health services that more than one million men and women rely on.

    It’s already outrageous that so many Planned Parenthood health centers in anti-choice states around the country have been forced to close over the last several years. But if they’re prohibited from treating patients with Medicaid nationwide, many clinics – even in states where abortion remains legal – may be forced to close their doors.

    So in states like Nevada, where women have access to essential reproductive care, Republicans are working to strip that access away – ignoring the will of states that have chosen to protect these rights.

    Republican legislators in states across the country are also quietly working to gut access to reproductive care.

    Last November, voters in 7 different states approved ballot measures to protect or expand reproductive rights. But in the months since, extremist politicians in more than half of those states have tried to ignore the will of their voters and push new restrictions on abortion access.

    And, in several other states, anti-choice politicians are working to block similar ballot initiatives in the future. They’re trying to ignore what people have clearly voted for, and then they’re trying to make it so people can’t actually vote on those issues at all.

    Because let’s be clear: for anti-choice politicians, this is about controlling women.

    I’ll give you an example.

    In Arizona, voters went to the polls last November and overwhelmingly chose to enshrine abortion protections in their state constitution. But since then, Republican politicians in their state legislature have been trying to pass bills that would limit the use of medication abortion and ban doctors from even informing women about abortion as a potential treatment option.

    Or how about in Missouri, where anti-choice politicians are trying to get a measure on the ballot that would overturn the abortion rights protections Missouri voters just approved last November.

    These plots to subvert the will of voters and roll back women’s rights in the states may not be capturing everyone’s attention right now, but it’s happening. And we need to shed light on it, because it’s just as dangerous as some of the harmful policies coming out of this administration.

    We can’t forget that this administration is also taking steps to continue to take away women’s reproductive rights – without any input from legislators at all.

    The Food and Drug Administration has appointed commissioners who want to reexamine the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone.

    And, no surprise, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is encouraging it.

    He’s already asked the FDA to “review the latest data on mifepristone”. Secretary Kennedy is raising questions and injecting doubt about this medication that has already been proven to be safe and effective.

    This is a man who, at one time, said he believed it was “always the woman’s right to choose.”

    Mifepristone accounts for over 60% of abortions nationwide. Any attempts to restrict access to this medication would jeopardize the health and autonomy of women in Nevada and across the country.

    This is an overt tactic by the administration to continue to take away access to the abortion pill nationwide.

    In fact, the Trump administration made it more clear than ever that they’re not concerned about women’s safety when they eliminated guidance that hospitals have to provide abortions in emergency situations.

    We have a law in this country that hospitals that receive federal funding are required to provide medical care to stabilize a health emergency, including for pregnant patients. In cases where an abortion is necessary to stabilize a patient, hospitals are obligated to provide that care. It’s called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA.

    Now, I want to stress that EMTALA is the law of the land, and emergency abortion care is protected under EMTALA.

    But the problem is that this administration is telling women they are unwilling to enforce those protections. That’s incredibly dangerous, and it ignores our laws.

    It might not be front-page news every day, but when you take all of these actions together, it is clear that this administration and Republicans at every level of government are taking the steps they need to implement a nationwide abortion ban.

    We have to remain vigilant and demand change when these harmful policies they emerge. Because we know anti-choice politicians all across the country, including here in Washington, will continue to push them and take away women’s access to health care.

    It’s happening at the Supreme Court, too, where the justices who struck down Roe v. Wade are taking up multiple abortion rights cases.

    So, as we mark the anniversary of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which took the constitutional right to an abortion away from every woman in this country, I want to thank my colleagues who are standing with me today and every day in this fight.

    We will never stop pushing back against this administration’s, and any other anti-choice politician’s, attempts to make women second-class citizens in America.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: On Anniversary of Decision that Overturned Roe v. Wade, Cortez Masto Calls Out Republican Efforts to Restrict Access to Reproductive Health Care

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto

    “It might not be front-page news every day, but when you take all of these actions together, it is clear that this administration and Republicans at every level of government are taking the steps they need to implement a nationwide abortion ban.”

    Video of the spotlight forum is available here.

    Video of her speaking on the floor of the Senate is available here.

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) called out Republican attempts to further take away access to reproductive health care for women across the United States, including efforts that could restrict access for women in Nevada. Today marks three years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which the Court overturned the protections of Roe v. Wade.

    Cortez Masto participated in a spotlight forum with patient, provider, and reproductive rights leaders to highlight the devastation caused since Dobbs, and the continued attacks from the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress to strip away access to abortion care, family planning services, and Medicaid and Affordable Care Act health coverage. Additionally, the Senator spoke on the Senate floor to call attention to the various ways the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans are working to create a backdoor national abortion ban, ripping away millions of women’s access to abortion care and right to control their bodies.  

    Senator Cortez Masto also joined all Democratic Senators in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The bill’s introduction comes as the Trump Administration further attacks a woman’s right to choose and Congressional Republicans barrel ahead with a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood.

    Senator Cortez Masto has been a fierce advocate for women’s reproductive rights. In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Cortez Masto introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act to ensure legal protections for women traveling across state lines to receive reproductive care. She’s championed legislation torepeal the Comstock Act, an arcane 1873 law that anti-choice extremists have repeatedly invoked as a backdoor means to effectively ban abortion nationwide without a single act of Congress. In the last Congress, the Senator also cosponsored legislation to codify the right to contraception and IVF.

    Below are her floor remarks as prepared for delivery:

    M. President, right now, this administration is causing so much chaos and confusion that it’s sometimes hard to take stock of the damage being done.

    But the anniversary of the day Roe v. Wade was overturned is a reminder that we can’t let all that chaos distract us from the work being done to roll back women’s reproductive rights right under our noses.

    Take the Republicans’ billionaire tax giveaway bill as an example.

    We all know that this bill will cut $800 billion in Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, but the legislation that passed the House would also decimate women’s health care. Not only would it force cuts to critical services, but it also cuts off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.

    That Medicaid funding wouldn’t be going toward abortions. Planned Parenthood providers distribute birth control, conduct wellness exams, test for and treat STIs, and provide lifesaving cancer screenings.

    For many Americans with Medicaid, especially in underserved areas, Planned Parenthood is the only accessible source of this care.

    Defunding it jeopardizes basic health services that more than one million men and women rely on.

    It’s already outrageous that so many Planned Parenthood health centers in anti-choice states around the country have been forced to close over the last several years. But if they’re prohibited from treating patients with Medicaid nationwide, many clinics – even in states where abortion remains legal – may be forced to close their doors.

    So in states like Nevada, where women have access to essential reproductive care, Republicans are working to strip that access away – ignoring the will of states that have chosen to protect these rights.

    Republican legislators in states across the country are also quietly working to gut access to reproductive care.

    Last November, voters in 7 different states approved ballot measures to protect or expand reproductive rights. But in the months since, extremist politicians in more than half of those states have tried to ignore the will of their voters and push new restrictions on abortion access.

    And, in several other states, anti-choice politicians are working to block similar ballot initiatives in the future. They’re trying to ignore what people have clearly voted for, and then they’re trying to make it so people can’t actually vote on those issues at all.

    Because let’s be clear: for anti-choice politicians, this is about controlling women.

    I’ll give you an example.

    In Arizona, voters went to the polls last November and overwhelmingly chose to enshrine abortion protections in their state constitution. But since then, Republican politicians in their state legislature have been trying to pass bills that would limit the use of medication abortion and ban doctors from even informing women about abortion as a potential treatment option.

    Or how about in Missouri, where anti-choice politicians are trying to get a measure on the ballot that would overturn the abortion rights protections Missouri voters just approved last November.

    These plots to subvert the will of voters and roll back women’s rights in the states may not be capturing everyone’s attention right now, but it’s happening. And we need to shed light on it, because it’s just as dangerous as some of the harmful policies coming out of this administration.

    We can’t forget that this administration is also taking steps to continue to take away women’s reproductive rights – without any input from legislators at all.

    The Food and Drug Administration has appointed commissioners who want to reexamine the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone.

    And, no surprise, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is encouraging it.

    He’s already asked the FDA to “review the latest data on mifepristone”. Secretary Kennedy is raising questions and injecting doubt about this medication that has already been proven to be safe and effective.

    This is a man who, at one time, said he believed it was “always the woman’s right to choose.”

    Mifepristone accounts for over 60% of abortions nationwide. Any attempts to restrict access to this medication would jeopardize the health and autonomy of women in Nevada and across the country.

    This is an overt tactic by the administration to continue to take away access to the abortion pill nationwide.

    In fact, the Trump administration made it more clear than ever that they’re not concerned about women’s safety when they eliminated guidance that hospitals have to provide abortions in emergency situations.

    We have a law in this country that hospitals that receive federal funding are required to provide medical care to stabilize a health emergency, including for pregnant patients. In cases where an abortion is necessary to stabilize a patient, hospitals are obligated to provide that care. It’s called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA.

    Now, I want to stress that EMTALA is the law of the land, and emergency abortion care is protected under EMTALA.

    But the problem is that this administration is telling women they are unwilling to enforce those protections. That’s incredibly dangerous, and it ignores our laws.

    It might not be front-page news every day, but when you take all of these actions together, it is clear that this administration and Republicans at every level of government are taking the steps they need to implement a nationwide abortion ban.

    We have to remain vigilant and demand change when these harmful policies they emerge. Because we know anti-choice politicians all across the country, including here in Washington, will continue to push them and take away women’s access to health care.

    It’s happening at the Supreme Court, too, where the justices who struck down Roe v. Wade are taking up multiple abortion rights cases.

    So, as we mark the anniversary of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which took the constitutional right to an abortion away from every woman in this country, I want to thank my colleagues who are standing with me today and every day in this fight.

    We will never stop pushing back against this administration’s, and any other anti-choice politician’s, attempts to make women second-class citizens in America.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: On 3rd Anniversary of Roe Being Overturned, Murray, Baldwin, and Blumenthal Lead Senate Dems in a Bill to Restore Abortion Access Nationwide

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

    Women’s Health Protection Act comes as Trump and Congressional Republicans move to restrict a woman’s right to choose and toward a national abortion ban

    Washington, D.C. — Today, on the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The bill’s introduction comes as the Trump Administration further attacks a woman’s right to choose and Congressional Republicans barrel ahead with a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. Put together, Trump and Congressional Republicans’ assault on Americans’ reproductive rights is a backdoor national abortion ban, ripping away millions of women’s access to abortion care and right to control their bodies.   

    “Three years ago, Donald Trump and Republicans succeeded in overturning Roe, ripping away a Constitutional right for the first time in American history, and causing a full-blown health care crisis in our nation. Since then, we have seen with painful clarity how Republican abortion bans are putting women’s lives in danger, forcing providers to close their doors, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant—no matter their circumstances,” said Senator Murray. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore the right to abortion and end the national nightmare Republicans created by overturning Roe. Democrats will never stop fighting to restore abortion access nationwide—nothing less.”

    “First, Donald Trump and Republicans overturned Roe v Wade. Now, they are continuing their crusade for a national abortion ban, stripping away a woman’s right to choose and control her body, healthcare, and future. Republicans continue to show that they will stop at nothing in their pursuit to stop a woman from having the right to choose,” said Senator Baldwin. “In Wisconsin, we’ve seen how these attacks on women’s reproductive rights and freedoms have hurt our neighbors, friends, and families – and we won’t stand for it. The Women’s Health Protection Act is a necessary step to restore Americans’ constitutional right to choose what’s best for their families, stop Congressional and state-level Republicans from further putting themselves between a doctor and a woman, and once and for all, give women their rights and freedoms back.”

    “This issue is about more than health care; it is about women’s rights, individual rights, and human rights. The foundation of the Women’s Health Protection Act is simply the right to make your own health care decisions. Three years after Dobbs, American women don’t have that right. Today, thanks to Republican lawmakers and conservative courts, a woman in America might walk into an ER and faint, bleeding, and be refused treatment. That woman might die,” said Senator Blumenthal. “By restoring abortion access and implementing basic protections against medically unnecessary restrictions on health care, the Women’s Health Protection Act overturns the death sentence handed down by Dobbs.”

    President Trump appointed the Supreme Court Justices who ruled in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent. Since the Dobbs decision, 19 states have banned abortion or severely restricted women from being able to access the procedure, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. Additionally, state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to include medically unnecessary restrictions that limit access to abortion care.

    In his second term, President Trump has continued to relentlessly attack reproductive rights, including freezing Title X funding for clinics that offer reproductive care, cutting Biden-era emergency abortion protections, pardoning anti-abortion extremists, and fighting to defund Planned Parenthood. Additionally, the House-passed Republican budget bill kicks 16 million people off their health insurance and defunds Planned Parenthood – threatening the closure of 200 health centers across the country and putting access to vital reproductive care for millions of families at risk.

    The Women’s Health Protection Act creates federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access. Specifically, the Women’s Health Protection Act would:

    • Prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information.
    • Ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother.
    • Protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.

    The legislation is sponsored by the entire Democratic caucus, including Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D- DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

    The full text of the bill is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: At Dobbs Spotlight Forum, Senator Murray, Senate Democrats Highlight Trump & Republicans’ Backdoor Abortion Ban & Efforts to Rip Away Reproductive Health Care Nationwide

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

    ***WATCH: Video of full forum***

    ***WATCH and READ: Senator Murray’s opening remarks***

    Washington, D.C. — Today—on the three-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the constitutional right to abortion—U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tina Smith (D-MN) hosted a spotlight forum titled Under Attack: Republicans’ Escalating War on Reproductive Freedom. At the forum, Senate Democrats heard from four panelists who have suffered the consequences of the Dobbs decision and subsequent Republican abortion bans firsthand and warned about how President Trump and Republicans are only escalating their attacks on women’s health care and working to make abortion impossible to access anywhere—a backdoor nationwide abortion ban.  

    The senators’ spotlight forum comes as President Trump has taken direct aim at reproductive health care in his first few months in office, including by: pardoning anti-abortion extremists found guilty of assaulting and injuring abortion clinic staff and announcing that his Department of Justice will largely no longer enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act; attacking mifepristone based on anti-abortion junk science; laying the groundwork to make “fetal personhood” the law of the land—which would ban abortion in every state and curtail pregnant women’s rights; rescinding CMS guidance reaffirming that the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospitals to provide life-saving care to pregnant women suffering medical emergencies, which might include abortion care in certain situations; repealing two Executive Orders that sought to protect and expand access to reproductive health care in the aftermath of Dobbs; reinstating the Global Gag Rule that targets reproductive health care around the world; scrubbing government websites of vital information about reproductive health care; and appointing notorious anti-abortion extremists for influential roles in his administration, including Pam Bondi as Attorney General, Russell Vought as OMB Director, and John Sauer as Solicitor General—among much else.

    Additionally, right now Republicans in Congress are pushing through a budget reconciliation bill that would make abortion care impossible to access nearly everywhere by defunding Planned Parenthood—putting 200 health centers across the country at risk of closure, 90 percent of which are in states where abortion is legal—and by effectively banning ACA marketplace health plans from covering abortion care. Overall, Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act would kick 16 million people off their health insurance through massive cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and overwhelmingly impact women, who comprise most adults covered by Medicaid. Medicaid is the primary source of coverage and the largest single payer for pregnant women’s health care nationwide, covering between one-third and one-half of births in every state across the country.

    “Already, we have seen with painful clarity, how—on a daily basis—Republican abortion bans are putting women’s lives in danger, forcing providers to close their doors, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant—no matter their circumstances. But Dobbs was never the end of this fight for Republicans, whose goal has always been a national abortion ban. And since Republicans know they don’t have the votes right now to pass a national abortion ban outright, they are slowly, but surely, advancing a backdoor nationwide abortion ban, and chipping away at access to reproductive health care piece-by-piece—even in states where abortion is protected. Republicans are hoping no one will notice these attacks—as if people don’t care when their rights are stripped away. As if it’s easy to miss the moment your health care decisions are out of your control,” said Senator Patty Murray. “As hard as Republicans might try, the damage they are causing is undeniable. But that doesn’t mean we give up. Women’s lives are at stake—Democrats are not going to stop pushing back—not ever. We will keep pushing for legislation to protect women and health care providers from Republican prosecution, to help people access and afford the reproductive health care they need, to protect women’s private health data, to protect the Right to Contraception and the Right to IVF, and to restore the right to abortion nationwide—nothing less.”

    “When I was ten weeks pregnant, doctors informed me that my baby had acrania, a rare condition that was fatal for my baby, and dangerous for me. Naturally, I was heartbroken and scared, but I trusted that I would receive the necessary medical treatment so that my family and I could begin healing. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Just a few weeks before I received my diagnosis, the Supreme Court issued their decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating the legal right to abortion. The fallout from the decision was fast, with states across the country starting to enforce cruel and dangerous abortion bans,” said Nancy Davis of Louisiana, Founder and Executive Director of the Nancy Davis Foundation. “My home state of Louisiana has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, and even though I needed to terminate my pregnancy to protect my own health and safety, I was told I could not receive care at the hospital in Baton Rouge. Instead of being able to process the diagnosis and grieve the loss of my pregnancy at home with my family, I had to scramble to find a way out of Louisiana to access abortion care. I found myself in a situation I never thought I would be in, forced to travel nearly 1,500 miles to get the care I needed and deserved. I experienced not only a denial of necessary medical care, but a denial of compassion, and my right to make my own decision about my own health. I felt dehumanized and stripped of my most fundamental rights. I knew what I needed to do to protect my health, and my doctors agreed, but local lawmakers who will never know me or understand my situation had the final say. The system failed me, and I am just as outraged today as I was then.”

    “I was raised in St. Louis and I love living in Missouri. But, it is challenging to fulfill your job as a physician when you cannot practice medicine as you were trained to do or teach medical students about abortion in the community and state where you live…It is infuriating and irresponsible that because of abortion bans, OBs can teach our students all aspects of medical care—except abortion. When you go to the doctor, you want your doctor to be trained. Anti-abortion politicians and groups have claimed that abortion rights have been left up to the state. That is simply not true. Last fall, Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment ensuring the right to an abortion, but — despite the will of the voters — politicians and state officials are still interfering with patients’ rights. At every turn, when we finally make progress towards abortion access in Missouri, they move the goalposts on us. The only way to describe our experience over the last several months is whiplash,” said Dr. Margaret Baum, M.D., FACOG, Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers in Missouri. “I have seen first-hand that these draconian laws force patients to make impossible choices when Medicaid cannot cover their care. People delay care because they’re afraid that they are not going to have the coverage for the services we know that they need. Patients are forced to decide if they can pay out of pocket to get lab tests. They are forced to decide between the procedures they need. They are forced to sometimes forego services altogether. It is critical for lawmakers to understand that the decisions they make are affecting patients every. Single. Day. And now, once again, they want to bring this chaos and confusion to the national level. I’m here to tell you today that the Senate bill proposing to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood would be devastating. It could force nearly 200 Planned Parenthood health centers to close and is a trojan horse for a nationwide abortion ban.”

    “Back before the FACE Act protections, our clinic doors were routinely blockaded one day a month by a mob of 300 to 400 anti-abortion extremists. Those days were unpredictable and scary. If we tried to get through them and into the clinic, extremists pinched or pricked us with sharp objects. By the end of the day, our patients were all traumatized and uncared for – and our bodies were black and blue. We can’t go back to those days…I proudly advocated for this Act when it was being debated in the 1990s – I am outraged and heartbroken we have to do this again. The law works at protecting rights, including speech rights, something I witness daily. As soon as the Act took effect, the extreme blockades stopped. Yes, we still had protesters exercising their First Amendment Rights, but now they knew they couldn’t be violent, and they could not invade the clinics or block staff and patients from entering. FACE has helped preserve the dignity and safety of the patients we serve, and the professionals who care for them,” said Renee Chelian, Founder and CEO of Michigan-based Northland Family Planning Centers. “But then in 2017, when President Trump first took office extremists were emboldened to resume their violent attacks, despite FACE, knowing they had a friend in the White House. Twice they invaded our clinics, harassed patients and staff and refused to leave after trespass warnings were given. Even after law enforcement arrived, they refused to leave, went limp and had to be carried out one at a time. But the most appalling and dangerous episode occurred toward the end of Trump’s first term, in August of 2020. A group blockaded our doors preventing staff and patients from entering the clinic including those arriving for birth control appointments and three women scheduled for abortions after receiving a fatal fetal diagnosis…Within days of returning to the White House, sure enough, President Trump pardoned the violent offenders who attacked our clinic and others serving time for violence against clinics in other states, as well as those convicted for their actions here on January 6th. We were all abandoned by our government with that swipe of a pen. The FACE Act has been our only lever preventing clinic violence and holding anti-abortion criminals accountable. The FACE Act simply can’t be undone and it is up to lawmakers like you to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

    “Right now, the Trump administration is taking unprecedented action to roll back abortion rights,” said Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All. “The majority of Americans do not support right-wing, hate-fueled ideology. Eight in ten Americans want legal abortion. That’s not just a majority—that’s a consensus. But because of the daily churn of chaos from the White House, most Americans don’t know that Republicans are attacking abortion. Our new focus group research shows that when Americans know these attacks are happening, they feel disgusted and betrayed. That means if we’re louder about this issue, we can win. Senator Murray and many of the champions in this room have long been the conscience of the Senate, and it’s time for all Senate Democrats to join them. We need to do everything we can to loudly push back against this administration’s attacks on our bodies, lives, and futures. We are living through remarkably dangerous times, and this is the moment to act. Our rights are not safe under this administration, and that includes abortion rights. In order to protect the safety, health, and dignity of all Americans, we need you to keep fighting. The majority of Americans are on our side, and together, we will protect reproductive freedom and restore abortion rights for all.”

    “Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans paved the path to overturn Roe v. Wade and stripped away a woman’s right to choose, but that wasn’t enough for them,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin. “Now, they are putting the puzzle pieces together to finally get what they have long wanted: a national abortion ban. Wisconsinites have said time and again that they want the freedom to control their bodies and futures, without politicians or the government butting in – and that is exactly what I’m fighting for. We are going to keep shining a light on Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ cruel efforts to further chip away at women’s right to get the health care they want and deserve – including abortion care.”

    “Since Trump’s Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen a new form of hell at every turn,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. “Now, Republicans in Congress are on track to pass a bill that amounts to a backdoor ban on abortion – even in states where it’s protected. Republicans’ bill to cut Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood is a one-two punch to women across the country, and we are not going to let them get away with it.”

    “Three years after the Supreme Court ruled in the Dobbs decision, it’s become difficult and dangerous for women to access basic reproductive care, and Trump and Republicans in Congress are continuing to chip away at access and stoke the danger. I worked at Planned Parenthood, and I know all too well that receiving credible death threats is a fact of life for so many people who work in reproductive health care,” said Senator Tina Smith. “We’re seeing an uptick in threats against abortion providers and patients, meanwhile President Trump is actively pardoning anti-abortion extremists found guilty of harassment and violence. That’s why we are spotlighting the voices of leaders working on the frontlines of providing reproductive health care in the face of these threats at this important moment.”

    “The deadly Dobbs decision will go down in history as one of the worst, most harmful, most regressive decisions in modern history, said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. “As bad as the Dobbs decision was and as catastrophic as the impacts have already been, Republicans are doubling down on their crusade against access to reproductive healthcare in their big, ugly reconciliation bill. Democrats are going to fight like hell to strip these cruel provisions from the Republican bill, and to protect and restore reproductive freedom for all.”

    “This issue is about more than health care; it is about women’s rights, individual rights, and human rights. It is about the right to make your own health care decisions,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal. “Three years after Dobbs, American women don’t have that right. Today, thanks to Republican lawmakers and conservative courts, a woman in America might walk into an ER and faint, bleeding, and be refused treatment. That woman might die. But we aren’t giving up, and we will never stop fighting for reproductive justice, abortion access, and the simple, foundational right to choose your own health care.”

    “The Guttmacher Institute said 155,000 people traveled for an abortion in 2024,” said Senator Maria Cantwell. “We are forcing them to go get care in some other state, miles and miles away. Why? Because of this archaic decision.  Now, we have two problems. We have people coming to our state who want this care, but now we could have fewer Medicaid dollars to even provide the care.”

    “With all the chaos and damage this administration has caused, the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade reminds us that we can’t lose sight of the fact that anti-choice politicians at all levels of our government are working nonstop to roll back women’s access to reproductive care,” said Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. “Between devastating cuts to Medicaid in Republicans’ reconciliation bill to top officials in this administration calling the safety of the abortion pill into question, Republicans across our country are taking steps to claw back women’s rights. My Democratic colleagues and I will never stop sounding the alarm about this and working to restore women’s access to basic health care.”

    “Three years ago, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority abandoned the long-standing constitutional protections recognized in Roe v. Wade—rejecting nearly 50 years of progress and dragging gender equality and women’s rights half a century backward,” said Senator Dick Durbin. “What has happened in the wake of Dobbs was as predictable as it is devastating—and today we heard how devastating the last three years have been for women seeking critical health care in Republican-led states. While I cannot sugarcoat the state of women’s rights following Dobbs, I want to make one thing crystal clear: this fight is far from over. I thank my colleagues, Senators Murray, Baldwin, Smith, and Warren, for hosting such an important forum and keeping up the fight.”

    “I was proud to join my colleagues today to hear directly from those who have suffered due to the deadly Dobbs decision and under Republicans’ anti-choice agenda,” said Senator Mazie Hirono. “Three years after the fall of Roe, Republicans continue to escalate their assault on reproductive freedom, while women across the country experience the devastating impacts of this infringement on their fundamental rights. Dobbs caused chaos and confusion, putting millions of Americans’ lives at risk, but I will not stop doing everything in my power to restore access to abortion and family planning services nationwide and protect reproductive health care providers and their patients.”

    “Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago, women have been at the mercy of a patchwork of laws. Over 40 percent of women of reproductive age now live under extreme and dangerous bans, women are being turned away from emergency rooms, and doctors are threatened with prosecution for just doing their jobs. This cannot be a country where our daughters have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. That is why we must pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and put the protections of Roe v. Wade into law,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar.

    “In the three years since the Trump-packed Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republican-led states have passed waves of harmful laws stripping Americans of the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Despite the life-threatening consequences of these actions, the Trump Administration is escalating its attacks on access to reproductive health care across the country—including in states where it’s protected. The stories we heard today underscored the urgent need to protect reproductive care as a matter of federal law,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen.

    Today, Senator Murray also joined Senators Tammy Baldwin and Richard Blumenthal to introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans.

    Senator Murray is a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights, and she has led Congressional efforts to fight back after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Murray has introduced more than a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; Murray has led efforts to push for passage of these bills on the Senate floor multiple times. Last January, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Murray led her colleagues in hosting a “State of Abortion Rights” briefing with women who have suffered firsthand from Republican abortion bans, and last June, she chaired a HELP Committee hearing titled “The Assault on Women’s Freedoms: How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America.” Last year, Senator Murray helped lead efforts to force Republicans on the record on votes to protect access to contraception and access to IVF (twice), and she led her colleagues in raising the alarm about the threat a second Trump administration poses to reproductive rights and abortion access in every state, as outlined in Project 2025.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: At Dobbs Spotlight Forum, Senator Murray, Senate Democrats Highlight Trump & Republicans’ Backdoor Abortion Ban & Efforts to Rip Away Reproductive Health Care Nationwide

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

    ***WATCH: Video of full forum***

    ***WATCH and READ: Senator Murray’s opening remarks***

    Washington, D.C. — Today—on the three-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the constitutional right to abortion—U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tina Smith (D-MN) hosted a spotlight forum titled Under Attack: Republicans’ Escalating War on Reproductive Freedom. At the forum, Senate Democrats heard from four panelists who have suffered the consequences of the Dobbs decision and subsequent Republican abortion bans firsthand and warned about how President Trump and Republicans are only escalating their attacks on women’s health care and working to make abortion impossible to access anywhere—a backdoor nationwide abortion ban.  

    The senators’ spotlight forum comes as President Trump has taken direct aim at reproductive health care in his first few months in office, including by: pardoning anti-abortion extremists found guilty of assaulting and injuring abortion clinic staff and announcing that his Department of Justice will largely no longer enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act; attacking mifepristone based on anti-abortion junk science; laying the groundwork to make “fetal personhood” the law of the land—which would ban abortion in every state and curtail pregnant women’s rights; rescinding CMS guidance reaffirming that the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospitals to provide life-saving care to pregnant women suffering medical emergencies, which might include abortion care in certain situations; repealing two Executive Orders that sought to protect and expand access to reproductive health care in the aftermath of Dobbs; reinstating the Global Gag Rule that targets reproductive health care around the world; scrubbing government websites of vital information about reproductive health care; and appointing notorious anti-abortion extremists for influential roles in his administration, including Pam Bondi as Attorney General, Russell Vought as OMB Director, and John Sauer as Solicitor General—among much else.

    Additionally, right now Republicans in Congress are pushing through a budget reconciliation bill that would make abortion care impossible to access nearly everywhere by defunding Planned Parenthood—putting 200 health centers across the country at risk of closure, 90 percent of which are in states where abortion is legal—and by effectively banning ACA marketplace health plans from covering abortion care. Overall, Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act would kick 16 million people off their health insurance through massive cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and overwhelmingly impact women, who comprise most adults covered by Medicaid. Medicaid is the primary source of coverage and the largest single payer for pregnant women’s health care nationwide, covering between one-third and one-half of births in every state across the country.

    “Already, we have seen with painful clarity, how—on a daily basis—Republican abortion bans are putting women’s lives in danger, forcing providers to close their doors, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant—no matter their circumstances. But Dobbs was never the end of this fight for Republicans, whose goal has always been a national abortion ban. And since Republicans know they don’t have the votes right now to pass a national abortion ban outright, they are slowly, but surely, advancing a backdoor nationwide abortion ban, and chipping away at access to reproductive health care piece-by-piece—even in states where abortion is protected. Republicans are hoping no one will notice these attacks—as if people don’t care when their rights are stripped away. As if it’s easy to miss the moment your health care decisions are out of your control,” said Senator Patty Murray. “As hard as Republicans might try, the damage they are causing is undeniable. But that doesn’t mean we give up. Women’s lives are at stake—Democrats are not going to stop pushing back—not ever. We will keep pushing for legislation to protect women and health care providers from Republican prosecution, to help people access and afford the reproductive health care they need, to protect women’s private health data, to protect the Right to Contraception and the Right to IVF, and to restore the right to abortion nationwide—nothing less.”

    “When I was ten weeks pregnant, doctors informed me that my baby had acrania, a rare condition that was fatal for my baby, and dangerous for me. Naturally, I was heartbroken and scared, but I trusted that I would receive the necessary medical treatment so that my family and I could begin healing. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Just a few weeks before I received my diagnosis, the Supreme Court issued their decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating the legal right to abortion. The fallout from the decision was fast, with states across the country starting to enforce cruel and dangerous abortion bans,” said Nancy Davis of Louisiana, Founder and Executive Director of the Nancy Davis Foundation. “My home state of Louisiana has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, and even though I needed to terminate my pregnancy to protect my own health and safety, I was told I could not receive care at the hospital in Baton Rouge. Instead of being able to process the diagnosis and grieve the loss of my pregnancy at home with my family, I had to scramble to find a way out of Louisiana to access abortion care. I found myself in a situation I never thought I would be in, forced to travel nearly 1,500 miles to get the care I needed and deserved. I experienced not only a denial of necessary medical care, but a denial of compassion, and my right to make my own decision about my own health. I felt dehumanized and stripped of my most fundamental rights. I knew what I needed to do to protect my health, and my doctors agreed, but local lawmakers who will never know me or understand my situation had the final say. The system failed me, and I am just as outraged today as I was then.”

    “I was raised in St. Louis and I love living in Missouri. But, it is challenging to fulfill your job as a physician when you cannot practice medicine as you were trained to do or teach medical students about abortion in the community and state where you live…It is infuriating and irresponsible that because of abortion bans, OBs can teach our students all aspects of medical care—except abortion. When you go to the doctor, you want your doctor to be trained. Anti-abortion politicians and groups have claimed that abortion rights have been left up to the state. That is simply not true. Last fall, Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment ensuring the right to an abortion, but — despite the will of the voters — politicians and state officials are still interfering with patients’ rights. At every turn, when we finally make progress towards abortion access in Missouri, they move the goalposts on us. The only way to describe our experience over the last several months is whiplash,” said Dr. Margaret Baum, M.D., FACOG, Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers in Missouri. “I have seen first-hand that these draconian laws force patients to make impossible choices when Medicaid cannot cover their care. People delay care because they’re afraid that they are not going to have the coverage for the services we know that they need. Patients are forced to decide if they can pay out of pocket to get lab tests. They are forced to decide between the procedures they need. They are forced to sometimes forego services altogether. It is critical for lawmakers to understand that the decisions they make are affecting patients every. Single. Day. And now, once again, they want to bring this chaos and confusion to the national level. I’m here to tell you today that the Senate bill proposing to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood would be devastating. It could force nearly 200 Planned Parenthood health centers to close and is a trojan horse for a nationwide abortion ban.”

    “Back before the FACE Act protections, our clinic doors were routinely blockaded one day a month by a mob of 300 to 400 anti-abortion extremists. Those days were unpredictable and scary. If we tried to get through them and into the clinic, extremists pinched or pricked us with sharp objects. By the end of the day, our patients were all traumatized and uncared for – and our bodies were black and blue. We can’t go back to those days…I proudly advocated for this Act when it was being debated in the 1990s – I am outraged and heartbroken we have to do this again. The law works at protecting rights, including speech rights, something I witness daily. As soon as the Act took effect, the extreme blockades stopped. Yes, we still had protesters exercising their First Amendment Rights, but now they knew they couldn’t be violent, and they could not invade the clinics or block staff and patients from entering. FACE has helped preserve the dignity and safety of the patients we serve, and the professionals who care for them,” said Renee Chelian, Founder and CEO of Michigan-based Northland Family Planning Centers. “But then in 2017, when President Trump first took office extremists were emboldened to resume their violent attacks, despite FACE, knowing they had a friend in the White House. Twice they invaded our clinics, harassed patients and staff and refused to leave after trespass warnings were given. Even after law enforcement arrived, they refused to leave, went limp and had to be carried out one at a time. But the most appalling and dangerous episode occurred toward the end of Trump’s first term, in August of 2020. A group blockaded our doors preventing staff and patients from entering the clinic including those arriving for birth control appointments and three women scheduled for abortions after receiving a fatal fetal diagnosis…Within days of returning to the White House, sure enough, President Trump pardoned the violent offenders who attacked our clinic and others serving time for violence against clinics in other states, as well as those convicted for their actions here on January 6th. We were all abandoned by our government with that swipe of a pen. The FACE Act has been our only lever preventing clinic violence and holding anti-abortion criminals accountable. The FACE Act simply can’t be undone and it is up to lawmakers like you to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

    “Right now, the Trump administration is taking unprecedented action to roll back abortion rights,” said Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All. “The majority of Americans do not support right-wing, hate-fueled ideology. Eight in ten Americans want legal abortion. That’s not just a majority—that’s a consensus. But because of the daily churn of chaos from the White House, most Americans don’t know that Republicans are attacking abortion. Our new focus group research shows that when Americans know these attacks are happening, they feel disgusted and betrayed. That means if we’re louder about this issue, we can win. Senator Murray and many of the champions in this room have long been the conscience of the Senate, and it’s time for all Senate Democrats to join them. We need to do everything we can to loudly push back against this administration’s attacks on our bodies, lives, and futures. We are living through remarkably dangerous times, and this is the moment to act. Our rights are not safe under this administration, and that includes abortion rights. In order to protect the safety, health, and dignity of all Americans, we need you to keep fighting. The majority of Americans are on our side, and together, we will protect reproductive freedom and restore abortion rights for all.”

    “Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans paved the path to overturn Roe v. Wade and stripped away a woman’s right to choose, but that wasn’t enough for them,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin. “Now, they are putting the puzzle pieces together to finally get what they have long wanted: a national abortion ban. Wisconsinites have said time and again that they want the freedom to control their bodies and futures, without politicians or the government butting in – and that is exactly what I’m fighting for. We are going to keep shining a light on Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ cruel efforts to further chip away at women’s right to get the health care they want and deserve – including abortion care.”

    “Since Trump’s Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen a new form of hell at every turn,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. “Now, Republicans in Congress are on track to pass a bill that amounts to a backdoor ban on abortion – even in states where it’s protected. Republicans’ bill to cut Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood is a one-two punch to women across the country, and we are not going to let them get away with it.”

    “Three years after the Supreme Court ruled in the Dobbs decision, it’s become difficult and dangerous for women to access basic reproductive care, and Trump and Republicans in Congress are continuing to chip away at access and stoke the danger. I worked at Planned Parenthood, and I know all too well that receiving credible death threats is a fact of life for so many people who work in reproductive health care,” said Senator Tina Smith. “We’re seeing an uptick in threats against abortion providers and patients, meanwhile President Trump is actively pardoning anti-abortion extremists found guilty of harassment and violence. That’s why we are spotlighting the voices of leaders working on the frontlines of providing reproductive health care in the face of these threats at this important moment.”

    “The deadly Dobbs decision will go down in history as one of the worst, most harmful, most regressive decisions in modern history, said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. “As bad as the Dobbs decision was and as catastrophic as the impacts have already been, Republicans are doubling down on their crusade against access to reproductive healthcare in their big, ugly reconciliation bill. Democrats are going to fight like hell to strip these cruel provisions from the Republican bill, and to protect and restore reproductive freedom for all.”

    “This issue is about more than health care; it is about women’s rights, individual rights, and human rights. It is about the right to make your own health care decisions,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal. “Three years after Dobbs, American women don’t have that right. Today, thanks to Republican lawmakers and conservative courts, a woman in America might walk into an ER and faint, bleeding, and be refused treatment. That woman might die. But we aren’t giving up, and we will never stop fighting for reproductive justice, abortion access, and the simple, foundational right to choose your own health care.”

    “The Guttmacher Institute said 155,000 people traveled for an abortion in 2024,” said Senator Maria Cantwell. “We are forcing them to go get care in some other state, miles and miles away. Why? Because of this archaic decision.  Now, we have two problems. We have people coming to our state who want this care, but now we could have fewer Medicaid dollars to even provide the care.”

    “With all the chaos and damage this administration has caused, the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade reminds us that we can’t lose sight of the fact that anti-choice politicians at all levels of our government are working nonstop to roll back women’s access to reproductive care,” said Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. “Between devastating cuts to Medicaid in Republicans’ reconciliation bill to top officials in this administration calling the safety of the abortion pill into question, Republicans across our country are taking steps to claw back women’s rights. My Democratic colleagues and I will never stop sounding the alarm about this and working to restore women’s access to basic health care.”

    “Three years ago, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority abandoned the long-standing constitutional protections recognized in Roe v. Wade—rejecting nearly 50 years of progress and dragging gender equality and women’s rights half a century backward,” said Senator Dick Durbin. “What has happened in the wake of Dobbs was as predictable as it is devastating—and today we heard how devastating the last three years have been for women seeking critical health care in Republican-led states. While I cannot sugarcoat the state of women’s rights following Dobbs, I want to make one thing crystal clear: this fight is far from over. I thank my colleagues, Senators Murray, Baldwin, Smith, and Warren, for hosting such an important forum and keeping up the fight.”

    “I was proud to join my colleagues today to hear directly from those who have suffered due to the deadly Dobbs decision and under Republicans’ anti-choice agenda,” said Senator Mazie Hirono. “Three years after the fall of Roe, Republicans continue to escalate their assault on reproductive freedom, while women across the country experience the devastating impacts of this infringement on their fundamental rights. Dobbs caused chaos and confusion, putting millions of Americans’ lives at risk, but I will not stop doing everything in my power to restore access to abortion and family planning services nationwide and protect reproductive health care providers and their patients.”

    “Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago, women have been at the mercy of a patchwork of laws. Over 40 percent of women of reproductive age now live under extreme and dangerous bans, women are being turned away from emergency rooms, and doctors are threatened with prosecution for just doing their jobs. This cannot be a country where our daughters have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. That is why we must pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and put the protections of Roe v. Wade into law,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar.

    “In the three years since the Trump-packed Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republican-led states have passed waves of harmful laws stripping Americans of the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Despite the life-threatening consequences of these actions, the Trump Administration is escalating its attacks on access to reproductive health care across the country—including in states where it’s protected. The stories we heard today underscored the urgent need to protect reproductive care as a matter of federal law,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen.

    Today, Senator Murray also joined Senators Tammy Baldwin and Richard Blumenthal to introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans.

    Senator Murray is a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights, and she has led Congressional efforts to fight back after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Murray has introduced more than a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; Murray has led efforts to push for passage of these bills on the Senate floor multiple times. Last January, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Murray led her colleagues in hosting a “State of Abortion Rights” briefing with women who have suffered firsthand from Republican abortion bans, and last June, she chaired a HELP Committee hearing titled “The Assault on Women’s Freedoms: How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America.” Last year, Senator Murray helped lead efforts to force Republicans on the record on votes to protect access to contraception and access to IVF (twice), and she led her colleagues in raising the alarm about the threat a second Trump administration poses to reproductive rights and abortion access in every state, as outlined in Project 2025.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: On 3rd Anniversary of Roe Being Overturned, Markey Joins Senate Dems in a Bill to Restore Abortion Access Nationwide

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey

    Women’s Health Protection Act comes as Trump and Congressional Republicans move to restrict a woman’s right to choose and toward a national abortion ban

    Washington (June 24, 2025) – On the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The bill’s introduction comes as the Trump Administration further attacks a woman’s right to choose and Congressional Republicans barrel ahead with a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. Put together, Trump and Congressional Republicans’ assault on Americans’ reproductive rights is a backdoor national abortion ban, ripping away millions of women’s access to abortion care and right to control their bodies.   

    President Trump appointed the Supreme Court Justices who ruled in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent. Since the Dobbs decision, 19 states have banned abortion or severely restricted women from being able to access the procedure, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. Additionally, state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to include medically unnecessary restrictions that limit access to abortion care.

    In his second term, President Trump has continued to relentlessly attack reproductive rights, including freezing Title X funding for clinics that offer reproductive care, cutting Biden-era emergency abortion protections, pardoning anti-abortion extremists, and fighting to defund Planned Parenthood. Additionally, the House-passed Republican budget bill kicks 16 million people off their health insurance and defunds Planned Parenthood – threatening the closure of 200 health centers across the country and putting access to vital reproductive care for millions of families at risk.

    The Women’s Health Protection Act creates federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access. Specifically, the Women’s Health Protection Act would:

    • Prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information.
    • Ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother.
    • Protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.

    The legislation is sponsored by the entire Democratic caucus, including Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D- DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

    Full text of the bill is available here. A one-pager on the bill is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Markey Joins Booker, Jayapal, Barragán to Reintroduce Legislation Removing Barriers to Health Care for Immigrants

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey

    Washington (June 24, 2025) –  Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today joined Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) along with U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA-44) to introduce the Health Equity and Access under Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Families Act, bicameral legislation that removes cruel and unnecessary barriers to health care for immigrants of all statuses. The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

    Immigrants are significantly more likely than U.S. Citizens to be uninsured, leaving them at a higher risk for both adverse health and financial consequences. Of the nearly 151 million people aged 15-49 in the United States, 14.6 million people—almost one in 10—are noncitizen immigrants.

    “Trump and Republicans are working to rip health care coverage away from millions, including immigrant communities that are already too often left uninsured and vulnerable due to their immigration status. We must expand health care access for all and eliminate the discriminatory policies that prevent immigrant families and communities from seeking the health care they need,” said Senator Markey.

    “Everyone deserves access to comprehensive, affordable, quality care, and the HEAL Act lifts unnecessary barriers to medical care for immigrants,” said Senator Booker.  “A more equitable health care system will help create healthier communities and ensure that all families, regardless of immigration status, have access to the care they need.” 

    “Health care is a human right that must be accessible to everyone — regardless of immigration status,” said Representative Jayapal. “As a proud immigrant myself, I know that the HEAL Act is a necessary first step to allow more people across America to access the health care they need to live, making all of our communities healthier. As Republicans in Congress work to strip health coverage away from millions of Americans and further decimate our already broken immigration system, we’re working to ensure everyone in this country is able to see a doctor when they need it.”

    “Access to healthcare shouldn’t depend on your immigration status,” said Representative Barragán. “Healthcare is a basic human right, and it’s time we break down the needless barriers that keep immigrant families from the care they need to survive and thrive. The HEAL Act is a step toward addressing racial health disparities and expanding quality healthcare to everyone in our communities.”

    “Withholding health care from immigrants is cruel and doesn’t make our communities safer or healthier,” said Senator Warren. “While the Trump administration continues playing political games with immigrant families, Democrats are fighting to make sure a person’s immigration status doesn’t prevent them from getting life-saving care.”

    “As the Trump Administration guts access to health care and basic services for immigrant communities, breaking down barriers to health care for immigrants isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s critical for protecting our public health and economy,” said Senator Padilla. “California is the fourth-largest economy in the world not despite immigrants, but because of their contributions to our workforce. Everyone deserves access to affordable, quality health care no matter their immigration status, and I will keep fighting to continue expanding coverage for these hardworking members of our communities.”

    “Health care is a human right—regardless of a person’s immigration status. With this critical legislation, we remove cruel, unnecessary barriers preventing immigrants from receiving the care they need to survive and thrive. By providing access to quality care and treatment, we strengthen our communities and bolster our nation’s public health,” said Senator Blumenthal.

    To see the full list of endorsing organizations, click here. 

    “Rep. Jayapal and Sen. Booker continue to be courageous and powerful champions for immigrant communities by reintroducing the HEAL for Immigrant Families Act. While immigrant families are currently being attacked and torn apart, this bill promotes a vision for what we want for our collective future. A future that supports immigrant communities by removing long standing systemic barriers to health coverage to help our communities access affordable health care. We are especially grateful that Sen. Booker and Rep. Jayapal are introducing this critical legislation today as we mark three years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion. That decision has disproportionately harmed immigrant communities, for whom abortion bans, misinformation, and the threat of being detained and separated from our families has increased the barriers that keep us from getting the health care we need,” said Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. “We urge Congress to protect immigrant communities and pass this bill,” said Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice.

    “The reproductive justice movement teaches us that true justice means being able to have children, not have children, and raise our families in safe, supportive communities. None of that is possible without health care. In a country that has always been shaped by immigrants, we cannot keep allowing people and families, including the Asian American immigrants who make up more than a quarter of immigrants in the U.S., to be shut out from basic health care because of harmful, outdated policies. These are our mothers, our sisters, and our neighbors. The HEAL Act tears down the barriers facing our communities and reaffirms that everyone deserves the right to care, regardless of background, income, or immigration status,” said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF).

    “For too long, our health care system has denied immigrants equitable access to health insurance, fueling deep and unconscionable health inequities,” said Madeline Morcelle, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program. “The big ugly reconciliation bill before Congress threatens to lock even more immigrant families out of vital and often lifesaving coverage, widening those inequities. The National Health Law Program is proud to endorse the HEAL for Immigrant Families Act, which offers a better vision for the future: dismantling xenophobic health insurance barriers and fostering health equity and reproductive justice for all,” said Madeline Morcelle, Senior Attorney, The National Health Law Program.

    “Everyone deserves access to health care, no matter who they are or where they come from. It is unacceptable and cruel that many are denied affordable, high-quality, and comprehensive health care because of their immigration status. Amid the ongoing attacks on our immigrant communities and our health care, I thank Reps. Jayapal and Barragán and Senator Booker for reintroducing this critical bill that would break down unjust barriers to care for our immigrant families,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

    “As a physician, I’ve witnessed the barriers immigrant families face when trying to access health care. Insurance coverage is a cornerstone of meaningful access; without it, care remains out of reach for too many. At a time when attacks on immigrant communities are escalating, we must act now to ensure that everyone—regardless of status—has the right to timely, compassionate, and comprehensive health care. That’s why I join physicians across the country in calling for a swift passage of the HEAL Act. Expanding health coverage to immigrant communities ensures they receive the care they deserve, regardless of their immigration status. Health is a human right and no one should be excluded from receiving healthcare. Congress must pass HEAL – our patients are counting on it,” said Dr. Jamila Perritt, MD, MPH, FACOG, President and CEO, Physicians for Reproductive Health.

    “With immigrant families under constant attack, it’s more important than ever to work toward a better, more inclusive future when everyone can get the care we all need. We are proud to champion the HEAL Act – a critical step toward that better future,” said Adriana Cadena, Campaign Director, Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition.

    “Now more than ever, it is critical to affirm that everyone—including immigrants—should have access to health care coverage. Immigrants already face many restrictions to such care and an onslaught of attacks on them and their families’ health and well-being, ranging from the fear created by the Administration’s mass deportation efforts to the deeply harmful budget reconciliation bill currently under consideration. The HEAL for Immigrant Families Act is a critical step in moving us back in the right direction by giving children and families access to the health care they need to thrive. CLASP is grateful to Representative Jayapal and Senator Booker for their leadership in promoting a vision that supports health care for all,” said Wendy Cervantes, Director, Immigration and Immigrant Families, CLASP.

    “A community’s health and well-being depend on ensuring all of us have access to the affordable health care we need, regardless of immigration status. The HEAL Act would remove harmful barriers to care for millions and benefit all of us. At a time when immigrant communities across the country are facing a barrage of attacks, we commend Representative Jayapal for continuing to champion a vision and policies that help everyone in our communities,” said Kica Matos, President, National Immigration Law Center.

    The HEAL for Immigrant Families Act will:

    1. Restore enrollment to full-benefit Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to all federally authorized immigrants who are otherwise eligible by removing the 5-year waiting period and outdated list of “qualified immigrants” for Medicaid and CHIP eligibility;
    2. Remove discriminatory Medicare restrictions based on length of stay in the U.S. for many lawful permanent residents (LPR);
    3. End the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces
    4. Ensure access to public and affordable coverage for Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients;
    5. Create a state option to expand Medicaid and CHIP to immigrants regardless of immigration status.

    To read the full text of the bill, click here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Booker, Jayapal, Barragan Reintroduce Legislation to Remove Barriers to Health Care for Immigrants

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Cory Booker

    WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) along with U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA-44) introduced the Health Equity and Access under Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Families Act, bicameral legislation that removes cruel and unnecessary barriers to health care for immigrants of all statuses. The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

    Immigrants are significantly more likely than U.S. Citizens to be uninsured, leaving them at a higher risk for both adverse health and financial consequences. Of the nearly 151 million people aged 15-49 in the United States, 14.6 million people—almost one in 10—are noncitizen immigrants.

    “Everyone deserves access to comprehensive, affordable, quality care, and the HEAL Act lifts unnecessary barriers to medical care for immigrants,” said Senator Booker.  “A more equitable health care system will help create healthier communities and ensure that all families, regardless of immigration status, have access to the care they need.” 

    “Health care is a human right that must be accessible to everyone — regardless of immigration status,” said Representative Jayapal. “As a proud immigrant myself, I know that the HEAL Act is a necessary first step to allow more people across America to access the health care they need to live, making all of our communities healthier. As Republicans in Congress work to strip health coverage away from millions of Americans and further decimate our already broken immigration system, we’re working to ensure everyone in this country is able to see a doctor when they need it.”

    “Access to healthcare shouldn’t depend on your immigration status,” said Representative Barragán. “Healthcare is a basic human right, and it’s time we break down the needless barriers that keep immigrant families from the care they need to survive and thrive. The HEAL Act is a step toward addressing racial health disparities and expanding quality healthcare to everyone in our communities.”

    “Withholding health care from immigrants is cruel and doesn’t make our communities safer or healthier,” said Senator Warren. “While the Trump administration continues playing political games with immigrant families, Democrats are fighting to make sure a person’s immigration status doesn’t prevent them from getting life-saving care.”

    “As the Trump Administration guts access to health care and basic services for immigrant communities, breaking down barriers to health care for immigrants isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s critical for protecting our public health and economy,” said Senator Padilla. “California is the fourth-largest economy in the world not despite immigrants, but because of their contributions to our workforce. Everyone deserves access to affordable, quality health care no matter their immigration status, and I will keep fighting to continue expanding coverage for these hardworking members of our communities.”

    “Trump and Republicans are working to rip health care coverage away from millions, including immigrant communities that are already too often left uninsured and vulnerable due to their immigration status. We must expand health care access for all and eliminate the discriminatory policies that prevent immigrant families and communities from seeking the health care they need,” said Senator Markey.

    “Health care is a human right—regardless of a person’s immigration status. With this critical legislation, we remove cruel, unnecessary barriers preventing immigrants from receiving the care they need to survive and thrive. By providing access to quality care and treatment, we strengthen our communities and bolster our nation’s public health,” said Senator Blumenthal.

    To see the full list of endorsing organizations, click here. 

    “Rep. Jayapal and Sen. Booker continue to be courageous and powerful champions for immigrant communities by reintroducing the HEAL for Immigrant Families Act. While immigrant families are currently being attacked and torn apart, this bill promotes a vision for what we want for our collective future. A future that supports immigrant communities by removing long standing systemic barriers to health coverage to help our communities access affordable health care. We are especially grateful that Sen. Booker and Rep. Jayapal are introducing this critical legislation today as we mark three years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion. That decision has disproportionately harmed immigrant communities, for whom abortion bans, misinformation, and the threat of being detained and separated from our families has increased the barriers that keep us from getting the health care we need,” said Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. “We urge Congress to protect immigrant communities and pass this bill,” said Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice.

    “The reproductive justice movement teaches us that true justice means being able to have children, not have children, and raise our families in safe, supportive communities. None of that is possible without health care. In a country that has always been shaped by immigrants, we cannot keep allowing people and families, including the Asian American immigrants who make up more than a quarter of immigrants in the U.S., to be shut out from basic health care because of harmful, outdated policies. These are our mothers, our sisters, and our neighbors. The HEAL Act tears down the barriers facing our communities and reaffirms that everyone deserves the right to care, regardless of background, income, or immigration status,” said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF).

    “For too long, our health care system has denied immigrants equitable access to health insurance, fueling deep and unconscionable health inequities,” said Madeline Morcelle, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program. “The big ugly reconciliation bill before Congress threatens to lock even more immigrant families out of vital and often lifesaving coverage, widening those inequities. The National Health Law Program is proud to endorse the HEAL for Immigrant Families Act, which offers a better vision for the future: dismantling xenophobic health insurance barriers and fostering health equity and reproductive justice for all,” said Madeline Morcelle, Senior Attorney, The National Health Law Program.

    “Everyone deserves access to health care, no matter who they are or where they come from. It is unacceptable and cruel that many are denied affordable, high-quality, and comprehensive health care because of their immigration status. Amid the ongoing attacks on our immigrant communities and our health care, I thank Reps. Jayapal and Barragán and Senator Booker for reintroducing this critical bill that would break down unjust barriers to care for our immigrant families,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

    “As a physician, I’ve witnessed the barriers immigrant families face when trying to access health care. Insurance coverage is a cornerstone of meaningful access; without it, care remains out of reach for too many. At a time when attacks on immigrant communities are escalating, we must act now to ensure that everyone—regardless of status—has the right to timely, compassionate, and comprehensive health care. That’s why I join physicians across the country in calling for a swift passage of the HEAL Act. Expanding health coverage to immigrant communities ensures they receive the care they deserve, regardless of their immigration status. Health is a human right and no one should be excluded from receiving healthcare. Congress must pass HEAL – our patients are counting on it,” said Dr. Jamila Perritt, MD, MPH, FACOG, President and CEO, Physicians for Reproductive Health.

    “With immigrant families under constant attack, it’s more important than ever to work toward a better, more inclusive future when everyone can get the care we all need. We are proud to champion the HEAL Act – a critical step toward that better future,” said Adriana Cadena, Campaign Director, Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition.

    “Now more than ever, it is critical to affirm that everyone—including immigrants—should have access to health care coverage. Immigrants already face many restrictions to such care and an onslaught of attacks on them and their families’ health and well-being, ranging from the fear created by the Administration’s mass deportation efforts to the deeply harmful budget reconciliation bill currently under consideration. The HEAL for Immigrant Families Act is a critical step in moving us back in the right direction by giving children and families access to the health care they need to thrive. CLASP is grateful to Representative Jayapal and Senator Booker for their leadership in promoting a vision that supports health care for all,” said Wendy Cervantes, Director, Immigration and Immigrant Families, CLASP.

    “A community’s health and well-being depend on ensuring all of us have access to the affordable health care we need, regardless of immigration status. The HEAL Act would remove harmful barriers to care for millions and benefit all of us. At a time when immigrant communities across the country are facing a barrage of attacks, we commend Representative Jayapal for continuing to champion a vision and policies that help everyone in our communities,” said Kica Matos, President, National Immigration Law Center.

    The HEAL for Immigrant Families Act will:

    1. Restore enrollment to full-benefit Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to all federally authorized immigrants who are otherwise eligible by removing the 5-year waiting period and outdated list of “qualified immigrants” for Medicaid and CHIP eligibility;
    2. Remove discriminatory Medicare restrictions based on length of stay in the U.S. for many lawful permanent residents (LPR);
    3. End the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces
    4. Ensure access to public and affordable coverage for Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients;
    5. Create a state option to expand Medicaid and CHIP to immigrants regardless of immigration status.

    To read the full text of the bill, click here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Booker, Jayapal, Barragan Reintroduce Legislation to Remove Barriers to Health Care for Immigrants

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Cory Booker

    WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) along with U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA-44) introduced the Health Equity and Access under Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Families Act, bicameral legislation that removes cruel and unnecessary barriers to health care for immigrants of all statuses. The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

    Immigrants are significantly more likely than U.S. Citizens to be uninsured, leaving them at a higher risk for both adverse health and financial consequences. Of the nearly 151 million people aged 15-49 in the United States, 14.6 million people—almost one in 10—are noncitizen immigrants.

    “Everyone deserves access to comprehensive, affordable, quality care, and the HEAL Act lifts unnecessary barriers to medical care for immigrants,” said Senator Booker.  “A more equitable health care system will help create healthier communities and ensure that all families, regardless of immigration status, have access to the care they need.” 

    “Health care is a human right that must be accessible to everyone — regardless of immigration status,” said Representative Jayapal. “As a proud immigrant myself, I know that the HEAL Act is a necessary first step to allow more people across America to access the health care they need to live, making all of our communities healthier. As Republicans in Congress work to strip health coverage away from millions of Americans and further decimate our already broken immigration system, we’re working to ensure everyone in this country is able to see a doctor when they need it.”

    “Access to healthcare shouldn’t depend on your immigration status,” said Representative Barragán. “Healthcare is a basic human right, and it’s time we break down the needless barriers that keep immigrant families from the care they need to survive and thrive. The HEAL Act is a step toward addressing racial health disparities and expanding quality healthcare to everyone in our communities.”

    “Withholding health care from immigrants is cruel and doesn’t make our communities safer or healthier,” said Senator Warren. “While the Trump administration continues playing political games with immigrant families, Democrats are fighting to make sure a person’s immigration status doesn’t prevent them from getting life-saving care.”

    “As the Trump Administration guts access to health care and basic services for immigrant communities, breaking down barriers to health care for immigrants isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s critical for protecting our public health and economy,” said Senator Padilla. “California is the fourth-largest economy in the world not despite immigrants, but because of their contributions to our workforce. Everyone deserves access to affordable, quality health care no matter their immigration status, and I will keep fighting to continue expanding coverage for these hardworking members of our communities.”

    “Trump and Republicans are working to rip health care coverage away from millions, including immigrant communities that are already too often left uninsured and vulnerable due to their immigration status. We must expand health care access for all and eliminate the discriminatory policies that prevent immigrant families and communities from seeking the health care they need,” said Senator Markey.

    “Health care is a human right—regardless of a person’s immigration status. With this critical legislation, we remove cruel, unnecessary barriers preventing immigrants from receiving the care they need to survive and thrive. By providing access to quality care and treatment, we strengthen our communities and bolster our nation’s public health,” said Senator Blumenthal.

    To see the full list of endorsing organizations, click here. 

    “Rep. Jayapal and Sen. Booker continue to be courageous and powerful champions for immigrant communities by reintroducing the HEAL for Immigrant Families Act. While immigrant families are currently being attacked and torn apart, this bill promotes a vision for what we want for our collective future. A future that supports immigrant communities by removing long standing systemic barriers to health coverage to help our communities access affordable health care. We are especially grateful that Sen. Booker and Rep. Jayapal are introducing this critical legislation today as we mark three years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion. That decision has disproportionately harmed immigrant communities, for whom abortion bans, misinformation, and the threat of being detained and separated from our families has increased the barriers that keep us from getting the health care we need,” said Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. “We urge Congress to protect immigrant communities and pass this bill,” said Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice.

    “The reproductive justice movement teaches us that true justice means being able to have children, not have children, and raise our families in safe, supportive communities. None of that is possible without health care. In a country that has always been shaped by immigrants, we cannot keep allowing people and families, including the Asian American immigrants who make up more than a quarter of immigrants in the U.S., to be shut out from basic health care because of harmful, outdated policies. These are our mothers, our sisters, and our neighbors. The HEAL Act tears down the barriers facing our communities and reaffirms that everyone deserves the right to care, regardless of background, income, or immigration status,” said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF).

    “For too long, our health care system has denied immigrants equitable access to health insurance, fueling deep and unconscionable health inequities,” said Madeline Morcelle, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program. “The big ugly reconciliation bill before Congress threatens to lock even more immigrant families out of vital and often lifesaving coverage, widening those inequities. The National Health Law Program is proud to endorse the HEAL for Immigrant Families Act, which offers a better vision for the future: dismantling xenophobic health insurance barriers and fostering health equity and reproductive justice for all,” said Madeline Morcelle, Senior Attorney, The National Health Law Program.

    “Everyone deserves access to health care, no matter who they are or where they come from. It is unacceptable and cruel that many are denied affordable, high-quality, and comprehensive health care because of their immigration status. Amid the ongoing attacks on our immigrant communities and our health care, I thank Reps. Jayapal and Barragán and Senator Booker for reintroducing this critical bill that would break down unjust barriers to care for our immigrant families,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

    “As a physician, I’ve witnessed the barriers immigrant families face when trying to access health care. Insurance coverage is a cornerstone of meaningful access; without it, care remains out of reach for too many. At a time when attacks on immigrant communities are escalating, we must act now to ensure that everyone—regardless of status—has the right to timely, compassionate, and comprehensive health care. That’s why I join physicians across the country in calling for a swift passage of the HEAL Act. Expanding health coverage to immigrant communities ensures they receive the care they deserve, regardless of their immigration status. Health is a human right and no one should be excluded from receiving healthcare. Congress must pass HEAL – our patients are counting on it,” said Dr. Jamila Perritt, MD, MPH, FACOG, President and CEO, Physicians for Reproductive Health.

    “With immigrant families under constant attack, it’s more important than ever to work toward a better, more inclusive future when everyone can get the care we all need. We are proud to champion the HEAL Act – a critical step toward that better future,” said Adriana Cadena, Campaign Director, Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition.

    “Now more than ever, it is critical to affirm that everyone—including immigrants—should have access to health care coverage. Immigrants already face many restrictions to such care and an onslaught of attacks on them and their families’ health and well-being, ranging from the fear created by the Administration’s mass deportation efforts to the deeply harmful budget reconciliation bill currently under consideration. The HEAL for Immigrant Families Act is a critical step in moving us back in the right direction by giving children and families access to the health care they need to thrive. CLASP is grateful to Representative Jayapal and Senator Booker for their leadership in promoting a vision that supports health care for all,” said Wendy Cervantes, Director, Immigration and Immigrant Families, CLASP.

    “A community’s health and well-being depend on ensuring all of us have access to the affordable health care we need, regardless of immigration status. The HEAL Act would remove harmful barriers to care for millions and benefit all of us. At a time when immigrant communities across the country are facing a barrage of attacks, we commend Representative Jayapal for continuing to champion a vision and policies that help everyone in our communities,” said Kica Matos, President, National Immigration Law Center.

    The HEAL for Immigrant Families Act will:

    1. Restore enrollment to full-benefit Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to all federally authorized immigrants who are otherwise eligible by removing the 5-year waiting period and outdated list of “qualified immigrants” for Medicaid and CHIP eligibility;
    2. Remove discriminatory Medicare restrictions based on length of stay in the U.S. for many lawful permanent residents (LPR);
    3. End the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces
    4. Ensure access to public and affordable coverage for Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients;
    5. Create a state option to expand Medicaid and CHIP to immigrants regardless of immigration status.

    To read the full text of the bill, click here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Appointments – New Te Whatu Ora / Health NZ CEO takes over at a challenging time for health – PSA

    Source: PSA

    The PSA welcomes the appointment of Dr Dale Bramley who takes over as Te Whatu Ora / Health NZ CEO next month at a very challenging time for health services.
    “We have met Dr Bramley in his current role as interim CEO and have welcomed the constructive discussions to date,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
    “Dr Bramley takes on the role at a very challenging time for our public health system. Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand has been starved of the funding it needs to deliver the better patient outcomes the Government is demanding.
    “We hope Dr Bramley is clear with Ministers about how their decisions to fund tax cuts over properly funding the health system has impacted the health services New Zealanders expect from his agency.
    “The PSA represents some 24,000 health workers across the sector who experience every day the struggle to deliver to the needs of patients. This must change if New Zealanders are to have confidence that the health system will be there for them when they need it.
    “The PSA will continue to advocate for greater funding and looks forward to further making that case with Dr Bramley in his new role along with Ministers.”
    The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA:  On Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Being Overturned, Rosen Helps Introduce Bill to Restore Abortion Access Nationwide

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

    WASHINGTON, DC – Today, on the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) joined Senate colleagues in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act to enshrine Roe protections in federal law and restore women’s reproductive freedom. Specifically, this bill would help overturn and prevent extreme abortion bans and reproductive care restrictions that are putting at risk the lives of women in states across the country.
    “Women deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions without interference from politicians,” said Senator Rosen. “Since Roe was overturned, we’ve seen the dangerous consequences of extreme anti-choice bans that put women’s lives at risk and gut access to critically-needed health care. Women have died because of this. I’m proud to help introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore Roe and protect the right to reproductive care.”
    Senator Rosen has been a fighter for women’s reproductive rights, taking action to safeguard access to essential health care for women. Earlier this year, Senator Rosen joined Senate colleagues in introducing the Right to Contraception Act, aimed at federally guaranteeing the right to obtain and use contraceptives and shielding providers who prescribe and offer them. Senator Rosen has also condemned the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind federal guidance that required hospitals to provide emergency abortions.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Griffith Advocates for Coal Miner Health and Safety Protections in Hearing with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA)

    Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA), member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, participated in a hearing entitled “The Fiscal Year 2026 Department of Health and Human Services Budget.” The hearing, which featured U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., focused on the agency’s budget request for fiscal year 2026.

    Congressman Griffith engaged Secretary Kennedy, Jr. on different topics, with some related to the HHS National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the agency’s approach to Black Lung Disease. To see the interaction, click here or on the link below.

    BACKGROUND

    This year, HHS announced that NIOSH will join the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) to improve coordination of health resources for Americans.

    Other agencies a part of AHA include the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). 

    Coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, or Black Lung, is a disease that impacts our nation’s miners. Miners who are diagnosed with the disease are entitled to certain federal monetary and medical benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Program.

    Congressman Griffith has visited facilities in Southwest Virginia that treat black lung disease, including Stone Mountain Health Services Black Lung Clinic in St. Charles, Virginia.

    In 2019 and 2020, Congressman Griffith waived onto hearings held by the House Committee on Education & the Workforce to discuss protecting black lung benefits.

    Congressman Griffith serves as Co-Chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murphy, Blumenthal, Democratic Caucus Introduce Bill to Restore Abortion Access Nationwide on 3rd Anniversary of Roe Being Overturned

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

    June 24, 2025

    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today, on the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, joined the entire Democratic caucus in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The bill’s introduction comes as the Trump Administration further attacks a woman’s right to choose and Congressional Republicans barrel ahead with a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. Put together, Trump and Congressional Republicans’ assault on Americans’ reproductive rights is a backdoor national abortion ban, ripping away millions of women’s access to abortion care and right to control their bodies.   

    “In the three years since Roe was overturned, newly enacted, draconian abortion bans have put women’s lives at risk all over the country. Women – not politicians or radical right-wing judges – should be in charge of decisions about their health care, but Donald Trump and Republicans are hellbent on chipping away at women’s reproductive rights so they can eventually pass a nationwide abortion ban. This legislation would stop Republicans from turning back the clock on women’s freedom in this country and restore the right to reproductive health care,” said Murphy.

    “This issue is about more than health care; it is about women’s rights, individual rights, and human rights. The foundation of the Women’s Health Protection Act is simply the right to make your own health care decisions. Three years after Dobbs, American women don’t have that right. Today, thanks to Republican lawmakers and conservative courts, a woman in America might walk into an ER and faint, bleeding, and be refused treatment. That woman might die,” said Blumenthal. “By restoring abortion access and implementing basic protections against medically unnecessary restrictions on health care, the Women’s Health Protection Act overturns the death sentence handed down by Dobbs.”

    President Trump appointed the Supreme Court Justices who ruled in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent. Since the Dobbs decision, 19 states have banned abortion or severely restricted women from being able to access the procedure, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. Additionally, state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to include medically unnecessary restrictions that limit access to abortion care.

    In his second term, President Trump has continued to relentlessly attack reproductive rights, including freezing Title X funding for clinics that offer reproductive care, cutting Biden-era emergency abortion protections, pardoning anti-abortion extremists, and fighting to defund Planned Parenthood. Additionally, the House-passed Republican budget bill kicks 16 million people off their health insurance and defunds Planned Parenthood – threatening the closure of 200 health centers across the country and putting access to vital reproductive care for millions of families at risk.

    The Women’s Health Protection Act creates federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access. Specifically, the Women’s Health Protection Act would:

    • Prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information.
    • Ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother.
    • Protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.

    U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also cosponsored the bill.

    Full text of the bill is available HERE. A one-pager on the bill is available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: First new research findings published from Our Future Health data

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The first published research findings from Our Future Health data looks at whether people living with chronic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease, have a higher risk of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder.

    The research, published in BMJ Mental Health, analysed data from the Our Future Health research programme, which is now the world’s largest dataset for research on depression and anxiety. The findings show significant links.

    Published Our Future Health data will give an insight into the prevalence of mental health issues in society. Experts from Our Future Health will provide further details of the data and how this will now be made available to mental health researchers in the UK and around the world.

    Speakers included:

    Dr Raghib Ali OBE, Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer of Our Future Health

    Professor Daniel Smith, Chair of Psychiatry and Head of Division of Psychiatry, The University of Edinburgh

    Dr Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots, Research Fellow (Hub for Metabolic Psychiatry), The University of Edinburgh

    Dr Rosalind Blackwood, Director of Population Health Insights, Our Future Health

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study looking at global childhood vaccination coverage

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    A study published in the Lancet looks at global trends in routine childhood vaccination coverage.

    Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology, and Head of Division of Biomedical Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, University of Reading, said:

    “These figures indicate a worrying level of children in the UK who are completely unvaccinated against childhood diseases.  While the comparative data do not show the specific causes of this rising trend over recent decades, the WHO and others are right to highlight it as a worrying trend.

    “This is a very large assessment of multiple and large data sources, combined with models which are used to provide consistency between the data and provide forecasts into the future.  Such methodology provides both a clear overview of the past trajectories of immunisation rates along with an effective range of possible scenarios for the future, which appears to be robust and based on sound data.  The authors are clear about the limitations of their study but these do not detract from the overall message.

    “The current move away from funding global health schemes through international aid in order to spend more on defence puts the whole world at greater risk of future epidemics and pandemics.  Our security against this in the UK is improved by supporting efforts to not let dangerous diseases take hold in populations elsewhere in the world.  Our experience of Covid reminds us that lethal human diseases can be very hard to contain on the other side of international borders.”

    Dr David Elliman, Honorary Senior Associate Professor, UCL, said:

    “Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways that the health service can improve the lives of children around the world. It is a great success story with more vaccines being introduced all the time.  Not only does vaccination save lives, but it often saves money. However, in the last ten to twenty years, many countries, worldwide, have seen a reduction in the proportion of children receiving all the available vaccines. This article by a large group of researchers has documented the decline.  It may be difficult to measure uptake of vaccination accurately, but the researchers have allowed for this.  It is clear that the decline in uptake is happening around the world.  This has resulted in outbreaks of disease, for examples measles and whooping cough in USA and Europe (including UK) as well as in resource poor countries.  These diseases can and do kill children.  While part of the fall in vaccination is related to COVID, the trend was clear before then.

    “Declining vaccination rates are often blamed on misinformation, but there are many reasons, of which this is only one. Access to vaccines is often overlooked or underestimated as a factor, even in the UK.  Around the world, the increasing number of countries torn apart by civil unrest and wars, combined with the drastic cuts in foreign aid from rich nations, such as USA and UK, makes it difficult to get vaccines to many populations.  With the political changes in USA where it appears that policy is being made on the basis of ill-informed opinion, rather than science, we have a perfect storm. The researchers’ recommendations to strengthen primary health-care systems, address vaccine misinformation and hesitancy, and adapt to local contexts can, and should, be applied to all countries, including the UK.  In addition we should ensure that vaccines are available to all.

    “It is in everyone’s interest that this situation is rectified.  Not only is it a moral imperative to improve the health of ALL children, wherever possible, but as was said during the COVID pandemic, no-one is safe, until everyone is safe. While vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, occur anywhere in the world, we are all at risk. Universal vaccination is a perfect example of ‘enlightened self interest’.”

    Prof Sir Andrew Pollard FRCPCH FMedSci FRS, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, and Ashall Professor of Infection and Immunity, Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford, said:

    “The study uses an established approach to track the global burden of disease and immunisation coverage and the authors have tried hard to get the most accurate data by using multiple sources and account for regional variation and inequalities. These types of study will always be limited by the lack of high quality national data from most countries in the world which means there has to be extrapolation and assumption.  Nevertheless these are important data providing a concerning picture of recent declines in vaccine coverage and an increase in the number of zero dose children which risks the future health and lives of millions of children.

    “Incredible progress has been made in the past 50 years since the global expanded programme of immunisation was launched 50 years ago and over 150 million lives, mostly children, have been saved by the programme. The story is the same here in the UK with the launch of our own national programme by JCVI 62 years ago: deaths from infectious diseases of childhood have plummeted here too. The rarity of childhood severe disease and death from infection risks that we become complacent. But the danger remains out there: all of the diseases for which vaccines can protect children remain at large, only kept at bay by the shield which is provided by immunuisation. Unvaccinated children are vulnerable to a wide range of awful life-threatening bacteria and viruses, just as was the case for our population in the first half of the 20th century. There is a worrying trend of falling vaccine coverage worldwide which has been manifest in the last year as the outbreaks in Europe and North America of measles and whooping cough, with measles deaths in Texas in 2025. Falling global vaccine coverage, an increase in the numbers of children receiving no vaccines, and delays in vaccination mean that more children will be hospitalised, permanently damaged and die from fully preventable diseases if the trend is not reversed. Alas, the cuts in global health funding mean that this situation is set to deteriorate. This is a big concern for the future of our health and global health security.”

    Dr Ed Parker, Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Vaccine Centre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), said:

    “This is a timely study that attempts to quantify global trends in childhood vaccine coverage since 1980.  The findings highlight the remarkable progress that has been made to deliver life-saving vaccines across the globe, while painting a clear picture of the challenges faced following disrupted vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic and the stagnation in vaccination rates that preceded it.

    “Underpinning the work is an immense data curation effort, drawing together data from household surveys, national coverage reports, and various other sources from across the globe. The study team estimated coverage trends with careful consideration of the biases, gaps, and inconsistencies that are inherent in these data, providing strong foundations for the study’s conclusions.

    “A key uncertainty – acknowledged by the authors – is that it is too early to know what effect proposed funding cuts might have on vaccination programmes globally. The recent resurgence of measles, polio, and diphtheria – all preventable by vaccination – serves as a reminder of what is at stake if high and equitable vaccine coverage is not sustained.”

    Prof Helen Bedford, Professor of Children’s Health, UCL, said:

    “It is often said that, after clean water, vaccination is the most effective intervention for protecting the health of our children. While it can be challenging in many settings to measure vaccine uptake accurately, the researchers publishing the latest data from the World Health Organization have made allowance for this and it provides powerful evidence. It is estimated that vaccination has prevented an estimated 154 million deaths, mostly in the under-fives, across the globe in the last 50 years. However, we cannot rest on our laurels; this progress is stalling in many countries including the UK. In UK, although vaccination is the norm, with the overwhelming majority of parents vaccinating their babies, infants and children without hesitation, there has been a small but gradual decline in the number of parents doing so each year over the past 12 years with increasing inequity in uptake between social groups. This has resulted in recent outbreaks of disease with the largest number of confirmed cases of measles since the 1990s and the tragic deaths of eleven babies from whooping cough in 2024.

    “The reasons for declining vaccine uptake are numerous and complex but require commitment and resource to meet the challenges of increasing social inequity, readily available mis-information about vaccine safety and necessity and improving public confidence in vaccination programmes. Vaccination remains one of our most powerful tools for protecting child health, but its continued success depends on sustained investment, equity, and public trust.”

    ‘Global, regional, and national trends in routine childhood vaccination coverage from 1980 to 2023 with forecasts to 2030: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023’ by GBD 2023 Vaccine Coverage Collaborators was published in the Lancet at 23:30 UK time on Tuesday 24 June 2025. 

    DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01037-2

    Declared interests

    Dr Simon Clarke: “No conflicts of interest.”

    Dr David Elliman: “No conflicts of interest.”

    Prof Sir Andrew Pollard: “Professor Pollard is chair of JCVI which provides independent scientific advice on vaccines to DHSC.  The comment above is given in a personal capacity.”

    Dr Ed Parker: “No COIs to declare.”

    Prof Helen Bedford: “No conflicts.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Nadler Statement on Dobbs Anniversary

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jerrold Nadler (10th District of New York)

    WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-12) issued the following statement on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion:

    “Three years ago today, six Justices on the Supreme Court issued a decision that overturned nearly half a century of settled law and ripped away a constitutional right that millions of Americans had relied on: the right to access abortion care.

    The consequences have been devastating. In the wake of Dobbs, 22 states have enacted bans or severe restrictions on abortion, resulting in deeply troubling violations of individual rights and medical ethics. In Georgia, for example, a woman who had been declared brain dead while pregnant was kept on life support for months against her family’s wishes, not because of medical necessity, but because of the state’s abortion law.

    These harms are not incidental. They are the predictable result of the Republican Party’s coordinated campaign to roll back reproductive freedom. President Trump, who appointed the justices responsible for the Dobbs decision, has since taken additional steps to undermine access to care. He has pardoned individuals convicted of violence against abortion providers, withheld federal funding from reproductive health care providers, and rescinded guidance that ensured pregnant patients could receive emergency medical care. Trump is also targeting mifepristone, a safe and effective abortion medication used in more than half of all abortions nationwide, by seeking to restrict access even in states where abortion remains legal.

    Congressional Republicans are following his lead. House Republicans’ recently passed a dangerous reconciliation bill that would kick 16 million people off of their health coverage by slashing Medicaid. Medicaid allows millions of Americans to access birth control, family planning services, prenatal care, and other essential services. The same bill would also defund Planned Parenthood, which provides routine care to millions of patients each year.

    The American people overwhelmingly support the right to make personal health care decisions without political interference. Yet Republican leaders continue to pursue a national abortion ban, regardless of the consequences for women, families, and our most basic freedoms.

    I remain firmly committed to restoring the protections once guaranteed by Roe, to defending reproductive rights, and to ensuring that every individual, no matter where they live, can make their own health care decisions free from government intrusion.”

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Durbin Statement On The Third Anniversary Of The Dobbs Ruling

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

    June 24, 2025

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on the third anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court:

    “Today marks a sad anniversary. Three years ago, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority abandoned the long-standing constitutional protections recognized in Roe v. Wade—rejecting nearly 50 years of progress and dragging gender equality and women’s rights half a century backward.

    “What has happened in the wake of Dobbs was as predictable as it is devastating. Republican-led states opened the floodgates, enacting draconian abortion restrictions with deadly consequences for women unable to obtain critical health care. We’ve also seen a full-fledged attack on reproductive freedoms at the federal level, including the Trump Administration’s Health and Human Services Department re-reviewing mifepristone—which has been deemed safe and effective for more than two decades by the FDA—and Republicans’ continued efforts to defund Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation.

    “While I cannot sugarcoat the state of women’s rights following Dobbs, I want to make one thing crystal clear: this fight is far from over. I, along with my Democratic colleagues, will continue to fight against harmful partisan policies, unfounded in science or the Constitution, that put women’s health and autonomy at risk.”

    Today, Durbin joined Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Patty Murray (D-WA), along with the entire Senate Democratic Caucus, in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans.

    As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Biden Administration, Durbin held a hearing in March 2024 entitled “The Continued Assault on Reproductive Freedoms in a Post-Dobbs America.”  The hearing examined the continued and devastating fallout since Dobbs. The hearing followed two previous hearings the Committee held, under Durbin’s leadership, on reproductive freedoms since Roe was overruled—one in July 2022 and one in April 2023. 

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Culture – Ice skaters and Korean intergenerational storytelling: Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho funding recipients 2025

    Source: Ministry for Culture and Heritage

    “I am delighted to announce this year’s Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho Piki Ake! Kake Ake! recipients,” says Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae, Secretary for Culture and Heritage.
    12 grants totalling $101,075.00 are being awarded for this round of Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho New Zealand Oral History Grants.
    “This year was a particularly difficult selection process for the assessment panel. What’s clear is that each of the successful awarded projects bring to the fore stories that are yet to be told.
    “The projects cover themes from the experiences of the Deaf community to survivors of abuse in care, Korean intergenerational storytelling to ice skating, and Pacific women in Porirua to kaumātua of Te Taiao (environmental guardians).
    “Both Selwyn Kātene’s work on religious leaders from all denominations and Ruth Greenaway’s oral history with Jocelyn Armstrong, an interfaith leader, have been funded.
    “A history of queer homemaking and houses in Aotearoa, the experience of those involved in assisted dying, and the Filipino community’s role in nursing and caregiving are also receiving grants in 2025.
    “For over thirty years, Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho has supported community projects, and we are continuing to see an increased breadth of topics, areas and applicants. I’m excited for these lesser-known histories to be shared.
    “We’re really proud of this round of Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho. I can’t wait to see these histories join Aotearoa’s extraordinary canon of oral histories,” says Leauanae.
    Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho grants are selected by an external panel of experts. Manatū Taonga administers the grants, which were established by the Australian Sesquicentennial Gift Trust in 1990 to honour 150 years since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The grants support community-based oral history projects that reflect diverse identities and perspectives.
    Each year around $100,000 is divided between approximately 12 grants.
    The 2025 Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho New Zealand Oral History grant recipients are:
    • Emily Anderson, Assisted Dying in New Zealand – Three Years On, $10,000
    • Grace Bateman and Paul Garbett, Ice Skating in New Zealand, Part 2: 1980s onward, $8,000
    • Matilda Bercic, “Matakite: Ko taku whanautanga tenei – Seer: It is my birthright”, $6,000
    • Little Acres Survivors Group, Little Acre Survivors Oral History Project, $15,822
    • Ruth Greenaway, A life dedicated to interfaith dialogue – Jocelyn Armstrong, $5,000
    • Selwyn Katene, Religious Leaders in New Zealand, $9,354
    • Lori Leigh, “Homo Sweet Homo”: The History of Queer Houses in Aotearoa, $8,000
    • Sarah Lipura, Pangangalaga (Care) at Pamilya (Family): Filipino Nurses and Healthcare Workers’ Perspectives, Experiences and Aspirations in Aotearoa New Zealand, $7,500
    • SignDNA – Deaf National Archives, SignDNA: Preserving Deaf Stories for the Future, $10,000
    • Jenny Taotua-O’Carroll, P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A Inc: Commemorating 50 Years of Pacific Women’s Allied Council in Porirua, $5,500
    • Maree Tapu, Pūkōrero Ani Martin: Rukuhia Te Puna O Te Roto Ōmāpere, $10,000
    • Joonseob Yi, Voices Across Generations: An Oral History of Korean New Zealanders, $5,899.
    Further information about the grants, including how to apply, can be found on the Manatū Taonga website.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Active Living Census closing date extended until Sunday July 6

    Source: New South Wales Ministerial News

    Residents are encouraged to complete the online Active Living Census (ALC) before it closes as responses to the census will help influence decision making about future infrastructure, health and wellbeing projects in the Loddon Campaspe region.

    Healthy Loddon Campaspe Coordinator Alicia O’Brien said the closing date to complete the ALC has been extended by a further two weeks until Sunday July 6, 2025 to ensure as many people as possible complete the online census.

    “For the two-week extension, we’re excited to be giving away some amazing prizes for anyone who completes the ALC online,” Ms O’Brien said.

    “Prizes include one $500 gift card, ten $100 gift cards and 100 home gardening packs. All valid responses to the ALC will have the chance to win these great prizes.

    “The data gathered through the ALC is important as it will help inform future infrastructure, health and wellbeing projects in the Loddon Campaspe region.

    “The future projects and programs will contribute to healthier lifestyles across the region, and support opportunities for residents to be more physically active and eat well.

    “It doesn’t matter your health or activity level, every response we receive will contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of residents living in the Loddon Campaspe region.

    “We are really grateful to everyone who has already completed the ALC so far. However, we’d love to see even more responses from right across the community as this will provide richer, more detailed information about residents’ health and wellbeing needs.

    “The more data we receive, the better it will guide investments, and influence funding for future projects and programs in our region,

    “Completing the census is easy, anonymous, and takes around 15-20 minutes.”

    The ALC is open until Sunday July 6.

    To participate in the Active Living Census, visit:

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: On Anniversary of Dobbs Ruling, Shaheen and Hassan Renew Legislation to Guarantee Women’s Reproductive Rights

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen

    (Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) today joined a group of Senators to reintroduce the Women’s Health Protection Act. The legislation would guarantee a woman’s right to access an abortion—and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these services—free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship. The reintroduction of the Shaheen and Hassan-backed Women’s Health Protection Act falls on the three-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling that eliminated fifty years of precedent protecting abortion access. 

    “In the three years since Roe v. Wade was reversed by the Supreme Court, we’ve seen Republican politicians jump at virtually every opportunity to undermine women’s reproductive freedoms. Let’s be very clear: No one—not a lawmaker or unelected jurist—should be able to control a woman’s decision on when or if to start a family,” said Senator Shaheen. “I’m helping reintroduce the Women’s Health Protection Act to enshrine the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law—ensuring a woman’s ability to access reproductive care isn’t defined by the zip code she lives in.” 

    “For the first time in our country’s history, our daughters are now less free than their mothers were at their age. The Dobbs decision represents the largest attack on women’s freedom in modern American political history, stripping away women’s fundamental freedom to make their own health decisions and chart their own futures,” said Senator Hassan. “The Women’s Health Protection Act would restore these essential freedoms and ensure that a woman’s right to lifesaving care doesn’t vanish when she crosses a state line.” 

    Senator Shaheen is an unrelenting advocate for women’s reproductive rights. Earlier this year, Shaheen took to the Senate floor alongside her Democratic colleagues to oppose Senate Republicans’ latest effort to restrict access to reproductive health care, the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, that would have significantly interfered with the doctor-patient relationship and posed unnecessary and harmful obstacles to a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her reproductive health.  For years, Shaheen has fought to expand coverage of women’s preventative care, including through her legislation to reduce the cost of contraception for servicewomen and dependents in military families. 

    Senator Hassan has a record of standing up for reproductive freedom. Earlier this year, she spoke on the Senate floor to criticize the decision by the Senate’s Republican leadership to hold a vote on legislation to restrict a woman’s fundamental freedom to access reproductive health care instead of working in a bipartisan manner to lower the cost of living. In April, Senator Hassan met with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England leadership, health care providers, and community health leaders to hear directly about the impact of the Trump Administration’s decision to take away Title X federal funding for life-saving health care services – which include cancer screening, reproductive health care, and family planning services that Granite Staters count on. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Update 7: Alberta wildfire update (June 24, 3:30 p.m.)

    Source: Government of Canada regional news (2)

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: On Third Anniversary of Dobbs, Hickenlooper, Bennet, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Restore Abortion Access Nationwide

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Colorado John Hickenlooper
    Women’s Health Protection Act comes as the Trump admin and Congressional Republicans move to restrict a woman’s right to choose, push backdoor national abortion ban
    WASHINGTON – Today, on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus to introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, which would guarantee access to abortion nationwide.
    In June of 2022, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the national right to an abortion, overturning 50 years of legal precedent established by Roe v. Wade. The ruling stripped abortion access and essential reproductive health care from millions of Americans.
    “Three years ago, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision shredded 50 years of precedent, erasing women’s freedom to make their own health decisions,” said Hickenlooper. “Americans overwhelmingly support Roe’s protections. Let’s return those rights back where they belong.”
    “Three years ago today, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned fifty years of legal precedent,” said Bennet. “Since then, maternal mortality rates have grown consistently in states where access to abortions are restricted or banned. Passing the Women’s Health Protection Act will save lives. We must ensure that women can make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures. I will continue to fight for access to reproductive health care in Colorado and across the United States.”
    Since the Dobbs decision, 19 states have implemented near-total abortion bans, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have continued targeting Americans’ reproductive rights and undermining millions of women’s access to abortion care. The House-passed Republican budget bill kicks 16 million people off their health insurance and defunds Planned Parenthood – threatening the closure of 200 health centers nationwide and putting access to vital reproductive care for millions of families at risk.
    The Women’s Health Protection Act would establish federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access and create federal protections against medically unnecessary restrictions that undermine Americans’ access to health care. If passed, this legislation would restore the right to trusted, safe abortion care for all Americans.
    Full text of the bill available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: BC Coroners Service shares April 2025 unregulated drug-toxicity data

    Preliminary reporting released by the BC Coroners Service (BCCS) finds that 165 people died from unregulated toxic drugs in April 2025.

    In 2025, deaths among those between the ages of 30 and 59 accounted for 68% of drug-toxicity deaths in the province, and 77% were male.

    April marks a return to more than 160 deaths attributed to unregulated drug toxicity reported to the BC Coroners Service after six consecutive months of reporting fewer than 160 deaths a month.

    By health authority in 2025, the highest number of unregulated drug deaths were in Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities (185 and 155 deaths, respectively) making up 57% of all such deaths during 2025.

    Consistent with reporting throughout the public-health emergency, fentanyl and its analogues continue to be the most common substance detected in expedited toxicological testing. More than three-quarters of decedents who underwent expedited testing in 2025 were found to have fentanyl in their systems (68%), followed by methamphetamine (51%) and cocaine (48%).

    It is important to note that data from the report is preliminary and subject to change as additional toxicological results are received and investigations conclude.

    Additional key findings in 2025 include:

    • the number of unregulated drug deaths in April 2025 equates to approximately 5.5 deaths per day;
    • the cities experiencing the highest number of unregulated drug deaths so far in 2025 are Vancouver, Surrey and Greater Victoria;
    • the highest rates of deaths reported were in Northern Health (46 deaths per 100,000 individuals) and Interior Health (35 per 100,000 individuals);
    • 47% of deaths reported occurred in a private residence, compared with 21% outdoors; and
    • smoking continues to be the primary mode of consumption of unregulated toxic drugs, with 64% of investigations indicating the decedent smoked their substances.

    Learn More:

    April 2025 Drug Toxicity Deaths:
    https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiM2JlNDY1MTItYjBiNS00NWNiLWJlZjAtNzAzNzQ3ZTYwMzg3IiwidCI6IjZmZGI1MjAwLTNkMGQtNGE4YS1iMDM2LWQzNjg1ZTM1OWFkYyJ9

    Youth Unregulated Drug Toxicity Deaths, 2019-23:
    https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/deaths/coroners-service/statistical/youth_unregulated_drug_toxicity_deaths_in_bc_2019-2023.pdf

    BC Coroners Service Death Review Panel: An Urgent Response to a Continuing Crisis:
    https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/deaths/coroners-service/death-review-panel/an_urgent_response_to_a_continuing_crisis_report.pdf

    BC Ministry of Health mental-health and substance-use supports:
    https://helpstartshere.gov.bc.ca/

    BC Centre on Substance Use: https://www.bccsu.ca

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Bacon Leads Bipartisan Bill to Help Postpartum Women

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Don Bacon (2nd District of Nebraska)

    Bacon Leads Bipartisan Bill to Help Postpartum Women

    Washington – Today, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE-02) alongside Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA-03), reintroduced H.R. 4074, the Optimizing Postpartum Outcomes Act. This legislation seeks to improve maternal postpartum health by directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on the coverage of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy (PHPT) for postpartum mothers under the Medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act.

    Quality postpartum care for mothers is vital for their long-term health and well-being, but many women suffer from pelvic floor disfunction and diastasis recti abdominis, conditions that can be severely painful. This is treatable with Pelvic Health Physical Therapy; however, many women are unaware of the therapy available to them. When working with a Pelvic Health Physical Therapist, women receive a treatment plan to improve muscle control and mobility, aid in tissue repair and recovery from cesarean sections. 

    “As a husband, father, and grandfather, I recognize the importance of supporting postpartum women,” said Rep. Bacon. “Our care for women should extend to postpartum recovery, to ensure that they are living without pain or discomfort, especially when the therapy available is highly effective.”

    “Far too often, women’s postpartum health concerns are overlooked or dismissed, despite the serious and lasting impact they can have on quality of life,” said Rep. Trahan. “The Optimizing Postpartum Outcomes Act is a commonsense step toward making Pelvic Health Physical Therapy more accessible for new mothers, especially those who rely on Medicaid. By ensuring that women receive the care and support they need after giving birth, we’re investing in stronger families and healthier communities.”

    H.R. 4074 would be a step towards making quality postpartum care available to all women. With approximately three million births in the United States every year, there are three million women who could benefit from Pelvic Health Physical Therapy in their recovery.

    The bill is supported by health care professionals and physical therapists, including the American Physical Therapy Association. 

    “APTA Pelvic Health is proud to continue our collaboration with Congress in advancing the recognition of pelvic health physical therapy for women during both prenatal and postnatal care,” said Kim Parker-Guerrero, PT, DPT, president-elect of the academy. “This important legislation will ensure new mothers have access to the vital education and support needed to engage with pelvic health physical therapy, helping to prevent issues that might arise without early intervention and care.”

    “I’m excited for the reintroduction of the perinatal bill, H.R. 4074,” said Gail Zitterkopf, PT, DPT, government relations chair for APTA Pelvic Health. “This grassroots-inspired bill will positively impact and enhance lives through ensuring pelvic health physical therapy for those who are pregnant.”

    The text of the legislation can be found here. 

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: On Third Anniversary of Dobbs Decision, Attorney General Bonta Co-leads Letter Reminding Hospitals of Their Obligation to Provide Emergency Abortion Care

    Source: US State of California

    OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today co-led a coalition of 22 attorneys general in sending a letter to the American Hospital Association reminding hospitals of their ongoing obligation to comply with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). Every hospital in the United States that operates an emergency department and participates in Medicare is subject to EMTALA. Under the law, emergency departments are required to provide all patients who have an emergency medical condition with the treatment required to stabilize their condition, including abortion care. On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded guidance that it issued in 2022 “to remind hospitals of their existing obligation to comply with EMTALA”. CMS’s rescission of this guidance does not change federal law or the obligations EMTALA imposes. Put simply, all hospitals must continue to follow EMTALA, including with respect to the provision of emergency abortion care.

    “When a medical emergency happens, patients must be assured that they can access life-saving care when they go to the hospital – that includes emergency abortion care,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Despite the Trump Administration’s attempt to sow confusion and fear among providers, EMTALA remains the law of the land and its obligations are clear: Hospitals must continue to provide emergency abortion care to prevent serious harm to patients’ health. Furthermore, states like California and many others have analogous state law protections, which we take very seriously. At the California Department of Justice, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that every hospital continues to follow the law, and we stand ready to work together with our sister states to ensure that every pregnant patient across the country receives the necessary and lifesaving healthcare that federal and state law require.”

    Since 1986, EMTALA has mandated that hospitals provide critical and necessary healthcare in emergency medical situations. Under EMTALA, all Medicare-participating hospitals with an emergency department must provide pregnant patients access to abortion care to prevent serious harm to the patient’s health, serious impairment to bodily function, or serious dysfunction of an organ or body part. EMTALA requires these hospitals to provide access to abortion care if it is the treatment necessary to stabilize pregnant patients with an emergency medical condition. Emergency medical conditions can include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, traumatic placental abruption, pre-eclampsia, hemorrhaging, amniotic fluid embolism, and hypertension. Critically, the requirements of EMTALA apply regardless of whether a hospital is in a state that purports to limit or ban abortion care.

    For decades, the federal government has properly interpreted the requirements of EMTALA to protect access to abortion care under the statute. Across federal administrations of both parties, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has enforced EMTALA against hospitals who fail to provide abortion care when necessary to provide stabilizing care for a patient experiencing an emergency medical condition. Nothing about CMS’s rescission of its 2022 guidance changes the statutory text of EMTALA, which requires abortion care in specified circumstances. Nor does the rescission of the guidance supersede numerous judicial opinions interpreting EMTALA to require the provision of emergency abortion care. The Trump Administration itself has acknowledged as much in a letter sent to healthcare providers on June 13, shortly after the rescission of CMS’s 2022 guidance. In the letter, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., made clear that “the law has not changed.” And while that letter needlessly attempted to sow confusion by focusing on protections for a pregnant patient’s “unborn child,” nothing about the rescission of the guidance changes the fact that EMTALA’s requirement to provide stabilizing care is based on the medical condition of the pregnant patient, not the fetus. Hospitals in all states therefore must continue to comply with EMTALA and provide access to abortion care when it is the medical treatment necessary to stabilize a pregnant patient, regardless of state laws purporting to prohibit or limit access to abortion care.

    Continued compliance with EMTALA’s requirements is critical in light of the severe harms that result from denying stabilizing abortion care to pregnant patients in emergency medical situations. Denying stabilizing abortion care can cause irreparable harms, including hysterectomy, fertility loss, kidney failure, brain injury, and limb amputation, forcing patients to live with significant disabilities and chronic medical conditions. Delaying such stabilizing care, meanwhile, increases the risk that lifesaving interventions might not work, risking the lives and health of pregnant patients. For example, a recent maternal morbidity study after the enactment of Texas’ six-week abortion ban found the rate of serious maternal morbidity was 57% when using observation-only care, nearly double the rate that resulted when following the standard protocol of terminating the pregnancy to preserve the pregnant patient’s life or health.

    The real-world consequences of denying or delaying stabilizing abortion care for pregnant patients with an emergency medical condition are catastrophic. After Texas’s six-week abortion ban went into effect, sepsis rates rose 50% statewide and increased by 63% in hospitals that waited to provide abortions or other interventions to miscarrying patients. In Texas, a young mother experiencing a miscarriage died of an infection after being forced to delay abortion care for 40 hours until doctors, fearful of prosecution under Texas’s abortion ban, could no longer detect fetal cardiac activity. And HHS found as recently as May 2025 that a hospital violated EMTALA when a pregnant woman nearly died after being denied abortion care for her ectopic pregnancy, resulting in permanent damage to her reproductive organs. The devastating consequences of denying medically necessary abortion care to pregnant patients are a stark reminder of the importance of EMTALA’s requirements—and the importance of ensuring continued compliance with those requirements. The law is clear: Hospitals subject to EMTALA have an obligation to provide timely abortion care when necessary to stabilize a patient experiencing an emergency medical condition. 

    In sending the letter, Attorney General Bonta is joined by the Attorneys General of New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

    A copy of the letter is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Deborah’s Story of Cancer, Faith, Determination and Survival

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    In December 2022, Deborah noticed a strange pain in her lower left mouth. Known for being meticulous about her dental hygiene, she immediately went to her dentist, who prescribed antibiotics and diagnosed her with periodontal disease. Trusting the process, she underwent deep scaling and a bone graft. But the pain never truly left, and her jaw continued clicking.

    While navigating her own health concerns, Deborah was also focused on her husband’s recent melanoma diagnosis and care at UConn Health with Drs. Hao Feng and Hillary Newsome. Still, something didn’t feel right with her own condition. On a return visit to the dentist, with gums now bleeding and showing white patches, a biopsy was finally ordered.

    That biopsy changed everything.

    Referred by Newsome to Dr. Danielle Scarola, a board-certified otolaryngologist who was then practicing at UConn Health. Deborah received her diagnosis: squamous cell carcinoma in the left oral cavity. From that point on, everything moved at lightning speed.

    She met with her surgical team the very next day, and just a couple weeks later underwent a nearly 10-hour surgery. “It was one of the worst experiences of my life,” she said. “I had a catheter, a feeding tube, swelling, a graft in my mouth, the pain was excruciating.” She stayed in the hospital for six days.

    Despite the pain and shock, Deborah recalls every doctor and nurse as “amazing.” She leaned on her strong faith, believing there was a reason this had happened. “I didn’t follow the typical protocol,” she said. “The cancer caught me off guard. My mistake was not pushing for a biopsy earlier, but I never thought it could be cancer.”

    Pathology revealed tiny cancer cells in her jawbone. Even though her lymph nodes were clear, her care team at UConn Health didn’t take any chances.

    She met with Dr. Robert Dowsett, Dr. Upendra Hedge and the multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer team in the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center who walked her and her family through an elaborate education about this cancer and its management along with the importance of post-operative treatment to further reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.  This intensive treatment plan: 33 radiation sessions, weekly chemotherapy and check-ups was ably supported by twice-weekly fluid and electrolyte replacement, and care from speech therapists, a dietician, an oncology APRN, a palliative/supportive care APRN, and a social worker.

    One nurse looked at her and asked, “Are you ready for this?”

    Her answer: “I’m not ready, but I’ll do whatever I need to do.”

    “I was so overwhelmed,” Deborah said. “I went home, laid in bed, and prayed.”

    She began treatment on October 25, 2023, surrounded by a circle of love and support. Her husband, children, daughters-in-law, sisters, nieces, friends, and neighbors were always by her side. In the infusion room, she was surprised by the sound of laughter. “I remember thinking, ‘How can they laugh? They’re being treated for cancer.’ But once I started, I understood. Laughter became a relief. It became medicine.”

    During treatment, Deborah began journaling. She never referred to her cancer by name—only “IT.” Her writing became an outlet for anger and frustration. One of the hardest parts was being immune-compromised and unable to spend time with her grandchildren.

    The tumor is now gone.

    Today, Deborah is walking outside again, going to the gym, and adjusting to eating on one side of her mouth. She remains grateful to the entire UConn Health team. “Every time I had a question, they were there. I can’t express enough how appreciative I am. They saved my life.”

    She still undergoes regular scans and feels anxious each time. “It’s always on my mind,” she admits. Her care team affectionately called her a “rockstar.”

    “In my eyes,” she said, “I’ll only be a rockstar if I never have to go through this journey again.”

    Deborah believes that sharing her journey can offer hope and guidance to others facing cancer, and while she feels called to help in this way, she has chosen to remain anonymous.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Import Alerts for Certain Olympus Medical Devices Manufactured in Japan – Letter to Health Care Providers

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

    June 24, 2025
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting health care providers about import alerts for certain medical devices manufactured in Japan by Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus) and its subsidiaries. Despite extensive and ongoing efforts to address compliance issues, FDA continues to have concerns related to outstanding Quality System regulation violations by Olympus. Therefore, the FDA has issued import alerts to prevent future shipments of certain devices from entering the United States, including specific models of:  

    Ureterorenoscopes, which are used to perform various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures within the urinary tract
    Bronchoscopes, which are used to perform various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the respiratory tract  
    Laparoscopes, which are used to perform various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the abdomen and pelvis  
    Automated endoscope reprocessors, which are used to reprocess various endoscopes

    Recommendations
    The FDA recommends that health care providers:

    Be aware of the FDA import alerts for certain medical devices manufactured in Japan by Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus) and its subsidiaries, under which the devices will be refused entry into the U.S.:

    Import Alert 89-04 for failure to meet quality system regulation requirements at Aizu, an Olympus manufacturing site in Japan

    Refer to the table below for model numbers and Unique Device Identifiers (UDI) for the devices included in the import alerts.

    Be aware that the import alert does not apply to related products (such as replacement parts, connectors, or single use consumables) used with the devices subject to import alert.  

    If you are currently using devices subject to the import alert, you may continue using these devices if you are not experiencing any problems with the devices.

    Follow the labeling and reprocessing instructions to properly clean and reprocess the devices, including accessory components.
    Do not use damaged devices or those that have failed a leak test, as they could be a potential source of contamination.
    Develop schedules for routine inspection and periodic maintenance in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions.

    Discuss the benefits and risks associated with procedures involving these devices with your patients. The FDA does not recommend that procedures be canceled or delayed without discussion of the benefits and risks between the health care provider and patient.
    Complete prompt reporting of adverse events to help us identify and better understand the risks associated with these devices.

    Background
    The FDA has issued warning letters and import alerts where the FDA has determined that certain facilities were not in compliance with current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements and various reporting requirements, including for recalls that the FDA identified as the most serious type of recall.
    FDA Actions
    The FDA has taken several actions related to quality system requirements and compliance concerns with Olympus.  
    The FDA is continuing to engage with Olympus to accelerate corrective actions related to ongoing violations and minimize risk to patients, and may take further action as appropriate. FDA takes seriously its role in assuring patients that medical devices are safe and effective.
    The FDA will continue to keep health care providers and the public informed if new or additional information becomes available.
    Unique Device Identifier
    The FDA established the unique device identification system (UDI) to adequately identify medical devices sold in the United States from manufacturing through distribution to patient use.

    List of Olympus Devices Subject to Import Alert

    Device Name
    Version or Model
    Device Identifier (DI) Number

    Bronchofiberscope
    BF-PE2
    04953170062988; 04953170339974

    Bronchofiberscope
    BF-TE2
    04953170063008

    Bronchovideoscope
    BF-1T150
    04953170288968

    Bronchovideoscope
    BF-1TQ170
    04953170342943

    Bronchovideoscope
    BF-P150
    04953170288876; 04953170308178

    Bronchovideoscope
    BF-Q170
    04953170342912

    Endoeye Flex 3D Deflectable Videoscope
    LTF-190-10-3D
    04953170434938

    Endoeye Flex Deflectable Videoscope
    LTF-S190-5
    04953170310355

    Endoscope Reprocessor
    OER-PRO
    04953170258589

    Endoscope Reprocessor
    OER-MINI
    04953170331619

    Endoscope Reprocessor
    OER-Elite
    04953170404047

    Endoscope Reprocessor
    OER-AW
    Not Available

    Evis Exera Bronchofibervideoscope
    BF-MP160F
    04953170289064

    Evis Exera Bronchofibervideoscope
    BF-XP160F
    04953170340116

    Evis Exera Bronchovideoscope
    BF-3C160
    04953170340031

    Evis Exera Bronchovideoscope
    BF-XT160
    04953170340147

    Evis Exera II Bronchovideoscope
    BF-1T180
    04953170339325

    Evis Exera II Bronchovideoscope
    BF-1TQ180
    04953170339349

    Evis Exera II Bronchovideoscope
    BF-P180
    04953170339288

    Evis Exera II Bronchovideoscope
    BF-Q180
    04953170339301

    Evis Exera II Bronchovideoscope
    BF-Q180-AC
    04953170340086

    Evis Exera III Bronchofibervideoscope
    BF-MP190F
    04953170395581

    Evis Exera III Bronchovideoscope
    BF-P190
    04953170434983

    Evis Exera III Bronchovideoscope
    BF-XP190
    04953170342134

    Evis Exera Pleuravideoscope
    LTF-160
    04953170340284

    HD Endoeye Laparo-Thoraco Videoscope
    LTF-VH
    04953170287015

    Laparoscope
    LTF-V3
    Not Available

    Laparoscope
    LTF-VP
    Not Available

    Laparoscope
    LTF-VP-S
    Not Available

    OES Bronchofiberscope Olympus BF Type N20
    BF-N20
    04953170442667

    OES Bronchofiberscope
    BF-1T60
    04953170339264

    OES Bronchofiberscope
    BF-3C40
    04953170339219

    OES Bronchofiberscope
    BF-MP60
    04953170308277

    OES Bronchofiberscope
    BF-P60
    04953170339196

    OES Bronchofiberscope
    BF-XP60
    04953170339240

    OES Uretero-Reno Fiberscope
    URF-P5
    04953170340307

    Rhino-Laryngo Fiberscope
    ENF-P4
    04953170059032

    Rhino-Laryngo Videoscope
    ENF-V4
    04953170411380

    Rhino-Laryngo Videoscope
    ENF-VH2
    04953170411427

    Rhino-Laryngo Videoscope
    ENF-V3
    04953170411366

    Rhino-Laryngo Videoscope
    ENF-VH
    04953170411403

    Rhino-Laryngo Videoscope
    ENF-VQ
    04953170411441

    Rhino-Laryngo Videoscope
    ENF-VT2
    04953170411472

    Rhino-Laryngofiberscope
    ENF-XP
    04953170059018

    Rhino-Laryngofiberscope
    ENF-GP
    04953170078231

    Rhino-Laryngofiberscope
    ENF-T3
    04953170411526

    Tracheal Intubation Fiberscope
    LF-DP
    04953170340192; 04953170136856

    Tracheal Intubation Fiberscope
    LF-GP
    04953170061998

    Tracheal Intubation Fiberscope
    LF-TP
    04953170136825

    Uretero-reno fiberscope
    URF-P7
    04953170403811

    Uretero-Reno Fiberscope
    URF-P7R
    04953170403835

    Uretero-Reno Videoscope
    URF-V2
    04953170343582

    Uretero-Reno Videoscope
    URF-V2R
    04953170343612

    Uretero-Reno Videoscope
    URF-V3
    04953170435119

    Uretero-Reno Videoscope
    URF-V3R
    04953170403392

    Uretero-Reno Videoscope
    URF-V
    04953170340321

    Visera Cysto-Nephro Videoscope
    ENF-V2
    04953170411342

    XENF-DP Rhino-Laryngofiberscope
    ENF-PGP
    Not Available

    Reporting Problems to the FDA
    The FDA encourages health care providers to report any adverse events or suspected adverse events experienced with medical devices manufactured by Olympus:

    By promptly reporting adverse events, you can help the FDA identify and better understand the risks associated with medical devices.
    Contact Information
    If you have questions about this letter, contact the Division of Industry and Consumer Education (DICE).
    Additional Resources

    Content current as of:
    06/24/2025

    Regulated Product(s)

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