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U.S. NEWS Thursday 13 april 2023

White House wants rule to protect abortion patients’ records

By AMANDA SEITZ Since the U.S. Supreme
Associated Press Court overturned the con-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The stitutional right to an abor-
White House on Wednes- tion last year, some women
day proposed a new fed- living in a stretch of South-
eral rule to limit how law ern and Midwestern states
enforcement and state that have largely outlawed
officials collect medical abortion now travel hours
records if they investigate to other states to get abor-
women who flee their tions legally.
home states to seek abor- The federal health agen-
tions elsewhere. cy’s new national phone
The proposal, prompted by number will provide infor-
a string of blows to abortion mation about prenatal, in-
across the country, comes fant and abortion care as
as the White House is star- well as adoption, Health
ing down a legal challenge and Human Services Sec-
to a commonly used abor- retary Xavier Becerra an-
tion pill that could upend nounced Wednesday.
access to the care across Becerra did not provide a
the entire country by Fri- phone number with his an-
day. nouncement.
Vice President Kamala Har- The Biden administration is
ris told reporters that it’s Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier racing to roll out these new
one of several new actions Becerra, right, listen as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a meeting with a task force initiatives ahead of a press-
the administration is tak- on reproductive health care access, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, April ing deadline imposed by
ing to push back against 12, 2023, in Washington. a Texas judge that could
a wave of abortion restric- Associated Press revoke the Food and Drug
tions that have been intro- this means for the people insurers can be compelled public can weigh in on the Administration’s approval
duced since the U.S. Su- they love,” Harris said. to turn over medical re- proposed rule for the next of mifepristone, one of two
preme Court overturned The White House’s pro- cords with a court order. 60 days. drugs used in what is con-
the constitutional right to posed rule would prohibit Doctors around the coun- “We’ve had many con- sidered the most effective
an abortion. The adminis- health care organizations try have voiced concerns versations with providers, and safest way to carry out
tration is also launching a from sharing personal med- about protecting that major medical associations a medication abortion.
hotline for people to call ical records with authorities medical information from and patient advocates Texas Judge Matthew Kac-
and ask questions about for investigations related to law enforcement officials, about what they’re seeing smaryk’s order to pull the
prenatal, infant and repro- reproductive care in states said Melanie Fontes Rainer, on the ground and how drug off the market goes
ductive care. where a woman legally ob- the director of the office of the federal government into effect Friday, unless
“The women in America in tained an abortion. While civil rights at the U.S. De- can be helpful in ensuring another court steps in. The
particular have been in a medical records are pro- partment of Health and Hu- medical records are kept Justice Department ap-
state of fear about what tected by federal privacy man Services, which pro- private,” she said in a state- pealed the ruling on Mon-
this means for them, what laws, health providers and posed the rule change. The ment. day. q

An emerging threat: Drug mix of

xylazine, fentanyl

By GEOFF MULVIHILL increasingly common in all quantities in only the last
Associated Press regions of the country. several years.
The U.S. has named a vet- It was detected in about It’s believed to be added
erinary tranquilizer as an 800 drug deaths in the U.S. to other drugs to increase
“emerging threat” when in 2020 most of them in the profits. Officials are trying
it’s mixed with the power- Northeast. By 2021, it was to understand how much
ful opioid fentanyl, clearing present in more than 3,000 of it is diverted from veteri-
the way for more efforts to fatalities with the most in nary uses and how much is
stop the spread of xylazine. the South according to a made illicitly.
The Office of National Drug report last year from the The drug causes breath-
Control Policy announced Drug Enforcement Admin- ing and heart rates to slow Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of
the designation Wednes- istration. down, sometimes to dead- National Drug Control Policy, walks outside of the White House,
day, the first time the of- “We cannot ignore what ly levels, and causes skin Nov. 18, 2021, in Washington. Associated Press
fice has used it since the we’re seeing,” Gupta said. abscesses and ulcers that
category for fast-growing “We must act and act can require amputation. are no known antidotes. antidote, learning more
drug dangers was created now.” Xylazine was ap- Withdrawal is also painful. Gupta said his office is about how it is introduced
in 2019. proved for veterinary use in While it’s often used in requesting $11 million as into illicit drug supplies so
Dr. Rahul Gupta, director 1971. Sometimes known as conjunction with opioids, part of its budget to de- that can be disrupted, and
of the drug policy office, “tranq,” it’s been showing including fentanyl and re- velop a strategy to tackle looking into whether Con-
said xylazine (pronounced up in supplies of illicit drugs lated illicit lab-made drugs, the drug’s spread. Plans gress should classify it as a
ZAI’-luh-zeen) has become used by humans in major it’s not an opioid. And there include developing an controlled substance.q