DENVER (AP) — Tuesday marks 50 years since a groundbreaking Colorado law significantly loosened tight restrictions on legal abortions. Before the law, Colorado — like many states — allowed abortions only if a woman’s life was at stake. In 1967, a Democratic freshman state lawmaker introduced a bill that allowed abortions if the woman’s physical … Continue reading
HONOLULU (AP) — Health care lobbyists in Hawaii are pushing lawmakers to kill part of a bill that would expand access to fertility treatments to same-sex couples who want to have a child. They’re saying requiring insurers to cover fertility treatments for gestational carriers that male couples rely on could lead to legal problems. Under … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers are creating an artificial womb to improve care for extremely premature babies — and remarkable animal testing suggests the first-of-its-kind watery incubation so closely mimics mom that it just might work. Today, premature infants weighing as little as a pound are hooked to ventilators and other machines inside incubators. Children’s Hospital … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In a story April 24 about tests in Africa for a malaria vaccine, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the World Health Organization is hoping to wipe out malaria by 2040. In fact, WHO wants to reduce malaria mortality rates by at least 90 percent by 2030. A corrected version of the … Continue reading
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — When Logan Snyder got hooked on pills after a prescription to treat pain from a kidney stone, she joined the millions already swept up in the nation’s grim wave of addiction to opioid painkillers. She was just 14. Youth is a drawback when it comes to kicking drugs. Only half of U.S. … Continue reading
DENVER (AP) — Americans think it’s safer to use marijuana than opioids to relieve pain, but they were less comfortable with children and pregnant women using pot to treat medical conditions, according to a new Yahoo/Marist poll released Monday. Two-thirds of the respondents in the telephone survey said opioid drugs such as Vicodin or OxyContin … Continue reading
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine resident Zak McCutcheon says he likes soda but acknowledges he’d drink less of it if his governor convinced Republican President Donald Trump to put restrictions on the approximately $200 a month he receives in food stamps. He thinks it may even make recipients healthier and less overweight. “If I was … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration won’t ban a common pesticide used on food, reversing efforts by the Obama administration to bar the chemical based on findings it could hinder development of children’s brains. In announcing the decision late Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said that by not banning chlorpyrifos, he was providing … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Further chipping away at his predecessor’s legacy, President Donald Trump signed legislation Thursday that lets states deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. Trump’s action erases a rule, finalized shortly before President Barack Obama left office in January, that said states could not block the money. It’s … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Grilled by lawmakers, the Department of Veterans Affairs insisted Tuesday it was well on its way to fixing problems with its suicide hotline and largely brushed aside the worst criticisms in an internal watchdog report released two weeks ago. A March 20 audit by the VA inspector general had found that nearly … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders prepared Wednesday to send lawmakers home for a two-week recess without voting on their troubled health care bill, as prospects for a quick deal among party factions moved farther out of reach. Meanwhile, policy experts said the latest GOP health care idea could mean going back to a time when … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California law enforcement officials objected Wednesday to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed streamlining of the state’s marijuana regulations, saying his plan could endanger public safety. Brown’s administration released documents late Tuesday outlining proposed changes to square the state’s new recreational pot law with its longstanding law on medical marijuana. But the California … Continue reading
(THE CONVERSATION) Chain restaurants are not known for serving up healthy kids’ meals. Most entrees on a kids’ menu are either fried, breaded or doused in cheese. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rare side dish options, and French fries abound. Looking at nutritional content alone, some drinks could easily be mistaken for candy. For example, … Continue reading
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Teen model Shonali Khatun strutted the catwalk as the audience cheered and clapped for a fashion show held in the capital of Bangladesh. But Khatun is no ordinary model, and this was no ordinary show. She and the 14 other models are survivors of acid attacks, common in this South Asian … Continue reading
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — It’s not unusual for a surgeon to save another doctor’s life. But Dr. Colleen Coleman did so by going under the knife to help an ailing colleague who desperately needed a kidney. Coleman donated to Dr. Brian Dunn, an anesthesiologist she works with at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach whose kidneys … Continue reading
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