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Most of the 227 laws passed by some 35 US states regarding access to abortion since 2017 restricted access to the procedure, and only 29 aimed to protect it, a study has found. The study authors, from the University of Utah, said, “Access to abortion services is largely dependent on location. The numerous state restrictions on access to abortion services pose risks to women who are younger, of lower economic status, and racial minorities.” Their findings are published in JAMA Internal Medicine .1 Elisabeth Smith, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights, told The BMJ , “Over the past decade, more unconstitutional bans have been passed,” but these have been suspended …

Timing is famously important in comedy and in music, but it also matters in medicine. Throughout this pandemic, those of us working in general practice have become used to receiving edicts telling us to do things we’ve already done on our own initiative, weeks earlier. My practice switched to telephone triage, and restricted access to our building, long before the instructions came to do so. Similarly, we were back up and running with preventive care—taking cervical smears and fitting contraceptive coils—ahead of any central announcement. Masks for all clinical staff and patients have been the rule in our building since late March. One of the benefits …

Policy makers need to consider the serious implications of restricting migrants’ access to healthcare.1 Such a policy could put the general population at risk. Restricted access to healthcare leads to late presentation of many conditions, some of which are easily treatable in primary care. This then results in more costly and complicated treatment in hospital, often with worse …

The World Health Organization is to investigate claims by Saudi Arabia that a Dutch laboratory’s patenting of a novel coronavirus variant is hindering research into the pathogen that has claimed 23 lives in several countries. Saudi deputy health minister Ziad Memish told the World Health Assembly last week that samples of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, which first emerged in his country, had been sent abroad without permission. “We are still struggling with diagnostics and the reason is that the virus was patented by scientists and is not allowed to be used for investigations by other scientists,” he said. WHO director general Margaret Chan promised to “look at the legal implications together with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” She added: “No IP [intellectual property] should stand in the way of you, the countries of the world, to protect your …

The German parliament has passed a law that allows preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) of embryos after in vitro fertilisation if the parents have a strong likelihood of passing on a defect or if the chances of a miscarriage or stillbirth are high for genetic reasons. The law makes counselling before PGD obligatory and says that an interdisciplinary ethics committee has to agree each case. MPs were asked to take a free vote on the law on 7 July after a long and emotional debate. A majority of 326 versus 260 voted for the law. In contrast to many other European …

GPs frustrated by restricted access to investigations Editor,--Stuart Handysides's article on new roles for general practitioners states what is reasonable but obvious to most practising general practitioners.1 The limitation on medical responsibility in general practice is not so much general practitioners' ability to do the work but the limitation imposed …