Multiple states have created a new crime called “abortion trafficking,” which makes it illegal for adults to transport minors to get abortions without parental consent. Others are trying to restrict abortion medications or out-of-state travel.

A representative for Arizona’s “unborn infants” says the state should enforce a Civil War-era ban on almost all abortions. Planned Parenthood says a newer, 15-week abortion ban should be the law instead. The Republican-stacked Arizona Supreme Court will decide.

A woman incarcerated in Georgia since 1992 says she has endured significant abuse, including forcefully having her head shaved, abrupt stops to her hormone therapy, and sexual assault. She has repeatedly attempted suicide and has been in solitary since 2019.

States can now use federal funds to ensure that people leaving prison have access to healthcare. But states first need to apply to join the program.

Placement in a halfway house can significantly improve someone’s chances of reintegrating into society after prison. But numerous people imprisoned in Georgia told The Appeal that they were denied access to the state’s transitional housing programs because of their medical conditions.

One incarcerated author used skills from an HIV/AIDS group to push imprisoned people and prison guards to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The city will use $1 million in funds diverted from its police budget to expand substance use treatments and harm reduction services for low-income people in Austin and Travis County.

Decades of exploitation, abuse, and racism in medicine have cost many Black Americans their lives during the pandemic. Now the government can act to prevent further harm.

The coronavirus has ripped through our prison and jail populations, infecting and killing hundreds of thousands of people most vulnerable to COVID-19.

‘Our Congress should be reflective of the people here, and it’s not,’ the Texas resident said.

Efforts to address the harms of police violence and incarceration must consider the drug war, activists and treatment professionals note, including the punitive models of treatment.

In New York, fewer people who have experienced sexual assault or rape have sought forensic exams at hospitals during the pandemic. But advocates suggest that’s not evidence of declining sexual violence.

Police should no longer occupy all of our vital support systems in our communities.

Organizations in New York City have stepped in to help families with funeral costs and related matters in communities hit hard by the disease, but their money and resources are strained.

Predominantly Black neighborhoods have less access to primary care physicians and healthcare services, at a time when COVID-19 is killing Black Americans at a rate 2.3 times higher than white Americans. Now grassroots organizations are trying to compensate for failures of public health.

You can’t incarcerate a public health problem. It doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t repair harm.

Advocates say the pandemic has exacerbated the overdose crisis in the state by forcing people into isolation and impeding access to treatment.

Social Workers address crises regularly and without an armed police officer standing in front of us. Often, the presence of an armed officer escalates a crisis that could have been better handled by mental health professionals alone.

The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system.

In Cook County, Illinois, suspected or confirmed fatal overdose deaths doubled over last year in the first five months of this year.

Safe and healthy communities start with less police and more investment in community services that work.

Prisoners are reluctant to report when they’re feeling sick, because they know they’ll be sent to solitary confinement.

As the country reopens, we can’t quickly forget these failures of government, which have disproportionately harmed Black, Latinx, and Native people. 

Governor Tate Reeves has touted the state’s testing efforts as ‘aggressive,’ but testing rates in the state’s prisons, where the coronavirus has already claimed at least one life, remain low.

‘This is by far, by far, the biggest impact on our people since our return from the Long Walk in 1868,’ a Navajo Nation leader said.

Governor Kristi Noem’s threat to sue two South Dakota tribes shows the callousness of her coronavirus plan, which seems to encourage exposure and prioritize the economy over the lives of at-risk Natives.

After a man incarcerated in a New Jersey state prison was hospitalized with COVID-19, he said he was handcuffed for 36 hours. The cuffs got tangled in his IV, causing it to rip out, he said. “It was so painful. You have no idea.”

Segregation not only increases individuals’ exposure to the novel coronavirus, it also leaves them more susceptible to its effects and limits the quality of care they will receive, experts say.

An overwhelming majority of Americans support the federal government paying all healthcare costs for the duration of the coronavirus emergency. 

‘I would go to the hospital very often and they wouldn’t do anything for me.’

A trio of cases in Wisconsin and Texas illustrates how Republican judges are feigning helplessness in the face of a public health crisis while furthering their own ends.

The city has created the structural conditions that have engendered disproportionately high rates of infection and death among its Black and Latinx residents.

By letting people out now, we can avoid overwhelming our healthcare system with sick prisoners later.

For many people across the U.S. who need methadone treatment, sheltering in place during the coronavirus outbreak is impossible.

Advocates say the “progressive” city has left them to die.

Recent successes in stemming the opioid crisis could be reversed if public health budgets are cut or the crisis is seen as secondary to the pandemic.

A Brooklyn teacher tried three times to get treatment for the coronavirus. Now she’s fighting for her life.

They make roughly half the average national income, and they’re at risk of COVID-19 exposure as they continue to work to ensure shelves are restocked and communities fed.