(NEW YORK) — Maternal mortality rates in the United States have dropped to their lowest levels in recent years, according to new data published on Thursday.
The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, compared maternal deaths in 2023 and 2024, with maternal deaths defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of pregnancy termination.
In 2024, 649 women died of maternal causes in the U.S., with a rate of 17.9 deaths per 100,000 births, according to the report.
By comparison, 669 women died in 2023 with a rate of 18.6 deaths per 100,000 births, the report found.
This is also the lowest rate seen since 2018, which had a maternal mortality rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Data showed significant racial/ethnic disparities. Black women had the highest mortality rate at 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births.
This was three times higher than the mortality rate for white women of 14.2 deaths per 100,000 live births. Hispanic and Asian women also had lower rates of 12.1 deaths per 100,000 and 18.1 deaths per 100,000, respectively.
Research has shown that Black women are more likely to have pre-existing cardiovascular disease and are more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, both of which increase the risk of maternal mortality.
Between 2023 and 2024, rates for Black, white and Hispanic women declined while the rate for Asian women rose, but neither the decreases nor the increase was “significant,” according to the report.
There were also disparities by age. Women aged 40 and older had the highest maternal mortality rate of 62.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024.
This was 4.5 times higher than the mortality rate for women younger than age 25, which sat at 13.7 per 100,000 and 3.7 times higher than the rate for women between ages 25 and 39, sitting at 16.5 per 100,000. The report describes the differences in the women aged 40 and older group with the younger groups as “significant.”
More than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, according to the CDC. The report did not examine why the maternal mortality rate declined, but the CDC has taken steps to support efforts to prevent pregnancy-related deaths.
Among these are Hear Her, which is a national campaign that shares messages about signs and symptoms during and after pregnancy that warrant seeking urgent medical care.
Additionally, the CDC conducts national surveillance through the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, which is used to better understand the risk factors for and causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S.
Pigs are raised by farmers in a rural area of Linquan County, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, China, July 11, 2022. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Over the weekend, health officials in Spain reportedly informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of a possible human case of swine flu that may have been caused by person-to-person transmission.
The WHO’s reference laboratory for influenza in Britain is conducting additional tests to confirm the diagnosis, according to Reuters. The patient in Spain did not have direct contact with pigs, according to the wire agency.
Even though health officials reported that the risk to the general public is low, public health experts noted that some people may be concerned about spread after the U.S. experienced dozens of human bird flu cases in 2024 and 2025.
They told ABC News that, while the Spain case may put those who work in public health or who live in the area where it was detected on alert, widespread concern is not necessary yet.
“When we’re in any flu season, we see these sporadic swine flu cases globally,” Dr. Meghan Davis, an associate professor in the department of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News. “If you’re in the immediate area, certainly pay really close attention to any directives from public health authorities, local health departments, et cetera.”
Davis emphasized the importance of staying informed when it comes to potential public health dangers.
“But someone who’s living at a distance, who is not working directly with animals, just having the awareness to pay attention to any health messaging around this for further guidance, that’s what I recommend,” she said.
What is swine flu?
Swine flu is a respiratory disease commonly found in pigs, which is caused by influenza type A viruses. Just like influenza viruses found in humans, there are different subtypes and strains of swine influenza viruses.
Humans are not typically infected with swine flu viruses, but there have been reports of human infections with influenza viruses that normally circulate in swine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Notably, in 2009, the H1N1 influenza virus pandemic — sometimes referred to as the swine flu pandemic and caused by bird, swine and human flu viruses — led to an estimated 60.8 million cases, 274,304 hospitalizations and 12,469 deaths in the U.S., CDC data shows.
Occasionally, these virus strains “spill over and can infect humans, but the origin is in swine, and so the majority of these non-human influenza variants are infecting humans because they are in very close contact with swine, so they’re in the pig or pork industry,” Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at University of California, Davis Health, told ABC News.
“Those are the majority of cases, and most cases are transmitted directly to humans and there’s very few cases that are human-to-human transmission,” he added.
Should we be concerned?
Davis said she considers the Spain case to be of high concern for public health but not a major concern for the public currently.
“What that means is, those of us whose job it is to think about and worry about these always worry a bit more when there’s the potential for human-to-human transmission because that may also be a signal that the virus itself is showing characteristics of adaptation,” Davis said.
This is because the more adapted to human-to-human transmission a swine flu virus is, the greater the potential it has to go from person to person without weakening.
“But the public, there are some criteria that I think about in terms of public concern,” Davis added. “If you start hearing about something, for example, like the early days of COVID when it was clear that there were clusters that were circulating in people and that was going person to person, when you start to see a lot of that, that’s when you started to get much more concern.”
Blumberg agrees that there’s no need for major concern yet and that the Spain case points to the need for more surveillance because of the virus’ potential to mutate.
Additionally, researchers will need to characterize the current strain to see if it is more easily transmitted from human to human, he said.
“There’s additional studies that can be done locally to see if there’s been asymptomatic infection of the population that hasn’t been detected yet,” Blumberg said. “And that will help determine whether there’s been more widespread circulation. … I think it does point to the importance of supporting public health so that they can get a handle on this to see if this is something that requires additional attention.”
Health officials blamed rising health care costs and lack of federal funding. (Elisa Schu/picture alliance via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — An emergency rule from the Florida Department of Health went into effect on Sunday that could restrict tens of thousands of people from accessing HIV medication.
The state issued cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), a federal-state partnership that provides free FDA-approved HIV medication for low-income, uninsured or underinsured people.
Under the emergency rule, eligibility for ADAP was lowered to include those at or below 130% of the federal poverty level, which equals about $20,345 per year for a one-person household, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Previous eligibility was at or below 400% of the poverty level, which equals about $62,600 per year for a one-person household, according to HHS.
Additionally, the emergency rule limits insurance coverage of Biktarvy, a once-daily pill to treat HIV and used by about 60% of those enrolled in ADAP.
HIV advocates estimate that as many as 16,000 of the 30,000 Floridians enrolled in ADAP could be at risk of restricted access.
“These cuts will impact communities throughout the state, will threaten the lives of people with HIV and will lead to spikes in new HIV diagnoses and a rise in health care costs as people with HIV develop serious infections requiring hospitalization,” said Dr. Anna K. Person, chair of the HIV Medicine Association, a community of health care professionals that works toward advancing the response of the HIV epidemic, in a statement.
“HIV treatment disruptions of this magnitude will result in a public health disaster. Florida must follow due process and work with health care professionals, people with HIV and the state legislature to address any funding challenges,” the statement continued.
The new emergency rule is only in effect for 90 days and cannot be renewed unless a rule is proposed to implement the changes through formal administrative rulemaking.
Health officials have cited the “rising health care insurance premiums nationwide” and lack of federal funding as reason for the cuts. Officials said the adjustments will prevent a shortfall of more than $120 million for the state.
The Florida Department of Health did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.
A sign outside a mobile clinic offering measles and flu vaccinations on February 6, 2026 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Measles cases have topped 1,000 in the United States for the third time in 26 years.
At least 154 new measles cases have been confirmed in the last week for a total of 1,136, according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Dr. Casey Means, nominee for the medical director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and U.S. surgeon general, testifies at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on February 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s surgeon general nominee, Dr. Casey Means, indicated she supports vaccines but stopped short of recommending certain shots during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee on Wednesday.
Means, who has a medical degree but does not hold an active medical license, appeared hesitant to say that some vaccines, such as the flu vaccine, prevent serious disease.
When asked by HELP committee chair Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., if she would encourage mothers to vaccinate their children with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine amid widespread illness in the U.S., Means said, “I absolutely am supportive of the measles vaccine, and I do believe vaccines save lives and are important part of the public health strategy.”
However, she stressed personal autonomy and said each patient or parent needs to have a conversation with their doctor or pediatrician before taking any medication.
Later in the hearing, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked Means for her opinion on the efficacy of the flu vaccine.
“Do you believe that there is evidence that the flu vaccine prevents serious disease and prevents hospitalization or deaths in children?” Kaine said.
“I believe that all patients should talk to their doctor–” Means began answering.
“And so do I, and that’s not what I’m asking,” Kaine interjected.
“I support the CDC’s guidance on the flu vaccine,” Means replied, adding that she believes the shot reduced the risk of hospitalization “at the population level.”
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it was changing the childhood immunization schedule, removing the universal recommendation for multiple shots, including the flu vaccine.
Means was originally scheduled to testify before the HELP committee in October, but her appearance was postponed for four months after she went into labor.
If confirmed, Means would become the nation’s top doctor, leading more than 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service, including physicians, nurses, scientists and engineers working at various federal health agencies.
Means’ views largely mirror those of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with a focus on tackling the chronic disease epidemic, creating a healthier food supply and expressing vaccine skepticism.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud and Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.
Red Carpet logos and atmosphere at The American Heart Association’s Red Dress Collection 2024 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 31, 2024 in New York City. Randy Brooke/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The number of women with risk factors for cardiovascular disease could significantly increase over the next 25 years, the American Heart Association (AHA) warned on Wednesday.
Without improving prevention and early detection tools, about six in 10 women could be diagnosed with hypertension or obesity by 2050, and risk factors could appear in children and teenagers as well, according to the AHA’s scientific statement.
“Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death, and fewer than half of women know that fact,” Dr. Stacey Rosen, executive director of Katz Institute for Women’s Health and volunteer president of the AHA, told ABC News. “And the percentage of awareness is even lower in African Americans and Hispanics.”
Published in the journal Circulation, the AHA’s projections suggest that 59.1% of women could have high blood pressure by 2050 — up from 48.6% in 2020 — even as diet, physical activity and smoking rates are projected to improve.
About one in four women may have diabetes in 2050, up from 14.9% in 2020, and more than 60% are estimated to have obesity, an increase from 43.9% over the same period, according to the report.
Heart health risk factors won’t hit all demographic groups of women equally, the report predicted.
High blood pressure will increase the most among Hispanic women with a projected rise of 15%, the report noted.
Additionally, more than 70% of Black women could have high blood pressure and obesity may increase the most among Asian women by nearly 26%.
Young women and girls may also see an increase in heart risk factors, partially driven by less opportunity for exercise as well as an abundance of inexpensive foods that often are not heart health.
Estimates also suggest that nearly one-third of girls between ages 2 and 19 will have obesity, an increase from 19.6% with obesity in 2020.
Dr. Jennifer Miao, a board-certified cardiologist, told ABC News that earlier hormonal changes in girls may also contribute to cardiovascular risk later in life.
“Several studies have also shown that starting menstruation at an early age can lead to increased risk of heart disease down the road,” she said.
Miao said she counsels parents that it’s never too early to start thinking of heart health for their children by “choosing good foods, physical activity over screen time and regular pediatrician check-ups.”
Despite the report’s predictions, Rosen stressed that meaningful progress for women’s heart health is still within reach.
“As a medical community, we have amazing tools to treat disease and detect it early, but lack when it comes to primary prevention,” Rosen said, adding that managing diseases like obesity requires a time intensive, multidisciplinary approach that the current U.S. health care system is not built to support.
She also said that optimizing health doesn’t require a costly gym membership or expensive organic foods.
“Every bit of movement counts, whether that means taking a walk or standing more if you work at a desk,” Rosen said.
Small, sustainable changes, like cutting back on sweetened beverages, can make a meaningful difference over time, she said.
Miao added that both the medical community and local leaders can do their part. By partnering with local health clinics, expanding home visit programs and leveraging telemedicine, health systems can extend their reach and bring essential care directly to isolated and underserved populations.
Takisha Morancy, MD, is a chief emergency medicine resident, medical ethics fellow and member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Dr. Casey Means, nominee for the medical director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and U.S. surgeon general, testifies at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on February 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s surgeon general nominee is appearing before the Senate on Wednesday for her confirmation hearing.
Dr. Casey Means was originally scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee in October, but it was postponed for four months after she went into labor.
If confirmed, Means would become the nation’s top doctor, leading more than 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service, including physicians, nurses, scientists and engineers working at various federal health agencies.
Means’ views largely mirror those of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with a focus on tackling the chronic disease epidemic, creating a healthier food supply and expressing vaccine skepticism.
Senators are expected to grill Means on her qualifications as well as her business endeavors. In prior filings, Means pledged that, if confirmed, she would resign from her position as an adviser for a wellness company and promised to stop working as an influencer promoting supplements and other wellness products.
“Dr. Means would clearly be an atypical or unusual person to serve in the role of surgeon general,” Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told ABC News. “Typically, the surgeon general has been viewed as the nation’s top doctor or America’s doctor, but Dr. Means has never practiced medicine, and so that is unusual. The part that’s not unusual is that the surgeon general’s impact is largely through influence. Dr. Means is skilled in this regard, when it comes to influence.”
Means graduated from Stanford School of Medicine in 2014 with plans to become an otolaryngology surgeon, also known as a head and neck surgeon, but she dropped out in her fifth year, according to her website.
Means went on to study functional medicine, which uses a holistic approach to prevent disease and illness by studying the root causes of health issues. The field has been criticized for promoting some interventions that are not evidence-based and for an overreliance on expensive supplements. Having never completed residency, Means is not board-certified in a medical specialty, and she does not hold an active medical license.
Over the course of her career, she co-founded Levels, an app that allows people to track their food, along with biometric data like sleep and glucose monitoring, to see how their diet is impacting their health.
Means wrote a book with her brother, Calley Means, titled “Good Energy,” which was published in May 2024 and claims to take a look at why Americans are sick and how to fix it.
The siblings rose to prominence within the Trump campaign in 2024 and among Trump allies, including Kennedy. They appeared at a September 2024 roundtable discussion on health with Kennedy hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc.
“The message I’m here to share and reiterate is that American health is getting destroyed,” Casey Means said during her opening remarks at the 2024 event. “It’s being destroyed because of chronic illness.”
Meanwhile, Calley Means currently serves as senior adviser for HHS. He has worked closely with Kennedy and has touted many of his health proposals. Calley Means has a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University and does not have medical training.
According to a copy of her prepared testimony for her original confirmation hearing in October, obtained by ABC News, Casey Means wrote that she would work to put “Americans back on the road toward wholeness and health.”
Like Kennedy, Casey Means has called for the removal of ultra-processed foods in school lunches and has advocated for organic foods and ingredients sourced from so-called regenerative farming practices in school meals.
In her “Good Energy” newsletter, she wrote that the U.S. needed to move away “from industrial agriculture that uses synthetic pesticides” in order to create “nutrient-rich food.”
“If she were to use the platform to truly work towards improving the school lunch program in America, that would be that would be terrific, because the Secretary talks a lot about nutrition, the importance of eating healthy food,” Besser said. “But if people can’t afford it, telling people to eat healthy food doesn’t lead to a healthier nation. and one of the ways that we could see big impact in that regard would be if the school lunch program were funded to the extent that every school could have a kitchen, and the people working in that kitchen could actually prepare real food, rather than handing out packaged food.”
While Casey Means’ nomination has received support from members of the administration, including Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, acting CDC acting director and head of the National Institutes of Health, others have expressed concern over some of her more controversial views.
On Tucker Carlson’s show in August 2024, Casey Means said birth control is being “prescribed like candy” and that Ozempic has a “stranglehold on the U.S. population.”
Means has expressed skepticism about the safety of childhood vaccines and has called for more research on the “safety of the cumulative effects” of vaccines when following the CDC vaccine schedule, she wrote in her newsletter.
“There is growing evidence that the total burden of the current extreme and growing vaccine schedule is causing health declines in vulnerable children. This needs to be investigated,” she continued.
Doctors and major medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, have said the previous childhood immunization schedule recommended by the CDC was safe and effective. The CDC recently changed the childhood immunization schedule, cutting the number of vaccines recommended for kids.
“I will be very eager to see whether the members of the health committee use this time to lift up concerns and to get Dr. Means’ perspective on the changes the Secretary has made to the vaccine system in America,” Besser said. “I’ll be interested to see if they ask Dr Means about her perspective on the changes that have taken place at CDC and the impact that these could have on health so that it’s clear coming in where she stands on the draconian cuts that the Secretary has made to our federal public health health system.”
Kennedy said on Monday he is “excited” for Casey Means’ confirmation hearing and that the health department has been waiting “a long time” for her to join the team.
“We’ve been waiting for a long time for Dr. Means to come on board,” Kennedy told ABC News on Monday at the department’s rare disease therapies event. “We are very, very excited about her coming on board. She has an extraordinary capacity to communicate to the American public — that is the function of the surgeon general.”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud and Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. childhood and teen obesity rates have reached record-highs while adult obesity rates may be slowing, according to two new reports published early Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Researchers used measured heights and weights from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) — run by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics — to track trends over more than six decades.
In the first report, the team found that, in the most recent survey conducted between August 2021 and August 2023, 40.3% of adults aged 20 and older were found to be obese, including 9.7% with severe obesity and another 31.7% classified as overweight.
By comparison, for the survey conducted between 1988 and 1994, 22.9% adults aged 20 and older were found to be obese including 2.8% with severe obesity and 33.1% classified as overweight.
However, some of the newest estimates suggest the rapid rise seen in earlier decades may be slowing slightly.
In the 2017-2018 survey, 42.4% of adults were classified as obese, which is the highest figure ever recorded. The decrease between the two most recent surveys could be indicative of a downward trend. Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, noted that it aligns with observations of electronic medical record data.
“So, we’re seeing, for the first time in decades, that there’s like a leveling off and even maybe a slight decrease and I think this is like challenging a major shift from the long-held expectation that obesity would just be climbing year after year,” he said.
According to Brownstein, the decrease is likely due to many factors including public health policies and education about healthier lifestyles as well as medications such as GLP-1s.
It can help produce more insulin, which reduces blood sugar and therefore helps control Type 2 diabetes. It can also interact with the brain and signal a person to feel full, which — when coupled with diet and exercise — can help reduce weight in those who are overweight or obese.
Many GLP-1s have become household names, including Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound and Trulicity.
“I do think the advent of the GLP-1s are absolutely playing a role,” Brownstein said. “At that point in 2023, they weren’t as widespread as they are today. So, we expect that these factors could play even more significant role in more recent times.”
Dr. Justin Ryder, an associate professor of surgery and pediatrics at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, said he’s cautiously optimistic about the slight decrease.
However, he added that it remains to be seen whether this is a blip or if the decrease is indicative of a longer-term trend.
“We’ve seen dips in the past and typically, when they do, in the next reporting period it goes right back up,” Ryder told ABC News. “And that’s because of how the sampling is done. This is a random sample of U.S. adults.”
He noted that the random sampling makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions.
“Could it just be the people who were sampled, or is it real?” he said. “And I think we won’t know that until we have another set or a larger set of data over either the same sampling period or a couple more years from now.”
Meanwhile, a second report found that more than one in five U.S. children and teenagers have obesity, which is the highest figure ever recorded.
The survey conducted between August 2021 and August 2023 found 21.1% of U.S. children and teenagers between ages 2 and 19 have obesity, up from 5.2% during the 1971-1974 survey.
Additionally, 7% of children live with severe obesity, an increase from the 1% seen 50 years ago, according to the report.
“This is exceptionally concerning,” Dr. David Ludwig, co-director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and professor of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, told ABC News.
He added that in the 1970s, “children were certainly recognized [as obese] but it was the rare child, one in 20. And now we’re looking at one in five children with obesity.”
Ludwig said it had seemed for a short period of time that the prevalence of obesity was decreasing at least among 2-to-5-year-olds when rates declined from 12.1% in 2009-2010 to 9.4% in 2013-2014.
At the time, he viewed it as a “glimmer of hope” — but rates increased again and now sit at 14.9% for this age group.
“We saw that dip and we all got excited thinking that we were beginning to turn the tide,” Ludwig said. “In retrospect, that was more of a statistical aberration, more of mirage than a true glimmer of hope because the trend overall has continued upward.”
To reverse the trends among children, Ryder said the 2-to-5-year-old group will need lifestyle modifications such as healthier eating. The 6-to-11-year-old group will need similar methods although some medications are available, he said.
For children above age 12, Ryder said medications and bariatric surgery are options.
Nearly 23% of children ages 12 to 19 were considered obese in the most recent survey. Ryder said that means they meet the guidelines for intensive treatment, whether that’s lifestyle adjustments or in combination with medications or surgery.
“I think the only way that we’re going to see a downward trend in that number is if we take that adolescent group of 12- to 19-year-olds and actually start to apply the clinical practice guidelines and treat those kids seriously, offering them medications,” he said.
Ishani D. Premaratne, MD, is an integrated plastic & reconstructive surgery resident and member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
A sign outside a mobile clinic offering measles and flu vaccinations on February 6, 2026 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Sean Rayford/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. is close to reaching at least 1,000 measles cases for the third time in eight years.
At least 72 new measles cases have been confirmed in the last week, according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So far this year, there have been total of 982 cases in 26 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Just six measles cases were reported among international travelers so far this year, according to CDC data.
About 94% of cases are among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the CDC said.
Meanwhile, 3% of cases are among those who have received just one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and 4% of cases are among those who received the recommended two doses, according to the CDC.
The current measles situation in the U.S. is partly being driven by a large outbreak in South Carolina that began last year, with 962 cases recorded as of Friday, according to state health officials.
Last year, the U.S. recorded 2,281 measles cases, which is the highest number of national cases in 33 years, according to the CDC.
The CDC currently recommends people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC said.
However, federal data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years. During the 2024-2025 school year, 92.5% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, according to data. This is lower than the 92.7% seen in the previous school year and the 95.2% seen in the 2019-2020 school year, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month marked one year since a measles outbreak began in West Texas, with infections soon spreading to neighboring counties and other states.
Public health experts previously told ABC News that if cases in other states are found to be linked to the cases in Texas, it would mean the virus has been spreading for a year, which could lead to a loss of elimination status.
Abortion rights protesters chant slogans during a gathering to protest the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health case on June 24, 2022 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two bills having to do with abortion are making their way through the Wyoming legislature.
The first bill, HB0126, dubbed the Human Heartbeat Act, prohibits abortion if cardiac activity is detected in the fetus, which is around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant.
If cardiac activity is detected, an abortion can only be performed in the case of a medical emergency, meaning if the life of the mother is in danger or if continuing the pregnancy would cause serious or irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, according to the bill, which does not include exceptions for women impregnated as a result of rape or incest.
Any person who intentionally or knowingly violates the act will be charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, according to the bill.
“What this bill attempts to do is to provide a line in the sand,” Republican Speaker of the House Rep. Chip Neiman said at a Wyoming House Labor, Health & Social Services Committee meeting on Monday. “This gives the unborn child the right to be protected and the privilege of being carried to term after a fetal heartbeat is detected.”
The bill also asserts that “substantial medical evidence” shows that a fetus can experience pain by 15 weeks of gestation.
“The science conclusively establishes that a human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after at least 24–25 weeks,” according to the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG).
The other bill, HB 117 or “Stop harm-empower women with informed notices,” requires medical professionals to give pregnant women written notices before performing an abortion.
The notice would include a description of the proposed abortion method, if there are medical risks associated with the method, alternatives such as adoption and parenting, and the medical risks associated with carrying the fetus to term
Patients who feel they’ve been coerced into receiving an abortion would be allowed to sue any providers for not less than $25,000.
The bill also includes text about the abortion drug mifepristone, including putting in the written notice that mifepristone alone is not always effective in ending a pregnancy. The written notice must also include that pregnant women should consult a health care provider if, after taking mifepristone, they regret their decision “to determine if there are options available to assist her in continuing her pregnancy.”
ACOG states that medication abortion “reversal” is not supported by science and that so-called reversal procedures are “unproven and unethical.”
Earlier this week, the Wyoming House Labor, Health & Social Services Committee recommended that both bills be passed. The bills will now go to the Wyoming State House for debate, amendment and voting.
Currently, abortion is allowed in Wyoming until fetal viability, which occurs at around 25 weeks of gestation, according to ACOG, defined as a fetus’ chances of surviving outside of the womb.
Only physicians are allowed to provide abortions in Wyoming, and they are required to submit a report to the Wyoming Department of Health within 20 days of any abortion procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual and reproductive health.
In 2023, Wyoming passed two abortion bans. However, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in January that the bans were unconstitutional, violating a “health care freedom” amendment to the state constitution that was passed in 2012 that states in part that “each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions,” and that “the parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.”
During his State of the State address earlier this month, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon suggested that voters should decide on the issue.
“There’s another arduous task that I bring before you, which is the issue of abortion,” he said. “Protecting life is the most serious responsibility entrusted to government. The question of abortion deserves careful deliberation and I urge this legislature to take up this issue earnestly and put forward a genuine solution to the voters of Wyoming that provides a clear, irrefutable, durable, and morally sound resolution to this fraught issue.”
