Health

(WASHINGTON) — The battle over taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood takes center stage at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in a dispute over South Carolina’s exclusion of the group from the state Medicaid program because it provides abortions.

On the line is the ability of Medicaid beneficiaries to freely choose a healthcare provider, including physicians at Planned Parenthood who provide services other than abortion, like contraception treatments and cancer screenings.

South Carolina’s two Planned Parenthood clinics have served mostly low-income, minority women for more than 40 years. Hundreds of their patients are Medicaid recipients.

The case also implicates the millions of federal dollars Planned Parenthood receives in the form of reimbursements for treating Medicaid patients each year.

According to Planned Parenthood, 34% of its overall revenue, or $699 million, comes from government grants, contracts, and Medicaid funds.

In 2018, South Carolina’s Republican governor Henry McMaster issued executive orders disqualifying Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for non-abortion services.

Julie Edwards, a Medicaid beneficiary and type-1 diabetic who sought medical care at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, SC, sued the state alleging a violation of the Medicaid Act, which guarantees a “free choice of provider” that is willing and qualified.

“Medicaid beneficiaries often face significant barriers to obtaining care, particularly in South Carolina. Twenty-five percent of state residents live in medically underserved areas,” the plaintiffs wrote in their brief to the high court.

“[Congress] enacted the free-choice-of-provider provision to ensure that Medicaid patients, like everyone else, can choose their own doctor,” they wrote. “Congress specifically enacted this provision in response to some States’ efforts to restrict Medicaid patients’ choice of provider.”

The state argues that Congress never intended to give individuals the right to sue over access to a particular provider and that there are plenty of other clinics available to serve Medicaid recipients.

“Congress wanted states to have substantial discretion to innovate with their Medicaid programs,” the state wrote in its brief to the high court. Allowing individuals to sue over access to specific providers would “subject the state to unanticipated (and expensive) lawsuits.”

While federal law already prohibits any government funding of abortions, South Carolina contends it has the right to target non-abortion funding to abortion providers. “Because money is fungible, giving Medicaid dollars to abortion facilities frees up their other funds to provide more abortions,” the state told the court.

“[Planned Parenthood] can restore Medicaid funding if it stops performing abortions— but it has chosen not to do so,” South Carolina wrote.

If the justices allow the suit to go forward, Edwards and Planned Parenthood can continue to challenge the clinics’ exclusion from the state’s Medicaid program in a lower court.

If the justices side with the state, they would bolster efforts to cut off Planned Parenthood from sources of government funding and effectively limit the number of providers available to Medicaid recipients.

A decision in the case is expected by the end of the Court’s term in June.

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(NEW YORK) — One year ago, the first bird flu infection in a human in the United States was reported in a Texas dairy worker, just weeks after the virus had been found in cattle for the first time ever.

While the virus has spread in birds for decades, in recent years it has started to infect more and more mammals including cows, bears and racoons — and even house cats are getting sick.

In the 12 months since the first human case, at least 70 people have been infected. There was one death linked to a human infected with bird flu in Louisiana.

ABC News’ medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton was granted rare access inside the race to stop bird flu at Michigan State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. He aimed to better understand how researchers are trying to curb the spread in animals — and why that may help protect us from an outbreak among humans.

“We’re a network of more than 60 academic, state and federal laboratories that are the first line of defense in the case of a high consequence animal disease outbreak,” Dr. Kimberly Dodd, dean of the college of veterinary medicine at Michigan State University, told Sutton.

So far, the outbreak has had a devastating impact on animals with 168 million birds affected in every state. Since March of last year, nearly 1,000 cattle herds have been infected as well.

With rapid detection of cases, culling of infected birds and isolation of sick cows, there has not been a major outbreak in the last month.

But Dodd points out as springtime approaches, we may see increasing spread as wild birds begin to migrate.

“Birds don’t recognize the state borders. This is a national problem. We have to be able to work together,” Dodd said.

While most of the human cases in the U.S. have been mild, scientists like Dodd’s team continue to track the virus for any mutations that may change that risk.

“We are continually tracking not just the virus in animals, but then also monitoring [people] who may have been exposed to those infected animals and birds,” she said. “This allows us to have a better understanding if the risk to humans is changing or increasing.”

The risk to the general public has so far remained low, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet, health officials and experts have long warned that as the virus continues to spread in the environment, it leads to greater chances of mutating and potentially adapting to spread between people, which has not occurred yet.

The widespread nature of the virus has also devastated many farming communities and lead to skyrocketing egg prices in the last year.

Doug Corwin’s family run duck farm in Long Island, New York, was forced to euthanize 100,000 birds in late January after the virus was found on their property.

“It was devastating — disease, sickness, death, like I’ve never seen in my life,” Corwin told Sutton during a visit this week. “It was just an ugly, awful, sad time.”

Typically, Corwin’s farm sells around a million ducks a year that are served in high-end restaurants. Now, he’s left with no income for at least 18 months as he tries to salvage his remaining flock. He was also forced to lay off 45 of his employees.

“To try to explain to them why we weren’t going to be able to work tomorrow … was a tearful, hard thing,” Corwin said.

“I’ve never had a more tearful day. It was just a shocking, shocking experience,” he added.

ABC News’ medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Cutting back on calories three days a week may lead to more weight loss than daily dieting and may be more effective than other types of so-called “intermittent fasting,” a new study suggests.

In a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers asked participants to reduce their calorie intake by 80% of what their body needed to maintain weight on three non-consecutive days each week. On the remaining days, they had no calorie restrictions, but were still encouraged to make healthy choices.

Over the course of a year, people in the intermittent fasting group lost nearly 17 pounds—about 60% more than those who were asked to trim back their daily calories by one-third, according to the study.

This style of intermittent fasting “appears to be easier to adhere to over time,” Dr. Victoria Catenacci, lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, told ABC News.

“It’s really hard to restrict calories every day,” she says. “It’s just another strategy for people to consider.”

Neither group hit their calorie targets, she noted, but those who fasted a few days a week ended up eating fewer calories overall and were more likely to stick with the plan.

Danielle Ostendorf, another of the study’s authors and an assistant professor at the University of Knoxville, said she suspects that intermittent fasting hasn’t shown this level of success in past studies because the number of fasting days was often too few or too many—making the plans either ineffective or hard to follow.

Fasting for three days, Ostendorf says, is “something like a sweet spot.”

Participants also took part in a comprehensive lifestyle program focused on behavior change. They set exercise goals, attended frequent group meetings led by dieticians, and received personalized support.

The authors emphasize that the additional support made a big difference. “This program really provided accountability for the participants, and like social support. They were able to learn from each other,” Ostendorf shared.

No participant reported any downsides to the diet itself. However, the study included only healthy adults and excluded people with serious conditions like diabetes.

The authors recommended that anyone considering this type of fasting talk to their doctor and a registered dietician. Joining a support group may also help with encouragement and accountability, they advised.

Dr. Amy Rothberg, an endocrinologist and director of the University of Michigan Weight Management Program, supports patients trying new diets as long as they still balance healthy foods. “If that’s something that they think they can do, I’m all for it,” she said.

“If you don’t want to count calories, track and log your food intake,” intermittent fasting “may be beneficial for some people,” she said. Still, she stressed that people should choose diets they can stick with long-term.

The study did not track participants beyond one year to see if weight loss was maintained.

“There’s no superior dietary approach,” Rothberg said. “So you need to find an approach that is tailored to that individual.”

Catenacci takes a similar view with her own patients, recommending a variety of strategies based on what someone is interested in.

“At the end of the day, the best diet for any given person is the one that they feel they can adhere to over time,” Catenacci said.

​Dr. Alice Gao, MD, MPH, is a family medicine resident at Temple Northwest Community Family Medicine and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

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(SALT LAKE CITY) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill making the state the first in the nation to ban fluoride in drinking water.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(LUBBOCK, Texas) — When the first measles cases were confirmed in western Texas, health officials said the infections primarily affected the Mennonite community.

Mennonites, who are part of the Anabaptist Christian church, have a small presence in the United States — and Texas in general — but they have a large presence in the South Plains region the state, and in Gaines County, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.

Many Mennonite communities are close-knit and under-vaccinated, which may have contributed to the spread of measles among members of the community.

But health officials are starting to see cases spread beyond the Mennonite population.

It is spreading beyond this community, “unfortunately,” Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock — which is located in western Texas — told ABC News. “West Texas is where the spread of these cases are right now, and we need to make sure that everybody in West Texas is getting vaccinated and is aware of measles and understands the precautions that we need to take.”

The outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with a total of 327 cases in at least 15 counties, according to new data published Tuesday.

Nearly all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. At least 40 people have been hospitalized so far.

Just two cases have occurred in people fully vaccinated with the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, according to the data.

Wells acknowledged that it may be easy for people to assume measles is only affecting a small and insular group like Mennonites and that nobody else is at risk.

“West Texas, you might say we’re small and insular compared to Dallas and some other areas,” she said. “But no, this has, unfortunately, moved into many, many different populations.”

“So unfortunately, it is growing and continues to grow,” she continued.

Marlen Ramirez, a community health worker and program coordinator at Vaccinate Your Family, which is an advocacy group based in Eagle Pass, Texas, shared a statement with ABC News, saying, “As a Community Health Worker living and working in a rural border town, I see firsthand how quickly diseases like measles can spread when vaccination rates are low and access to care is limited.”

“While the initial measles outbreak in western Texas affected members of the Mennonite community, the virus easily spreads wherever communities are under-vaccinated—and right now, we’re seeing cases reach into rural parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas,” Ramirez added.

“In many of these areas, vaccination rates are below 90%, well below the 92-94% needed for community or “herd” immunity. That’s what has allowed this outbreak to grow to over 300 cases so quickly. We fear the number of actual cases may be much higher than reported due to confusion and delays in the outbreak response,” she said.

A spokesperson for DSHS confirmed to ABC News that the first cases in the outbreak were among Mennonite community members, but this is no longer the case.

“Since 90% of unvaccinated people exposed to the measles virus will become ill, there are many cases in people who are not part of the Mennonite community,” the spokesperson said. “We do not ask a person’s religious affiliation as part of our case investigation process, so we have no way of counting how many cases are part of the Mennonite community and how many are not.”

Why the Mennonite population was hit hard by measles cases
Steven Nolt, professor of history and Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told ABC News that culturally conservative and Old Order Mennonites have traditionally been under-immunized or partially immunized.

He said there are no religious teachings or bodies of religious writings that prevent Mennonites from being vaccinated. The DSHS spokesperson also added that that Mennonite religion is not “widely against vaccination.”

“Reasons are not religious but reflect everything from less frequent engagement with health care systems (for those who are more rural) to a traditional outlook that replicates practices of parents and grandparents more than the most current practices,” Nolt said via email.

For example, culturally traditional Mennonites may have participated in mid-20th century vaccination campaigns against diseases like smallpox, leading to their children and grandchildren trusting those vaccines compared to more recent additions to the immunization schedule, Nott said.

He added that Mennonites may also be influenced by the opinions of their neighbors, which may play a role in lack of vaccination.

Nolt also explained that the Mennonites who live in Seminole, Texas, a city at the center of Gaines County — a community known as Low German Mennonites, due to the language they speak — “lived in relative isolation in Mexico from the 1920s to the 1980s.”

“They missed out on the mid-century public health immunization campaigns in the U.S., be they polio or smallpox or whatever (the Mexican government had a reputation for not engaging with the Low German Mennonites at all),” he wrote. “Thus, they are starting from a different place than other culturally conservative Mennonites whose ancestors have been here since the 1700s.”

Nott went on, “My point is, the so-called Low German Mennonites from Mexico, now in west Texas, don’t have that minimum baseline of mid-20th century vaccine acceptance that we see among Old Order Mennonites and Amish in the U.S. because the folks in Seminole missed the whole mid-century immunization push, as they weren’t in the U.S. at that time.”

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(LANSING, Mich.) — A Michigan resident has died of rabies after apparently undergoing an organ transplant, health officials said.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) told ABC News that the patient underwent an organ transplant at an Ohio hospital in December 2024.

The resident died in January 2025 and “a public health investigation determined they contracted rabies through the transplanted organ,” MDHHS said.

The organ donor was not a Michigan or Ohio resident, according to MDHHS. The department said it is not providing any additional information about the resident or the donor.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — A measles case was confirmed in a person who traveled to Washington, D.C., on an Amtrak train, according to the D.C. Department of Health (DC Health).

The person visited multiple locations while contagious, including the southbound Amtrak Northeast Regional 175 Train and Union Station on March 19 as well as a MedStar Urgent Care in Adams Morgan on March 22, DC Health said in a press release on Tuesday.

DC Health said it is currently working to inform people who were at these locations that they may have been exposed.

Health officials are specifying that people who are “not immune” are most at-risk of infection. This includes those who are unvaccinated or who have never contracted measles before.

DC Health did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

“DC Public Health has notified Amtrak of a confirmed case of measles in a customer traveling on Amtrak Train 175 from New York to Washington Union Station on Wednesday, March 19,” Amtrak said in a statement on Wednesday. “Amtrak is reaching out directly to customers who were on this train to notify them of possible exposure.”

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene also released a statement on Wednesday, saying it is “aware” of the confirmed case and the patient’s travel.

“Public Health agencies routinely exchange information when exposures occur in other localities, and we are in communication with the DC Department of Health on this matter,” the statement read in part.

The CDC has confirmed 378 measles cases so far this year in at least 17 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington. This is likely an undercount due to delays in states reporting cases to the federal health agency.

Health officials are encouraging those who have never been vaccinated before to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, 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, the CDC says. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster.

ABC News’ Matt Foster and Othon Leyva contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Measles vaccination rates appear to be increasing in some areas of the U.S. that have been affected by outbreaks this year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (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, the CDC says.

Of the 378 measles cases confirmed by the CDC so far this year, the majority have been among those who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.

In western Texas, an outbreak has infected 327 people, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Of those cases, just two have been among people fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine.

Health officials have been urging anyone who isn’t vaccinated to receive the MMR vaccine or to catch up on missed doses.

In Texas, as of March 16, at least 173,362 MMR vaccine doses have been administered across the state this year, according to DSHS data provided to ABC News.

This is higher than the number of doses administered in the state over the same period since at least 2020.

A DSHS spokesperson told ABC News that because there is no statewide requirement to report vaccine administration, the data is not a comprehensive accounting of all MMR vaccines administered in the state.

Lubbock County, in western Texas, has seen 10 measles cases so far this year, DSHS data shows. Despite not being at the epicenter of the outbreak, the number of people being vaccinated has increased, according to Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock.

“We’re 75 miles east of the actual outbreak, but we’re seeing an increase in the number of vaccinations that we’re giving in our community,” she told ABC News. “Over the last four weeks, our health department has been operating a walk-in vaccine clinic that’s just for MMR, and that vaccine clinic [has] administered a little over 300 vaccines.”

She added that health officials have seen multiple babies under 6 months old who have been exposed to measles. Because they are too young to be vaccinated, they have been given shots of immunoglobulin, which are antibodies that act as a post-exposure prophylaxis.

Wells said the vaccines are available at no cost, and health officials have been trying to spread the word over social media and the local news.

“So we’re kind of just getting the people that, I think, either their children are behind on vaccines, just because parents get busy and it’s hard to get your four-year-old sometimes into the doctor’s office, or people that were kind of on the fence about vaccines and maybe said, ‘Well, I don’t want to vaccinate my kids, because you never see measles.’ But now that you’re seeing measles, they’re bringing their children in for vaccinations,” she said.

In conversations with colleagues in nearby health departments, such as in epicenter Gaines County, Wells has said it’s been harder to reach residents to distribute the MMR vaccine, making the process somewhat of a “struggle.”

She explained that in Lubbock, the health department building is large — with most residents knowing where it is — and the department has more outreach staff than smaller departments.

“I think it’s a little bit harder in some of these rural areas, because they’re setting up in places that might not be as familiar to individuals,” Wells said. “They’re finding different locations in order to have those clinics; they’re starting to focus a lot more on school-based clinics. So, let’s go to where the children are and get the parents to come to that school and then offer the vaccine there, which I think is a great tactic.”

Meanwhile, in nearby New Mexico, the state Department of Health (NMDOH) reported a total of 43 measles cases so far this year. Most of the cases have been confirmed in Lea County, which borders western Texas.

Health officials suspect there may be a connection between the Texas and New Mexico cases, but a link has not yet been confirmed.

Data from NMDOH provided to ABC News shows that between Feb. 1 and March 24 of this year, more than 13,100 MMR doses have been administered. Of those, about 7,000 doses have been administered among those under age 18 and about 6,100 have been administered among adults.

This is more than the double the number of MMR vaccine doses that were administered over the same period last year, according to Robert Nott, communications director for the NMDOH. The vaccines are being administered at no charge.

“We’re encouraged by the number of people getting vaccinated but we’re not taking it for granted,” Nott told ABC News. “You can see nationwide: measles is highly contagious.”

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles to up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the CDC.

The measles virus can linger in the air and live on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person has left a room, the CDC says.

Wells, from Lubbock, said during a press briefing last week that it could take up to a year to gain control over the outbreak.

“Our number of cases are continuing to increase daily. There [are] also still cases that are unreported or under-reported because people aren’t seeking testing,” she told ABC News. “So, I still think we’re on the growth side of this outbreak, and it’s going to be until we get a significant number of vaccines and really be able to identify all of those cases. So, it’ll take both of those things happening before we can get this under control.”

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 18 cases confirmed over the last five days, bringing the total to 327 cases, according to new data published Tuesday.

Nearly all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). At least 40 people have been hospitalized so far.

Just two cases have occurred in people fully vaccinated with the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to the data.

In the Texas outbreak, children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases at 140, followed by children ages 4 and under accounting for 105 cases, according to the data.

“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities. DSHS is working with local health departments to investigate the outbreak,” the department said in a press release.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — The number of measles cases associated with an outbreak in western Texas has grown to 309, with 30 cases reported over the last three days, according to new data released Friday.

This means the total number of Texas cases linked to the outbreak in roughly two months has surpassed the number confirmed for the entirety of last year in the U.S., which saw 285 cases nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown. At least 40 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

Just two cases have occurred in people fully vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases, at 130, followed by children ages 4 and under accounting for 102 cases.

There have been two U.S. deaths linked to measles this year, with one confirmed and one under investigation.

The confirmed death was an unvaccinated school-aged child in Texas. The child did not have any known underlying conditions, according to DSHS.

The death was the first U.S. measles death recorded in a decade, according to data from the CDC.

A possible second measles death was recorded after an unvaccinated New Mexico resident tested positive for the virus following their death. The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) said the official cause of death is still under investigation.

New Mexico has reported a total of 42 measles cases so far this year, according to the NMDOH. Many of the cases have been confirmed in Lea County, which borders western Texas. Four of the New Mexico cases occurred in people who were vaccinated with at least one MMR dose, while 30 cases were reported in unvaccinated individuals, according to the NMDOH. Eight of the cases presented in people whose vaccination status is unknown.

Health officials suspect there may be a connection between the Texas and New Mexico cases but a link has not been confirmed.

The CDC has confirmed 301 measles cases in at least 14 states so far this year as of last week, including Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington. This is likely an undercount due to delays in states reporting cases to the federal health agency.

The majority of nationally confirmed cases are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the CDC said. Of those cases, 3% are among those who received just one dose of the MMR inoculation and 2% are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.

The CDC recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second dose between 4 and 6 years of age.

One dose is 93% effective and two doses are 97% effective in preventing measles, the CDC says. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster, per the health agency.

In the face of the growing measles outbreak, the CDC issued an alert on March 7, saying that parents in the outbreak area should consider getting their children their first MMR vaccine between ages 6 and 11 months, followed by the previously recommended scheduled doses at 12-15 months and then at 4-6 years old, for a total of three vaccinations. Texas health officials have also recommended early vaccination for infants living in outbreak areas.

ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud and Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

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