Fact Sheet

­The CDC Transportation Mask Mandate and Mootness: A Q&A Explanation of Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Biden

Fact SheetPublic Health AuthorityCOVID-19Legislation and Legal Challenges

September 18, 2023
by Colleen Healy Boufides

In Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Biden, the Eleventh Circuit vacated a lower court decision invalidating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) transportation mask mandate. Because the mask mandate would have ended on its own terms when the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency expired on May 11, 2023, the Eleventh Circuit determined the case was moot. This Q&A describes the doctrine of mootness and the implications of this case.

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Prison Procurement Laws in the Southeast

Fact SheetMechanisms for Advancing Health Equity

June 1, 2023
by Dawn Hunter

Incarcerated workers across the U.S. provide valuable goods and services, producing items used in state and local government agencies and engaging in work like road repair, firefighting, and post-disaster clean-up. They generate more than $2 billion a year in goods and $9 billion a year in services, but are not covered by typical workplace protections, like minimum wage and workplace safety laws. It is important for states to strike a balance between the requirements for prison labor and protecting the health and well-being of incarcerated people. This Fact Sheet summarizes prison procurement laws in states in the Network’s Southeastern Region, prompted by a question from the state of Virginia.

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State Non-Fatal Overdose Reporting Requirements

Fact SheetHarm Reduction Legal ProjectHarm Reduction Legal Project ResourcesSubstance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction

May 30, 2023
by Amy Lieberman and Corey Davis

Variations among jurisdictions in determining and reporting causes of death and delays in obtaining and reporting fatality data often result in an incomplete and out-of-date view of the overdose epidemic in the U.S. It is imperative that health departments, harm reduction organizations, and people who use drugs are provided with accurate, timely and actionable information on drug-related overdose. This fact sheet provides a snapshot of current laws, regulations, and sub-regulatory sources governing mandatory disease reporting and a description of the laws and regulations governing reporting of overdoses in the jurisdictions that require or explicitly permit it as of March 31, 2023.

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Naloxone Insurance Coverage Mandates

Fact SheetHarm Reduction Legal ProjectHarm Reduction Legal Project ResourcesSubstance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction

May 30, 2023
by Amy Lieberman and Corey Davis

This fact sheet details the state laws that require private insurers to cover at least one formulation of naloxone and those that reduce barriers to access naloxone where it is covered. Because these laws were written during a time when no over the counter (OTC) naloxone formulations were available, none explicitly require coverage for OTC naloxone.

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Medication Abortion: A Federal-State Legal Tug-of-War

Fact SheetReproductive Health and Equity Maternal and Child HealthLegislation and Legal ChallengesHealth and Health Care

May 25, 2023
by Jennifer Piatt

Medication abortion (or the “abortion pill”) generally refers to the use of two medications—mifepristone and misoprostol—to safely end an early pregnancy. Importantly, it does not refer to use of Plan B emergency contraceptive; in December 2022, FDA updated Plan B’s packaging insert to expressly acknowledge that it functions to prevent conception, not to end a pregnancy. In 2020, medication abortion was used for 53 percent of all U.S. abortions. However, since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision on June 24, 2022, 15 states have implemented near-total abortion bans (though bans in select states including Indiana, Ohio, and Wyoming are currently blocked by state courts).

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Black Maternal Health in Pennsylvania

Fact SheetReproductive Health and Equity Maternal and Child HealthHealth and Health CarePennsylvania

May 11, 2023
by Kathleen Hoke

Black Maternal Health refers to the well-being of Black women during the prenatal period, pregnancy, and the postnatal period. Black women in the United States experience significantly disparate maternal health outcomes including disproportionately high rates of death related to pregnancy or childbirth compared to other racial and ethnic groups. This fact provides an overview of the state of Black maternal health in Pennsylvania and opportunities to improve Black health outcomes in the state.

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Black Maternal Health in New Jersey 

Fact SheetReproductive Health and Equity Maternal and Child HealthHealth and Health CareNew Jersey

May 11, 2023
by Kathleen Hoke

Black Maternal Health refers to the well-being of Black women during the prenatal period, pregnancy, and the postnatal period. Black women in the United States experience significantly disparate maternal health outcomes including disproportionately high rates of death related to pregnancy or childbirth compared to other racial and ethnic groups. This fact provides an overview of the state of Black maternal health in New Jersey and opportunities to improve Black health outcomes in the state.

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Black Maternal Health in Maryland 

Fact SheetReproductive Health and Equity Maternal and Child HealthHealth and Health CareMaryland

May 11, 2023
by Kathleen Hoke

Black Maternal Health refers to the well-being of Black women during the prenatal period, pregnancy, and the postnatal period. Black women in the United States experience significantly disparate maternal health outcomes including disproportionately high rates of death related to pregnancy or childbirth compared to other racial and ethnic groups. This fact provides an overview of the state of Black maternal health in Maryland and opportunities to improve Black health outcomes in the state.

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Unwinding the Medicaid Continuous Coverage Provision: Risks to People with Disabilities and Limited English Proficiency

Fact SheetHealth and Health CareMedicaid

May 3, 2023
by Sarah Somers

The federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) implemented changes that enabled people to stay on Medicaid. Most significantly, in 2020, Congress enacted the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which required states to keep people continuously enrolled in Medicaid through the end of the month in which the PHE ended. This fact sheet outlines how the unwinding of the continuous coverage period has a high risk of discriminatory impact on certain populations which are often the same ones facing significant harm from coverage loss.

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Federal, State and Local Efforts to Protect the Privacy of Abortion Health Records

Fact SheetReproductive Health and Equity Health and Health CareHealth Information and Data Sharing

May 3, 2023
by Stephen Murphy

In the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, one abortion case involving a 10-year-old rape victim called into question issues of privacy when the attorney general in the case sought access to the minor’s abortion records. The case illustrates how, in the legal tug of war over abortion, health information may be weaponized against providers and individuals seeking or obtaining reproductive health services. This fact sheet explores actions taken at all levels of government to enhance protections of abortion-related health records and data.

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Evidence for Fentanyl Test Strips

Fact SheetSubstance Use Prevention and Harm ReductionHarm Reduction Legal Project ResourcesHarm Reduction Legal ProjectOpioid Misuse and Overdose Prevention

April 11, 2023
by Corey Davis

Between May 2020 and April 2021, 64% of overdose deaths in the nation involved synthetic opioids, primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. A low-cost, high-impact harm reduction strategy for reducing the risk of overdose due to fentanyl contamination comes in the form of fentanyl test strips (“FTS”).At the price of approximately one dollar per disposable strip, FTS can detect the presence of fentanyl and many fentanyl analogs in drug samples dissolved in water. This fact sheet briefly discusses the emerging evidence that supports the broad distribution of FTS as one tool to reduce fentanyl-related harm.

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