Michigan was poised to outlaw most abortions after Roe fell, but a judge recently suspended the state’s 1931 abortion ban. While that case is sorted out, clinics expect more out-of-state patients at Michigan clinics to get the procedure.
Robin Erb
Robin Erb covers a range of health issues in Michigan, including the industry of aging and the issues facing older residents in Michigan, a state that is aging faster than most others. She joined Bridge in 2019 and has led investigations that tracked millions of dollars in opioid settlement money and explored severe worker shortages in health care that threaten lives and the state's economy. She chronicled the shock and grief of Michigan families in COVID’s wake, as well as state policy decisions and the triumphs of medical breakthroughs. Robin previously spent six years covering health at the Detroit Free Press, documenting the battle over, and the eventual passage of, the Affordable Care Act and Michigan's Medicaid expansion. She studied communications and political science at Miami University and has a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Lourdes University (Toledo, Ohio). She and her husband raised two wonderful children — but have failed miserably at training their Beagle-Bassets — in southeast Michigan. Reach her at rerb@bridgemi.com.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Abortion rivals say Roe reversal could have surprising impact in Michigan
Barbara Listing of Right to Life and Renee Chelian, an abortion-rights advocate, have battled for more than four decades over abortion access. But they agree that a rejection of Roe v. Wade may change Michigan abortion policy in unexpected ways.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
New Planned Parenthood CEO: We have abortion options for post-Roe Michigan
How will Michiganders get abortions if they’re illegal here? Paula Thornton Greear, the first Black woman to lead the state agency, says Planned Parenthood has a plan. Plus: Her first sex talk with Mom down Nine Mile and the agency’s first gender-affirming treatment program.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Ticks on rise in Michigan, so researchers get crafty to map the tiny terrors
With Lyme disease on the increase and pathogen-carrying ticks creeping across Michigan, scientists are using unconventional methods to identify hot spots.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Northern Michigan braces for tourists as counties move to high risk for COVID
Up North is bracing for big crowds and travel, as vacationers weigh personal risk and the third pandemic summer is set to start.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Man v. Microbe: Drug-resistant superbugs gain a toehold in Michigan
The overuse of antibiotics — in ERs, dental offices, and for your steak dinner — means microbes are gaining ground in a microscopic arms race. Next time you ask for antibiotics, your doctor may say “no.”
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
COVID-19 booster approved for Michigan children ages 5 to 11
The FDA decision Tuesday extends boosters to everyone who has had their first COVID vaccines. Children younger than five have yet to be approved for a COVID vaccine, but that may come this summer.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Feds offer Michigan more free COVID tests. Here’s how to get yours.
With the latest effort, some Michigan households could stock up dozens of tests. Also still available: free COVID treatments for high-risk Michiganders, which covers a lot of residents.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan baby formula factory focus of FDA probe after infant illnesses
Abbott Nutrition recalled Similac and other brands of powdered formula after five hospitalizations and two deaths, raising questions about federal oversight. And the lack of factory production has made a U.S. formula shortage worse.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Abortion pills present new challenge for Michigan if Roe overturned
For more than two decades, women in early pregnancy have been able to induce an abortion, safely, with the abortion pill regimen. Will the impending loss of federal abortion protections change that?