Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Supreme Court declines Alabama bid to revive abortion restriction

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday sidestepped a major new challenge to abortion rights by declining to hear Alabama's bid to revive a Republican-backed state law that would have effectively banned the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The justices left in place a lower court ruling that struck down the 2016 law, which would have criminalized a method called dilation and evacuation that is the most common type of abortion performed during the second trimester of a pregnancy. Swine fever toll in China may be twice as high as reported, industry insiders say

As many as half of China's breeding pigs have either died from African swine fever or been slaughtered because of the spreading disease, twice as many as officially acknowledged, according to the estimates of four people who supply large farms. (For an interactive graphic click https://tmsnrt.rs/2t0mpCk) U.S. rights groups, doctors sue to stop Georgia 'heartbeat' abortion ban

A group of civil rights organizations, doctors and clinics sued Georgia's government on Friday to overturn a law passed in March that bans abortions if an embryonic or fetal heartbeat can be detected. The law, which was passed by Republicans, will make abortion possible only in the first few weeks of a pregnancy absent a medical emergency, in many cases before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. It is due to take effect in January. Sarepta surges after Pfizer gene therapy data raises safety concerns

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc surged 15% on Friday after some safety concerns were raised in a small, early-stage study of a competing gene therapy for a rare muscle-wasting disorder from Pfizer Inc. Sarepta reported promising data from its study last year and is in a race with Pfizer and Solid Biosciences Inc to first market a gene therapy for the genetic degenerative disorder that affects one in 3,500 to 5,000 males. Missouri's only abortion clinic to stay open until at least August 1

Missouri's only abortion clinic will remain open for now after a state arbiter on Friday ordered a stay in response to Planned Parenthood's challenge of the state health department's refusal to renew the clinic's license. Planned Parenthood, the women's healthcare and abortion provider that operates the clinic, filed a petition with Missouri's Administrative Hearing Commission on Tuesday after the group challenged the health department's denial in state court and a judge referred the matter to the commission. Teen vaping on the rise in U.S, Canada

More American and Canadian teens are vaping than ever before, according to a new study, and researchers say the availability of e-cigarettes with more nicotine may partly explain the trend. The study team examined data on smoking and vaping by youth in Canada, England and the U.S. and found that between 2017 and 2018, the proportion of 16- to 19-year-olds who reported vaping in the past 30 days rose by almost 50% in the U.S. and nearly doubled in Canada, while remaining relatively constant in the UK. French court rules that quadriplegic should be allowed to die

A quadriplegic French patient, who has been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, should be allowed to die, France's top court ruled on Friday. The Cour de Cassation overruled an appeals court which last month had ordered doctors to keep Vincent Lambert alive, just 12 hours after medics had already switched off the man's life support against his parents' will. China tightens vaccine management after scandals

China passed a law on Saturday tightening the supervision and management of how vaccines enter the market, requiring stricter management of their production, research and distribution, after a series of safety scandals. China has pledged to reform and improve vaccine production and management after the scandals, including one last year in which a firm fabricated production and inspection records and sold ineffective vaccines, shaking public confidence in drugs made domestically. U.S. federal court delays adoption of healthcare rule on abortion

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its opponents in a California lawsuit agreed on Friday to delay implementing a rule that would allow medical workers to decline performing abortions or other treatments on moral or religious grounds, according to a federal court filing. The rule, which was due to take effect on July 22, will now be delayed for final consideration until Nov. 22, the filing said. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, top deputy ordered to stand trial in 2020

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her former second-in-command at the Silicon Valley blood-testing startup were ordered on Friday to stand trial next year on fraud charges stemming from their claims about the company's technology, court documents show. During a hearing in federal court in San Jose, California, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila set jury selection to begin in the trial of Holmes, 35, and former Theranos President Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, on July 28, 2020, according to minutes of the proceedings.