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Press Release

Idaho’s Abortion Ban Seriously Harms the Health of Patients: PHR Amicus Brief to U.S. Supreme Court

An Idaho state law (“The Idaho Act”) that bans pregnancy termination except to prevent the death of a pregnant patient is “demonstrably in conflict” with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires that health facilities offer stabilizing treatment – including pregnancy termination – when clinically indicated to preserve the health of […]

March 28, 2024
Reproductive Justice
Press Release

New “Criminalized Care” Report Shows How Louisiana’s Abortion Bans Endanger Patients and Clinicians

Today, Lift Louisiana, Physicians for Human Rights, Reproductive Health Impact, and the Center for Reproductive Rights published an extensive fact-finding report titled “Criminalized Care: How Louisiana’s Abortion Bans Endanger Patients and Clinicians.” This is the most rigorous and expansive study to date on the impacts of the Dobbs decision on pregnant people and clinicians in […]

March 19, 2024
Reproductive Justice

In Clinicians’ Own Words: How Abortion Bans Impede Emergency Medical Treatment for Pregnant Patients in Idaho

Fact-Finding Brief: Introduction The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted by Congress in 1986 to ensure patients’ access to emergency services regardless of a person’s ability to pay. EMTALA requires hospitals with emergency departments (EDs) to take a range of measures when presented with a person who comes to the department, including […]

March 18, 2024
Reproductive Justice
Press Release

DHS Should End Solitary Confinement, Says Nearly 200 Organizations

The U.S. government should immediately and publicly commit to ending the use of solitary confinement in U.S. immigration detention, demanded a coalition of 194 medical, academic, faith, human rights, civil rights, and immigration groups in a letter to U.S. President Biden, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).   The coalition mobilized […]

March 1, 2024
Asylum
Press Release

ICE Used Solitary Confinement More Than 14,000 Times Since 2018: Report

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used solitary confinement at least 14,264 times from 2018 to 2023, according to a new report issued by experts at Physicians for Human Rights, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Medical School.  The report, “Endless Nightmare”: Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention, documents that people […]

February 6, 2024
Asylum
Press Release

ICE usó confinamiento solitario más de 14.000 veces desde 2018: Informe

El Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos (ICE) usó el confinamiento solitario por lo menos 14.264 veces desde 2018 a 2023, según un nuevo informe expedido por expertos Médicos por Derechos Humanos (PHR), la Facultad de Derecho de Harvard (HLS), y la Facultad de Medicina de Harvard (HMS). El informe, “Pesadilla […]

February 6, 2024
Asylum
Report

“Endless Nightmare”: Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention

Executive Summary The United States maintains the world’s largest immigration detention system, detaining tens of thousands of people in a network of facilities, including those managed by private prison corporations, county jails, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). At the time of […]

February 6, 2024
Asylum, Torture
Blog

The Devastating Impact of “Excited Delirium”

Campaign Zero (CZ) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) are partnering to raise awareness about the medically-baseless concept of “excited delirium,” which has been misused to explain deaths in police custody for decades, disproportionately those of Black men in the United States. This jointly-led initiative challenges the baseless concept often cited to justify excessive force […]

January 31, 2024
Death Investigations, Excessive Force
Press Release

California Police Attack Dogs Cause Permanent Injuries, Disfigurement, and Disability: PHR Expert Medical Opinion

California police deployment of attack dogs has resulted in severe injuries, disfigurement, and disability, according to an expert medical opinion published by a team of clinicians with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today. PHR calls on the California legislature to ban or strictly limit the use of police attack canines in the state. “Californians have […]

January 10, 2024
Excessive Force, Weapons
Press Release

White House Must Not Sacrifice U.S. Asylum System in Funding Negotiations: PHR

In response to reports that the White House and congressional leaders are considering overhauls to the U.S. asylum system as a compromise to secure funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, the following quote is attributable to Michele Heisler, MD, MPH, medical director at PHR and professor of internal medicine and public health at the University […]

December 13, 2023
Asylum
Press Release

PHR Urges U.S. Congress to Protect the Right to Asylum in Funding Negotiations 

As U.S. Congress continue funding negotiations, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is alarmed at reports that aid to Ukraine could be withheld unless the bill includes permanent and devastating changes to the U.S. asylum system. In the face of potentially devastating changes, PHR is strongly urging lawmakers to safeguard the right to asylum. For more […]

November 29, 2023
Asylum
Blog

United States: UN Human Rights Mechanism Finds Excessive Force, Racism in Policing

More than three years after the Black Lives Matter movement swept the United States and brought renewed attention to racial injustice, a UN human rights monitoring mechanism has issued a groundbreaking new report about excessive use of force and racism in policing. The report from the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in […]

October 26, 2023
Death Investigations, Excessive Force, Weapons
Press Release

Major Settlement with Survivors of Family Separation Policy Will Assist Healing: PHR

In response to news that the lawyers representing asylum-seeking families separated by the Trump administration had reached a settlement deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, the following statement is attributable to Tessa Wilson, senior program officer of the PHR asylum program: “PHR had long called on the U.S. administration to provide redress to victims […]

October 17, 2023
Asylum
Press Release

Emergency Medicine Association Finally Withdraws its Approval of Policy Paper Endorsing “Excited Delirium” as Cause of Death

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) board of directors adopted a resolution voted on by the ACEP Council that officially withdraws its approval of its 2009 white paper endorsing the medically baseless concept of “excited delirium,” which has been misused to explain deaths in police custody for decades. ACEP’s decision removed the final pillar […]

October 13, 2023
Excessive Force
Press Release

California Becomes First State to Ban “Excited Delirium” as a Cause of Death

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) applauds the California legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom for approving first-of-its-kind legislation to ban “excited delirium” as a diagnosis and cause of death in the state.   With the governor’s signing of AB 360 California becomes the first state in the country to bar use of the invalid, baseless concept of […]

October 10, 2023
Excessive Force
Press Release

Biden Administration Constructs Physical and Legal Barriers to Asylum: PHR

In response to reports that the Biden administration will continue construction of border barriers in Starr County, Texas, the following quote is attributable to Tessa Wilson, senior program officer with the asylum program at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR):  “The Biden administration’s decision to waive 26 federal laws for faster border wall construction in Texas contradicts […]

October 6, 2023
Asylum
Report

Mobilizing Health Workers to Safeguard Rights

For more than 35 years, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has worked at the intersection of medicine, science, and law to end human suffering, save lives, and secure justice and universal human rights for all. Read about our impact in our 2022 Annual Report.

June 22, 2023
Asylum, Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Reproductive Justice, Sexual Violence, Torture
Press Release

One Year On from Dobbs, Scientifically-Baseless Legislation Exacerbates Danger to Patients and Providers: PHR

To mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the following statement is attributable to Payal Shah, JD, director of PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones:   “Over the last year since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse 50 years of federal protection of reproductive rights, we have […]

June 21, 2023
Dual Loyalty, Reproductive Justice
Multimedia

“Dual Loyalty” and U.S. Abortion Bans

Abortion is health care, and abortion rights are human rights that must be guaranteed without discrimination. In the United States, the Supreme Court’s rollback of the right to abortion in 2022 has led to widespread violations of human rights. These restrictive new laws put clinicians in an impossible situation, also known as “dual loyalty”, forcing […]

June 20, 2023
Dual Loyalty, Reproductive Justice

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