US Politics

Despite their unpopularity with the American public, former Republican vice-president and 2024 White House hopeful Mike Pence doubled down Sunday on his hard-line support of staunch abortion restrictions, saying: “We just can’t rest or relent until we restore the sanctity of life.”Pence – in an interview on Fox News Sunday – made clear that he viewed bringing the elimination of abortion “to the center of American law” as both essential and “a winning issue” for the Republican party trying to wrest back control of the Oval Office.“I’m pro-life, and I don’t apologize for it,” Pence boasted to host Shannon Bream, even though polling shows most Americans favor keeping the termination of pregnancies legal in most cases.The Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that the US supreme court handed down one year ago Saturday in effect left it up to states to decide whether abortion should be legal within their boundaries. Many states have taken steps to severely limit access to abortion, setting off a seismic shift in how doctors are training to provide reproductive care to how far patients in need of attention must travel.Pence on Sunday hailed the Dobbs decision as “a historic victory” which sent the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling establishing federal abortion rights “to the ash heap of history”. But he also suggested it didn’t go far enough and reiterated a call he had publicly made days earlier for his fellow Republicans to rally behind setting “a minimum standard” and implementing a nationwide ban on abortions beyond 15 weeks.The former US congressman, Indiana governor, and vice-president to Donald Trump argued that failing to do so would leave the nation more closely aligned with “western countries in Europe” on the topic of abortion than with North Korea, China and Iran. “I fully support that,” said Pence, a professed evangelical.Pence’s beliefs on abortion put him at stark odds with Trump, who has signaled that he regards a national abortion ban as a vote-loser which he is unlikely to support.Many of the other declared candidates for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic presidential incumbent Joe Biden’s re-election campaign have been less frank about their positions on abortion.Notably, Florida governor Ron DeSantis – the closest challenger to the frontrunner Trump – signed a six-week ban in his state, which pundits predict could be a problem for him in a general showdown with Biden.Biden’s administration has taken steps to widen access to abortion, and promises to defend such procedures helped Democrats keep a majority in the Senate as well as lose fewer House seats than projected during last year’s midterms.Pence on Sunday also evaded answering whether he would consider pardoning Trump if he won the 2024 presidency and his ex-boss was convicted of criminal charges pending against him.“I don’t know why the other people running for president in the Republican primary assume that the president will be found guilty,” Pence said when asked if he would pardon Trump.Trump is facing federal charges that he improperly stored government secrets at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after he and Pence were defeated by the Biden-Kamala Harris ticket in 2020.Separately, he is also facing state charges in New York over hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels after a sexual encounter that she has described having with Trump. Presidential pardons would not apply to state charges.The ex-president has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.Trump’s presidency ended with his supporters attacking the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 and demanding – among other things – Pence’s execution by hanging. At the time of the attack, the pro-mob Trump incorrectly maintained that Pence could have used his ceremonial role at a joint session of Congress certifying the results of the 2020 election to single-handedly undermine Biden’s victory. More

Republicans’ enduring loyalty to Donald Trump was on vivid display at a conservative conference this weekend, convened just two weeks after the former president was indicted on 37 federal charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.Addressing this year’s Road to Majority conference Saturday, Trump lashed out against federal prosecutors, who have accused the former president of intentionally withholding classified documents from authorities and obstructing justice in his efforts to keep those materials concealed. Trump, who could soon face additional charges in Washington and Georgia, told the friendly crowd that he considered each of his two indictments so far to be “a great badge of courage” as he ran to unseat Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.“Joe Biden has weaponized law enforcement to interfere in our elections,” Trump told the conservative audience. “I’m being indicted for you.”Trump was among several Republican presidential candidates to speak at the conference, held in Washington and hosted by the rightwing evangelical group Faith and Freedom Coalition.His message was echoed by some of his presidential primary opponents, several of whom used their conference speeches to attack the allegedly politicized department of justice.Florida governor Ron DeSantis promised to replace the FBI’s director – Christopher Wray, appointed during Trump’s presidency – while South Carolina US senator Tim Scott pledged to fire attorney general Merrick Garland and “change the trajectory of this nation by focusing on restoring confidence and integrity” in the US justice department.But one of Trump’s primary opponents, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, did not shy away from directly confronting the former president, accusing him of “letting us down”.“He’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made, any of the faults that he has, and any of the things that he’s done,” Christie told the conference on Friday. “And that is not leadership, everybody. That is a failure of leadership.”The remarks were met with some scattered applause and loud booing as one conference attendee shouted at Christie, “We love Trump!”Amid the jeers, Christie added: “You can boo all you want, but here’s the thing: Our faith teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do, that people have to stand up and take accountability for what they do, and I cannot stand by.”Speaking a day later, Trump mocked Christie for getting “booed off the stage”, even though he was in fact allowed to finish his remarks. The insult was greeted with loud applause from the crowd, who repeatedly broke out into chants of “USA!” and “We love Trump!”Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, commended Christie for his willingness to “walk into the lion’s den,” adding: “It’s overwhelmingly a pro-Trump room at this conference and a pro-Trump movement broadly speaking, and so I guess from that standpoint, it certainly took some courage to do that knowingly.”Amy Leahy, a 69-year-old conference attendee from Maryland, said she strongly disagreed with Christie’s attacks on Trump. “I’m not happy to hear him say those things,” Leahy said. She added: “It’s not going to get him elected president.”The conference’s negative response to Christie and the effusive praise of Trump underscored the former president’s resilient popularity among the Republican voters who will determine the party’s nominee next year. Trump continues to dominate in polls of likely Republican primary voters, even after his two arrests in New York and Florida.If anything, Trump’s most recent indictment appears to have inspired more sympathy among the party loyalists at the Road to Majority.“They’re going after him just because he is Donald Trump, and I don’t think the charges are valid,” Leahy said. “I think a lot of people are supporting him in the knowledge that, or the assumption that, he is being railroaded.”Albert Tumminello, an 86-year-old conference attendee from Virginia who said he was leaning toward supporting Trump in the primary, echoed that belief, arguing the federal charges against the former president should not at all disqualify him from seeking office.“He’s been under much more duress than we can ever imagine,” Tumminello added.Polling taken since Trump’s second indictment indicates that sentiment is shared by a wide swath of the Republican primary electorate. According to an NBC News survey released Sunday, 51% of Republican voters name Trump as their top choice to be the party’s nominee, marking a six-point increase since April. Trump’s next closest competitor, DeSantis, trails the former president by 29 points.Trump joked on Saturday: “I’m probably the only person in history in this country who’s been indicted, and my numbers went up.”Those data points have only intensified skepticism over whether any other Republican candidate can win a substantial amount of support from evangelical voters, who will play an outsized role in early voting states like Iowa. Head acknowledged that Trump enjoys the advantage of good will with evangelical voters because of his White House accomplishments, particularly on the issue of abortion.As he spoke Saturday, which marked one year since the end of Roe v Wade, Trump bragged about nominating three of the supreme court justices who supported overturning that landmark case, which established federal abortion rights. Although he remained vague on his preferred timeline for a nationwide abortion ban, Trump said: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life.”“I’m proud to be the most pro-life president in American history,” Trump said, prompting more loud cheers.Despite Trump’s significant advantage, Head emphasized that other primary candidates still have the time and the opportunity to make their mark with evangelical voters.“They feel like they know what they get with [Trump], and they very much like what they get with him,” Head said. “But I think a lot of people are interested in maybe going back into the market, so to speak, to see if there is anything else, either on policy or on style, that they like better.“I think this is a race. It’s far from over.” More

A day after renegade Wagner mercenaries almost sparked a civil war in Russia, the top US diplomat has said the uprising showed “real cracks” in Vladimir Putin’s government and may offer Ukraine a crucial advantage as it conducts a counteroffensive that could influence the outcome of the war.Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said the upheaval triggered by the aborted advance on Moscow by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries on Saturday was far from over. Neither Prigozhin nor Putin have been heard from since coming to a last-minute agreement on Saturday to avert clashes near Moscow between mercenaries and regular Russian troops.“This is an unfolding story and I think we’re in the midst of a moving picture,” Blinken told the CBS News programme Face the Nation. “We haven’t seen the last act.”The rebellion, fuelled by anger at the Kremlin’s leadership of the invasion and occupation of Ukraine, represented the most direct threat to Putin’s grip on power since he first became president 23 years ago.With no word from Putin or Prigozhin throughout the day, it was unclear whether Russia’s immediate crisis had passed, let alone what implications it had for the vast country’s longer-term stability. Wagner troops abandoned the positions they had held in the city of Rostov-on-Don and near Moscow, while Russian officials claimed to have dropped criminal charges against Prigozhin and reopened Wagner recruiting centres.Russian military insiders eagerly discussed rumours of an impending shake-up at the ministry of defence, one of the main demands issued by Prigozhin during his uprising.However, the Kremlin appeared keen to slow down developments, saying that Putin had no more plans to address the country and that the invasion of Ukraine would continue as planned.Other top Russian officials and propagandists also remained quiet, leaving an information vacuum that has been filled with rumours about the deal hammered out with Prigozhin, and whether the Kremlin will seek revenge once the immediate threat to Putin’s power recedes.Blinken described the weekend’s events as “a direct challenge to Putin’s authority”.“So this raises profound questions,” he said. “It shows real cracks. We can’t speculate or know exactly where that’s going to go. We do know that Putin has a lot more to answer for in the weeks and months ahead.”He said there was no sign so far of senior Kremlin figures being dismissed as part of any deal between Prigozhin and Moscow. Prigozhin had demanded the removal of the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov.Russian military bloggers focused attention on Aleksey Dyumin, the Tula region governor and former Putin bodyguard who is said to have a close relationship with Prigozhin and to have taken part in Saturday’s negotiations. He said he had not participated in the discussions.In the wake of the uprising, an uneasy calm descended across Russia, with regional authorities cancelling emergency measures, fixing roads that had been barricaded against the Wagner convoy, and reopening public spaces such as museums and parks.According to the New York Times, US intelligence agencies briefed senior Biden officials on Wednesday that Prigozhin was preparing to take military action against the defence leadership in Moscow.Nothing was made public about the intelligence at the time, the officials said, for fear of Putin accusing Washington of orchestrating a coup, and there was no incentive for the US to help Putin avoid a big dent in his authority.Under the few reported terms of the agreement, Wagner troops turned around on the road to Moscow and returned to their camps in eastern Ukraine. Prigozhin is to move to Belarus with immunity from reprisals, but it is not clear who, if anyone, is allowed to accompany him. Wagner fighters who took part in the uprising are to be pardoned, and those who took no part are to be absorbed by the regular army.With Wagner forces returning to Ukraine, where they have spearheaded some key offensives, it was also far from certain what impact the rebellion would have on the conflict in the midst of a slow-moving and gruelling Ukrainian counteroffensive.Blinken said: “To the extent that it presents a real distraction for Putin, and for Russian authorities, that they have to mind their rear … I think that creates even greater openings for the Ukrainians to do well on the ground.”The secretary of state said US officials had been in touch with their Russian counterparts throughout the crisis to remind them of their legal obligations to protect US citizens on their territory.“A number of people have engaged to make sure that the Russians got that message,” he said.As for concerns that any of Russia’s substantial nuclear arsenal could become the focus of internal power struggles, Blinken said: “We haven’t seen any change in Russia’s nuclear posture. There hasn’t been any change in ours, but it’s something we’re going to watch very, very carefully.”As of Sunday evening, the whereabouts of Prigozhin, a media addict who issues a steady stream of commentary in voice messages on his Telegram page, were unknown. The Wagner leader had gone silent for almost 24 hours. His last post came at 6.30pm on Saturday, when he said that his troops were standing down after holding a “march of justice” and having “not spilt one drop of blood”. Reports in Russia said Wagner fighters had shot down seven helicopters, resulting in the deaths of 20 Russian soldiers.“Now is the moment when blood can be shed,” he said. “Therefore, realising the full responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be shed … we will turn our columns and go in the opposite direction to our field camps.”Prigozhin was then photographed leaving Rostov-on-Don alongside his men, and given the kind of rapturous reception that would resemble the departure of a rockstar after headlining a concert. Local men grasped his hand through the window of an SUV and posed for selfies. They berated the police who took up the positions previously held by Wagner, chanting “disgrace” and clapping their hands.Then, Prigozhin went silent, apparently on his way to a Belarusian exile that observers said seemed unlikely for the ambitious Kremlin hanger-on.Putin was also silent on Sunday, a day after he appeared on Russian television and said Prigozhin’s uprising would be put down “brutally”, calling it an “internal treason”.The Russian president did not directly comment on the deal that Lukashenko said he had negotiated with Prigozhin. Lukashenko’s press office said the Belarusian president spoke with Putin on Sunday morning, but did not confirm that they had discussed the uprising.Late on Saturday evening, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, said Prigozhin would be allowed safe passage to Belarus, as confirmed by the Russian president.“If you ask what the exact guarantee of the fact that Prigozhin will be able to leave for Belarus is, it is the Russian president’s word,” Peskov told journalists.Additional reporting by Adam Gabbatt More

The Planned Parenthood clinic in Spokane, Washington, is just a 30-minute drive from the Idaho border, and since May, when Idaho’s “abortion trafficking” law went into effect, it’s been sitting on a timebomb.Like many blue-state abortion clinics, the Spokane health center has been inundated with patients from out of state since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade a year ago in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, allowing abortion to be banned outright or severely restricted in many states. In Spokane, they have received patients from as far away as Texas and Florida. But the new law in Idaho, which criminalizes anyone who helps a minor travel out of state for an abortion without the permission of their parents, threatens this already unsustainable reality. It is the first effort to criminalize travel for the purposes of abortion, and to make the state’s ban on abortion within its borders into something more like a ban on its citizens accessing abortion anywhere.The Idaho law marks a major escalation in the post-Dobbs battle over abortion: an attempt by an anti-choice state to extend its abortion ban beyond its borders. And it puts a target on those who travel along the interstate highway to the Spokane Planned Parenthood. If the trafficking law is ultimately enforced – if an aunt or a sister drives a teenage girl across the Idaho border to have an abortion, and gets caught – the prosecution and civil suits that follow will more likely than not center around a procedure that takes place at the Spokane center. “Nobody wants to be the guinea pig case,” says Sarah Dixit, the public affairs manager for Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho. “Nobody wants to be the example of what it looks like when a state tries to enforce one of these laws.”If Idaho gets its way, the Spokane clinic won’t have a choice.But Washington is one of a growing list of Democratic-controlled states that are pushing back through abortion “shield” laws that aim to extend protections to doctors providing abortions to out-of-state patients and to the patients themselves. Ten states have passed different versions of such laws and more are likely to come.In April, the state passed a set of bills that add new legal protections for medical providers, restrict the reach of out-of-state subpoenas, prohibit the use of state resources for out-of-state anti-abortion legal actions, protect patient data from use in out-of-state legal actions, and expands access to abortion care. The bills provide some much-needed peace of mind to a reproductive health field that’s reeling from anxiety and uncertainty about what’s legal, what’s actionable, and what an emboldened and inventive anti-choice movement might do next. They also advance an untested legal theory about what obligations states have – and don’t have – to honor and assist with the enforcement of other states’ laws.The five bills, collectively referred to as Washington’s “shield law”, were signed by Governor Jay Inslee in Seattle on 27 April. But they were nearly a year in the making. The state senator Yasmin Trudeau, a Democrat representing Tacoma was one of the law’s architects. A millennial, Trudeau is acerbic and funny, and surprisingly candid for a politician. She remembers being at a state senate event with her mother when the Dobbs draft opinion was leaked on 3 May 2022. Like many women, they were both intimately invested in the abortion right: Trudeau was born when her mother, denied an abortion, was just 14. “She was forced to marry and forced to mother,” Trudeau told me. At the time of the leak, Trudeau herself was pregnant, and all too familiar with the burden and gravity of pregnancy. “Carrying a baby,” she said, “is not like carrying a purse.” She began looking into what could be done to secure the rights of women and medical providers in Washington.Trudeau was connected to other Washington legislators looking to expand and secure abortion access in their state. Among them was Drew Hansen, a lawyer and Washington house member from Bainbridge Island who did much of the legwork in shaping the bills. Like Trudeau, he set to work as soon as he learned that Dobbs was coming. “As soon as the draft decision leaked, we started mapping out what other states would have to do to prosecute or enforce civil liability,” Hansen told me. He talked to law enforcement about what interstate prosecutions look like and require; he talked to north-west reproductive rights activists, law professors and a panel of OBGYNs. “I spent all last summer and fall incorporating their feedback, going through drafts [of the bills],” he said. The idea was to get a complete picture of all the ways that another state’s laws could impede access in Washington, and get as close as they could to eliminating them.Washington, like other states that have passed abortion shield laws – including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York – is looking to provide some clarity in a confusing new era. Even in pro-choice states, the end of Roe v Wade has changed the abortion landscape, and providers are now staring down a vast, complex and ever-changing regime of new criminal penalties and civil liabilities imposed by anti-choice states.The possibilities unravel in an endless stream of questions, which Hansen and Trudeau alike say they have received from anxious, uncertain medical practitioners. Could an abortion provider based in Spokane be subpoenaed to comply with the Idaho travel ban, made to describe the care they provided or incriminate someone who brought a patient to their doors? Could that same provider be sued under Idaho’s law that allows people who can claim a blood relation to an aborted fetus to file civil suits against those who facilitated an abortion? Or could she be targeted by an “aiding and abetting” clause that seeks to sweep up anyone even tangentially related to an abortion into a net of legal liability?Many of these questions are still unanswered, looming ominously in the muck of legal chaos that Dobbs has unleashed. The Washington shield law aims to provide at least some answers: an assurance that the state will argue that no one following Washington’s laws, and acting within Washington’s borders, will be legally punished by another state while Washington stands idly by.There are limits, however, to what a shield law can accomplish. There is only so much protection the laws can extend to the patients and their companions who travel for abortion care – and then have to travel back. Prosecutions and lawsuits are possible for returning patients and companions, because just as Washington’s shield law prevents Idaho’s anti-choice attacks from reaching over the border, Idaho also has no need to respect Washington’s own legal regime. There’s nothing in the shield law that can protect women from being prosecuted or sued once they travel back into Idaho after a legal abortion in Washington.There’s also nothing that prevents Idaho from arresting a Washington abortion doctor if she crosses into their territory for, say, a ski trip. A doctor who practices in both Washington and Idaho may find her license suspended in the latter state over abortion procedures she provided legally in the former. Washington’s law, in particular, is not as aggressive and proactive as those of some other pro-choice states. Some, like Massachusetts, have worked to provide more protection for telemedicine providers in their state, advancing the novel new claim that medical care is subject to the laws of the state where the provider is – not where the patient is located. This means that abortion providers in Boston, under state law, can prescribe abortion medication to a patient living in, say, Florida. Not so in Washington: under the shield law there, a Walla Walla provider who prescribes pills to her Sioux Falls patient online would not be protected.Some of this, of course, is on purpose. Both Trudeau and Hansen are eager to point out the limits of the law, casting Washington’s abortion shield regime as alternately comprehensive and constitutionally modest. Idaho, they both told me, is free to do whatever it wants – in Idaho. It’s just not free to do it in Washington. “The idea is not to interrupt what other states are doing,” Trudeau said. “We’re not the state that’s trying to come down on other states. We’re the ones trying to outline what the obligations are.”If Trudeau sounds defensive, it might be because those obligations are not entirely clear. Abortion shield laws like Washington’s have to be crafted in ways that avoid running afoul of the full faith and credit clause of the US constitution, which states: “Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.” Courts have traditionally interpreted this to allow for some degree of flexibility and discretion by states as to how they cooperate with other states, but a zealous and aggressive anti-abortion legal movement is likely to press the issue.This is what is most confounding about shield laws like Washington’s, and what is likely to be subject to considerable fighting in federal courts: the question they raise about what the states owe to one another, and how to mitigate those obligations when they conflict with the passionately held desires – and personal freedoms – of their citizens. In an interconnected country – where commerce, social life and healthcare are all dense with inextricable interstate connections – it remains uncertain if states like Washington will really be able to legally harden their own borders, and meaningfully protect themselves from the reach of other states’ anti-abortion laws.It raises questions, too, about just how long this country can remain so deeply and profoundly divided against itself. If legal judgements and criminal investigations no longer command inter-state cooperation, then what does it mean for the states to be in union with each other? If something is considered a fundamental right of citizenship in one state, and a crime 30 minutes away in another, then what entitlement does one state have to protect conduct that its neighbors want to prosecute? And what entitlement do other states have to stop their people leaving to a place where they might commit what the law understands as murder?Shield laws are likely to be the subject of lawsuits between pro- and anti-choice states sooner rather than later. In a federal judiciary that has been profoundly reshaped by a conservative legal movement propelled by anti-abortion animus, it would appear likely that many federal courts will invoke the obligations of interstate cooperation, or expansive estimations of anti-choice states’ interests in preventing their citizens from obtaining abortions. But as far as Hansen and Trudeau are concerned, the abortion shield law is nothing less than an assertion of Washington state’s sovereignty, and its right to democratic self-government.“The people of our state have spoken on this issue,” says Trudeau, and both election results and popular polling suggest that the strength of pro-choice sentiment in Washington is not ambiguous. “It’s a judgment of democratically elected officials in Washington state to decide what conduct is criminal and what is not,” Hansen says.As for the coming constitutional challenges, he thinks he’s done his homework. “I ran it by civil procedure scholars, by constitutional law scholars. No one could identify any federal constitutional barrier or federal statutory barrier,” Hansen told me. “No one could tell me why we couldn’t do it.” More

Donald Trump has derided the substantial federal charges against him, downplaying the numerous legal threats he faces while attacking Joe Biden for allegedly having “weaponized” the department of justice for political gain.Speaking on Saturday at the Road to Majority conference in Washington, hosted by the right-wing evangelical Faith and Freedom Coalition, Trump said he considered each of the two indictments he has received so far to be a “great badge of courage”.“Joe Biden has weaponized law enforcement to interfere in our elections,” Trump told the conservative audience. “I’m being indicted for you.”The speech came less than two weeks after Trump, currently the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.According to prosecutors, Trump intentionally withheld highly sensitive government documents from federal officials and obstructed justice in his efforts to keep those materials concealed. Trump also faces charges in New York related to his alleged involvement in a hush-money scheme during the 2016 presidential election, and he could potentially be indicted in Georgia and Washington over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.In his Saturday speech, Trump attempted to argue that the Presidential Records Act of 1978 made his retention of classified documents legal, even though he has actually been charged under the Espionage Act.“Whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the absolute right to take them,” Trump falsely claimed.Trump also tried to redirect attention away from the charges by noting that Biden was found to have kept classified documents in his private residence, which is now the subject of a special counsel investigation. However, unlike Trump, Biden never received a subpoena for the classified materials in his possession because his team voluntarily gave them to federal officials.Trump simultaneously accused Hunter Biden, the president’s son, of corruption, parroting claims from leading House Republicans. News broke Tuesday that Hunter Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses, and he struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid a conviction on a separate felony gun charge. Hunter Biden was not charged in connection to his overseas business dealings, which have become a source of great outrage among Trump and his allies, but House Republicans have nevertheless pledged to continue investigating the president’s son.“They lie, they cheat and they steal,” Trump said of Democrats. “This is how low they’ve fallen in an attempt to win the 2024 election, and we’re not going to let that happen.” He then repeated his false claim that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged against him.In his speech, Trump also touched on some of the policy priorities for the evangelical voters who will play a crucial role in determining the Republican presidential nominee. Trump spoke on the same day that the US marked one year since Roe v Wade was overturned, and the former president took the opportunity to congratulate himself for nominating three of the supreme court justices who supported reversing that landmark decision.“I got it done, and nobody thought it was even a possibility,” Trump said. “I’m proud to be the most pro-life president in American history.”Trump received a warm reception from the conservative audience, who greeted him with a standing ovation as he took the stage. The crowd repeatedly broke out into chants of “USA!” and “We vote Trump!”Despite the serious legal threats he faces, Trump continues to dominate in polls of likely Republican primary voters. A CNN survey taken last week, after the indictment in the classified documents case was unsealed, found that 47% of Republican voters name Trump as their top choice to be the party’s 2024 nominee. Trump’s closest competitor, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, trailed him by 21 points.In his own speech at the Road to Majority conference on Friday, DeSantis declined to directly mention the indictment, but he similarly lamented that the federal government had become “weaponized” and promised to replace FBI director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee.But that sentiment was not shared by fellow presidential candidate Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who was once a Trump ally and has now become one of the former president’s most vocal critics within the Republican party. Speaking at the conference Friday, Christie attacked Trump’s character and accused him of having “let us down”.“He’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made, any of the faults that he has, and any of the things that he’s done,” Christie said, prompting some boos from the conference crowd.Trump mocked Christie on Saturday, falsely saying he was “booed off the stage”, even though he was in fact allowed to finish his remarks despite the harsh reception. Trump’s insult was met with loud applause.At one point, Trump quipped: “I’m probably the only person in history in this country who’s been indicted, and my numbers went up.” More

As the US on Saturday marked one year since the country’s supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, abortion rights supporters and politicians issued a call to action – and prepared for reproductive health to be a flashpoint of the 2024 presidential election.The supreme court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health reversed the landmark 1973 decision that had enshrined a federal right to abortion. In the wake of its overturning, more than one dozen states have green-lighted abortion bans, and many others have passed laws dramatically restricting access to the procedure.“States have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide,” Joe Biden said in a statement.The president added: “Yet state bans are just the beginning. Congressional Republicans want to ban abortion nationwide, but go beyond that, by taking FDA-approved medication for terminating a pregnancy off the market and [to] make it harder to obtain contraception. Their agenda is extreme, dangerous, and out-of-step with the vast majority of Americans.“My administration will continue to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v Wade in federal law once and for all.”During a powerful speech in North Carolina on Saturday, Vice-President Kamala Harris called for the restoration of abortion rights across the US, saying, “Extremist Republicans in Congress have proposed to ban abortion nationwide. But I have news for them. We’re not having that. We’re not standing for that. We won’t let that happen. And by the way, the majority of Americans are with us.“The majority of Americans, I do believe, agree that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body. The United States Congress must put back in place what the supreme court took away.”On Twitter, Texas’s Democratic Congress member Jasmine Crockett described the period post-Dobbs as “a year of trauma & terror for women across the country, especially in states like Texas where Roe was our last line of defense”.“My district is 40% Black and majority women. It’s the people I represent that are hurt by life-saving medical care the most,” she wrote. “North Texas has the highest rate of hospitalization due to pregnancy complications in the entire state.“For all their talk about protecting babies, let me ask you this: What happens to the already born children of a mother who dies from pregnancy complications because she can’t get the treatment she needs during an ectopic pregnancy? Who’s protecting them?”The US House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, decried “rightwing extremists on the supreme court” for “shamefully” reversing the decades-long precedent.“Maga Republicans in Congress want to impose a nationwide ban on abortion care,” the New York Democrat warned, referring to the Donald Trump presidency’s Make American Great Again slogan. “House Dems are working hard to stop these extremists and restore reproductive freedom.”As many issued calls to action, some took steps to protect abortion rights. Arizona’s Democratic governor Katie Hobbs on Friday signed an executive order to better protect abortion rights across the south-western state.The executive order makes central all abortion-related prosecutions under Arizona’s attorney general so that local prosecutors don’t limit access to abortions. Hobbs’s executive order also directs state agencies not to aid in any investigations relating to providing, assisting, seeking or obtaining reproductive health care that would be legal in Arizona.Hobbs’s order also calls on Arizona to refuse extradition requests from other states that want to prosecute persons seeking or providing legal abortion services in Arizona.Amid Democrats’ calls for the restoration of abortion rights, a group of influential reproductive rights organizations – including Planned Parenthood – endorsed Biden and Harris in the 2024 presidential election.A statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, head of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said: “Abortion is healthcare. … We need leaders who are committed to protecting our freedoms, not taking them away.”While the upcoming presidential election is unlikely to be a landslide for either party – victories and losses in recent elections have been decided with thin margins – most American voters disagree with Roe’s reversal.In an NBC News poll published Friday, 61% of voters said they disagreed with the court’s decision in Dobbs. Sixty-seven percent of women disapproved of the ruling.Despite the fact that Roe’s reversal appears to have little popular support, anti-abortion leaders are describing the decision as a first step.“We are at the starting line,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America. “We have just begun. We have just begun a journey to start saving lives.”Protests opposing the Dobbs decision are expected across the US throughout the weekend. More

From 4h agoVice-President Kamala Harris took the stage in North Carolina on Saturday and delivered an impassioned address on restoring nationwide reproductive freedoms following a year since the supreme court’s decision to strip them.Speaking to a crowd full of supporters including healthcare professionals and activists, Harris said:
“How dare they? How dare they attack basic healthcare? How dare they attack our fundamental rights? How dare they attack our freedom?…
In the midst of this healthcare crisis, extremist so-called leaders in states across our nation have proposed or passed more than 350 new laws to restrict these freedoms and the right to have access to reproductive healthcare. Right now in our country, 23 million women of reproductive age live in a state with an extreme abortion ban in effect…
Most of us here know is that many women don’t even know they are pregnant in six weeks. Which by the way tells us most of these politicians don’t even understand how the body actually works. They don’t get it,” Harris continued.
She went on to issue a strong warning towards Republican lawmakers in Congress, saying:
Extremist Republicans in Congress have proposed to ban abortion nationwide. But I have news for them. We’re not having that. We’re not standing for that. We won’t let that happen. And by the way, the majority of Americans are with us.
The majority of Americans, I do believe, agree that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body…
The United States Congress must put back in place what the Supreme court took away.”
It is slightly past 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap up of the day’s key events:
President Joe Biden has issued a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of the supreme court’s overturn of Roe, which he said “has already had devastating consequences.” “States have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide.”
Vice-President Kamala Harris took the stage in North Carolina on Saturday and delivered an impassioned address on restoring nationwide reproductive freedoms following a year since the supreme court’s decision to strip them. Speaking to a crowd full of supporters including healthcare professionals and activists, Harris said: “How dare they? How dare they attack basic healthcare? How dare they attack our fundamental rights? How dare they attack our freedom?”
A handful of Democratic lawmakers have pledged their support on Saturday to protect and fight for reproductive rights as the country marks first anniversary of Roe’s overturn. “House Dems are working hard to stop these extremists and restore reproductive freedom. Together we will win,” wrote Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader. US representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland tweeted: “Pro-choice America won’t rest until we restore women’s freedom as law of the land.”
As reproductive rights activists protested against the end of Roe v Wade, anti-abortion leaders celebrated one year since the landmark decision was overturned. Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Washington, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, framed the end of Roe as just the beginning of right-wing activists’ work.
Arizona’s Democratic governor Katie Hobbs has signed an executive order that will further protect reproductive rights across the state and curtail restrictive reproductive legislation from Republicans. On Friday, Hobbs tweeted about her executive order, saying, “I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental rights of Arizonans.”
Several reproductive rights organizations have announced their endorsement of the Biden-Harris administration in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. The organizations include Planned Parenthood, NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) Pro-Choice America , and EMILYs List, a political action committee dedicated to electing Democratic pro-choice women into office.
More than a quarter of registered US voters say they will only vote for candidates who share their beliefs on abortion, according to a poll released earlier this week, a total (28%) one point higher than last year. The survey, from Gallup, was released before the first anniversary of Dobbs v Jackson, by which conservatives on the supreme court removed the right to abortion that had been safeguarded since Roe v Wade in 1973.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.Human rights organization Amnesty International has issued a statement condemning the supreme court’s decision a year ago to strip federal reproductive right protections.Tarah Demant, the national programs director at Amnesty International USA said:
“One year after the Supreme Court shamefully stripped millions of their rights, women, girls, and people who can become pregnant in the United States are facing an unprecedented human rights crisis.
A patchwork of devastating laws now blankets the country. One in three women and girls of reproductive age now live in states where abortion access is either totally or near-totally inaccessible…and a climate of fear is being purposefully sewn to restrict women, girls, and people who can get pregnant from finding legal abortion care.
“Yet despite these coordinated and vitriolic attacks on our rights, Americans continue to overwhelmingly support access to safe and legal abortion, multiple states have added new protections, and activists across states continue to advocate for their rights. Abortion is a human right and basic healthcare, and activists across the country and around the world are more determined than ever to ensure that people across the USA will be able to access this right.”
A Planned Parenthood abortion-providing clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois saw a 700% increase in abortion-seeking patients from out of state.According to a new report by Jezebel, Planned Parenthood said that the 700% increase in out-of-stage patients seeking abortions in their Fairview Heights clinic comes along with a 35% increase in abortion patients overall who came to the clinic in the last year.Speaking to the outlet, Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of St. Louis region’s Planned Parenthood branch, said that the patients coming to her clinic hail from 29 states and are “mostly from the South.”The Guttmacher Institute has categorized Illinois as a state with “protective” abortion policies. Currently, abortion is banned at fetal viability, generally 24–26 weeks of pregnancy, and state Medicaid funds cover abortions.In addition, Illinois has a shield law that protects abortion providers from investigations launched by other states.Following the overturn of Roe vs. Wade, women of color have found themselves struggling even more to access reproductive healthcare in a medical and political landscape that has traditionally failed them.The Guardian’s reproductive rights reporter Poppy Noor profiled two women, Anya Cook and Samantha Casiano, on their experiences of being denied abortions in post-Roe America.Here is the full story on Cook and Samantha’s experiences and how they reflect the harsh realities faced by countless of other women of color in America:In a video address on Saturday, New York attorney general Letitia James reaffirmed New York’s status as a safe haven for abortion seekers and promised to continue fighting for reproductive rights. James said:
“A ban on abortions will not ban abortions. It will only ban safe abortions.
But it’s important to know that New York is a sanctuary city and state and that we provide assistance to young women, individuals who need reproductive care…
Here in New York, we believe in you having control over your body and we believe in providing you with healthcare.
I will continue to fight and to use the law to protect your rights each and every day.”
Barbara Lee, a US representative from California since 1998, has pledged to continue fighting for reproductive rights in light of the first anniversary of Roe’s overturn.“I’m going to keep fighting for every person who finds herself in the same situation I was once in: pregnant, out of options, and forced to take extreme measures,” Lee tweeted.Lee, a longtime champion of women’s rights, is the author of the EACH Woman Act which would repeal the discriminatory Hyde Amendment that has restricted many women’s access to reproductive healthcare, her website said.Singer Demi Lovato has released a new song inspired by the first anniversary of Roe v Wade’s overturn.Lovato titled the pro-choice song “Swine,” which was released on Thursday.
“It’s been one year since the Supreme Court’s decision to dismantle the constitutional right to a safe abortion, and although the path forward will be challenging, we must continue to be united in our fight for reproductive justice.
I created ‘SWINE’ to amplify the voices of those who advocate for choice and bodily autonomy. I want this song to empower not only the birthing people of this country, but everyone who stands up for equality, to embrace their agency and fight for a world where every person’s right to make decisions about their own body is honored,” Lovato wrote in an Instagram caption.
The music video features Lovato in front of men who appear to represent supreme court justices as she leads a revolt.
“My life, my voice/My rights, my choice/It’s mine, or I’m just swine,” she sings. “My blood, my loins/My lungs, my noise/It’s mine, or I’m just swine,” she sings.
Here are some images coming through the newswires as people across the country attend rallies marking the one-year anniversary of Roe’s overturn:Chelsea Clinton has also chimed in on first anniversary of the supreme court’s decision that stripped federal protections of reproductive rights from women, saying that she’s “really f**king angry.”In an interview at Aspen: Health in Aspen, Colorado, NBC host Kristen Welker asked the daughter of former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton on her thoughts about the supreme court’s decision.Clinton replied:
“I’m really f**king angry and I am — and that is an uncomfortable place to be because of the historical women tropes that so often have been used to kind of silence and diminish women and our voices, not just in this country but throughout human history. But I’m really angry because we know that women have died.”
Vice-President Kamala Harris took the stage in North Carolina on Saturday and delivered an impassioned address on restoring nationwide reproductive freedoms following a year since the supreme court’s decision to strip them.Speaking to a crowd full of supporters including healthcare professionals and activists, Harris said:
“How dare they? How dare they attack basic healthcare? How dare they attack our fundamental rights? How dare they attack our freedom?…
In the midst of this healthcare crisis, extremist so-called leaders in states across our nation have proposed or passed more than 350 new laws to restrict these freedoms and the right to have access to reproductive healthcare. Right now in our country, 23 million women of reproductive age live in a state with an extreme abortion ban in effect…
Most of us here know is that many women don’t even know they are pregnant in six weeks. Which by the way tells us most of these politicians don’t even understand how the body actually works. They don’t get it,” Harris continued.
She went on to issue a strong warning towards Republican lawmakers in Congress, saying:
Extremist Republicans in Congress have proposed to ban abortion nationwide. But I have news for them. We’re not having that. We’re not standing for that. We won’t let that happen. And by the way, the majority of Americans are with us.
The majority of Americans, I do believe, agree that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body…
The United States Congress must put back in place what the Supreme court took away.”
A handful of Democratic lawmakers have pledged their support on Saturday to protect and fight for reproductive rights as the country marks first anniversary of Roe’s overturn.“House Dems are working hard to stop these extremists and restore reproductive freedom. Together we will win,” wrote Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader.“A year after SCOTUS’ disastrous Dobbs decision, I’m highlighting that districts like mine – and Black women in particular – are hurting the most,” said US representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas’s 30th district.
“My district is 40% Black and majority women. It’s the people I represent that are hurt by life-saving medical care the most … North Texas has the highest rate of hospitalization due to pregnancy complications in the entire state … For all their talk about protecting babies, let me ask you this: What happens to the already born children of a mother who dies from pregnancy complications because she can’t get the treatment she needs during an ectopic pregnancy? Who’s protecting them?” Crockett added.
US representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland tweeted: “Pro-choice America won’t rest until we restore women’s freedom as law of the land.”Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois echoed similar sentiments, saying:
“Let’s be honest: Republicans’ anti-choice agenda is not about protecting life. If it was, perhaps they would help us tackle our maternal mortality crisis or do something–anything–to help end gun violence. But they don’t. Because it’s not about saving lives. It’s about control…
Look, I know that a lot of us are tired from the seemingly endless fight to protect our most basic human rights. But we have to do more. Congress has to do more.”
House Democrats also joined the pledges as they released compilation of various members promising to protect reproductive freedoms:As reproductive rights activists protested against the end of Roe v Wade, anti-abortion leaders celebrated one year since the landmark decision was overturned.Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Washington, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, framed the end of Roe as just the beginning of right-wing activists’ work.
“We are at the starting line,” Dannenfelser said. “We have just begun. We have just begun a journey to start saving lives.”
More people are feeling backed into a corner after the supreme court struck down the nationwide right to abortion last year, with many turning to birth control. In one of our latest features in our ‘A year without Roe’ series, Ema O’Connor explores the way that people’s relationships with birth control have evolved over the past year.O’Connor reports:Dr Rachel Neal, an OB-GYN working out of Atlanta, Georgia, said she has seen a trend toward LARCs nationally over the past six years, in part due to Trump’s presidency, as well as medicaid expansion and more insurance plans covering long term contraceptives. But in the past year Dr Neal has also seen an increased skepticism about any methods – including many birth control pills and IUDS – that pause or stop menstruation altogether. Before Roe was overturned, Dr Neal said that patients often saw not getting their periods as a positive side effect because they didn’t have to deal with cramps or spend money on tampons.
“Now they’re uneasy towards methods that cause them to have no periods because they want to … prove to themselves that they’re not pregnant,” Dr Neal said.
For the full story, click here:President Joe Biden has issued a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of the supreme court’s overturn of Roe, which he said “has already had devastating consequences.”
“States have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide.
Yet state bans are just the beginning. Congressional Republicans want to ban abortion nationwide, but go beyond that, by taking FDA-approved medication for terminating a pregnancy, off the market, and make it harder to obtain contraception. Their agenda is extreme, dangerous, and out-of-step with the vast majority of Americans.
My administration will continue to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe. vs. Wade in federal law once and for all.” More

A Georgia summer baseball team named the Macon Bacon has found itself at the center of a porcine polemic as a group of doctors is urging this outfit to change its name and promote vegetarian “alternatives”.The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which promotes plant-based eating, is advocating for the team to be renamed “Macon Facon Bacon”, according to a local CBS affiliate. This medical organization has posted a new billboard urging Macon Bacon fans to “keep bacon off your plate” to prevent cancer, and committee leadership has written to team management requesting a name change.“Macon Bacon’s glorification of bacon, a processed meat that raises the risk of colorectal cancer and other diseases, sends the wrong message to fans,” the committee nutrition leader Anna Herby reportedly wrote to team president Brandon Raphael. “I urge you to update the team’s name to Macon Facon Bacon and promote plant-based bacon alternatives, such as Facon Bacon or Mushroom Bacon, that will help your fans stay healthy. As for Kevin, Macon Bacon’s mascot, he can reveal that he is actually plant-based bacon.”At Luther Williams Field, where the Macon Bacon play, concession items include “Bacon Wrapped Bacon, Steak Cut Bacon, Bacon Cheeseburger, Bacon Dog, Bacon Loaded Cheese Fries, Bacon Loaded Mac N Cheese and Bacon Chips,” the CBS affiliate notes.In a statement to the news station, Raphael expressed disappointment that the group had expressed “disapproval of our branding” and said there was a “plant-based option” on the ballpark’s menu.“The Macon Bacon do not view ourselves as a glorification of an unhealthy lifestyle; rather, we pride ourselves on being a fun-natured organization focused on bringing families and communities together of middle Georgia and beyond,” Raphael’s statement reportedly said.“We take great pride in the Macon Bacon naming rights (which our fans voted on in 2018), as we get to witness the smiles and laughter from our fanbase – who have supported our branding since our inception – that stems from the brand’s lighthearted and playful nature. We are a family-friendly organization and we are extremely grateful for our fans.”Raphael also insisted: “The Macon Bacon will be sizzling forever and will not consider a name change. Ever.”Raphael expanded on this in an interview with the Guardian on Saturday.“At first I thought it was joke when I got the letter,” Raphael said, but as he kept reading, he realized it wasn’t a cheeky missive from a fan. “This one had a serious tone to it.”Raphael had no intention of responding, thinking “good for them”, that they had reached out and taken a stance, even if he vehemently disagreed with the anti-bacon platform.“When they went after our mascot,” a lifesize strip of bacon named Kevin after Footloose star Kevin Bacon, “That was kind of it.” A plant-based Kevin was out of the question.“Our mascot is just so well beloved in our community,” Raphael said. “It’s supposed to be fun – we’re here for the right reasons. We represent our community. We represent middle Georgia, we represent our league.”Raphael added: “We’re disappointed that they think that we are glorifying bacon in the eyes of our fans. By no means was it meant to become a national topic.”Raphael insists bacon is here to stay. “We’re not going to change our name,” he said. “Why should we?“We’re just a sports team – we’re just hanging out in Macon, Georgia, doing our thing.”Dr Neal Barnard, who heads the committee, didn’t see the humor in the team’s name.“It’s not debatable, bacon causes cancer,” Barnard claimed. Colorectal cancer rates, he said, are rising amount younger persons, including in Georgia.“Here’s the problem: A guy brings his child to a ballgame, the child is six years old and there’s a mascot, a person in a bacon costume, and they’re selling, I am not making this up – bacon wrapped bacon, steak-cut bacon, bacon-loaded cheese fries, bacon chips,” Barnard said. “The child learns to associate this food with fun, with America’s favorite sport, with his family, and that child grows up with a taste for food that causes intestinal cancer in exactly the same way that cigs cause intestinal cancer.“You would never call this team the Macon Cigarettes or Team Asbestos because people know that [they] cause cancer.”The Macon Bacon’s first season was in 2018 after supporters voted for its name. The Coastal Plain League team has gotten support from Kevin Bacon, who according to the Associated Press donned a Macon Bacon cap on an Instagram post. The league is a summer league whose participants play college baseball. More