Mo News: Abortion Fallout, Confusion & What's Next

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Hi everyone!

Lots of fallout this weekend after the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade on Friday. We published a special issue over the weekend and continue our coverage today.

In Today's Newsletter:

• A guide to the state of abortion laws in all 50 states

• What Americans are saying in new polls post-Roe v Wade

• How states are dealing with old abortion bans--some dating back to 1800s--that might (or might not) be active now that Roe is gone

• Questions about what the impact on IVF embryos

• Can states stop women from getting abortion pills?

• Will the court consider contraception and gay marriage next?

• The President signs biggest gun safety law in a generation

• 🏒Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup over Tampa

• And as always, Good Mood Monday to start the week right.

Mosh will see you tonight at 9pmET on his regular Mondays with Mosh Instagram Live, where he take all your questions.

🚨🎙 We have a new podcast out this morning featuring Mosh's conversation with CBS Chief Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford. She gives us the inside scoop on what went down behind closed doors at the Supreme Court and what this decision actually means and what is hyperbole. Just the facts. It is a must-listen. Apple | Spotify | More Platforms 🚨

~ Mosh & Jill

⚖️ TWO SIDES PREPARE BATTLE LINES

The ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has not ended the battle over abortion. Instead, it has opened up a new several-front battle. The fight will continue in the courts and in state legislatures in the coming months and at the ballot boxes in the fall midterm elections.

• Anti-abortion rights/pro-life organizations are looking to use the ruling to push for new limits and nearly-complete bans in many states through lawsuits and legislation. ~Fox NewsAt the National Right to Life convention in Atlanta, a leader within the anti-abortion group warned attendees this weekend that the decision ushers in “a time of great possibility and a time of great danger.” ~AP News

• Abortion rights/pro-choice groups say they have a multi-prong strategy of their own. A legal battle, lobbying state house, governors, the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress and finally voter turnout efforts this fall to elect more pro-choice candidates. They feel they have the majority of Americans behind them based on recent polls, including a new one out by CBS News Sunday:

CBS News Poll

The poll also finds women disapprove of the decision by a two to one margin, while men are basically split 50:50 on the ruling. From an @mosheh Instagram Slide:

CBS News Poll Breakdown

And, on the question of whether the issue will motivative voters this fall--especially for Democrats facing an uphill climb to keep House and Senate majorities, amid growing concerns about inflation and the economy:

🇺🇸 A NATION OF MANY ABORTION LAWS:

With the Supreme Court now kicking this issue to the states, it has set up a patchwork of laws across the union that are quickly evolving each day.

• The AP has a guide to all 50 states: The Latest Laws

• And here is the state of play as of Sunday via the Washington Post, which is updating an interactive map:

And here is a look at the states (DARK GRAY) where Democrats and Republicans may split control of state government or there are old laws on the books that need clarity from state courts....and the fate of abortion is currently uncertain:

Some examples of the confusion in states with laws dating back to 1849, 1901 and 1931:

• MICHIGAN: With Roe being overruled, there are questions about whether the previous 1931 law banning the procedure is active again. However, abortion technically remains legal in Michigan — for now — because of a temporary injunction barring enforcement of the law. The Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, also says she won't enforce it. But that has still left health systems, including the state's largest one, totally confused, and announcing multiple policies as they grapple with potential lawsuits. ~Detroit Free Press

• ARIZONA: Planned Parenthood of Arizona announced it would be halting all procedures. The announcement from the largest abortion provider in the state came amid confusion over a law banning all abortions that dates back to 1901, when Arizona was not even a state. Some GOP state leaders said Friday that the pre-Roe ban was in effect and providers could face two to five years in prison under the law. But, further confusing things, is a law passed in the spring banning abortions after 15 weeks. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said that would take the place of the 1901 law. The bill’s language itself, though, says it would not do that. The dispute will go to the courts. ~Guardian

• WISCONSIN: Both sides are preparing for lawsuits and political battles over whether an abortion ban passed in 1849--which has been unenforceable since Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in 1973--will result in prosecutions. Clinics across the state stopped providing abortions entirely on Friday. Wisconsin's Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he would offer clemency to doctors who are prosecuted for performing abortions in Wisconsin. Whether the 173-year old law is enforceable is a question that likely won't be answered definitively until a judge opines on the matter, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Council. ~WPR

Quote of the Weekend: "This is America, so there will be litigation" ~ Rick Esenberg, president and chief counsel of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

🤰IVF CONCERNS OVER AMBIGUOUS LAWS

The Wall Street Journal reports that fertility companies and patients in states that are banning or planning to ban abortions have been moving embryos and making contingency plans. The concerns is that some of those states could extend protections to eggs fertilized in laboratories.

More than 2 percent of 3.7 million babies born in the U.S. in 2019 were conceived through in vitro fertilization. Many embryos created through IVF aren’t viable and are then sometimes discarded. The new concern: What to do with embryos in states enacting full abortion bans from the moment of fertilization and/or granting personhood rights to embryos. ~WSJ

• “We’re certainly nervous about what will happen in Texas and Georgia and we’re going to be cognizant of these laws as we think about future expansion plans,” said Shady Grove Fertility Medical Director Dr. Eric Widra.

• While officials in the governor's office in Oklahoma, which has enacted a full abortion ban, say they didn't intend to cause concern over IVF embryos, legal officials say the law definitely needs to be cleaned up.I. Glenn Cohen, a deputy dean at Harvard Law School, said that the language was vague enough to raise questions. “If lawmakers don’t want to touch IVF, they should be clearer in their language,” he said.

💊 A FIGHT OVER ABORTION PILLS

Abortion pills are already used in more than half of abortions in the U.S. and access to the medication is becoming another central battle in the legal back and forth in a number of states. They are expected to become in higher demand as over half the states are likely to move to ban or severely limit abortions.

• Immediately following the ruling, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department will protect the right to an abortion, including medication abortion. He said Friday that the "FDA has approved the use of the medication Mifepristone. States may not ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy."

• But that is not stopping some states. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Sunday told CBS News that she will ban telemedicine appointments with abortion care providers who prescribe pills online. “These are very dangerous medical procedures,” Noem said. “We don’t believe it should be available because it is a dangerous situation for an individual without being medically supervised by a physician.” ~The HillThe AP reports that about 19 states have passed laws requiring a medical clinician to be physically present when abortion pills are administered to a patient. They include South Dakota, Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee and Oklahoma, where Republicans have moved to further restrict access to abortion pills in recent months.

🎙INSIDE THE COURT: MO NEWS PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

🎙Check out our podcast this morning featuring Mosh's conversation with CBS Chief Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford. It is a must-listen. Apple | Spotify | More Platforms

A Couple Highlights:

➡️ Crawford on the Justice Thomas' concurring opinion dominating headlines on reconsidering birth control, same-sex relations and same-sex marriage:

"I think that the commentary and coverage has been irresponsible and inflammatory....Justice Thomas has always been, you know, off on a trip of his own on some of this stuff. This is not the first time that he has suggested that he thinks that line of cases is just made up. He is the most conservative justice on the court. He basically thinks every decision should be up for reconsideration. What is surprising is how there's just been this collective a freakout. And, you know, the refusal to acknowledge what...the majority says: 'we could not be more clear, those cases are not in doubt, because abortion is different. It involves a life, unlike a right to contraceptives, unlike a right to same sex marriage. Abortion is different.' Then you see Justice Kavanaugh, writing that separate concurring opinion saying, 'abortion is different, those cases are not in doubt.' The court, can't change the law (or) overturn cases unless you have five votes. You got to get to five. So right now, we have one vote, which is Justice Thomas. And we have all the other conservatives, who are on this opinion, saying 'this is not casting those cases into doubt.'

➡️ How Anti-Abortion Rights Forces Used Failure As Inspiration:

"There were two major setbacks for them. And each one they got stronger. In 1992, when the court failed to overturn Roe vs. Wade, by one vote. At the very last minute, President Reagan-appointee Anthony Kennedy changed his mind and decided he just couldn't do it. And in 2012, when Mitt Romney did not really embrace the pro-life movement. He and other Republican politicians were perceived to just paying lip service, you know, where they would just, you know, we don't have to talk about your issue....(The groups) decided they had to become more politically strategic and they had to elect more people to office. Marjorie Dannenfelser (president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America) told me, 'we decided we had to reward our friends and punish our enemies.' And as a result in 2014, they defeated seven pro-choice candidates, and so they were able to bolster the Senate and some of the other state legislatures. And that, of course, paves the way for more judges."

➡️ On Whether Conservative Justices Misled the Senate During Confirmation Hearings When Talking About Roe v. Wade as 'settled':

"No....there is boilerplate language that all Supreme Court nominees use and when it when they're ever asked about precedent or cases or how they may rule. They're coming (to the hearing) and they're looking at this from the outside. They're lower court judges, they're law professors. When they're asked, 'is Roe settled law?' Well, the answer is, of course, Roe settled law. But that doesn't really mean anything. It's settled law from their perspective in that moment. But it's settled law only until the Supreme Court says it's not."

"But then some senators ask the following question...'if you were on the Supreme Court, would you view Roe settled law? Would you consider it was settled law and cannot be overturned?' And then, that's when they all pull the same thing. They respond: 'Well, that's an issue that might come before the court. So I can't answer that.' And they all say that. Even Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that. She kind of started as the 'Ginsburg standard.'"

🗞 THE SPEED READ

Storm clouds at home dampen Biden’s return to Europe (Politico)

President Biden arrived in Germany on Saturday for a week of G-7 summit meetings, hoping to rally the biggest economies of the world against Russia. With the backing of European allies, Biden announced plans for the G-7 to impose new sanctions on imports of Russian gold, and hopes to discuss additional military assistance for Ukraine during his visits to Germany and Spain throughout this week. The summit will also discuss expanding NATO to include Sweden and Finland.

Biden signs gun safety bill into law (NPR)

On Saturday, President Biden signed into law the first significant gun safety legislation approved by Congress in almost 30 years. This legislation passed in the House and Senate with about a dozen Republicans in each body joining Democrats. The legislation includes funding for states to pass “red flag” laws, and closes the “boyfriend loophole,” which expands a current law to bar people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a firearm. It also increases background checks for people between 18 and 21 looking to buy a gun. "While this bill doesn't do everything I want,” Biden said, “it does include actions I've long called for that are going to save lives.”

Pfizer and BioNTech say updated Covid-19 boosters show increased immune response against Omicron variant (CNN)

Two Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine boosters are showing a significantly higher immune response than current vaccines to the Omicron variant of the virus. These studies looked at over 1,200 adults above the age of 56, and were tested in 30 milligram (the norm) and 60 milligram doses. For both dose levels, the fourth booster showed a substantially heightened immune response, with a large increase in the number of Omicron-fighting antibodies. Early results of the studies also indicated that vaccines could protect against Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, the sub-variants that are becoming more popular in the US.

Colorado Avalanche Win 2022 Stanley Cup Finals, End Tampa Bay Lightning's History-Making Bid (People)

On Sunday, the Avalanche beat the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 to win the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. They are now the winners of three Stanley Cup titles in their history, having won in 1996 and 2001. With the win, Colorado ended Tampa Bay's bid to win three consecutive Stanley Cups.

Education Department Cancels $6 Billion Of Student Loans For 200,000 Borrowers (Forbes)

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it is canceling $6 billion worth of student loans for 200,000 borrowers who were “misled by their college or university.” This comes in part as settlement from the class-action lawsuit, Sweet v. Cordona, and at the plea of borrowers who have been looking for student loan relief, especially in recent years. A larger student debt relief package is still being considered for the fall.

☀️ GOOD MOOD MONDAY

Amazing video via our friends at Good News Movement showing a man recently getting out of his car---even though the light turned green--to make sure an elderly man can safely finish crossing the street:

[Top Photo Banner Credit: Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images]

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