TGFI! Supreme Court maintains access to abortion pill, but fight is far from over; Senators & Southern Baptists' vote on IVF; and 21% of US adults trust TikTok for health information.

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Good morning,

Today is Flag Day! President Woodrow Wilson issued a 1916 proclamation marking June 14 as a day to celebrate the symbolism and history of the American flag.

• On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed an act establishing an official flag for the new nation.

  • It stated: “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

• Today’s flag with 50 stars was released on July 4, 1960, following

  Hawaii becoming a state on August 21, 1959.

🇺🇸 Have a good one!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — details at the bottom of this newsletter!

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⚖️ SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS ABORTION PILL ACCESS

The US Supreme Court unanimously (9-0) rejected a case that sought to restrict women's access to the abortion medication mifepristone. The pill is part of a two-step regimen for at-home terminations of pregnancies prior to 10 weeks.

• The drug, which the FDA first approved in 2000, is used in more than 60% of US abortions. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v wade in 2022, medications to terminate pregnancy have grown in importance and have also become a major target of litigation.

The ruling will keep the drug widely available for now, but the court's dismissal of the case leaves room for future litigation over the matter.

WHO SUED
The court said the anti-abortion rights doctors who brought the case did not have standing, or the right to bring the suit.

• Their case: In 2016 and 2021 the FDA made it easier to get the drug: by mail, later in a pregnancy, by nurse practitioners and via tele-health. The doctors argued that the move was not legal.

• Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the unanimous decision, saying the plaintiffs failed to show they had suffered any injury, meaning that “the federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.”

  • He added that the plaintiffs do not prescribe or use mifepristone, but still wanted the FDA to make it harder for other doctors to prescribe it and women to receive it.

UP NEXT
By throwing out the case on those grounds, the court avoided deciding the legal merits of the FDA rule changes pertaining to the drug’s access. That means the same issues could return to the court in another case, and there are other groups who want the abortion pill to be harder to obtain or outlawed all-together.

• Three states - Idaho, Missouri and Kansas - joined the doctors’ case.

  • Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, asserted in a statement that his state has “standing that the doctors did not,” confirming that he will press ahead with the case.

• COMSTOCK ACT: Anti-abortion advocates are also hoping to limit the drug’s access through the Comstock Act of 1873.

  • The 151 year old act bans mailing of “lewd” materials, like pornography, birth control, and drugs/instruments used for abortion. Birth control was removed from the language in the 1970s and then nothing was prosecuted under the law after Roe v. Wade in 1973. It is considered a “zombie law”—technically still on the books, but not enforced.

  • Some anti-abortion advocates have called on the next Republican administration to enforce the Comstock Act.

🔬 THE NEXT REPRODUCTION BATTLE: IVF ACCESS

Across the street from the Supreme Court, Republican Senators yesterday blocked a bill that would establish federal protections for in vitro fertilization (IVF).

• IVF involves fertilizing an egg with sperm in a laboratory dish and then returning the fertilized egg, called an embryo, to the uterus. Multiple embryos are often created and those unused get discarded.

It comes a few months after Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that embryos are considered children under state law, prompting providers to halt fertility treatments. Facing backlash, the state legislature then passed a bill protecting the fertility treatment.

And, just this week, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), voted to oppose the use of IVF.

THE VOTES
In the Senate, both sides of the aisle have introduced legislation to protect access to IVF since the Alabama ruling. However, there’s a divide about how far the bills go. And Democrats wanted to hold their colleagues to a recorded vote before November’s elections.

• The Democratic Right to IVF Act from yesterday would enshrine IVF access into law, overriding any state restrictions, and make some insurers cover the treatment.

  • The vote was 48-47, with just two Republicans voting for it, but most Senate bills require 60 votes to pass. All GOP Senators said they support IVF, but the majority believe the legislation went too far. Republicans have signed onto a scaled-back bill that Democrats said was ineffectual.

  • Former President Trump was also on the Hill yesterday. He told lawmakers to talk about abortion "correctly," that abortion has "cost" the GOP politically, and that Democrats are the "radicals" on the issue.

📲 MO NEWS COMMUNITY REACTS
We’ve heard from many members of the Mo News community on Instagram about the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) vote to oppose the use of IVF.

On background: The SBC resolution is not a ban, and families won’t get in trouble with the church if they pursue IVF. It’s similar to the Catholic Church’s stance. But some members of the Mo News community, who are also Southern Baptist, messaged in about their thoughts on the vote.

• A pastor from an SBC church said the vote was “a mix between political posturing & genuine pro-life beliefs.” He added:

  • “All humans are created in the image of God, and it's not up to us to take life — and fertilized eggs fall into that. But also, IVF creates life and that's a good thing.”

  • “The political posturing is people's desire to look conservative because of group think.”

• A member of the church told us, “It's not that SBC members don't want people to have children, it's quite the opposite. There are many ethical issues involved in IVF. Namely, the mass destruction of human embryos.”

📲 AMERICANS OK WITH TIKTOK FOR HEALTH ADVICE

Over half of American adults 18-34 use TikTok. Have of them report seeing health information on the app, and 41% say they trust those posts.

• The data comes from a new KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll that looked at how often people encounter health information on TikTok, how much they trust it, and whether it impacts their behavior.

• A closer look: Younger users are more trusting of the health content. 53% of 18 to 29-year-olds saying they trust health information at least somewhat, including 17% who trust it a great deal.

  • TikTok users report that content on the app has not impacted their confidence in the safety of prescription birth control (76%), the safety and effectiveness of vaccines (73%), or science and scientists (70%).

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Trump, McConnell finally meet again, with a fist bump (AXIOS)

📌 Tropical rainstorms in South Florida lead to flight delays and streets jammed with stalled cars (AP NEWS)

📌 Russian warships arrive in Cuba; US submarine follows (AP NEWS)

📌 Native American tribe wins right to hunt gray whales off Washington coast (GUARDIAN)

📌 Supreme Court blocks 'Trump too small' trademark bid referring to crude joke (NBC NEWS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 As Trump turns 78 today, and runs against an 81 year old Biden: How the two men stack up against the ages of all world leaders (PEW)

📌 Nearly 120 million people were displaced around the world in 2023, UNHCR report says (NPR)

📌 WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich to stand trial in Russia on espionage charges (AXIOS)

📌 Protesters and police clash in Argentina as Congress debates Milei’s reform bill (CNN)

📌 Greece closes Acropolis and other ancient tourist sites in heatwave (NBC NEWS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 US Supreme Court backs Starbucks over fired pro-union workers (REUTERS)

📌 Trump talks tax cuts with some of the biggest CEOS in the world (CNBC)

📌 The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits unexpectedly spikes to 10-month high (FOX NEWS)

📌 El Niño is over, and La Niña is likely to be next, NOAA says (AXIOS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Will Ferrell dressed as a Medieval Lord to embarrass his son at prom (PEOPLE)

📌 Hot dog-eating champs Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi will go head-to head in a Netflix special (AP NEWS)

📌 Tom Brady inducted into Patriots Hall of Fame (ESPN)

📌 Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner spotted arriving at Ben Affleck’s rental home amid his marital woes (PAGE SIX)

🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

• WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: Mosheh: NBA Finals; Jill: Brats ~ Hulu.

• WHAT WE’RE READING: Mosheh: The Anxious Generation ~ Jonathan Haidt; Jill: Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew ~ Emmanuel Acho & Noa Tishby.

• WHAT WE’RE EATING: Mosheh: Bourbon for National Bourbon Day; Jill: Birthday cake! (Happy Birthday, Jill ❤️)