Thousands of activists were gearing up to take to US streets yesterday in a national day of action calling for safe and legal access to abortion.
The planned nationwide demonstrations are a response to leaked draft opinion showing the US Supreme Court’s conservative majority is considering overturning Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing abortion access nationwide.
“Our bodies are our own — if they are not, we cannot be truly free or equal,” says a petition from Bans Off Our Bodies, which was organized by groups including Planned Parenthood and the Women’s March.
“Across the country, some politicians are trying to make decisions about our bodies for us,” it says. “We won’t let the abortion bans sweeping the country put our lives and futures at risk, and we won’t be silenced while our fundamental right to control our bodies is taken away.”
Protesters were expected in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, as well as at hundreds of smaller events across the country.
The leak of the draft opinion has ignited fury over the potential rollback of abortion rights ahead of November’s key midterm elections, when control of both congressional chambers are at stake.
Democrats have pushed to codify abortion rights into federal law, a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divisive issue ahead of the crucial polls.
The Women’s Health Protection Act passed by the US House of Representatives would assure healthcare providers have the right to provide abortions and that patients have the right to receive them, but Republicans in the US Senate refused to allow a vote on the measure earlier this week.
The legislative result does not square with US opinion at large: a new Politico/Morning Consult poll has 53 percent of voters saying that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned, up 3 percentage points since last week, while 58 percent said it was important to vote for a candidate who supports abortion access.
“We ALL lose if Roe is overturned,” Women’s March executive director Rachel O’Leary Carmona wrote on Twitter. “Even those in small conservative towns like mine in Texas who are grateful for the abortion their wife had during a pregnancy that put her health at risk, or afraid of the one their granddaughter may be unable to access if she were raped,” she wrote.
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
POST-UPRISING: Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmakers were yesterday expected to formally elect Tarique Rahman as their leader and new head of government Bangladesh’s prime minister-to-be Tarique Rahman and lawmakers were yesterday sworn into parliament, becoming the first elected representatives since a deadly 2024 uprising. Rahman is set to take over from an interim government that has steered the country of 170 million people for 18 months since the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina was overthrown. The lawmakers, who promised loyalty to Bangladesh, were sworn in by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) lawmakers are expected to formally elect Rahman as their leader, with President Mohammed Shahabuddin then to administer the oath of office to the prime minister and his ministers
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
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