(CHICAGO) — Two Chicago residents died after being diagnosed with the monkeypox virus, the city’s Department of Health announced. The two were diagnosed with monkeypox over six weeks ago and had been hospitalized.
The two had several other health conditions, including weakened immune systems, city officials said. The two deaths were unrelated to each other, they said.
“Though the number of new MPV cases has declined substantially since summer, this is a stark reminder that MPV is dangerous and can cause serious illness, and in very rare cases, even death,” said Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady on Friday. “Our hearts go out to these individuals’ families and friends.”
Officials said they would not disclose any other information about the two cases, including where they were being treated, to protect their privacy.
The U.S. has reported over 27,000 cases and six total deaths due to monkeypox, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monkeypox cases have been reported in all 50 states.
The first confirmed case of monkeypox in the U.S. was reported in Massachusetts in May.
Monkeypox symptoms usually start within three weeks of exposure to the virus and the illness typically lasts two to four weeks, according to the CDC.
People with monkeypox get a rash that may be located on or near the genitals or anus and could be on other areas like hands, feet, chest, face or mouth. Other symptoms can include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches and backache, headache and respiratory symptoms, according to the CDC.
Those infected may experience all or only a few symptoms. If someone has flue-like symptoms they will usually develop a rash one to four days later, the CDC says.
Officials said death due to monkeypox still remains rare. Among more than 75,000 cases reported in 2022, there have been 32 reported deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
“The vast majority of people with [monkeypox] who died have had other health conditions along with [monkeypox] causing severely weakened immune systems,” said Arwady.
She added, “Please continue to take it seriously. If you’re at risk of MPV infection, take prevention steps and get vaccinated to protect yourself and your loved ones. These measures are especially important if you have comorbidities and/or a weakened immune system.”
Chicago health officials encourage individuals who meet the eligibility criteria to get two doses of the monkeypox vaccine, 28 days apart.
(NEW YORK) — The Saturday night Powerball prize rose to an estimated $580 million, giving players a chance at winning the 10th largest jackpot in the game’s history. The prize has a cash value of $278.2 million.
The game has had 33 drawings in a row without a winner.
The Powerball jackpot was last won with a ticket in Pennsylvania, which won a $206.9 million jackpot on Aug. 3.
There have been a total of five Powerball jackpot winners this year.
The top winners from Wednesday night’s drawing include two tickets sold in Michigan and New Jersey that won $1 million each and a third ticket sold in New Jersey that won $2 million.
The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9 and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to a statement from Powerball.
The largest Powerball jackpot in the game’s history was $1.586 billion, won on Jan. 13, 2016. The winning tickets were sold in California, Florida and Tennessee.
Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to a Powerball website.
(WASHINGTON) — Several police officers in Washington D.C. are facing allegations of police brutality and excessive force after video of a brutal arrest of two men went viral and the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau is now investigating the incident as city leaders and activists call for swift action from D.C. Police.
Police responded to a report of possible gunshots in Southeast D.C. at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night when police say they located a stolen unoccupied vehicle with visible shell casings inside and the motor still running. Authorities tell ABC News, “a group of subjects approached the officers while they were searching the vehicle. A male in the group threatened ‘to smack’ a female police officer. In response, an officer pushed the male against a fence and took him into custody.”
The two men arrested were later identified as Ty’Jon “TJ” Jackson, 23, and Tejuan “TC” Colman, 30.
D.C. Councilmember Trayon White, who arrived on the scene an hour after the incident began told reporters on Friday, “this incident was totally unacceptable on so many levels.”
He noted that no one should threaten “to smack” an officer. However, he notes, that shouldn’t be the reasoning for an aggressive arrest.
“If a guy threatens a female officer, he does not deserve to be kicked in his upper body or face, right? One doesn’t equal the other. I think they have enough training. We have enough protocols, policies, and procedures to address situations and that’s not it. And it’s totally unacceptable. So if the police department is using that as an excuse to escalate violence, that is just not acceptable.”
DC police said both “individuals were transported to an area hospital for medical evaluation and have since been released back to MPD custody and will be presented in court today.”
Tejuan Colman’s mother, Aminah Saladin, told reporters on Friday that the situation “was heart wrenching, very disappointing. Anyone else could have been shot during that time. Their total focus was on a car that no one was actually in.”
(GREEENWOOD, Miss.) — The Mississippi community of Greenwood erected a towering statue Friday in honor of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy whose murder sparked much of the 20th century civil rights movement.
“I feel that when young people ask me what the memory of Emmett Till is, we have this statue as a memory,” Mississippi state Sen. David Jordan, who represents Greenwood, told ABC News. “He liberated all Black people for all that he sacrificed.”
The memorial statue stands at 9-feet tall — a bronze figure reminiscent of Till’s infamous portrait with a white button-down shirt, slacks and his left hand tipping his hat with a slight grin on his face.
The statue’s unveiling comes just a week after the release of “Till,” a film detailing the untold chapter of Till’s story centered around his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who championed civil rights activism following the murder of her son.
“This is a great day as we take another leap forward in recognizing the life and legacy of Emmett Till,” the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till’s only remaining family member who saw his cousin the night he was kidnapped, told ABC News.
Till, a Chicago native, was murdered in in August 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in a grocery store in Drew, Mississippi, about 40 miles north of Greenwood, the county seat in the Delta region. The two white men arrested for kidnapping, torturing and lynching the 14-year-old were acquitted by an all-white jury.
Till-Mobley insisted on an open-casket funeral for her son to allow the surrounding community to witness the torture inflicted onto her son. She became a prominent leader of the civil rights movement, adamant that her son should not have died in vain.
Jet Magazine published the daunting image of Till’s battered face that changed lives forever. Numerous Black publications, including The Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News and various others, were charged with moving the needle forward reporting on the atrocity.
“When I met Rosa Parks in 1961, she said she didn’t get out of that seat for Emmett Till,” Jordan said.
But there are still reminders of Mississippi’s segregated past everywhere. A Confederate monument stands outside the Greenwood courthouse’s lawn, only a few miles away from Greenwood’s Rail Spike Park where Till’s new statue is located.
“As so many people are determined to erase our history, we are blessed to have so many more allies in the struggle to keep our story alive,” Parker said. “This statue is affirmation that our lives matter.”
Despite the demographics of Greenwood and Leflore County being about 70% Black, it took state officials years to erect the statue. This year, Jordan was finally able to allocate $150,000 in state funding to commission Utah artist Matt Glen to sculpt the statue.
“I am elated that it happened here in Mississippi, and this is a glorious day for all of the people in Greenwood, Mississippi,” Jordan said.
ABC News’ Fatima Curry and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(UVALDE, Texas) — One of the first Texas state troopers to arrive at the scene of the May 24 elementary school mass shooting is being fired by the Texas Department of Public Safety, a spokesperson told ABC News.
“The department can confirm Sgt. Juan Maldonado was served with termination papers today,” a spokesperson for Texas DPS said.
Sgt. Juan Maldonado is one of seven members of Texas DPS whose conduct was being investigated by the DPS inspector general because of their actions or inaction during the shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two of their teachers.
DPS announced Sept. 6 that five DPS officers on-site at Robb had been referred to the IG. That number grew to seven.
Maldonado is the first one disciplined and the IG probe into him was the first one completed, the official said.
“We expect more of our troopers,” the official said.
Security camera footage revealed that Maldonado held the door open to the school open and stood idly by when another officer ran out of the building bleeding, begging others to go in. Maldonado was accused of not following active shooter protocol.
Maldonado was a 23-year veteran of the state agency and public information officer for the region. Maldonado did not respond to ABC News for comment.
Some family members of Robb Elementary School victims have already been notified.
Berlinda Arreola, step grandmother to Amerie Jo Garza who was on the children killed, told ABC News that it was “disappointing,” that the police officers had not entered the classroom,
“He’s been a member of the community for years and he had the chance to go in and save the children and teachers of a community that he knew so well,” Arreola said.
The DPS internal investigation prompted new DPS protocols to be enacted. Now, policy dictates that once an “active shooter” is declared at a school, the situation cannot be treated as anything else by Texas DPS personnel until the shooter or shooters are neutralized. According to the new rules, all DPS personnel are ordered to override any other law enforcement officers who are standing in the way of taking active measures to neutralize a school shooter.
McCraw is scheduled to testify about the Robb Elementary response and probe during a hearing Thursday in Austin.
ABC News’ Kate Holland contributed to this report.
(MIAMI) — A Florida man had his election fraud charges dismissed on Friday, making him the first of 20 people who Gov. Ron DeSantis announced had been charged with voter fraud in August, to beat his case.
The ruling by a Miami judge may now pave the way for similar motions and rulings in the other 19 election fraud cases, which garnered national attention and controversy when they were announced on Aug. 18. DeSantis said at the time that they were the “opening salvo” by Florida’s newly funded Office of Election Crimes and Security to crack down on voter fraud.
Robert Lee Wood, who faced one count of making a false affirmation on a voter application, and one count of voting as an unqualified elector, had his charges dismissed on the grounds that the prosecutor lacked appropriate jurisdiction.
Wood was facing up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines and fees, for allegedly illegally voting in the 2020 election.
When the charges were announced on Aug. 18, DeSantis said at a press conference that local prosecutors had been “loath” to take up election fraud cases.
“Now we have the ability with the attorney general and statewide prosecutor to bring those [cases] on behalf of the state of Florida,” he said.
But a judge found on Friday that the statewide prosecutor did not have jurisdiction over one case in Miami. Statewide prosecutors, which are an extension of the Attorney General’s office, are prosecuting all of the election fraud cases that were brought in August.
In order for the statewide prosecutor to have jurisdiction, the crimes alleged must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits.
The judge agreed with the defense’s argument that the alleged violations, applying to vote and voting while ineligible, only occurred in Miami-Dade County. Thus, the statewide prosecutor was found to not have jurisdiction.
Statewide prosecutors argued that the alleged crimes were committed in Leon County in addition to Miami-Dade County, because the defendants’ applications and votes were later transmitted to the Department of State in Tallahassee.
The defense argued the alleged offenses only happened in Miami-Dade.
The judge sided with the defense, even citing Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” in his order granting the motion to dismiss.
“His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings,” the judge wrote in his order, in reference to the statewide prosecutor.
“How much wider even than that does [the statewide prosecutor] seek to extend its reach?”
“It is an old truth that all politics is local,” the judge added. “[The statewide prosecutor] seeks to stand that old truth on its head”
Larry Davis, the attorney for Wood, said that his motion to dismiss on grounds of jurisdiction has been circulated to attorneys representing the other election fraud defendants.
The statewide prosecutor can now appeal the case. If unsuccessful, the Democratic Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle will also have the option to file charges.
Just days before Florida’s primary in August, DeSantis said at a press conference that 20 people who had cast their ballots in 2020 had been charged with voter fraud. They had all been convicted of murder or felony sex offenses, DeSantis added, which by Florida law stripped them of their right to vote.
“Yet they went ahead and voted anyways. That is against the law, and now they’re going to pay the price for it,” the governor said.
Those charged with illegally voting were sent voting cards by the state, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Many of them told agents that they believed they were eligible, according to court records.
That includes Wood, who was charged with second-degree murder in 1991. Wood registered to vote in 2020 after being approached by a voter rights advocate at a grocery store. Wood claimed he did not fill out the form, rather he just signed it, according to the affidavit of arrest filled out by an FDLE agent.
The form includes a section which asks the applicant to either verify that they are not a felon, or if so, to declare that their right to vote had been restored.
Voter rights advocates say that provision is especially confusing because of the passage of Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution in 2018, which restored all felons their rights to vote except for those convicted of sex felonies or murder charges.
Later, another condition was added requiring voters with felonies to pay off their fines and fees before having their rights restored.
Republican Florida state legislator Jeff Brandes, who authored Amendment 4, criticized the 20 arrests in a tweet during DeSantis’ press conference, urging the state to look at the intent of the voters.
“It was our intent that those ineligible would be granted some grace by the state if they registered without intent to commit voter fraud,” he tweeted on Aug. 18.
Mark Earley, president of Florida’s election supervisor association, told ABC News that the local supervisors do not have the resources to check a prospective voter’s criminal record. That is the Department of State’s obligation, he said.
Election supervisors check the applications and then transmit them to Tallahassee, where Division of Elections’ staff can check convictions against voter rolls.
Unless an election supervisor receives a packet from the Department of State which contains information that says a voter is ineligible, the voter is sent a voting card, Earley said.
But due to a backlog, as described by a Divisions of Elections official in a 2020 federal case, Florida was “struggling” to come up with a process to identify ineligible felons, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
It’s unclear if the Department of State ever sent those packets to local election officials. But local election officials sent all 20 voter cards to the arrested voters, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The former head of the Office of Election Crimes and Security Pete Antonacci, sent a letter reviewed by ABC News to local elections supervisors on the day of the governor’s announcement, telling them “through no fault of your own” convicted felons voted in their counties.
Neil Volz, the director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, who helped Brandes with Amendment 4, said in a statement that Friday’s ruling, “strengthens our resolve to continue to place people over politics.”
The ruling in Wood’s case is the first disposition of the 18 cases that were announced by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, following the DeSantis announcement.
(MIAMI) — A Florida man had his election fraud charges dismissed on Friday, making him the first of 20 people who Gov. Ron DeSantis announced had been charged with voter fraud in August, to beat his case.
The ruling by a Miami judge may now pave the way for similar motions and rulings in the other 19 election fraud cases, which garnered national attention and controversy when they were announced on Aug. 18. DeSantis said at the time that they were the “opening salvo” by Florida’s newly funded Office of Election Crimes and Security to crack down on voter fraud.
Robert Lee Wood, who faced one count of making a false affirmation on a voter application, and one count of voting as an unqualified elector, had his charges dismissed on the grounds that the prosecutor lacked jurisdiction to bring them.
Wood was facing up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines and fees, for allegedly illegally voting in the 2020 election.
When the charges were announced on Aug 18, DeSantis said local prosecutors had been “loath” to take up election fraud cases.
“Well, now we have the ability with the attorney general and statewide prosecutor to bring those on behalf of the State of Florida,” he added at the press conference.
But a judge found on Friday that the statewide prosecutor did not have jurisdiction over one case in Miami.
In order for the statewide prosecutor to have jurisdiction, the crimes alleged must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits.
The judge found with the defense, which argued that the act of applying to vote and voting only occurred in Miami Dade. All 20 cases are being prosecuted by the statewide prosecutor.
In order for the Attorney General’s office to have jurisdiction, the crimes that they allege must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits.
State prosecutors argued that the crimes were committed in Leon County in addition to Miami Dade County, because the defendants’ applications and votes were later transmitted to the Department of State in Tallahassee.
The defense argued the alleged offenses only happened in Miami Dade.
The judge found with the defense.
Larry Davis, the attorney for Wood, said that his motion to dismiss on grounds of jurisdiction has been circulated to attorneys representing the other election fraud defendants.
The statewide prosecutor can now appeal the case. If unsuccessful, a similar case could be brought by the Democrat Miami Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez.
(NEW YORK) — The 20-year-old Purdue University student stabbed to death in his dorm room was effusive, close with his family and wise beyond his years, according to his parents.
Varun Manish Chheda, a senior majoring in data science, was found dead in his room on the school’s West Lafayette, Indiana, campus on Oct. 5 after his roommate called 911, university police said. The roommate, 22-year-old Ji “Jimmy” Min Sha, was arrested and charged with Chheda’s murder.
Although Varun was a busy college student, he always stayed in touch with his mom, dad and little sister. He’d call his mom between classes, share his Wordle score with her, and check in over text each morning and night, his mother, Seema Dedhiya, told ABC News in an exclusive interview.
On Varun’s final night alive, Dedhiya said she texted her son her usual evening message: “Eat well, sleep well. … Finish your homework.”
“He said, ‘Yes, Mom, I’ve done it all,'” she recalled.
She said Varun’s final text to her at 11:45 p.m. read, “Goodnight, Mama.”
Early on the morning of Oct. 5, two police officers came to the family’s door in Indianapolis with the tragic news. The 20-year-old suffered multiple stab wounds in an “unprovoked” attack, according to Purdue University Chief of Police Lesley Weite.
Seema Dedhiya and her husband, Manish Chheda, said they had no sense of problems with Varun’s roommate and said their son rarely mentioned him. They described Varun as a peacemaker, which they said made his violent death all the more shocking.
Varun was a minimalist and environmentalist. He never asked his parents for money and insisted he didn’t need a nicer car or nicer computer, they said.
He was passionate about Taekwondo, strategy games and especially science, said his father, Manish Chheda.
Varun was recently studying medical genomics and “was even thinking maybe of following in my footsteps and becoming a physician,” he said.
“How it would’ve turned out, we just only can guess at this point,” he said. “I think he would’ve been involved in … helping people face-to-face or in a research realm.”
He was a kind big brother and a thoughtful friend, his dad said, recalling the time Varun encouraged a friend to donate his long hair to cancer survivors.
“We think he did a lot of good in the time he had,” Manish Chheda said. “We’re proud of that.”
Asked what she’ll miss most, Dedhiya replied through tears: his laugh, his hugs, “his brilliance” and “all the conversations.”
“I miss him terribly,” Dedhiya said.
Manish Chheda said he doesn’t know when he’ll “be psychologically ready” to return to his work as a doctor.
“I need to be more focused than I am right now. We’re gonna get help, we’re gonna get counseling,” he said.
The family will “never be normal again,” but he said he hopes they’ll find a “new normal.”
“You can’t lose someone like this and ever get over it. But we have to try,” he said.
Sha has not entered a plea. As he headed to his first court appearance on Oct. 7, Sha told reporters “I am very sorry” when asked if he had a message to the victim’s family. Sha also said, “I was blackmailed,” but did not elaborate.
His defense attorney did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(NEW YORK) — As Florida officials and residents continue to clean up and assess the damage caused by Hurricane Ian, they’re discovering the storm has turned some electric vehicles into incendiary devices on roads, parking lots and even on the backs of tow trucks.
Electric vehicles that were flooded and damaged by the storm have been catching fire without warning in incidents throughout the hardest hit areas in the state, according to State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis, who told ABC News his team has counted at least nine such incidents. In some cases, the EVs would burst into flames, stay on fire, then reignite hours later.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has warned that EVs can ignite weeks after contact with saltwater.
As storms increase in ferocity, and the sale of EVs increases worldwide, it’s a phenomenon we are likely to see much more of says Eric Fredrickson of Call2Recycle, a non-profit which specializes in transporting lithium-ion batteries to recycling facilities.
“Part of what we’re dealing with right now is that this is the first major storm that we’ve had in an area where we have a high penetration of electric vehicles. So we’re seeing these fires in these incidents more than we have with any of the other storms,” he said.
It’s also a challenge for firefighters who have to use between 8,000 to 12,000 gallons of water to put out the fires, more than 10 times as much as a gas engine-based vehicle, according to James Hammond, the assistant chief of operations at North Collier Fire Control & Rescue District.
“It’s just a constant flow trying to cool them down and stop the battery,” Hammond told ABC News.
Hammond said his teams would typically spend an hour putting out a traditional gas-powered vehicle, but have spent five or six hours dousing electric vehicles.
Saltwater flooding is the main factor behind these fires, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The flooding creates a chain reaction in the engine and the batteries that made the parts more likely to catch on fire, the agency said.
The biggest concerns, according to firefighters and safety experts, is that it is still unknown what could spark the blaze in the first place. Something as simple as turning the wheel following the saltwater damage could start the fire in the vehicle, experts said.
The issue has gotten so bad that some tow truck drivers in Florida have refused to pick up flood-damaged EVs. Tim Baker, a tow truck driver, told ABC News that one car he picked up caught on fire after he brought it to his lot.
“They have the potential to catch fire pretty much any time,” he told ABC News.
NHTSA responded to a request by Florida state fire marshal Jimmy Patronis, who asked for guidance on the problem stating, “Lithium-ion vehicle battery fires have been observed both rapidly igniting and igniting several weeks after battery damage occurred. Timing of the fire initiation is specific to the battery design, chemistry and damage to the battery pack.”
The agency recommends that flooded EVs be parked at least 50 feet from any structures, vehicles or combustibles.
“Always assume the battery and associated components are energized and fully charged,” the NHTSA said in its letter to the state.
Patronis also called on automakers to work with the state to come up with solutions and procedures when dealing with the flooded EVs.
“As [EVs] grow in popularity, this is a potential threat that we’re going to have to deal with,” he told ABC News. “I want to create solutions that work, other than just providing water to try to control the temperature of a battery that is burning out of control.”
One solution is education, according to Fredrickson.
“We’re definitely going to see more cars flooded by saltwater if we don’t take steps to educate consumers about the consequences and the risks of an electric vehicle that gets flooded by saltwater,” he said.
Fredrickson said the simplest way of avoiding an EV car fire is moving the car away from a potential flood area before a major storm, and if a car is submerged in salt water unplugging it from the wall before power is restored could be key to preventing it from bursting into flames.
That’s a concern going forward, according to Bobby Schneider of the Energy Security Agency, a company contracted to help mitigate EV car fires.
He said there could still be hundreds of EVs stored in people’s garages in Florida that could turn into potential fire hazards once power is returned to the grid.
Schneider said that with the increased use of EVs, thousands of fire departments and first responders across the country need to be trained in “the uniqueness and particulars of the hybrid and electric vehicles.”
(WASHINGTON) — In the wake of the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade, the Pentagon announced Thursday that it will provide travel funding and approval for troops and their dependents to seek abortions outside of the states where they are based and where abortion is now illegal.
The moves are intended to address concerns about whether the U.S. military would be able to provide support to female service members who could be forced to travel away from the states where they were based in order to seek a legal abortion.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memo on Thursday outlining new policies that will be put in place later this year. They are an outgrowth of a review of existing Defense Department policies that Austin had ordered following the Supreme Court’s decision in June.
The new policies will increase protections for the privacy of those involved and provide legal guarantees to military health care providers, who carry out the limited number of abortions covered by the Hyde Amendment, in states where abortion is not legal.
The military services already provide leave time to service members who have to travel for abortions, but the new policies will make it possible for service members to get the time off and be reimbursed for the travel costs to an out-of-state health care provider. The funding would not cover the cost of abortion services.
“I am committed to the department taking all appropriate action, within its authority and consistent with applicable federal law, as soon as possible to ensure that our service members and their families can access reproductive health care and our health care providers can operate effectively,” Austin said in the memo announcing the new policy.
“The practical effects of recent changes are that significant numbers of Service members and their families may be forced to travel greater distances, take more time off from puwork, and pay more out of pocket expenses to receive reproductive health care,” Austin continued.
“In my judgment, such effects qualify as unusual, extraordinary, hardship, or emergency circumstances for Service members and their dependents and will interfere with our ability to recruit, retain, and maintain the readiness of a highly qualified force,” he added.
Like the rest of the federal government, the U.S. military’s health care system remains covered by the Hyde Amendment that allows abortions only in cases of rape, incest, or where the mother’s safety is at risk.
A defense official told reporters Thursday that since 2016 the U.S. military’s medical professionals have covered 91 abortion procedures that were allowed under the Hyde Amendment restrictions.
Military service members who had wanted an abortion for a reason not covered by the Hyde Amendment had to look to outside health care providers to carry out the procedure.
The length of time that service members have to notify their commanders of a pregnancy will be increased to 20 weeks, a big change from the current rule that notifications take place two weeks following a positive pregnancy test.
The new policies will also provide legal cover for military doctors who have had to provide abortions covered under the Hyde Amendment in states where abortion is now illegal. There had been concerns that military medical professionals who carried out such procedures at federal military medical facilities in states where abortion is now outlawed could face the threat of local prosecution.
