(LAFAYETTE, Ind.) — An Indiana police department is praising a “heroic” 25-year-old Good Samaritan who rescued five children from a massive house fire.
Nicholas Bostic saved an 18-year-old who was home with her siblings, ages 2, 6 and 13, Lafayette Police Lt. Randy Sherer said. Bostic also rescued a friend of the 13-year-old who was there spending the night, Sherer said. The siblings’ parents weren’t home, Sherer said.
The blaze broke out around 12:30 a.m. Monday, Sherer said. Bostic was driving by when he spotted the house fully engulfed in flames and pulled over, he told ABC News, beating first responders to the scene.
Bostic didn’t have his phone to call 911, so he ran to the back of the house to see if he could spot anyone, he said.
Bostic went inside and raced upstairs, where he found the 18-year-old, 2-year-old and two 13-year-olds, and he led them down the stairs and outside, Bostic said.
“I asked them if anybody was left in there — and that’s when they told me that the 6-year-old was,” Bostic said.
Bostic said he ran back inside to look for the 6-year-old girl, but the thick smoke made it hard to see and the overwhelming heat scared him.
That’s when he heard the little girl whimper, which he said gave him the courage to keep going. All the while, he was terrified the house would explode.
“The last thing I could do was waste a second panicking,” he said.
Once Bostic found the 6-year-old, he punched through a window so they could escape, he said.
Bostic was hospitalized for severe smoke inhalation and a serious cut to his arm, police said. He has since been released.
All of the children are doing well, Sherer said.
Sherer called Bostic’s actions “heroic. The city in a statement said Bostic has “impressed many with his courage, tenacity, and steadfast calmness.”
Bostic said he’s spoken with the children’s parents.
“The dad said he’d love to take me out for a dinner,” he said. “They have wide-open arms welcoming me as a part of their family.”
“I’m glad I was there at the right time, the right place,” Bostic added.
And Bostic, still recovering, said he wouldn’t hesitate to race into another house fire.
“If opportunity came again and I had to do it, I would do it,” he said. “I knew what I was risking. I knew the next second it could be my life. But every second counted.”
(OAKHURST, Calif.) — The Washburn Fire in central California has now scorched 4,700 acres across Yosemite National Park to Sierra National Forest as of Friday morning, officials said, growing over 300 acres overnight.
According to park officials, the fire is 27% contained, with more than 1,500 firefighters assigned to it.
The persisting fire began near the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and now is claiming parts of Sierra National Forest, park officials said.
Since its first few days, when the fire measured 1,591 acres with 0% containment and 360 firefighters assigned to the fire, the threat to the area’s famous sequoia trees remains a major concern.
As climate change effects worsen, such fires become an increasing threat to the durable, celebrated sequoia trees, and measures continue to be taken to protect the area.
Some of the tree trunks were wrapped in fire-resistant foil, a technique used in September to protect trees in Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest from fire.
A sprinkler system has also been set up within the grove to keep the sequoias’ trunks moist, officials said.
The continued spread has led to further road closures, including Forest Routes 5S43, 5S06 (Mt. Raymond Rd.), 5S22 and 5S37.
The closures are intended to assist firefighters in getting resources to and from the fire and to keep the public out of harm’s way, officials said.
The cause of the fire is still said to be under investigation. However, at a public meeting on Monday night, Yosemite’s park superintendent said it appears to have been started by people.
The fire is expected to take weeks for the fire to be fully extinguished, as it is happening in “difficult terrain” due to heavy fuel lingering nearby after a significant tree mortality event from 2013 to 2015, according to Yosemite Fire and Aviation Management.
The fuel, consisting of both standing trees and those that have fallen to the ground, is presenting safety hazards to firefighters, officials said.
Further closures due to the fire include the Highway 41 entrance to Yosemite National Park, meaning that visitors will need to use Highway 120 or 140 to access the Yosemite Valley.
However, the remainder of the park remains open, despite heavy smoke on Sunday that affected air quality in the area and obstructed the park’s views.
The Tenaya Lodge, just south of Yosemite, remains open.
The community of Wawona and the Wawona Campground continue to be under a mandatory evacuation order, according to officials.
An evacuation shelter is available at the Mariposa New Life Church, located at 5089 Cole Road.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The House of Representatives on Friday passed two measures to restore abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The action comes as Democrats ramp up their political messaging on abortion ahead of the November midterm elections, hoping the issue will drive voters to the ballot box to preserve the party’s majorities in Congress.
“It’s outrageous that 50 years later, women must again fight for our most basic rights against an extremist court and Republican Party,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday in a press conference on the U.S. Capitol steps ahead of the vote.
“Democrats are honoring the basic truth: women’s most intimate health decisions are her own,” Pelosi added.
The first bill, titled the Women’s Health Protection Act, would establish a statutory right for health care providers to provide, and patients to receive, abortion services. It would also prohibit states from imposing restrictions on abortion care.
The measure passed in a 219-to-210 vote. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill.
The Women’s Health Protection Act now goes to the Senate, where it previously failed to move forward after the House first passed it in September 2021.
Any abortion-related legislation will likely meet a similar fate in the upper chamber, where Democrats need 10 Republican votes to overcome the 60-vote filibuster.
“We must ensure that the American people remember in November, because with two more Democratic senators, we will be able to eliminate the filibuster when it comes to a woman’s right to choose and to make reproductive freedom the law of the land,” Pelosi said Friday.
The second bill to pass the House, known as the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, addresses recent efforts by state legislatures to punish Americans traveling for reproductive health care. The bill would would ensure no person acting under state law could prevent, restrict, or otherwise retaliate against a person traveling across state lines for lawful abortion services.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill that would have both legally shielded the people who travel across states lines to receive an abortion and the providers who care for those patients.
At least 13 states have ceased nearly all abortion services after the high court’s June 24 decision ending Roe, and several Republican-controlled states are already considering legislation to bar women from seeking services out-of-state.
“Are we going to allow these lawmakers to hold American citizens hostage in their own states, forcing them to give birth?” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a floor speech on Thursday. “Does that sound like the America that we know? No it doesn’t, and we need to draw the line here and now.”
Just last week, hundreds of abortion rights activists protested outside the White House calling on President Joe Biden to do more to ensure abortion rights. Biden signed an executive order on July 8 aimed at protecting access, but said it’s ultimately up to Congress to codify Roe.
Biden’s message to the demonstrators was to “keep protesting.”
“Keep making your point. It’s critically important,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Joe Manchin appears to have torpedoed a cornerstone of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, telling Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer Thursday evening that he won’t support moving forward on proposed tax hikes on wealthy Americans and corporations that would pay for a package of climate change and energy policies, at least not right away, this according to two aides familiar with the matter.
Democrats were hopeful they could move on a slimmed-down version of the once-sweeping social and economic spending agenda, formerly known as Build Back Better, before they depart for a month-long August recess.
Manchin had agreed to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, potentially saving the federal government $288 billion and bringing down costs for seniors, in addition to a two-year extension of pandemic-era premium subsidies for lower income Americans enrolled in Obamacare.
But Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has for months warned of deep concerns about record-high inflation and the effects of more federal spending, effectively shelved tax and climate change reforms until he sees data on July inflation rates due out early next month.
“Until we see the July inflation figures, until we see the July … Federal Reserve rates, interest rates, then let’s wait until that comes out so we know that we’re going down a path that won’t be inflammatory to add more to inflation,” Manchin said Friday during a radio interview with West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval. “I am where I have been.”
The Consumer Price Index showed prices 9.1 percent higher in June compared to a year ago — worse than expectations and the largest yearly increase since November 1981, a new four-decade high.
“We have an opportunity to address the climate crisis right now,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, which Manchin chairs, tweeted Friday. “Senator Manchin’s refusal to act is infuriating. It makes me question why he’s chair of ENR.”
“It’s infuriating and nothing short of tragic that Senator Manchin is walking away, again, from taking essential action on climate and clean energy. The world is literally burning up while he joins every single Republican to stop strong action,” Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., said in a statement.
One progressive group said in a statement Thursday night that the move by Manchin was akin to a political “death sentence.”
“This is nothing short of a death sentence. Our democracy is broken when one man who profits from the fossil fuel industry can defy the 81 million Americans who voted for Democrats to stop the climate crisis. It’s clear appealing to corporate obstructionists doesn’t work, and it will cost us a generation of voters,” said Sunrise Movement Executive Director Varshini Prakash.
Democrats are running out of time and know that after the monthlong August recess they must return with a focus on funding the government by Oct. 1, nearly always a fraught process.
Also, with health care premiums in many states set in August, and with pandemic era ACA subsidies set to expire by year’s end, Democrats could be facing angry voters if health care costs skyrocket — amid already high inflation — ahead of the midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake.
Democratic leaders hoped to pass their proposals using a fast-track budget procedure that requires only a simple majority of senators to pass. This tool is only available for Democrats to use until Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, and with Manchin’s vote in the 50-50 Senate necessary to move forward with any measure, his delays are running out the clock.
Democratic leaders must now choose whether to try to further pressure Manchin or to push through the only remaining health care-related provisions of their plan that the West Virginian has blessed.
One influential progressive told reporters this week that maybe half a loaf should be celebrated.
“There is so much we need to do, but we do as much as we can get 50 votes for, and I will celebrate what we can get done and work harder than ever for the part that are still not done,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
The White House had no official comment Friday, though the press secretary was pressed for a reaction as the president made his way to Saudi Arabia.
“We’re just not going to negotiate in public,” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a gaggle on Air Force One.
“The president has always been very clear that he’s going to use every tool in his toolbox, every authority that he has, to make sure that we deal with the climate change — the climate crisis that we are currently in, but as far as the negotiations, I’m just not going to say much more about that,” said Jean-Pierre.
Pressed further to give any kind of reaction Biden had to this blow to his agenda, Jean-Pierre refused to go there.
“I’m just not going to negotiate in public,” she repeated.
(FAIRFAX, Va.) — Students in Virginia are calling on school administrators to combine genders in their Family Life Education, or sex education, courses.
Members of the Pride Liberation Project, a student-led LGBTQIA+ advocacy group in Fairfax County, protested on Thursday ahead of the Fairfax County School Board’s meeting.
The group’s leader, Rivka Vizcardo-Lichter, told ABC affiliate WLJA that the recent Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade galvanized students to protest.
Vizcardo-Lichter said a decision to create co-ed sex education courses would be a “step forward” for advancing the inclusivity of transgender and non-binary people in schools and in recognizing that “queer people need to learn about their sexual health in a safe way.”
“We’re not asking anyone to take on any crazy reforms,” Vizcardo-Lichter added.
Fairfax County schools currently hold sex education classes that separate students into two genders during the fourth through eighth grades.
The Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee issued a number of recommendations in May, including a mix in genders in sex education classes during grades four through eighth.
“The main criticism is that it makes students uncomfortable. We have to ask ourselves, ‘Why are students uncomfortable learning about their bodies?’ People who are afraid of FLE [family life education] have the option to opt their children out,” Willow Woycke, president of the Transgender Education Association, said at a May school board meeting in favor of the recommendations.
Nearby schools have implemented mostly gender-combined sex education, including Virginia’s Arlington County and Alexandria City, as well as Maryland’s Prince George’s County. Some Metro D.C. districts have also adopted the practice of combining genders in such courses.
Several other districts in the region continue to separate genders in sex education classes.
It’s not yet clear if the Fairfax County School Board will make a decision on changes to sex education classes.
“All advisory groups outline recommendations at the end of each school year,” Julie Moult, a spokesperson for the FCSB, told ABC News. “Some are acted on and some are not. The board may choose to review this recommendation at some point this coming school year.”
Kathleen Mallard, a Fairfax County resident, told ABC affiliate WLJA that a move to combine genders for students in grades four through eight would be wrong.
“Some of the discussions are about activities I think almost are sexualizing our children to some extent, up to the point of almost grooming them,” said Mallard. “I think this is not a good idea to have them both all in the same class, boys and girls.”
No changes came at Thursday’s board meeting but newly appointed superintendent Michelle Reid did acknowledge that new members would be appointed to the advisory committee.
Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A Maryland man faces federal hate crime charges for allegedly posing as a federal officer and targeting gay men in a series of attacks at a Washington, D.C., park, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Federal prosecutors allege that Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, assaulted five men with a “chemical irritant” at Meridian Hill Park on five separate occasions between 2018 and 2021.
A federal grand jury indicted Pruden last month on five counts of assault on federal land, one count of impersonating a federal officer and a hate crimes sentencing enhancement “alleging that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their perceived sexual orientation,” the Justice Department said.
Meridian Hill Park is informally known in the D.C. community as “cruising” spot for gay men, according to the indictment. Pruden allegedly frequented the park at night on multiple occasions and assaulted men “by approaching them with a flashlight, giving police-style commands, and spraying them with a chemical irritant,” the indictment states.
Pruden was arrested on Thursday in Norfolk, Virginia. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for each assault count — which could be increased by the hate crimes sentencing enhancement — and a three-year maximum sentence for impersonating a federal officer, the Justice Department said.
Court records do not list any attorney information for the suspect.
Pruden was arrested last year in connection with a similar attack at a federal park in Alexandria, Virginia, in March 2021.
Prosecutors allege that Pruden falsely presented himself as a police officer and sprayed victims with pepper spray at Daingerfield Island, also informally known as a cruising spot for gay men.
Pruden was indicted in a Virginia district court on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and acquitted in August 2021.
(NEW YORK) — American men are sicker and die earlier than men living in other developed nations, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit organization focusing on public health issues.
The study looked at men from the U.S, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden and found that rates of avoidable deaths, chronic conditions and mental health needs are among the highest with American men.
Around 29% of American men reported they have multiple chronic illnesses, followed closely by Australian men at 25%, according to the study. Men living in France and Norway were the lowest at 17%.
Experts reveal how likely reinfection is from COVID with spread of omicron subvariant BA.5
“Whether it’s stubbornness, an aversion to appearing weak or vulnerable, or other reasons, men go to the doctor far less than women do,” the study’s authors wrote.
Men in the U.S. also die from avoidable deaths, classified as deaths before 75 years old, at a higher rate than men from the 10 other countries listed in the report.
The study showed that income disparities also play a factor in one’s health. Men with lower incomes tend to partake in unhealthy habits more frequently, such as drinking and smoking, leading to chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
Low-income earners are least likely to afford adequate care and can’t visit the doctor regularly, which contributes to worsening health issues, the study added. Men stressed because they are low-income earners were less likely to have a regular doctor.
The U.S. remains an outlier being the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare and has led to men avoiding getting the care they need because costs are too high, researchers noted.
Long Island school district found to have higher rates of cancer cases: Study
“Roughly 16 million U.S. men are without health insurance and affordability is the reason that people most often cite for why they do not enroll in a health plan,” they wrote.
American men also don’t think highly of the U.S. health care system, with only 37% giving it a high rating. It’s even worse among men with a below-average income, with only 32% approving the healthcare system.
There was a silver lining among men in the U.S. They have the lowest rate of prostate cancer-related deaths among the other countries studied, largely because the U.S. offers wide-ranging cancer testing and advanced treatments, the authors of the study said.
ABC News reached out to the authors of the study for comment but have not heard back.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — Rabbi Michael Sommer’s congregation has been “in a state of shock” ever since seven people were killed in a mass shooting during a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois.
Sommer, the leader of the Har Shalom congregation, told ABC News that both he and the majority of his congregants are from Highland Park. The congregation meets in nearby Northbrook.
Many of his congregants were at the suburb’s Fourth of July parade where a shooter opened fire from a rooftop.
“Everyone is in a state of grief. Everyone is looking how lucky they were to have their family safe… So everyone is trying to pull together, we hope; we all know each other here. It’s a very warm community,” Sommer said.
Highland Park is among a group of suburbs north of Chicago, including Skokie, Glencoe, and Deerfield, that have large Jewish communities and a constellation of synagogues, Kosher and Jewish restaurants, and organizations serving the Jewish community.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the Jewish community there is trying to grieve and find meaning through Jewish institutions and practice, even though leaders say that it is too soon to truly be healing.
Jewish news outlet The Forward reported that five of the seven victims were either Jewish or members of Jewish families.
One of them was Katherine Goldstein, who was a mother to two adult daughters, an avid bird watcher, and a lover of travel, according to a friend of hers who spoke with ABC News. She was 64.
Her synagogue’s rabbi, Ike Serotta, described her and her family as “just remarkable people.”
“All of them are the most incredible, gentle, kind, caring people that you could ever want to meet,” said Serotta, who leads the Makom Solel Lakeside congregation in Highland Park, told ABC News. “And Katie was just a delightful, funny, vibrant person who was really just one of the kindest people you could ever expect to meet in this world.”
While authorities have not said what motivated the suspect, investigative groups have pointed to the suspect’s social media posts as gravitating towards far-right ideas. The suspect also reportedly visited the Central Avenue Synagogue, a Chabad Jewish center in Highland Park, around Passover, leaving on his own after his presence raised concerns.
Michla Tzipporah Schanowitz, who runs the Central Avenue Synagogue with her husband Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz, described dealing with the events of July 4 as “kind of overload, trying to process the sorrow and the pain of what happened, and the shock. But also at the same time, knowing that we can do so much to bring so much light and goodness into the world.”
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Jewish leaders in the community scrambled to provide support to their congregants and to the broader community.
For Sommer, that meant helping out with social services at the local high school, as well as calling congregants to check in with them to see how they are doing. “I dread the phone calls I miss, or the phone number I don’t have, or who I should have called that I didn’t,” Sommer said.
And for Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz, that meant rushing to Highland Park’s hospital, where he regularly volunteers as a chaplain. He went from door to door, with “no time for small talk… I didn’t even ask people their names. They urged me to go from from door to door, and it was [for people of] all faiths,” Schanowitz said.
“I just poked my head into the door and just being introduced as I’m clergy and I just want to wish you all the best; our prayers are with you and God give you strength and bless you, and went on to the next room unless somebody needed to talk,” he added. “But in most cases, they were all traumatized, and there wasn’t a lot of back and forth discussion.”
The Jewish Sabbath, which runs from Friday night at sundown to Saturday night at sundown, exemplifies rest and joy in Jewish tradition.
“We’re supposed to celebrate Shabbat with with song and joy, and it was very subdued. And I added some outside readings to express our pain… and God’s presence in our lives to help us on this journey of healing and through our grief,” Sommer said.
Michla Tzippora Schanowitz said that ahead of the Shabbat, she worked with others to give out Shabbat candlestick kits, used for the ritual lighting of Shabbat candles at sundown on Friday. “And people were very receptive… it felt like it was able to channel their feeling of yes, bring light, spiritual light” after such a dark week.
Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz said that at the Seudah Shlishit, a third meal of the Sabbath that is usually held in synagogue between afternoon and evening services on Saturday, the congregation took some time to reflect.
“We also went around the table, and people had an opportunity to express themselves–where they had been [during the shooting], and the effect that it had on them, and who they knew that may have been hurt, and so on,” Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz said.
Serotta cautioned against speaking about the Jewish community being ready to heal so soon after the shooting.
“When something as evil and unnatural as this, I can’t say how long it will be until people are ready to start talking about the word healing,” he said.
Looking ahead, some of leaders emphasized discussions around enhancing synagogue security in light of the shooting, staying connected and finding strength with the broader community.
“We’ve always felt a responsibility one for another as a Jewish community, and also responsibility to other people who live in our community,” Michla Tzippora Schanowitz told ABC News. “We always rise to the occasion and support each other. And we’re doing that here and we’ll continue to do that.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
(DAR ES SAALAM, Tanzania) — Health officials are investigating a deadly outbreak of a mystery disease in southern Tanzania that has infected over a dozen people and killed at least three of them.
Tanzania’s chief medical officer, Dr. Aifelo Sichalwe, urged the public to “remain calm” as he gave a briefing Wednesday from the capital, Dodoma. So far, a total of 13 cases of the unknown illness have been reported in Mbekenyera village in the East African nation’s Lindi region, with patients exhibiting symptoms similar to Ebola or Marburg virus diseases — fever, headache, fatigue and bleeding, especially from the nose, according to Sichalwe.
However, Sichalwe said preliminary results from laboratory testing has ruled out the Ebola and Marburg viruses in these cases, and that the patients had also tested negative for COVID-19.
The first case was recorded at Mbekenyera Health Center on July 5 and within three days, the hospital had received a second case, according to Sichalwe.
While three of the 13 patients have since succumbed to the strange disease, two who were isolated at Mbekenyera Health Center have recovered and returned home. Five patients remain in isolation, Sichalwe said.
The Tanzanian Ministry of Health has dispatched a team of experts to Lindi region to investigate the outbreak and take measures to prevent further spread of the unknown illness, such as conducting contact tracing, identifying people with similar symptoms and isolating them. Anyone who has had contact with confirmed or suspected cases are being monitored for 21 days, according to Sichalwe, who advised anyone experiencing similar symptoms to seek medical attention immediately.
The Tanzanian health ministry did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment or additional information.
Dr. Fiona Braka, team lead for emergency responses at the World Health Organization’s regional office for Africa, confirmed that “WHO teams in Tanzania are working closely with” teams from the Tanzanian health ministry (MoH) “to investigate the disease further and are monitoring the situation closely.”
“The Tanzania MoH released a statement on Wednesday indicating that they have done an initial assessment and all investigations so far are negative for Ebola and Marburg,” Braka told ABC News in a statement Friday. “WHO and MoH teams are working on getting further testing done to rule out other diseases, including conducting sequencing of the samples. Currently, there is no new information on the cause of this illness.”
On Thursday, the WHO warned that Africa is facing a growing risk of outbreaks caused by zoonotic pathogens that originate in non-human animals and then switch species and infect humans. There has been a 63% increase in the number of zoonotic outbreaks in the region in the decade from 2012 to 2022, compared with 2001 to 2011, according to a new analysis by the United Nation’s global health arm.
The analysis found that between 2001 and 2022, there were 1,843 substantiated public health events recorded in the WHO African region, of which 30% were zoonotic disease outbreaks. While these numbers have increased over the last two decades, the WHO noted, there was a particular spike in 2019 and 2020 when zoonotic pathogens represented around 50% of public health events. Ebola virus disease and other viral hemorrhagic fevers constitute nearly 70% of these outbreaks, while dengue fever, anthrax, plague, monkeypox and a range of other diseases make up the remaining 30%, according to the analysis.
“Infections originating in animals and then jumping to humans have been happening for centuries, but the risk of mass infections and deaths had been relatively limited in Africa. Poor transport infrastructure acted as a natural barrier,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement Thursday. “However, with improved transportation in Africa, there is an increased threat of zoonotic pathogens traveling to large urban centers. We must act now to contain zoonotic diseases before they can cause widespread infections and stop Africa from becoming a hotspot for emerging infectious diseases.”
The WHO warned that there can be a devastating number of cases and deaths when zoonotic disease arrive in cities, as several West African countries saw with the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak — the largest and deadliest on record.
“We need all hands on deck to prevent and control zoonotic diseases such as Ebola, monkeypox and even other coronaviruses,” Moeti added. “Zoonotic diseases are caused by spillover events from animals to humans. Only when we break down the walls between disciplines can we tackle all aspects of the response.”
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats will vote Friday on two measures to restore abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The action comes as Democrats ramp up their political messaging on abortion ahead of the November midterm elections, hoping the issue will drive voters to the ballot box to preserve the party’s majorities in Congress.
“It’s outrageous that 50 years later, women must again fight for our most basic rights against an extremist court and Republican Party,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday in a press conference on the U.S. Capitol steps ahead of the vote.
“Democrats are honoring the basic truth: women’s most intimate health decisions are her own,” Pelosi added.
One bill, titled the Women’s Health Protection Act, would establish a statutory right for health care providers to provide, and patients to receive, abortion services. It would also prohibit states from imposing restrictions on abortion care.
The lower chamber passed this bill in September 2021, but it failed to move forward in the Senate.
Any abortion-related legislation will likely meet a similar fate in the upper chamber, where Democrats need 10 Republican votes to overcome the 60-vote filibuster.
“We must ensure that the American people remember in November, because with two more Democratic senators, we will be able to eliminate the filibuster when it comes to a woman’s right to choose and to make reproductive freedom the law of the land,” Pelosi said Friday.
The second bill to be voted on by the House on Friday, known as the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, addresses recent efforts by state legislatures to punish Americans traveling for reproductive health care. The bill would would ensure no person acting under state law could prevent, restrict, or otherwise retaliate against a person traveling across state lines for lawful abortion services.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill that would have both legally shielded the people who travel across states lines to receive an abortion and the providers who care for those patients.
At least 13 states have ceased nearly all abortion services after the high court’s June 24 decision ending Roe, and several Republican-controlled states are already considering legislation to bar women from seeking services out-of-state.
“Are we going to allow these lawmakers to hold American citizens hostage in their own states, forcing them to give birth?” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a floor speech on Thursday. “Does that sound like the America that we know? No it doesn’t, and we need to draw the line here and now.”
Just last week, hundreds of abortion rights activists protested outside the White House calling on President Joe Biden to do more to ensure abortion rights. Biden signed an executive order on July 8 aimed at protecting access, but said it’s ultimately up to Congress to codify Roe.
Biden’s message to the demonstrators was to “keep protesting.”
“Keep making your point. It’s critically important,” he said.
