(LAGUNA WOODS, Calif.) — The pastor being hailed a hero for helping to thwart a gunman from taking additional lives at a California church described how the congregation, consisting mostly of elderly attendees, overtook the shooter.
About 50 people had gathered at the Geneva Presbyterian Church, a Taiwanese congregation in Laguna Woods, California, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles, on Sunday afternoon for a lunch banquet to welcome back Rev. Billy Chang from a trip to Taiwan, Chang told ABC News.
But a gunman angry over tensions between China and Taiwan, 68-year-old Las Vegas resident David Chou, was also in attendance and attempted to secure the doors inside with chains, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said Monday. Chou also attempted to disable the locks within the church with superglue, Barnes said.
Chang was on the podium taking photos when he witnessed the gunman randomly firing at congregants, he described in a statement on Monday.
Parishioners were able to escape through the one door Chou allegedly did not lock, and when he stopped to reload, Chang and Dr. John Cheng, a prominent sports physician, sprang into action.
Cheng, 52, charged the suspect and tried to disarm him allowing others to jump in, Barnes said. Chang grabbed a chair and slammed it into the shooter, pushing him to the floor, he said.
“I was in shock during these events,” Chang said in the statement.
Several of the surrounding congregants then swarmed the shooter, Chang said.
The group of churchgoers detained Chou, hogtying his legs with an extension cord and confiscating two handguns from him before more people could be shot, said Orange County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Jeff Hallock. Others called 911 while the restraint took place, Chang said.
“That group of churchgoers displayed…exceptional heroism, heroism and bravery in interfering or intervening to stop the suspect,” Hallock said.
Most of the congregants were elderly, officials said, and the injured victims ranged in age from 66 to 92 years old.
Cheng was shot and killed during the chaos, and five others were wounded by gunfire, Barnes said. Investigators believe more people would have been shot had it not been for Cheng’s actions, Barnes said.
“The majority of the people in attendance were elderly, and they acted spontaneously, heroically,” Barnes said. “There would have been many, many more lives lost if not for the concerted effort of the members of that church.”
Chang, through tears, asked for prayers for Cheng’s family and for the congregation.
“Thank you for your concern and continued prayers,” Chang told ABC News. “While my return to the United States, worship at the church and luncheon was [a] joyous occasion, the events that followed have deeply impacted the community and me.”
Chou, who is Chinese but an American citizen, is being held on $1 million bail, jail records show. He is expected to be charged with one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder, authorities said.
Authorities believe Chou’s anger began when he lived in Taiwan, where he felt he was an outsider, and his anti-Taiwan views were not accepted, Barnes said.
Chou’s wife and son still live in Taiwan, but Chou has lived alone in the U.S. for many years, Barnes said, adding that Chou’s views have become more radical as tensions between China and Taiwan have escalated.
China has long held that Taiwan is part of its country, while Taiwan governs itself as an independent nation dating back to when Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek fled the mainland as the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949.
The FBI has opened a federal hate crimes investigation into the shooting.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Ten people, all of whom were Black, were killed in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, in an attack authorities are calling a “racially motivated hate crime.”
The victims included four grocery store employees as well as six customers, several of them regulars at the store, according to the Buffalo Police Department and those who knew them.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden mourned those who were lost in the attack with the Buffalo community on Tuesday, describing them as “the best of our community.”
“The people who were slaughtered by this evil were very good people,” Biden said, vowing to make the community safer by advocating for stricter gun laws and criminal justice reform.
Here is what’s known about the victims so far:
Ruth Whitfield, 86
Ruth Whitfield was returning home from visiting her husband in a nursing home when she stopped by Tops to pick up groceries — “a daily ritual,” her son, Garnell Whitfield, told ABC News Sunday morning.
Ruth Whitfield was in the store when the gunman opened fire and was among the 10 who died in the shooting, Garnell Whitfield, a former Buffalo fire chief, said.
Garnell Whitfield described his mother’s devotion to her family, especially her husband, whose health has been declining over the past eight years.
“She was there just about every day, taking care of him, making sure he was well cared for by the staff, washing, ironing his clothes, making sure he was dressed appropriately, making sure his nails were cut and clean and shaved,” he said. “All of that. Every day.”
Even as her own health began to weaken, Ruth Whitfield still tried to visit her husband each day, taking days off only when she felt too debilitated to make the trip, her son said.
After suffering “a very difficult childhood,” when she became a mother, Ruth Whitfield “was all about family,” Garnell Whitfield said.
“And she rose above it, and she raised us in spite of all of that, being very poor,” he said. “She raised us to be productive men and women.”
Whitfield also sang in a choir, Biden said in his address Tuesday.
Roberta Drury, 32
Roberta Drury, a regular at Tops, was a “vibrant and outgoing” woman who could “talk to anyone,” her sister, Amanda Drury, told ABC News on Sunday.
Roberta Drury was born in Cicero, New York, about 150 miles east of Buffalo, and moved to the city in 2010 after her oldest brother, Christopher Drury, received a bone marrow transplant there to treat his leukemia.
She helped him run his restaurant, The Dalmatia, and care for his family, Amanda Drury said.
“She was always willing to help and laugh,” Amanda said over text.
Aaron Salter, 55
Aaron Salter, a retired Buffalo Police officer, was killed after he confronted the gunman, who entered the store wearing military fatigues, body armor and a tactical helmet.
Salter was working as a security guard and shot the assailant, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told ABC News on Sunday. But the bullets had no effect due to the bulletproof vest the suspect wore, and the gunman returned fire, striking Salter.
Gramaglia described Salter as a “true hero” who undoubtedly saved more lives during the encounter.
“He went down fighting,” Gramaglia said. “He came in, he went towards the gunfire. He went towards the fight.”
One Tops employee, a mother of seven, told ABC News that if it hadn’t been for Salter, she and her 20-year-old daughter, who was working at the register, would not have known the gunman was headed in their direction.
When she saw Salter pull out his weapon, they knew they had to run, and they both made it out alive, she said.
Salter was a “beloved” employee of Tops, several years after he retired from the police department.
“He took on a responsibility to protect the customers and the employees in the store,” Gramaglia said. “And he did exactly what he signed up for.”
During a Medal of Valor ceremony on Monday, Biden commended Salter, saying the retired police officer and father “gave his life trying to save others.”
Heyward Patterson, 67
Deacon Heyward Patterson was shot while inside his truck in the parking lot of the supermarket, Pastor James Giles told ABC Buffalo affiliate WKBW.
Patterson’s family described him to the station as a loving person. He leaves behind a wife and daughter.
Pearl Young, 77
Pearl Young, an Alabama native, spent the final years of her life teaching children as a substitute teacher in the Buffalo School District and was heavily involved in her church community, her sister, Mary Craig, told ABC News.
“She loved her students, and they loved her back,” a statement from her family read.
Craig described Young as “such a beautiful, sweet woman.”
“We’re all in shock and disbelief,” she said of the family.
Young leaves behind two sons and a daughter, Craig said.
Young was described in the statement as a missionary who would be “truly missed.”
“Missionary Pearl Young was a worshipper and loved God. She loved her children, her family, and her Good-Samaritan COGIC church family,” the statement read. “She was a true pillar in the community.”
On Tuesday, Biden said, “She touched the apple of God’s eye.”
Geraldine Talley, 62
In her final moments, Geraldine Talley, who’d come to Tops Family Market Saturday afternoon for a few items, sent her fiancée down an aisle to retrieve something off a shelf.
Before they could reunite, an armed suspect entered the supermarket and opened fire. Her fiancée survived the massacre.
Talley’s last moments were described to ABC News by Kaye Chapman-Johnson, her younger sister, who was not at the store with the couple.
“I am so angry, just devastated. This is so hard for our family right now,” she said in an off-camera interview. “Our sister, we had so many plans together, so many plans, and everything has just been stripped away from us.
“Our lives will definitely never be the same again.”
Two years older, Talley, 62, was Chapman-Johnson’s “best friend,” her sister said. “We talked every day.”
Talley was one of nine siblings and was “an amazing sister, mother, aunt,” said Chapman-Johnson. “She just was truly an amazing woman. And I’m going to miss her dearly.”
Talley’s death has left her family “destroyed,” added her sister. “I’m hoping that we can all move on.”
Celestine Chaney, 65
Celestine Chaney, 65, of Buffalo, was a mother and grandmother of six, The Buffalo News reported.
She was shopping with her older sister, JoAnn Daniels, when she was shot, according to the newspaper.
“She was a breast cancer survivor and she survived aneurysms in her brain, and then she goes to Tops and gets shot,” her sister told The Buffalo News.
Chaney’s son, Wayne Jones, told the newspaper, “If people’s moms are still around, just don’t be too caught up in social media and the world to pick up the phone and talk to your mom or your dad.”
Katherine Massey, 72, of Buffalo
Katherine “Kat” Massey was a civil rights activist who worked tirelessly to improve Buffalo’s Black community, The Buffalo News reported.
The Buffalo News said Massey wrote for local publications the Buffalo Challenger and Buffalo Criterion, and that she often wrote letters to The Buffalo News.
“She was unapologetic about making sure our community was not ignored,” Massey’s friend, former Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant, told the The Buffalo News. “We lost a powerful, powerful voice.”
Margus Morrison, 52, of Buffalo
Margus Morrison was a “great father” and “wonderful person” who was always willing to help his family, his stepdaughter, Cassandra Demps, said in a text message to ABC News.
Morrison is “a soul that will always be missed,” Demps wrote.
Andre Mackneil, 53, of Auburn, New York
ABC News’ Matt Foster and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — While much of the focus this midterm cycle has been on statewide races and the momentum behind Republicans amid dismal approval numbers for President Joe Biden, several Democratic House primaries could be emblematic of the direction of the party ahead of November.
In these contentious primary races in North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania, voters will choose between progressive and more moderate candidates. These races have drawn the attention of progressive heavyweights, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
In many cases, moderate candidates have been the beneficiaries of millions of dollars in spending by controversial outside groups like Protect Our Future, a PAC funded by a billionaire cryptocurrency boss Sam Bankman-Fried, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel super PAC.
“Money in politics is nothing new, and you’ve seen outside groups increasingly playing a role in North Carolina and around the country, what feels different this year is just how aggressively they’re investing in primaries,” said Asher Hildebrand, a professor at Duke University and former chief of staff to outgoing Rep. David Price.
Price’s district, North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District is a safely blue area which includes a few of the states large research universities. Primary voters there will likely make the deciding choice about who replaces him.
The leading candidates in the crowded Democratic primary are Clay Aiken of “American Idol” fame, Nida Allam, a local lawmaker and the first Muslim woman to hold elected office in the state who is backed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and Valarie Foushee, a Black state lawmaker widely considered the establishment pick.
Aiken, who previously ran for Congress in 2014, could be the first LGBTQ lawmaker to represent North Carolina if he wins. Political experts in the state consider his chances of coming out on top relatively low despite his high name recognition via his celebrity status.
The aforementioned PACs have poured millions into the race for Foushee, a move some in the state have interpreted as an effort to tamp down on the influence of the party’s progressive wing. If Foushee wins, she could be the first Black lawmaker to represent the area in Congress.
Allam is a Medicare-for-all and Green New Deal-supporting progressive who has the approval of members of the so-called “squad” of progressive Democratic congresswomen of color. Should Allam prevail, it could mark a significant progressive victory this cycle in a battleground state.
“I think what we’re seeing there are actually two candidates that have pretty similar platforms on most of the issues but the contest has really been framed as one of moderates against progressives,” said Sarah Treul a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “You’re gonna have a part of the Democratic Party, the more left leaning side, casting votes for Nida and the more moderate wing of the party no doubt casting votes for Foushee.”
In Oregon’s newly drawn 5th Congressional District, which includes Bend, incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader has the endorsement of President Joe Biden. While progressive candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner, an attorney who has mounted previous failed bids for Congress and Oregon Secretary of state, has the backing of most Democratic Party leaders within the district as well as Warren.
Schrader is considered one of the most conservative Democrats in the House and has taken heat from progressives on his vote against Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill and Biden’s Build Back Better spending plan.
“We don’t always agree, but when it has mattered most, Kurt has been there for me,” Biden said in a statement announcing his endorsement.
Schrader and his proponents argue that he can win in the district that now gives Republicans a better shot at winning.
“I’ve just got a proven track record of actually winning in a very difficult district,” said Shrader in an interview with ABC News. “This district got a lot more difficult than the previous district.”
But it’s a notion Mcleod-Skinner has pushed back on.
“I’m able to win crossover voters. I got the support even now of not just Democrats, but Republicans and independents. And that’s what’s we’re going to need,” she told ABC News.
Jack Miller, a political science professor at Portland State University, says McCleod-Skinner’s previous runs demonstrate an ability to appeal to Republicans in a district that has become more rural.
“I think that that experience, even though she lost, she got almost 40% of the vote in a supremely strong leaning Republican district. I think it’s the best Democrats have done there in 20 years. That is a great sign,” said Miller. “What’s interesting about her is that she has both that ability to run strong in those rural areas and she is what a lot of progressive Oregonians want.”
Sanders stumped for Summer Lee, a progressive running in Pennsylvania’s 12th district, another safely Democratic district that includes Pittsburgh.
For much of the race, Lee was considered the frontrunner, but a flood of cash from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is boosting her more moderate opponent, Steve Irwin, complicating her prospects. If Lee wins, she could be the first Black woman to represent the area.
Sanders sent a letter Monday to Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison calling for the party to keep super PAC money out of primaries.
“The goal of this billionaire funded effort is to crush the candidacies of a number of progressive women of color who are running for Congress,” Sanders wrote. “I am writing to you today to demand that the Democratic National Committee make it clear that super PAC money is not welcome in Democratic primaries.”
Historically, midterm elections don’t favor the president’s party and overall Democrats are bracing for losses. While the balance of power in Congress likely won’t hinge on the outcomes of these Democrat-on-Democrat races, they could serve as a bellwether for the state of the party in November and as it approaches the presidential cycle in 2024.
(WASHINGTON) — Voters were heading to the polls Tuesday for primary elections in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Idaho and Oregon amid a midterm season that will test the endorsement power of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Here is how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Check back for updates.
May 17, 5:41 pm
Democratic House primaries could foreshadow party’s direction
While much of the focus this midterm cycle has been on statewide races and the momentum behind Republicans amid dismal approval numbers for President Joe Biden, several Democratic House primaries could be emblematic of the direction of the party ahead of November.
In these contentious primary races in North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania, voters will choose between progressive and more moderate candidates. These races have drawn the attention of progressive heavyweights, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Click here to read what you need to know about key Democratic House primary races, which include incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader in Oregon gaining Biden’s endorsement, and in North Carolina, Clay Aiken of “American Idol” fame taking another shot at Congress.
-ABC News Deputy Political Director Averi Harper
May 17, 5:38 pm
Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb says primary will offer ‘lessons’ for Dems
With primary day underway in some of the hottest races of the year, Rep. Conor Lamb, a moderate two-term Democrat vying for the U.S. Senate nomination in Pennsylvania, told ABC News’ Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer that results in the state Tuesday could be a key bellwether for the future direction of the party and control of the Senate.
“I think the Democratic Party is going to have to, you know, think really hard about how we’re going to succeed and what is a very, very challenging political environment — and today is going to have some lessons,” Lamb said outside a polling place in his district.
Lamb, who has been trailing progressive Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in recent polls, acknowledged that Democrats face a choice between “two very different paths based on two different sets of experience and two different personalities,” as many in the party view the race as their best shot at flipping a Senate seat.
Asked by ABC News whether he thinks Fetterman’s hospitalization for a stroke will have any impact on the race, Lamb said “I don’t know” and then offered what seemed to be criticism of his rival for “very little information about it [his condition] much like the rest of the general public.”
“I wish him well, but I really can’t forecast that and people are just got to make up their own minds,” he said.
May 17, 5:35 pm
Top Dem candidates face health issues on primary day
Two top Democrats in midterm races in Pennsylvania are facing health issues on primary day, causing them both to miss their election night events. One is isolated with COVID and another was in the hospital Tuesday undergoing surgery after a stroke.
Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary race for governor, announced this morning on Twitter that he tested positive for COVID-19 Monday night. He said he’s isolated at home with “mild symptoms” and will be back on the campaign trail next week.
Shapiro also shared on Tuesday afternoon that he voted using an emergency absentee ballot, speaking in a video posted from his campaign’s Twitter account.
Meanwhile, the front-runner in the Democratic Senate primary race, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, underwent surgery on Tuesday to get a pacemaker and defibrillator after he suffered a stroke last Friday. As a result, his campaign team said he would not be able to attend his election night rally; instead, his wife, Gisele, will speak in his place.
Earlier on Tuesday, ahead of sharing the news of his surgery, Fetterman’s campaign shared a photo of him voting via an emergency absentee battle in the hospital.
May 17, 5:26 pm
Dr. Oz touts Trump endorsement, says opponent has ‘had her moment in the sun’
In a somewhat last-minute endorsement in April, former President Donald Trump threw his support behind Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary, citing the television doctor’s popularity and compliments regarding Trump’s health.
ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott was the only network reporter with Dr. Oz as he voted this morning in Pennsylvania. On his way out, Oz told Scott he’s confident he will win this evening’s primary. But a last-minute surge by conservative commentator Kathy Barnette has now shaken up the race.
When Scott asked Dr. Oz about her momentum, he said, “I think that Kathy, metaphorically, had her moment in the sun.”
“And I’m very proud of the president’s endorsement. He said I was smart-talking — never let you down, smart enough to understand the issues tough, tough enough to not weather in the face of criticism. When you go to bed at night, you know, I’ll never let you down,” he added.
“I just cast a vote for myself, which is not a humble thing to do,” Oz said. “But it’s what I’m humbly asking all Pennsylvanians to do to vote for someone that they know will win in the general election which is one of the main reasons President Trump endorsed me.”
May 17, 5:23 pm
McCormick speaks about missing out on Trump endorsement
McCormick did not get the coveted endorsement from former President Donald Trump, who threw his weight behind Dr. Mehmet Oz, so McCormick tried to balance complimenting the former president and saying Trump’s endorsement doesn’t have much impact.
“He’s very popular in Pennsylvania with good reason, in my opinion, but in terms of his endorsement — of course, his endorsement matters — but his endorsement to Mehmet Oz hasn’t had much of an impact,” McCormick said. “And the reason for that is much more about Mehmet Oz than it is about the president in that Mehmet doesn’t have a track record.”
McCormick also said the race boils down to two main issues: inflation and authenticity.
Recent polls have shown many Pennsylvania voters were still undecided leading up to primary day.
-ABC News’ Alexa Presha
May 17, 4:44 pm
Here’s what time polls close by state
Here’s what time the polls close in each state Tuesday. All times Eastern.
May 17, 4:43 pm
Tuesday’s contents test endorsement power of Biden, Trump
Tuesday’s primaries span five states, the most so far this season, and will test of the strength of endorsements from both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Biden handed out his first endorsement just a few weeks ago to Oregon incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader in a race that was low profile until the president weighed in.
Trump has interjected himself in several primary races so far, including backing Dr. Mehmet Oz for Senate in Pennsylvania and Doug Mastriano for the state’s governor.
The state is one of several battlegrounds across the country where supporters of Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results, and Mastriano attended the rally preceding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as did Kathy Barnette, a dark horse ultra-conservative GOP Senate candidate.
One question that will be answered Tuesday night is if the Trump endorsement can save tainted candidates. Trump put his neck out for two 26-years-olds in North Carolina: GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn, widely known across the country for his scandals and irreverent attitude, and Bo Hines — running for Congress in North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District where he doesn’t live or have wide name recognition.
(WASHINGTON) — Officials from the Department of Homeland Security warned that domestic violent extremists have been infiltrating the national abortion debate “to incite violence amongst their supporters,” a senior DHS official told state and local partners on a phone call Monday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The DHS official did not specify which side, if any, the extremists were taking.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters in January that domestic violent extremism remains one of “the greatest terrorism related threats” the U.S. faces.
“Over the past year, we in the Department of Homeland Security have improved and strengthened our approach to combating this dynamic, evolving threat,” Mayorkas said.
That official who spoke on the call with local partners warned that as summer approaches — and with the midterm elections in the fall — DHS will continue to be in a “heightened security environment.”
“The leaked Supreme Court opinion on abortion has already triggered an intense political and cultural debate on this topic, and it is very likely it will be an key driver that motivates domestic extremists on different ends of the ideological spectrum to engage in acts of political violence against targets whom they perceive as legitimate,” Javed Ali, a former senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council told ABC News.
Another top DHS official warned on a phone call Sunday that not only will domestic violent extremists attempt to use the abortion debate to incite violence, they will also try to take advantage of the ongoing immigration debate, expected to heat up due to the scheduled lifting on May 23 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health order under Title 42 and the potential for the influx of migrants along the southern border.
“We do believe that a range of individuals motivated by different ideological grievances will essentially drive an increase in the threat,” one DHS official said, according to a source familiar with the call.
John Cohen, who recently departed as the former acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at DHS, told ABC News that domestic violent extremists try to exploit political divisions.
“Domestic violent extremists develop messaging that they promote online, messaging that’s intended to exacerbate the fractures in our society,” Cohen now an ABC News contributor said. “So, they’ll pick issues like abortion, immigration and government COVID activities and elections.”
E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — With the Supreme Court’s looming decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade, doctors are voicing concerns about the well-being of adolescents in states where abortion is likely to become illegal.
Although teen pregnancy has been on the decline since 1991, pediatricians say abortion remains an important option for girls under 18 who become pregnant.
Most girls get their first period between the age of 10 and 15 years old, and most teens report being sexually active before they turn 18.
Despite their capacity to become pregnant, teenage girls are often left out of a national conversation about abortion, said Chez Smith, the CEO of Gyrls in the HOOD, a non-profit organization in Chicago committed to improving reproductive health outcomes for adolescent girls in urban neighborhoods.
“It’s like they shouldn’t be having sex anyways, so they’re not even part of the conversation, but they are a part of the conversation,” Smith said.
Teen pregnancy rates have improved thanks to contraception, sex education and community outreach. But “when something improves, doesn’t mean it ceases to be a necessary focus,” said Dr. Charis Chambers, a fellow at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In 2020, females ages 15-19 accounted for just under 5% of U.S. births, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But disparities still exist, with Hispanic and Black/Non-Hispanic teens each accounting for more than twice as many births each year as teenage white girls, HHS reported.
Motherhood can be related with positive experience, much like any mother, Chambers said. Teens “tend to be in awe of what the body is capable of,” she said. The challenges, however, “are really plentiful, and in a lot of cases, outweigh the triumphs,” she said.
For teens, accessing resources and navigating the healthcare system for themselves and their new baby can be extremely daunting.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 50% of teenage mothers receive their high school diplomas by age 22.
The emotional burden of childbirth can also take a toll. Adolescent mothers are twice as likely as their adult counterparts to suffer from postpartum depression, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics. Teenagers are also at high risk for developing generalized depression and anxiety, the report said.
The pregnancy itself is not without risk. As Chambers explains, pre-term labor, premature rupture of membranes — which increases the risk for infections like chorioamnionitis — and delayed labor occur most commonly with younger moms and older moms. Other medical conditions, like preeclampsia and even postpartum hemorrhages can also occur. Maternal death during childbirth is also a very real risk.
But becoming a mother as a teenager doesn’t only affect the mother. Children of teenage mothers are more likely to have lower school achievement, drop out of high school, give birth as a teenager and face unemployment as a young adult.
Despite the litany of short-term and long-term effects of becoming a mother as a teenager, the decision to terminate a pregnancy can also be challenging.
“There can be profound grief,” Chambers said.
Battling the stigma of being a teenage mom and the stigma of having an abortion, the ultimate decision to terminate can be very lonely.
“They feel a little traumatized or guilty or shameful,” Smith added.
Medical and surgical abortions are also not without risks, including the risk of bleeding or infections.
Some girls, Smith says, become more responsible after terminating a pregnancy. The experience changes them because they don’t want to be in that situation again and know they don’t have the resources or supports to care for a baby right now, they make different decisions around sex and contraception, according to Smith.
Both Smith and Chambers agree that for teenagers, prevention is the best strategy. But when prevention is no longer an option, the ability to seek safe abortion is even more important. Smith adds that reversal of Roe vs Wade, which would limit options for pregnancy termination in many states, would be particularly detrimental for the teenagers that she serves.
“It’s an invasion of that sacred space where the doctor and the patient are making decisions together,” said Chambers. It is in that space that a woman brings her specific experiences, hopes, fears, and goals and uses that context to make the very difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy if that is the decision she chooses, she said.
The teenage mind is still developing, with impulse control being one of the last parts of the brain to fully develop, so elimination of safe options may make young girls go to desperate, dangerous measures, Chambers said.
“They are gonna find a way to do it – Google, YouTube, performing it on each other,” Smith said.
“Abortions will always be done,” Chambers agreed. “It’s a matter of making it harder for disenfranchised patients – those typically with lower socioeconomic status, lower health literacy and limited access to healthcare – including teenage girls, who are still children themselves.”
Chidimma J. Acholonu, M.D. M.P.H., is a pediatric resident physician at the University of Chicago and a contributor to the ABC Medical Unit.
(WASHINGTON) — Pennsylvania’s Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the state’s Senate race, was scheduled to undergo surgery for a pacemaker and defibrillator on Tuesday after suffering a stroke late last week.
“John Fetterman is about to undergo a standard procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator. It should be a short procedure that will help protect his heart and address the underlying cause of his stroke, atrial fibrillation (A-fib), by regulating his heart rate and rhythm,” his campaign announced in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
A day after Fetterman announced his stroke, his team also said that he would not be attending his election night party and would remain in the hospital. His wife, Gisele, will speak in his place.
Fetterman’s campaign released a photo of him Tuesday morning voting with an emergency absentee ballot from the hospital, where he is recovering.
The lieutenant governor since 2019, Fetterman entered the national spotlight when he launched his campaign for the Senate last February. A progressive, he is vying for the Democratic Party nomination against the more moderate Rep. Conor Lamb and others. The general election there, later this year, could help decide the balance of power in Congress.
Fetterman doesn’t fit the mold for what a typical senator looks like: Standing 6-foot-8, he is bald, goateed and tattooed and frequently eschews traditional suits and ties in favor of shorts and Dickies shirts.
He earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University but has campaigned with a blue-collar approach, having served as the mayor of the small borough of Braddock, just outside Pittsburgh, for 16 years before being elected alongside Gov. Tom Wolf, a fellow Democrat, four years ago.
Fetterman previously ran for Senate in 2016, but lost in the primary.
Speaking with ABC News outside a polling place in his district on Tuesday, Lamb said of Fetterman amid his health challenges, “I wish him well.”
Lamb called their race a choice between “two very different paths based on two different sets of experience and two different personalities.”
The three leading candidates to watch in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary race are Fetterman and Lamb as well as state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Devin Dwyer and Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — An athletic icon and business success, Herschel Walker has the type of background that Republicans hope will propel him to the U.S. Senate, where his presence could very well tip the balance of power in the deeply divided chamber.
But Walker’s political ambitions have also revived scrutiny of another side of his record: allegations of domestic violence, physical threats and stalking. Walker has denied some of those accusations. Others he claims not to remember – a byproduct of his diagnosis with dissociative identity disorder, or D.I.D., a complex mental health condition characterized by some severe and potentially debilitating symptoms.
Recruited and endorsed by former President Donald Trump, his longtime friend and mentor, Walker is expected to win next week’s Republican primary by a substantial margin. Some Republicans fear, however, that if Walker earns the GOP nomination, these claims could catch up with him come November – when he would likely face formidable Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock – particularly if he fails to adequately answer for them now.
“[Walker] will have a better shot to win the general [election] if he addresses those issues that are out there from his past,” Georgia’s Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who has not endorsed any candidate in the primary, told ABC News’ “Nightline.” “If he doesn’t, then I think it’s going to be a tough day in Georgia when we get to the November election, and we’re going to send, unfortunately, another Democrat to represent us as a U.S. senator.”
Walker has insisted that he has made a full recovery and taken responsibility for any past transgressions, and in response to questions from ABC News, his campaign referred to his 2008 memoir, “Breaking Free,” in which he revealed his diagnosis, and a 2008 interview with ABC News’ Bob Woodruff, in which he discussed its effects on his marriage.
Watch “Nightline” on ABC on Tuesday night for a special report on Herschel Walker.
“This is an obvious political hit job [eight] days before an election orchestrated by Herschel’s primary opponents who are failing to get any sort of traction. Voters will see through it. Herschel addressed these issues in detail with Bob Woodruff 14 years ago — he even wrote a book about it,” Mallory Blount, a spokesperson for the Walker campaign, told ABC News. “The same reporters who praised him for his courage are now trashing him because he is a Republican. It is shameful and is why good people don’t run for office.”
But in his book, Walker does not address several claims about his behavior – some of which are documented in police records. Walker did not write, for example, about allegations that he once held a gun to his ex-wife’s head. Nor does he address a claim made in 2002 that he stalked a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. After the book was published, a woman claiming to have had a long-term relationship with Walker accused him of stalking and threatening her as well.
His critics have contended that he has yet to address the full scope of troubling allegations. Walker did not participate in any of the primary debates, and his opponents, most notably Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black, have demanded an explanation in his absence.
“Georgia deserves to know the details,” Black told ABC News’ “Nightline.” “There’s a pattern of deflect, defer, run, hide, twist. It’s unacceptable for service in the United States Senate. In my opinion, I think most Georgians are going to agree.”
A stunning interview
Walker ended a decorated football career in 1997, with a Heisman Trophy and more than a decade in the NFL to show for it. In Georgia, where he attended high school and college, he is an icon – widely considered one of the greatest college football players to ever hail from the state.
In 1984, the New Jersey Generals and its bombastic owner, Donald Trump, selected Walker with the first pick of the upstart USFL draft. It was the beginning of one of Walker’s most consequential relationships. In the ensuing decades, Walker has appeared as a contestant on the Trump-hosted reality television show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” and later served as co-chair of President Trump’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. Walker has also credited Trump with helping him navigate a lucrative post-football career in the poultry industry and other business enterprises.
But shortly after retiring from the game, according to his memoir, “Breaking Free,” Walker’s mental health and 16-year marriage deteriorated. He discussed the book in a 2008 interview with “Nightline,” telling ABC News that many of his struggles stemmed from dissociative identity disorder.
The once fearsome running back claimed that his psyche had fractured into as many as 12 alternate personalities, or “alters,” and he admitted to experiencing both violent urges and significant gaps in memory.
“It’s just personalities that can do different things for you,” Walker told Woodruff in 2008. “I told somebody once, you don’t want the Herschel that played football, you don’t want the Herschel that do business babysitting your child. You want a different person. When I’m competing, I’m a totally different person.”
In his memoir, Walker described one incident, from 2001, in which he became “so angry” with someone who arrived late to deliver him a car that Walker became consumed with “the visceral enjoyment I’d get from seeing the small entry wound and the spray of brain tissue and blood — like a Fourth of July firework — exploding behind him.”
“With murder in his heart and mind,” Walker wrote, he got behind the wheel of his Mercedes – where he kept a Beretta pistol in the glove compartment – to find the delivery man. But he soon spotted a “SMILE. JESUS LOVES YOU” bumper sticker, he wrote, and returned home.
But it was Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, who offered the most harrowing glimpse into Walker’s post-football life, telling ABC News that Walker once threatened her with a weapon.
“He got a gun, and he put it to my temple,” Grossman told Woodruff in 2008.
“Put the gun right to your temple,” Woodruff replied, “and what did he say?”
“I’m gonna blow your effin’ brains out,” Grossman said.
Walker told ABC News at the time that he had no recollection of the incident described by Grossman. He did not deny it, acknowledging that he “probably did it,” but asserted that the gaps in his memory, a hallmark symptom of D.I.D., left him unable to address it.
“Do you not remember something like that because you think that was another alter,” Woodruff asked Walker in 2008, “or do you want to get out of having to talk about it?”
“No, no, no, no,” Walker insisted. “I’m talking about everything else. If I can remember it, I’ll talk about it.”
For Grossman, however, the chilling experience remained clear in her mind.
“[Walker] says he doesn’t remember a lot of these details,” Woodruff told Grossman in 2008.
“He may not,” Grossman replied. “But I certainly do.”
Some observers have suggested that Walker’s diagnosis provides a convenient mechanism for deflecting responsibility.
“It’s an excellent excuse to use if you’ve pointed a gun at somebody,” retired Atlanta Journal-Constitution politics editor Jim Galloway recently told The Washington Post. “‘That wasn’t me; it was somebody else.’”
Walker and Grossman divorced in 2002, and Grossman sought and was granted a restraining order against Walker in 2005. Court records related to those proceedings contain additional allegations that Walker made other threats of violence toward Grossman and her then-boyfriend.
Walker denied the allegations when he was interviewed by police in 2005, and the police report notes that he “was very calm but surprised about [the statements]” and suggested that someone was “making allegations about him to help with future child custody issues.” Walker’s campaign did not respond to questions about the incident.
Grossman did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. Walker’s allies have pointed to the fact that she has participated in several interviews in support of Walker’s condition as evidence that the couple remains on friendly terms.
But police reports obtained by ABC News and others have since shown that Grossman is not the only woman to have made allegations of threatening behavior against Walker.
In 2002, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader told police that she believed Walker was lurking outside her home, and that a year earlier, Walker had “made threats to her” and was “having her house watched.” The former cheerleader declined to comment for this story. She told police in 2002 that she did not want officers to pursue Walker for fear of “[making] the problem worse.”
In 2012, Myka Dean, who claimed to have had an on-again, off-again relationship with the former football star for nearly two decades, told police that Walker “lost it” after she tried to break up with him, and she said he threatened to “sit outside her apartment and blow her head off when she came outside.” Dean died in 2019, but in a statement provided to ABC News from the Walker campaign, Dean’s mother said the family was never aware of her daughter’s allegations, and they are “very proud of the man Herschel Walker has become. We love him, pray for him, and wish we lived in Georgia so we could vote him into the United States Senate.” Dean’s mother and stepfather also served on the board of Walker’s company, Renaissance Man, Inc.
Walker, who has never been charged with a crime, has denied both claims, telling Axios in December 2021 that “people can’t just make up and add on and say other things that’s not the truth. They want me to address things that they made up.”
A complex condition
Dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is a rare mental illness that Walker had said he has struggled with since childhood: “I just didn’t know what it was,” Walker told ABC News in 2008.
Walker was initially diagnosed and primarily treated by Dr. Jerry Mungadze, a Bedford, Texas-based licensed professional counselor with a Ph.D. in counselor education. Mungadze penned the forward to Walker’s memoir, in which Walker described him as “one of my best friends and probably the most essential,” as he has become central to Walker’s recovery narrative.
But Mungadze’s embrace of controversial or unproven psychological theories and treatments over the years have since raised questions about the treatment Walker may have received. In 2008, Walker wrote that Mungadze “played an important role in my healing process,” which featured both out-patient treatment at a hospital in Southern California and a protocol apparently developed by Mungadze himself.
“Dr. Jerry described his procedures and proposed treatment for the part of me I had never truly understood,” Walker wrote. “He said his treatment would focus on the whole person rather than the separate parts of personalities I created. He assured me it was possible to achieve emotional stability based upon the approach and methods he had developed.”
Mungadze did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and Walker’s campaign did not respond to questions about the nature and extent of the candidate’s treatment.
Walker told Axios in December 2021 that he held himself “accountable” for his behavior toward Grossman, and said he has since experienced something close to a full recovery from the disorder that previously led him down that violent path.
“[I’m] better now than 99% of the people in America,” he said. “Just like I broke my leg; I put the cast on. It healed.”
But according to one expert, recovery from D.I.D. is not as straightforward as Walker seems to suggest, and it often requires long-term treatment to manage symptoms that can cause “impairment on work and social function.”
Dr. J. Douglas Bremner, a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University who specializes in the treatment of severe trauma-related conditions, cautioned that he could not speak definitively about Walker’s condition because he had not personally treated him, but he said the goal for most patients would “be more management of symptoms and, in some cases, it can be eventual integration of personalities.”
“In my experience, that kind of recovery is not something that is typical,” Bremner said of Walker’s assertion that he had completely healed. “The treatment is long term, so there’s no quick fixes.”
Walker’s campaign did not respond to questions about the current status of his recovery or whether he still receives treatment to manage the condition, leaving voters to parse Walker’s past statements.
“A lot of people may have this problem, but they’re too ashamed or they’re too scared to come out and say something,” Walker told ABC News in 2008. “I said I’m not ashamed, because guys, I’m human. I’m not nobody special. I’m just Herschel.”
Georgia Republicans will soon decide whether that’s enough for them.
ABC News’ Kate Holland and Jake Lefferman contributed to this report.
(SANTA FE, N.M.) — A massive wildfire currently burning east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is now the largest in the state’s history as thousands of firefighters continue to battle the blaze.
The Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire — made up of two fires that merged into one giant blaze last month — has burned 299,565 acres, state fire officials said Tuesday.
It officially surpassed the Whitewater-Baldy Fire as the largest fire in New Mexico’s history on Monday. That fire, which was caused by lightning and also consisted of two separate fires that merged, had burned 297,845 acres primarily in the Gila National Forest before being contained in late July 2012.
The Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire, the largest active fire in the U.S., was only 26% contained as of Tuesday morning, with more than 2,090 fire personnel responding. The Hermits Peak fire was caused by spot fires from a prescribed burn, while the cause of the Calf Canyon fire is under investigation, according to state fire officials.
Residents of San Miguel, Mora, Taos and Colfax counties are advised to remain on “high alert” Tuesday for evacuation updates and road closures, officials said.
Firefighters faced unfavorable wind conditions, warming temperatures and severe dry conditions since the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires ignited in early April.
“The challenge of predicting how wildfires move, the best experts in the world on this topic still are not going to get it right,” Dr. Jason Knievel, deputy director for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT this week.
There is a mix of conifer trees, ponderosa pine, brush and grass where the fire is now — and “critically dry fuels” may increase fire activity, fire officials warned Tuesday. The fire is burning near an area with steep terrain, which can also help spread the fire, according to Knievel.
“Fire tends to move uphill,” he said.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency in several counties last month as multiple wildfires burned, including the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire.
President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration earlier this month for New Mexico that brings financial resources to the areas battling the fires.
Thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate and hundreds of structures have been destroyed due to the recent wildfire activity, the governor noted in a letter to Biden last week requesting additional aid.
(WASHINGTON) — Top Pentagon officials told a House panel on Tuesday that there are now close to 400 reports from military personnel of possible encounters with UFOs — a significant increase from the 144 tracked in a major report released last year by the U.S. intelligence community.
A Navy official also said at Tuesday’s hearing that investigators are “reasonably confident” the floating pyramid-shaped objects captured on one leaked, widely seen military video were likely drones.
That footage, which the military confirmed last year was authentic, had helped spur interest in purported UFOs, also referred to as “unidentified aerial phenomena” or UAPs.
Indiana Rep. André Carson, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee, called Tuesday’s hearing, the first in more than 50 years focused on the aerial incidents.
UAPs, Carson said, “are a potential national security threat and they need to be treated that way.”
“For too long the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis,” he added. “Pilots avoided reporting or were laughed at when they did.”
The number of UAP reports has risen to “approximately 400,” a significant increase from the 144 between 2004 and 2021 that were tracked in last year’s report, according to Scott Bray, the deputy director of Naval Intelligence. Bray told the House panel that the spike was due to a reduction in the stigma associated with stepping forward to report such incidents in the wake of the 2021 report.
“We’ve seen an increasing number of unauthorized and or unidentified aircraft or objects and military control training areas and training ranges and other designated airspace,” Bray said. “Reports of sightings are frequent and continuous.”
But Bray believes many of the newly disclosed accounts are actually “historic reports that are narrative-based” from prior incidents that people are only now coming forward with, which leads him to believe there will be fewer new accounts in the future.
Last year’s intelligence report could only explain one of the documented 144 encounters and did not contain the words “alien” or “extraterrestrial.” The report stated then that the UAP incidents would require further study.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Bray echoed last year’s conclusion that most of the phenomena were likely physical objects and noted that “the UAP task force doesn’t have any wreckage that … isn’t consistent with being a terrestrial origin.”
Even so, Bray said, questions remain.
“I can’t point to something that definitively was not man-made, but I can point to a number of examples which remain unresolved,” Bray said, citing video of a 2004 incident in which a Navy pilot recorded an unusual, Tic Tac-like object over the water.
“We want to know what’s out there as much as you want to know what’s out there,” said Ronald Moultrie, the Pentagon’s top intelligence official, who also testified at the hearing.
Moultrie said the Pentagon is establishing an office to speed up “the identification of previously unknown or unidentified airborne objects in a methodical, logical and standardized manner.”
“We also understand that there has been a cultural stigma surrounding UAP,” Moultrie said. “Our goal is to eliminate the stigma by fully incorporating our operators and mission personnel into a standardized data gathering process.”
“Our goal is to strike that delicate balance: one that enables us to maintain the public’s trust while preserving those capabilities that are vital to the support of our service personnel,” he said.
Bray said “Navy and Air Force crews now have step-by-step procedures for reporting on a UAP on their kneeboard in the cockpit” and that these efforts have led to more reporting.
The increasingly mainstream interest in UFOs and UAPs has been sparked in recent years by leaks of once-classified videos and the Navy’s release of footage from their pilots’ own encounters.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the defense officials played three clips to help explain how brief the aerial incidents could be, making it very difficult to determine what was seen in the videos.
In one of the more notable cases, the officials detailed how “considerable effort” went into determining a theory for what was observed.
Bray played footage taken in July 2019 off the California coast from the deck of the destroyer USS Russell that seemed to show several pyramid-shaped objects hovering above the ship.
Bray acknowledged that investigators did not initially have an explanation for what was seen in the green night scope video — until they were able to contrast it with a more recent video of an incident that occurred off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
Officials who looked at that video found a similar pyramid shape. They concluded the phenomena were likely from drones that had been seen on sensors from another Navy asset.
“We’re now reasonably confident that these triangles correlate to unmanned aerial systems in the area,” Bray explained. “The triangular appearance is a result of light passing through the night vision goggles and then being recorded by an SLR camera.”
“This is a great example of how it takes considerable effort to understand what we’re seeing in the examples that we are able to collect,” he added.
Ahead of the hearing, Jeremy Corbell, a documentary filmmaker and UFO enthusiast who made public that “pyramid” video last year, said he was happy to see increasing awareness and government action.
“What is so great is that this is a direct response to public will,” Corbell told ABC News. “It is direct response to public pressure. It is representative government representing the citizens and their interest.”
“I am encouraged by the public desire to know and find out the truth of what UFOs represent to humankind,” Corbell said then. “It’s the biggest story of our time. And finally we’re beginning to have the conversation without ridicule and stigma that has so injured the search for scientific truth on this topic.”
Moultrie, the Pentagon official, said at Tuesday’s hearing that he wasn’t immune to a bit of the zeal himself as a science fiction fan.
“I have gone to conventions — I’ll say it on the record. Got to break the ice somehow,” he told the panel in one lighthearted line of questioning, adding, “We have our we have our inquisitiveness. We have our questions.”
ABC News’ Matthew Seyler contributed to this report.
