News – Page 1906 – 105.7 WDNY

California, New York look to expand abortion access, including to people from other states

May 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As a leaked draft Supreme Court decision shows the court may be ready to overturn the abortion rights guaranteed under Roe v. Wade, state legislators in New York and California are looking to increase access to reproductive services, including to people coming from other states.

The draft majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked to Politico earlier this week and confirmed as authentic by Chief Justice John Roberts, who ordered an investigation into its public release.

Roberts said in a statement the document “does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

State legislators in California have proposed a package of bills to address what they expect to be an influx in people seeking access to abortion in the state if Roe is overturned. New York lawmakers have also proposed legislation that would help people pay for abortions, even allowing taxpayers to contribute donations.

U.S. Senate Democrats, who have widely criticized the court’s apparent decision, are planning a vote on a proposed bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, next week which would codify Roe v. Wade, making it federal law. The bill would also outlaw all abortion legislation at the state level, including legislation that was in line with Roe. But it is unlikely to become law, despite passing in the House.

With the Supreme Court decision expected over the summer, lawmakers in Canada expressed concern over how the court’s apparent decision would limit access to abortion in Canada and the U.S.

“One of the concerning factors here is that there are many Canadian women who maybe don’t live near a major city in Canada, but will often access these services in the United States,” Karina Gould, Canada’s families, children and social development minister, told the CBC. “I’m very concerned about the leak yesterday. I’m very concerned about what this means, particularly for American women, but also for Canadian women.”

Gould said American women will be able to get abortions in Canada if Roe is overturned, in the interview.

“I don’t see why we would not,” said Gould “If they, people, come here and need access, certainly, that’s a service that would be provided.”

Those seeking abortions would also be able to get access in Mexico. Last year, Mexico’s Supreme Court rule to decriminalize abortion, deeming it unconstitutional to punish abortion.

Legislation proposed in New York

The New York State Senate has proposed a bill that would establish an access fund to pay for abortions and allows taxpayers to contribute to the fund on their state income tax returns. The bill is currently with the Senate Finance Committee.

Another proposed New York bill would require insurance policies providing maternity care coverage to provide coverage for abortions. The bill, currently with the Senate Insurance Committee, cited the federal government’s “hostility toward abortion” in its justification for the state’s need to enact such a law.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in a letter to Congress urging it to pass the WHPA, said the state can expect an “11 to 13% increase in out-of-state patients traveling to New York for abortion care,” if Roe is overturned.

Hochul said the state is preparing to provide access to abortion care for people from out of state.

“For New York State to fully step up and be able to accommodate everyone who needs care, we need significant federal support to bolster our provider network and accommodate these new patients. Following action to repeal the Hyde Amendment, Congress must make federal funding available to states like New York that expect an influx of patients from other states,” Hochul said.

Hochul also called for federal protections that would allow the U.S. Postal Service to ship abortion medication to all states and for the expansion of telehealth services to facilitate access to abortion.

“As many states work to close off avenues to safe abortion services within their borders, the demand for abortion-inducing medications through mail and delivery services is growing. The U.S. Postal Service is a critical partner to meet the current demand, and Congress must adequately fund the postal service to ensure patients can receive prescribed medical abortion medications, regardless of their zip code,” Hochul said.

In the letter, Hochul also called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which she said has “prevented federal funds from being used for abortion services, including health insurance funds that support low-income Americans.”

New York is one of only 15 states to cover abortions with state Medicaid dollars and the state has passed a law that requires health plans to cover abortion services without cost-sharing, Hochul said.

The state has also allowed abortion telehealth services and has convened an Abortion Access Working Group, which will meet regularly with patients, providers and advocates to guide state abortion policy and respond to needs.

Legislation proposed in California

In anticipation of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the California State Legislature introduced a package of 13 bills in January in an effort to make California a “sanctuary or a refuge for individuals seeking abortions and reproductive health care,” California assemblywoman and chair of its women’s caucus, Cristina Garcia, told ABC News in an interview.

“We introduce a package of bills and I think the idea is: that a right without access is an empty promise,” Garcia said.

When crafting the bills, legislatures relied on a report from the Future of Abortion Council, a group made up of more than 40 organizations across the state, which gave recommendations to protect and expand access to abortion in California.

According to research from the Guttmacher Institute, overturning Roe, which would allow some states to ban abortions, would increase the number of women whose nearest provider would be in California from 46,000 to 1.4 million.

“That’s an over 1,000% increase for what we see here in California. And so we really need to shore up our access here to make sure we have enough providers that could perform these services,” Garcia said.

Among the aims of the package of bills, the legislature is trying protect the privacy of providers and patients coming in from out of state and widen the number of providers able to perform the procedure and where the procedure could be performed, Garcia said.

Legislatures are doing their best to move up the timeline for when these bills would pass, she said.

“While we were being proactive in January when we introduced the bills and we’re just letting them go through the regular process, we realized that we missed something in our planning. The fact that we expect something come June — July was like, oh, we should hurry up and add urgency, where appropriate, to our bills,” Garcia said.

One bill, which has already passed, eliminates copays, deductibles and any cost-sharing requirements for abortions for all state-licensed health care service plans or disability insurance policies issued after 2022. This would apply to covered spouses and dependents, and Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

The legislature on Friday placed urgency on a bill to protect patients and providers from civil actions and financial retaliation for abortion services that are legal in California. A second bill they are also looking to add urgency to would deny out-of-state subpoenas for patient information regarding reproductive health care granted in California.

“Our goal is to get that through and passed before the end of June, and then would go into effect July 1,” Garcia said.

The California Legislative Women’s Caucus is in the process of identifying which other bills should take priority in order attempt to pass them by the June 30 deadline, she said. Those bills, with urgency, would become law by July 1, according to Garcia.

Other bills could become law as soon as next year. For a bill to go into effect in the new year, it needs to pass the legislature by Aug. 31 and be signed by the governor by Sept. 30. Some of the bills in the package may have later starting dates, according to Garcia.

The package also aims to increase access to people in marginalized groups who have access problems, including Californians.

One of the proposed bills would make Los Angeles a safe haven for abortions, regardless of residency. The bill would also establish a Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program, with the goal of advancing reproductive healthcare, specifically abortions, according to the bill.

Another bill would use tax dollars to set up a website that would help connect people coming from out of state with groups providing support services for those seeking abortions. The services include airfare, lodging, ground transportation, gas money, meals, dependent childcare, doula support and translation services, to help a person access and obtain an abortion, according to the bill.

“The idea is to create a public-private partnership … so that people looking to come to the state could then be connected to the different groups are already providing that network of support: to help you with the travel, to help you to ensure that you’re at a good provider, [and] that you have lodging while you’re here,” Garcia said.

State legislators from Connecticut and Washington have also reached out to Garcia for advice on implementing similar protections in their states and Garcia has been connecting those legislators with different groups that they work with in California, she said.

Anti-abortion rights groups, such as Live Action, have criticized California’s laws, one of which they said would permit abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. This includes what Live Action’s president called “death by neglect” by failing to provide medical care during the perinatal period after a child is born.

“That should not be the right of California to do. They don’t have the right to endanger children in the womb that way,” said Lila Rose, the president and founder of Live Action.

Rose also criticized California’s governor for the state’s move to help pay for abortions.

“It’s really disgusting what [Governor] Gavin Newsom in California is doing announcing that California is actually going to pay for people to come to our state to have abortions, literally making it an abortion tourism state,” Rose said.

She added, “the solution or the response should be we need to work to help women and help children so that they can live as opposed to we’re going to encourage them to literally travel to kill their children or have their children be killed.”

How abortion clinics are preparing for possible fall of Roe v. Wade

May 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The bombshell leak of a draft Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade was disheartening but not surprising to many abortion providers, who have been preparing for the possible end of legal abortion for years.

Whole Woman’s Health operates abortion clinics in Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota, Indiana and Texas. For Marva Sadler, the senior director of clinical services for the abortion provider, recent restrictions on abortion access in Texas offer a hint of what’s to come if Roe is overturned this year.

After Texas’ near-total ban on abortions, SB8, went into effect last year, the number of patients seeking abortions at Whole Woman’s Health’s Texas clinics declined by upward of 50%, Sadler said. Meanwhile, Texas patients have traveled as far as Virginia to obtain an abortion due to waits at closer clinics. Whole Woman’s Health’s Minnesota clinic has seen a 30% increase in the number of patients from Texas since SB8 went into effect, Sadler said.

“Unfortunately, Texas has given us great insight in exactly what we’ll see happening on a much bigger, larger scale,” Sadler told ABC News.

Preparing for an influx

The leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion is not a final decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which involves a ban on abortions in Mississippi after 15 weeks of pregnancy — before the fetal viability line established by Roe.

The Mississippi law remains under review by the Supreme Court, but 26 states are certain or likely to prohibit abortions if Roe is overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health policy research organization.

That includes every state that borders Illinois. Planned Parenthood of Illinois expects between 20,000 to 30,000 more patients would travel to the state each year for abortion care if Roe falls.

“We really do anticipate that that’s going to happen,” Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, told ABC News. “And what we have been doing is preparing for a number of years for this eventuality.”

Preparations include expanding the sizes of its health centers, opening two new clinics on the Indiana and Wisconsin borders, launching telehealth services for medical abortions and working with partners like abortion funds and other affiliates “to make sure that there’s a navigation program in place so patients can get the care they need here in Illinois,” Welch said.

Whole Woman’s Health has been assessing the needs at its clinics for years, as abortion access has changed in the states it covers and their neighbors. The organization has already started the process of readjusting its staffing needs should Roe be overturned “to make sure that we are well aware of how far we can expand … and what we need to obtain to move forward,” Sadler said.

Responding to evolving needs

In the wake of SB8, which bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, Whole Woman’s Health has helped women get abortion care out of state if they are unable to in Texas. It launched its Abortion Wayfinder Program, which refers patients to a Whole Woman’s Health clinic in a haven state like Maryland, Minnesota or Virginia, as well as connects them to other ally organizations and funding support. So far, the program has helped over 85 women access or obtain abortion care outside of Texas, Sadler said.

“That program has grown so fast that we’ve not been able to keep up,” she said.

If Roe is overturned, Sadler anticipates its clinics will reassess the needs of the communities they serve in order to continue to provide reproductive health care, such as by continuing to help patients access abortion care outside of Texas.

“Texas will absolutely be one of the states where abortion will become illegal very shortly after and if Roe falls, and so we do have to be prepared and are prepared for what does that post-Roe atmosphere look like for our Texas clinics,” Sadler said. “We’re going to do whatever we possibly could do to see as many patients as we possibly can — where we can, while we can. And in the event that we cannot, then we’ll reassess what those patients in those communities need and how we can be of assistance to them.”

Expanding in safe havens

Some abortion clinics are anticipating opening new facilities in states that are less likely to enact sweeping bans should Roe be overturned.

Shannon Brewer, the director of Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health, told ABC News’ podcast “Start Here” last week that she’s seeking to open a new location in New Mexico.

“This is not something that is going to just affect Mississippi within the year. This is going to affect upwards of 25 to 26 states, which is half of the United States,” said Brewer.

Sadler said that opening more clinics is “absolutely part of the conversation” at Whole Woman’s Health.

“If women are going to have to make a mass exodus outside of the state to go to where they need to go, we definitely need to pay attention and are paying attention to where those safe havens are, what the current situation can hold and who can hold the influx and where the need may arise in the near future,” Sadler said.

Welch said Planned Parenthood of Illinois is considering opening a new location in southern Illinois.

“We need to know that we have a location that is safe and appropriate for our patients and our staff,” she said. “That would be a while down the road, so we’re so focused on the other ways that we can welcome 20[,000] to 30,000 additional patients into Illinois per year when the Supreme Court overrules Roe.”

‘We’re not leaving these communities’

Trust Women operates abortion clinics in Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kansas. Both have seen an influx of patients since SB8 went into effect; patient volume at the Oklahoma City clinic has doubled since September, with a majority of patients now coming from Texas, according to communications director Zack Gingrich-Gaylord.

The Texas ban has increased waits for care at both clinics. With the Oklahoma governor signing a six-week abortion ban similar to the one in Texas last week, the abortion provider expects delays at its Kansas clinic to get even worse.

Trust Women has been working to increase capacity at its Kansas facility by bringing on additional doctors and increasing the number of clinic days. It also is looking to bring over its Oklahoma staff in the wake of the state’s new restrictions.

If Roe falls, Oklahoma’s trigger law would ban abortion in the state, placing further demand on independent abortion clinics in Kansas, Gingrich-Gaylord told ABC News.

“As more states fall off and access becomes even more limited, then people will not be able to see doctors in clinics,” he said. “There are much better medicines and ways to self-manage abortion now and it’s very safe to do so. But even that still will be out of reach for some people.”

As abortion clinics await the Supreme Court’s decision, Trust Women is working to protect abortion rights in Kansas ahead of an upcoming ballot measure in the August primary that could overturn the constitutional protection for abortion access in the state.

“If Roe falls, Kansas will be the closest legal abortion provider for 7.7 million people across the region,” Gingrich-Gaylord said. “So Kansas’ constitutional protection for abortion matters.”

Though there are challenges to abortion access in Oklahoma and Kansas, Gingrich-Gaylord said Trust Women doesn’t have any plans to leave the states and open clinics elsewhere.

“Our plans are to remain in our communities,” he said. “We may adjust how we do some things, but we’re not leaving these communities and our clinics will stay open and provide some service going forward. We’re not going anywhere.”

Russia-Ukraine live updates: US, G7 allies announce new sanctions against Russia

May 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

May 09, 5:49 am
‘No reason to celebrate’ evacuations from besieged plant, commander says

As news spread of a successful evacuation operation from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, the deputy commander of the Azov battalion, Svyatoslav Palamar, said there was little reason to celebrate.

“Not enough is being done to try and evacuate wounded soldiers,” Palamar said, speaking at a press conference at the plant, which is surrounded by Russian forces.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Saturday the first stage of the rescue operation had concluded and all civilians had been evacuated from the steel plant. Another 173 people were rescued Sunday from Azovstal and surrounding Mariupol, according to the local city council.

But Palamar said some civilians might still be trapped under the rubble of ruined shelters and that many bodies of deceased troops and civilians remain uncollected on the plant’s territory.

More than 25,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Mariupol, according to Azov commanders. Half of all Russian bombardment and shelling in Ukraine was aimed at Mariupol, the battalion commanders said, adding that the city was shelled 150 times a day on average.

Russia has lost about 2,500 troops, with a further 500 wounded and over 60 destroyed tanks, in the city, Azov officials claimed. Yet the unblocking of Mariupol by military means remains difficult due to the lack of heavy weapons, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv on Sunday.

Russia continued over the weekend to shell Ukrainian cities. Zelenskyy said Russians have “celebrated” the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation on May 8 by launching nine missile strikes against Odessa. Zelenskyy spoke at a press briefing in Kyiv held after his talks with visiting Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. The Ukrainian President also met the head of the German parliament, Baerbel Bas, on Sunday. The two leaders spoke about how “German leadership in the European Union” can help Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Sunday.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Sunday that Berlin made a mistake by prohibiting Ukrainian symbols and flags at rallies during events on May 8-9.

“It’s deeply false to treat them equally with Russian symbols,” Kuleba wrote, adding that “taking the Ukrainian flag away from peaceful protestors is an attack on everyone who now defends Europe and Germany from Russian aggression with a flag in their hands.”

On Monday, as Ukraine celebrated the Day of Victory over Nazism in World War II, Zelenskyy said that the ongoing conflict was “not a war of two armies. This is a war of two worldviews.”

Russian missiles are trying to destroy Ukrainian philosophy, Zelenskyy said, because it “scares them.”

“We are free people who have their own path,” the president said. “Today we are waging war on this path and we will not give anyone a single piece of our land.”

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Fidel Pavlenko, Irene Hnatiuk, Max Uzol and Uliana Lototska

May 08, 4:51 pm
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau visits Ukraine, announces new support

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Ukraine on Sunday and toured devastated areas in and around Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

During a joint news conference, Trudeau pledged Canada’s continuing support for Ukraine and condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for atrocities he alleged Russian forces are responsible for in Ukraine.

“It is clear that Vladimir Putin is responsible for heinous war crimes,” Trudeau said. “We will continue to do the work of being there for you with whatever we can, whatever you need.”

Trudeau announced that Canada is sending additional military support to Ukraine, including drone cameras, satellite imagery, small arms and ammunition.

The prime minister also said Canada will impose new sanctions on 40 Russian individuals he alleged are complicit in Putin’s war.

“And we’re bringing forward new sanctions on 40 Russian individuals and five entities, oligarchs and close associates of the regime in the defense sector, all of them complicit in Putin’s war,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau also announced that all trade tariffs on Ukrainian imports to Canada will be lifted for the next year and that Canada is donating CA$25 million, or about US$19.3 million, to the U.N. World Food Program, which is providing emergency food assistance to people in Ukraine.

Trudeau said that he and Larissa Galadza, Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine, raised the Canadian flag at the country’s embassy in Kyiv on Sunday to signal its reopening. He called the move an “important symbol not just of Canada’s steadfast friendship with Ukraine, but of the incredible resilience and heroism of the Ukrainian people, who ensured that this city did not fall.”

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

May 08, 3:46 pm
Pope Francis asks for daily prayer for peace in Ukraine

Pope Francis on Sunday prayed for peace in Ukraine, entrusting to the Virgin Mary the ”sufferings and tears of the Ukrainian people.”

”In front of the war’s madness, let us please continue to pray the rosary for peace every day,” the pope told thousands of people gathered in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square for his weekly address and blessing.

For several Sundays in a row the pope has led prayers for peace in Ukraine and has condemned the Russian invasion of the country, calling the act of war “senseless” during an Easter Sunday Mass last month.

The pontiff also prayed for the victims of an apparent gas explosion on Friday at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, Cuba. At least 26 people were killed in the blast at the popular hotel and around 70 people were injured.

May 08, 3:11 pm
U2’s Bono, The Edge perform surprise concert in Kyiv

U2’s frontman Bono and lead-guitarist The Edge surprised fans in Kyiv on Sunday by performing an impromptu concert in the Ukrainian capital’s central metro station.

The two Irish rockers delivered a nearly hour-long set at the Khreshchatyk Metro Station, Kyiv’s busiest metro station, as several dozen fans watched.

“The people of Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you’re fighting for all of us who love freedom,” Bono told the crowd between songs.

The musicians were joined on one of the station’s platforms by Taras Topolia, frontman of Ukrainian pop rock band Antytila. Topolia presented Bono with a piece of shrapnel he said was the remains of a missile that struck near the base in Kyiv where he is currently serving in the Ukrainian Army.

Two more major law enforcement groups endorse Biden pick for ATF

May 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has received the endorsement of two more major law enforcement groups, according to two letters obtained by ABC News.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the world’s largest group for police leaders, and the Women in Federal Law Enforcement Foundation (WIFLE), offered their support of Biden’s nominee, former U.S. attorney Steve Dettelbach, in letters to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

“[Dettelbach’s] years of experience as a United States Attorney have provided him the opportunity to work closely with law enforcement agencies and gain a unique understanding of the challenges and complexities agencies face in combating firearms violence, gang-related crime, and other threats to our communities,” IACP President Chief Dwight Henninger said in the association’s letter.

“We believe that Mr. Dettelbach’s experience, expertise, and record of success are evidence of his outstanding qualifications to serve as the next Director of the ATF.”

WIFLE’s President Catherine Sanz similarly praised Dettelbach’s previous experience as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, where he served for seven years under the Obama Administration.

“He has used innovative anti-violence approaches and partnerships focusing on crime prevention as well as data driven approaches to target criminal organizations and violent offenders,” Sanz said. “He also engages with the communities to create a more coordinated and inclusive approach to law enforcement.”

In recent weeks, an increasing number of national law enforcement groups have thrown their support behind Dettelbach, who the White House hopes will become ATF’s first Senate-confirmed director in more than six years.

David Chipman, who served 25 years as an ATF agent before later becoming a vocal gun control advocate and senior policy advisor for the Giffords Foundation, was forced to withdraw his nomination last September following a major campaign opposing his nomination from gun groups like the National Rifle Association.

In addition to unanimous opposition from Republicans in the Senate, several moderate Democrats, in addition to independent Sen. Angus King, withheld announcing their support for Chipman’s nomination.

While WIFLE endorsed both Dettelbach’s nomination as well as Chipman’s, IACP was among several law enforcement groups that had notably withheld announcing their support for Chipman.

Colorado voting officials adopt safety measures as state becomes target for election conspiracists

May 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(DENVER) — When Josh Zygielbaum left the Marine Corps more than ten years ago, he thought he would never have to wear body armor again. But now Zygielbaum is back to wearing a bulletproof vest as a Colorado county clerk — one of the many extreme measures he says he’s been forced to take as the state has emerged as a battleground in the shadowy world of election conspiracies.

Considered by many experts to be a leader in election security due to its up-to-date voting machines, its policy of recording every vote on a paper ballot, and its rigorous post-election audits, Colorado has been described by some election experts as the “gold standard for elections.” Yet despite its strong reputation, the state has recently been targeted by election denial groups as a center for baseless accusations that election workers helped steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump.

As a result, election officials and poll workers in several Colorado counties have donned bulletproof vests and undergone active shooter training for their own safety.

Zygielbaum and other officials ABC News spoke with pointed to Tina Peters, an embattled county clerk in Mesa County, accusing her of being one of the leading figures fueling the false and baseless conspiracy theories that have put Colorado in the spotlight.

Peters, who announced in February that she is running for Colorado secretary of state, has been under investigation by the FBI since November for her alleged involvement in a security breach of the Mesa County election system, according to a statement by the Colorado attorney general. In March, she was indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of election tampering and misconduct, after authorities say the election software she used for her county wound up in the hands of a consultant, and screenshots of the software appeared on right-wing websites.

“Using a grand jury to formalize politically-motivated accusations against candidates is tactic long employed by the Democrat Party,” Peters said in a statement posted on her campaign website. “Using legal muscle to indict political opponents during an election isn’t new strategy, but it’s easier to execute when you have a district attorney who despises President Trump and any constitutional conservative like myself who continues to demand all election evidence be made available to the public.”

For the past several months, Peters has been joined by attorney John Eastman, a key architect of former President Donald Trump’s legal effort to overturn the 2020 election, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump confidant, at election denial events in the state.

“I came to Colorado today because you have here in Colorado the key to the whole nation,” Lindell said at a rally in April, “because you had a great county clerk, Tina Peters, (who) did her job.”

“For people that say we need to look forward — we’ve got to fix what happened in 2020,” Peters told the crowd.

In a similar event in February hosted by FEC United, a conservative group with a militia wing, attendees including Peters and Eastman cheered as self-described election denier Sean Smith said that he had evidence of criminal election conduct by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

“You may know me as the number-one most dangerous election denier in Colorado,” Smith told the crowd.

The event spurred Griswold to make a report to the Colorado State Patrol after Smith said that “if you’re involved in election fraud, then you deserve to hang.”

“We are still seeing the effects of the 2020 election,” Griswold said in a statement to ABC News. “Extreme elected officials and right-wing political insiders continue to spread the Big Lie and election conspiracies.”

As voting officials gear up for the upcoming midterm elections, “the potential for violence that we face is very real,” Zygielbaum said.

Concerns about their staffers’ safety have spurred county officials to adopt a variety of safety protocols. Zygielbaum told ABC News that employees in his Adams County office have been asked not take the same route home on a daily basis.

He said his county has also partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to review their facilities, and is redesigning their elections office “so that voters and individuals who are not employees” cannot go inside the building. In addition, the county is working closely with law enforcement at the state, local and federal level, and has a direct line to the FBI and Terrorism Task Force.

Secretary Griswold confirmed to ABC News that her office arranged for counties to receive a physical threat assessment from DHS, as well as nearly $130,000 in grant funding to make security upgrades.

In the city of Denver, clerk Paul López says he had to move his office away from a first-floor window because it was a security risk.

“I think that folks who think they can intimidate election workers and try to stop us from being able to do our job are absolutely incorrect,” López told ABC News. “We will defend our democracy, and we will do it in a way that inspires people to come to the polls and not scare them away. “

In Chaffee County, county clerk Lori Mitchell has faced personal threats since 2020, with one incident over the summer traumatizing her to the point where she almost decided against running for reelection.

“I saw somebody lay their right hand over their left arm and pull what looked like a gun to me,” Mitchell told ABC News. “And so I ducked in my car.”

“It ended up being a squirt gun,” Mitchell said. “But it was still one of the most frightening days of my life.”

Now, Mitchell and other officials in her office speak with constituents through bulletproof glass. To prepare for the midterms, the county is working closely with law enforcement to enact additional measures to protect election workers.

“Colorado is one of the current epicenters of the Stop the Steal movement,” said Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association. “And so we are concerned and very worried about the influence and pressure being put on election officials. They are incredibly understaffed and overworked, and now they have to deal with the emotional toll that comes from knowing that you have to do things to protect yourself.”

According to Crane, the state has seen people “putting in open-records requests to get personal information of poll workers and election judges.”

Crane said that as the state prepares for the upcoming midterms, the attorney general and district attorneys have been working with law enforcement organizations to prepare for possible hostile situations against election officials.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban the open carry of guns at polling places and create new criminal penalties for people who threaten election workers.

A similar bill that is part of a legislative package to increase security for state and local officials was also advanced by a state legislative panel last month. That legislation also includes a bill aimed at cracking down on the attempted sabotage of voting equipment — described by officials as a direct response to allegations against Peters, the Mesa County clerk.

“No one should have to worry about the safety of themselves or their families when serving as an election administrator,” said Griswold.

“By protecting our election workers and officials, we safeguard our democracy,” she said. “We must do what we can to protect and retain our top-quality election administrators at the state, county and local level.”

Putin defends Ukraine invasion while marking WWII victory

May 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — During a military parade in Moscow on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed his troops fighting in neighboring Ukraine, but offered little insight into his next steps.

“You are fighting for the motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the Second World War,” Putin said in a patriotic speech for Victory Day, a national holiday in Russia commemorating the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Columns of Russian soldiers marched through Moscow’s Red Square, alongside tanks and other military vehicles boasting huge intercontinental ballistic missiles.

“Now here, on the Red Square, soldiers and officers from many regions of our vast homeland stand shoulder to shoulder, including those who came directly from Donbas, directly from the combat zone,” Putin said.

Putin launched a “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. They quickly reached the outskirts of Kyiv, but ultimately failed to seize the Ukrainian capital and other major cities in the north. Russian forces were met with strong resistance from Ukrainian troops, despite weeks of relentless bombardment that decimated entire neighborhoods and claimed civilian lives.

The Russian military announced on March 29 it would scale down activities in the north around Kyiv and Chernihiv and instead focus its efforts on the “liberation” of the disputed Donbas region in the east, which is home to a mostly Russian-speaking population. Russia-backed separatist forces have controlled two breakaway republics of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Donbas since 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. On April 18, the Russian military began a full-scale ground offensive in Donbas in an attempt to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to Crimea.

Although he showed no signs of backing down, Putin on Monday did not make any declarations of war, peace or victory during his remarks. He drew parallels between Soviet soldiers battling Nazi troops and the Russian forces fighting now in Ukraine, as he has vowed to “de-Nazify” Ukraine. He also spoke of Donbas as if it was already part of Russia.

“These days, you are fighting for our people in the Donbas. For the security of our homeland, Russia,” he said. “You are defending what fathers and grandfathers, great-grandfathers fought for.”

Putin accused Ukraine of seeking to attain nuclear weapons and planning a “punitive operation in the Donbas, for an invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea.” He also laid blame on the West for refusing to have “an honest dialogue” about Russia’s demands for formal guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the alliance will pull back its forces from countries in eastern Europe that joined after the Cold War.

“Thus, an absolutely unacceptable threat was systematically created for us and directly at our borders,” Putin added. “The danger was growing everyday.”

The Russian leader claimed that attacking the former Soviet Republic “was a forced, timely and only right decision — the decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country.”

“Russia has given a preemptive rebuff to aggression,” he said.

Just hours before Putin’s remarks, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy released a video message marking the 1945 victory over the Nazis, telling his country that “very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine.”

“Today, we celebrate the Day of Victory over Nazism. And we will not give anyone a single piece of our history,” Zelenskyy said. “We are proud of our ancestors who, together with other nations in the anti-Hitler coalition, defeated Nazism. And we will not allow anyone to annex this victory, we will not allow it to be appropriated.”

“On the Day of Victory over Nazism, we are fighting for a new victory,” he added. “The road to it is difficult, but we have no doubt that we will win.”

Why Russia has suffered the loss of an ‘extraordinary’ number of generals

May 8, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — During its war in Ukraine, Russia’s top military leadership has proven to be particularly vulnerable, experts say.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has claimed that 12 Russian generals have been killed since the invasion began in late February.

Russian officials have not confirmed that number. U.S. officials — who last week pushed back on a New York Times report that said the U.S. provided Ukraine intelligence that helped it target and kill Russian generals and other senior officers — also have not confirmed the number of Russian generals killed.

Though, as reported by Ukraine, that kind of loss is “quite extraordinary,” ABC News contributor and retired Col. Steve Ganyard said.

“Maybe you’d have to go back to World War II to have that sort of proportion of senior officers being killed on the front lines,” Ganyard said.

Lack of confidence in troops

Such a high number of casualties at that level suggests several things — one being a lack of confidence among Russian military leaders in their troops, according to Ganyard.

“It suggests that the generals need to be at the front lines to ensure that their troops are conducting the battle plan in the way that they want,” he said. “But that also suggests a lack of confidence in their troops if they need to be that far forward with that many senior folks.”

That demonstrates Russia’s seriousness about its campaign but is also “an indication of how weak the Russian military has turned out to be in that they need that much senior leadership that far forward,” Ganyard said.

Russian generals also may be especially vulnerable due to the structure of Russia’s military, experts say.

Unlike the U.S. military, Russia does not empower its non-commissioned and junior officers with the authority to make decisions on their own, said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and an ABC News contributor.

“They do not delegate authority. So, they are out giving orders directly to their forces,” Mulroy said. “The lack of delegation is another reason the Russian military is performing so poorly.”

Poor morale among Russian troops may also be giving Ukraine an advantage in the war, despite Ukrainians being outnumbered by enemy troops and military equipment, Ganyard said.

“As soon as communication breaks down … the young folks in the Russian military don’t know what to do and they know that they’re just being told to do something, particularly when it’s a fight where their heart isn’t in it,” he said. “That is an advantage that Ukraine has proven to be decisive on the battlefield thus far.”

Vulnerable command and control capabilities

Russian troops have also been shown to be vulnerable to electronic eavesdropping while on the ground in Ukraine, Ganyard said.

“One of the many failures of the Russian military in this war is that it has shown how little they have invested in command and control capabilities,” he said. “The Russians aren’t even using encryption, so it means that anybody — if they find the frequency — are able to listen in.”

There are “very credible reports” of Russian troops even confiscating phones from Ukrainian citizens and using those for command and control operations, Ganyard said.

“So obviously, the Ukrainians can tap into their own phone lines if they can figure out who’s doing it,” he said.

Russian soldiers have also been tracked in real-time through geolocation of social media posts, Ganyard said.

“The modern age has introduced lots of benefits, but in the case of the military, it actually becomes dangerous because most of the apps that people are running are not encrypted and they’re passing real-time data of where people are,” he said.

Tracking Russian troops could lead Ukrainian forces to command posts — and likely top military leadership.

“If you shell and you take out a command post, you’re probably going to take out quite a bit of senior leadership,” Ganyard said.

Amid the claims of Russia’s military leadership losses, it is unclear what the Ukrainian military has similarly suffered.

“The Ukrainians have been very good at controlling the narrative on social media and on media in general,” Ganyard said. “We’re getting anecdotal reporting back-channel that the Ukrainians are paying a price, too.”

And with a smaller military, the Ukrainians “can pay a price less than the Russians can,” he added.

“The Ukrainians are hurting,” Ganyard said. “This is not something where the Ukrainians are not taking any losses, while the Russians are.”

ABC News’ Matt Seyler contributed to this report.

Arkansas governor says he opposes national abortion ban

May 8, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that he opposes a national ban on abortion because it would take away the authority of a state like his that is poised to immediately ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court.

“I think that’s inconsistent with what we’ve been fighting for for decades, which is that we wanted the Roe vs. Wade reversed and the authority to return to the states,” Hutchinson told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “So, as a matter of principle, that’s where it should be.”

Hutchinson appeared on “This Week” just days after an unprecedented leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion on abortion cast a new spotlight on what could happen if the high court overturns Roe v. Wade.

The document, obtained by Politico, though not final shows the Supreme Court’s conservative majority of justices are ready to overturn nearly 50 years of established abortion rights precedent through its decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case out of Mississippi that the court heard last year. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

Raddatz noted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told USA Today that it’s possible Republicans will pursue a national ban. Raddatz pressed the two-term governor, asking, “Will you oppose that?”

“If you look at a constitutional or a national standard, that goes against that thrust of the states having prerogative,” replied Hutchinson, chair of the National Governors Association. “And secondly, I think there’s some constitutional issues of a national standard as well as to what is the authority of the Constitution to enact that.”

In March 2021, Hutchinson signed a bill that prohibits abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother. Cases involving rape and incest are not considered exceptions under the law, something Hutchinson said he did not completely agree with at the time.

The bill also charges anyone who performs a non-approved abortion with a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The measure, however, has not been enacted into state law. A U.S. district court judge in Arkansas issued an order in July 2021 temporarily blocking Arkansas’ near-complete abortion ban while a lawsuit against the measure proceeds. Currently, abortions are allowed in Arkansas up to 22 weeks gestation.

The law would only go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Arkansas is one of 26 states certain or likely to impose abortion bans if the landmark case is overturned, including 13 with trigger bans tied to the decision, according to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and policy organization. Arkansas and four other states have proposed near-complete bans on abortion, according to the institute.

A U.S. district court judge in Arkansas issued an order in July 2021 temporarily blocking Arkansas’ near-complete abortion ban while a lawsuit against the measure proceeds.

“What would you tell those women in your state who cannot afford to travel to get an abortion, who cannot afford to raise a child or those who have been raped or the victims of incest?” Raddatz asked.

Hutchinson replied that “in terms of Arkansas law, our law simply expresses the will of the people of Arkansas.”

“In Arkansas, it’s a policy of Arkansas that we protect the life of the unborn,” said the 71-year-old Hutchinson, who is exploring a 2024 run for president. “And so yes, if Roe v. Wade is reversed, then we will have a trigger law in place to protect the life of the unborn.”

Raddatz pushed back, saying, “I want to go back to my question about those women.”

“What would you say to those women who seek an abortion, who don’t have the money to travel, who don’t have the money to raise a child. What would you say to them?”

Hutchinson responded, “Well, first of all, that’s where your heart goes out to them.”

“I’ve had to deal with those very difficult circumstances of rape and incest as governor and it’s difficult. And so, you have to understand that,” Hutchinson said. “You have to provide services. And I believe that we would want to increase the services for maternal health, to increase the services for adoption services as well. So, we want to invest in those areas that will help those women with very difficult circumstances of the pregnancy.”

When he signed Arkansas’ near-complete abortion ban, Hutchinson issued a statement saying he “would have preferred the legislation to include the exceptions for rape and incest.”

He told Raddatz on Sunday, that “even though we have the trigger law, I expect those exceptions to be a significant part of the debate in the future, even though we’re going to immediately go to restrict abortions with the exception of the life of the mother.”

“Why do you support those exceptions?” Raddatz asked.

The governor responded that “those exceptions are what generally the public has insisted upon as being reasonable exceptions to abortion limitations.”

They traveled across state lines to get abortions. Now they fear a post-Roe world

May 8, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A leaked draft opinion showing the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade sparked nationwide outrage and panic among abortion rights advocates. And for women who already experienced challenges and restrictions in accessing reproductive care in their states, the prospect of a world without federal processions is daunting.

Valerie Peterson said that learning about the leaked draft opinion was “triggering” because it reminded her of her own “agonizing” experience.

Peterson, a single mother with two daughters, said she traveled from Texas to Florida in 2015 after finding out her baby would likely not survive and facing restrictions obtaining an abortion.

“After the leak, one of the things that I really thought about were the other women that would be impacted by this decision,” Peterson told ABC News. “If Roe v. Wade is indeed overturned, this will be a traumatic experience for a lot of people across the United States.”

The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade determined that a woman’s right to have an abortion is protected under the Constitution as part of a right to privacy. Without that federal protection, the decision will be in the hands of the states.

In the leaked draft opinion Justice Samuel Alito argues that there’s no explicit right to privacy, let alone the right to an abortion, in the Constitution.

“It held that the abortion right, which is not mentioned in the Constitution, is part of a right to privacy, which is also not mentioned,” Alito writes, calling the Roe decision “remarkably loose in its treatment of the constitutional text,” and arguing that stare decisis “does not compel unending adherence to Roe’s abuse of judicial authority.”

Chief Justice John Roberts released a rare, written statement to address the leak, saying, “Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

For Vikki Brown, who traveled from Louisiana to Washington, D.C., to get an abortion in 2019, learning the news was “jarring” experience because that evening she was scrambling to help a friend schedule an abortion in Louisiana — a state that only has three abortion clinics.

“I’ve been trying to help her figure out what her best option is. She hasn’t been able to get an appointment anywhere within the state of Louisiana that can see her this month,” Brown told ABC News, adding that the closest appointment they were able to find was five and a half hours away by car.

“[The news] really, for me, solidified how awful this is going to be for so many people,” Brown said.

And for Rebecca Turchanik, who said she traveled four hours from Nashville to Atlanta in 2019 to get an abortion, the news was “devastating.”

“I had been scrolling Twitter and saw it and I am honestly – I’m just devastated,” she said.

“I just had a very visceral reaction to it because I feel like there are so many impacts and waves that this impacts,” she added, “and people don’t really necessarily understand the effects of it.”

If Roe is overturned, abortions bans are certain to go into effect in more than a dozen states, including Texas, and are likely to go into effect in more than a dozen more, according to The Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research organization.

‘A logistical nightmare’

Turchanik said that repealing federal protections will exacerbate the challenges of accessing reproductive care, which is already “a logistical nightmare” in states like Tennessee, where about 96% of counties had no clinics that provided abortions in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

And in the U.S. overall, 89% of counties had no clinics that provide abortions in 2017, per the study. This disproportionately impacts low-income women and women of color, who do not have the financial means to travel or to cover medical costs – many of which are not covered by insurance.

Turchanik said she and her partner at the time in 2019 called multiple clinics in various states and finally found an appointment in Georgia, but they had to leave early in the morning and take time off work to be able to make it.

“I don’t feel like anyone should have to add that layer of complexity to an already complex thing,” she said. “Because I don’t think that an abortion is an easy thing.”

Turchanik added that if she was not able to get a ride to Atlanta, she may not have had enough funds to make the trip.

In 2019, Brown was living in Louisiana. Should Roe be overturned, patients seeking an abortion there would have to travel over 650 miles on average to Illinois, North Carolina or Kansas — the closest states where abortion would not be restricted, according to Guttmacher.

“I’m very lucky that I had the resources to go and leave Louisiana,” Brown said of her experience.

While abortion is legal in Louisiana, she would have had to contend with a long, multi-step process in New Orleans to get an abortion when she was about five weeks pregnant. Instead, Brown said she traveled to Washington, D.C., where she stayed with a friend and was able to get an abortion in one day.

“What will happen when Roe is overturned is that women will be forced to make decisions that put their health at risk and women who have less means will suffer the most,” she added.

Peterson expressed concern in particular for low-income women, as restrictions add up costs to obtain an abortion. This can include travel, taking time off from work, medical expenses not covered by insurance, lodging, childcare and more.

“Funding abortion is really difficult,” Peterson said.

When she traveled from Texas to Orlando, Florida, for her procedure, she said she had to pay for a flight, a hotel, a rental car and other expenses.

“A lot of women don’t have the opportunity or the capacity to come up with that amount of money, which was close to $5,000 for me,” she said.

‘Mental anguish’

For Peterson, there was also an emotional cost to restricting care. When she found out she was pregnant in 2015, she was surprised and excited as she “really thought I couldn’t have any more children.”

“I already knew that I was going to keep the baby,” she said.

She found out after visiting her doctor at six weeks that her pregnancy was classified as “high risk,” which could involve health risks for the mother and fetus and requires more frequent monitoring and ultrasounds.

Initially everything seemed fine, Peterson said, but at her 13-week ultrasound she found out that fetal anomalies have been detected. Two weeks later, she received what she described as a “devastating diagnosis.”

“I found out through ultrasound that my baby’s brain had not developed,” she said.

The fetus was diagnosed as having alobar holoprosencephaly, a rare disease that leads to structural anomalies early in the gestational development, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as the brain fails to divide into right and left hemispheres. “The affected fetus is usually stillborn or dies soon after birth, or during the first 6 months of life,” according to the NIH.

After she was shown photos of the fetus’ brain and had the disease explained to her, she said she was given “two devastating options.”

“Option one, to continue to carry the baby. Eventually, I would miscarry, but we wouldn’t know when that would be. Or, I could terminate the pregnancy,” she said. “And based on the information that I had and the education that my doctor provided for me, I decided to terminate the pregnancy.”

Peterson was 16 weeks pregnant and in Texas, which then allowed abortions up to 20 weeks. She had to be referred by her doctor to an abortion provider and undergo mandatory counseling.

“Emotionally, I was not doing well. Mentally, I was not doing well, it’s very difficult to hear your baby — his brain is incompatible with life,” she said.

“Not only was there a three- to four-week waiting list, there was also a three- to four-day process to get the [appointment],” Peterson said, adding that the wait time caused her “mental anguish, as I was carrying the pregnancy, knowing now that there was no chance of survival.”

Peterson, who reflected on her experience in a book, “The Blue Lotus,” said learning of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion was “heartbreaking” and took her back to the moment she learned her pregnancy would not be viable.

“To really think now that your body is being legislated by men who don’t know what it feels like to carry a pregnancy, to know that our bodies are being legislated with the lack of education and information on abortion is a problem,” she said.

After her abortion in 2015, Peterson became an advocate for abortion rights, testified before the Senate in 2019 and shared her story with women across the country.

She said after speaking at a rally outside the Supreme Court, several women told her they had abortions but told people they had a miscarriage because of the stigma abortion carries.

“That in itself is the reason why I use my name. I am a human being. I am a person,” she said.

“One of the things that I do want to say to people that may be in this situation, is that self care matters. You matter,” she added. “We all have to make sure that in our advocacy, that we are also taking care of ourselves, and working to change the laws that do not work for us.”

ABC News’ Keara Shannon, Karolina Rivas and Sabrina Peduto contributed to this report.

3-row SUV market heats up as consumer demand soars: ‘There is no substitute’

May 8, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — When the Volkswagen ID. Buzz goes on sale in the U.S., consumers may be seduced by the microbus’ nostalgic design and electric powertrain. They may also become enamored with its three passenger rows.

“It’s a family hauler, a people mover … a majority of our buyers will probably be coming from mid-size or large SUVs,” Jeffrey Lear, product manager of electric vehicles at Volkswagen of America, told ABC News. “We know this from doing research — families want three rows.”

He added, “Three rows were a necessity.”

Only the U.S. version of the ID. Buzz comes with three rows that can seat seven. Americans have been increasingly asking for larger SUVs that can accommodate their active lifestyles and growing families and carmakers are listening. Many have expanded their lineups to cater to this “supremely important” segment, according to Ed Kim, president and chief analyst of AutoPacific.

“The fact that there are so many three-row SUV entries in the marketplace is really a reflection of millennial consumers needing a large family vehicle,” Kim told ABC News. “Millennials are approaching their peak income years. If you’re not playing in the three-row space, you’re not addressing a huge part of the marketplace.”

Three-row, mid-size SUVs are replacing what families drove years ago — the minivan, according to Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver.

“The minivan segment has been declining steadily and that space has been picked up by all the three-row SUVs and crossovers,” Quiroga told ABC News.

German carmaker BMW found new customers when it introduced its three-row SUV, the X7, in late 2018.

“A little more than half of the customers who are buying the X7 are not previous BMW owners,” according to Michael Baxley, U.S. product manager at BMW. “The X7 has been very successful.”

Last month BMW showed off the 2023 X7, which now features a redesigned dashboard and center console, a new curved display and a revised kidney grille. The 48-volt battery-assisted hybrid technology in the new inline 6-cylinder and V8 engines improve performance and efficiency, said Baxley. What hasn’t changed? The capacious cargo space. The X7 offers 33.3 inches of legroom for third-row passengers – “plenty of room for most adults,” he noted.

Three-row variants in the full-size SUV segment total about 70% of sales. Mid-size SUVs with three-rows account for 10% of the U.S. vehicle market, up from 6% in 2016, said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power. That percentage is likely to rise as capacity constraints from the global chip shortage ease, he said.

“The real truth is that we may not have reached true potential,” Jominy told ABC News. “Three-row SUVs can do everything a two-row can but just much more. It’s a critical segment to be in.”

Land Rover and Jeep have recently launched three-row SUVs to steal sales from competitors. The 2023 Range Rover, Land Rover’s flagship luxury SUV, will now be sold with a seven-seat configuration — an addition specifically designed for U.S. customers.

“The U.S. market will be one of the largest for this seating configuration and addresses the top request from owners and shoppers,” Rob Filipovic, director of product planning at Jaguar Land Rover, told ABC News. “While the U.S. did request a seven-seat variant on the previous generation, the platform did not support the premium expectation of comfort and space expected on a Range Rover. With the New MLA-Flex body architecture, the requirements were designed from the start, resulting in no compromise for all passengers.”

Filipovic said he expects the longer wheelbase Range Rover with three rows to make up 30% of sales. And adults seated in the rear can travel comfortably: The third row easily accommodates a 6-foot-tall individual, he said, and there are HVAC vents, charging ports, heated leather seats and LED lighting.

“When the third row is folded, it provides the largest trunk behind the second row that we have ever had on a Range Rover,” he added.

Jeep now offers three SUVs with seating up to eight: the Grand Cherokee L, Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Kim of AutoPacific said the move was necessary to stay competitive.

“Given how important three-row SUVs are, it’s actually amazing Jeep has had incredible growth over the last 10 years without one,” he said.

Jeep spokesperson Ron Kiino said the addition of three rows has increased Grand Cherokee owner retention.

“The Grand Cherokee L has boosted Grand Cherokee sales … 2021 was the best sales year in total and retail sales for the Grand Cherokee since 2000,” he told ABC News.

He added, “Customer response has been extremely positive.”

According to Kiino, the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer offer best-in-class overall passenger volume (179.2 cubic feet) and third-row legroom of 36.6 inches.

Adults, however, will have to squeeze, bend, squish and contort their arms and legs to sit in some three-row SUVs.

“There’s a massive amount of variability and diversity in three-row spaciousness,” said Kim. “In the Mitsubishi Outlander and Volkswagen Tiguan — you really couldn’t fit anyone more than 10 years old back there. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L — adults can easily be comfortable in a third row for hours.”

Jominy argued that the third row was designed specifically for young children.

“Most adults would never for a second ride in the third row,” he said. “In a lot of cases they’re temporary or an expansion row. In fact, for many automakers, even if you get leather seats, the third row is vinyl. There is no expectation that an adult will ever sit back there.”

Kia and Toyota are also bolstering their three-row offerings. The third-generation Toyota Sequoia will be available this summer with a twin-turbo V6 hybrid powertrain and a sliding third row with an adjustable cargo shelf system. The feature allows the third row to slide with 6 inches of adjustment range, according to Toyota.

Kia, which has won industry awards for its Telluride SUV, revamped the 2023 model to include two new trim levels, a larger navigation screen and new exterior and interior package colors. Seventy-five percent of Telluride buyers are new to the Kia family, according to the Korean automaker.

Kim said automakers could do even more to boost sales of these prodigious vehicles: Build electric ones. The Vietnamese automaker Vinfast is entering the U.S. market with a three-row EV called VF 9. The only other three-row EV available right now is the Tesla Model X. The ID. Buzz goes on sale in the U.S. in 2024.

“Three-row SUVs are unrepresented in the electric vehicle market,” Kim said. “Young people with families and who are really into tech would be interested in buying an EV.”

Could Americans’ obsession with jumbo SUVs also signal the arrival of four rows?

“If you don’t need a steering wheel [in an autonomous vehicle], you can potentially turn the front seat around and have a couple of rows in between,” Jominy of J.D. Power said. “But I don’t see four rows ever being a thing.”

Kim pointed out that Kia sells a four-row Carnival minivan in South Korea. “That actually exists,” he said.

+ More