(OAK HILL, Fla.) — Two 12-year-old boys have been placed under arrest after they were found allegedly playing with and shooting a loaded gun in public.
The incident occurred on Monday morning when deputies from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of two young boys playing with a loaded gun on a vacant lot in Oak Hill, about 55 miles northeast of Orlando, Florida, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
“The reporting parties indicated they heard a gunshot and went to check to see if anyone was injured,” Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted to social media. “One of the boys then pointed the gun at their car, which was occupied by 2 adults and 3 children.”
“There are two little kids,” said the unnamed woman who reported the incident to authorities and can be heard on the body camera footage released by police. “As we were driving past their property, the little kids were standing out in the field, it appeared that he had a handgun and he was pointing it at our car as we were driving by.”
The responding sheriff’s sergeant heard and witnessed additional gunshots as she approached and ordered the boys out with their hands up.
“It was a real gun. We were shooting it over here,” one of the boys can be heard saying as they approached the responding officer. “Someone said we were allowed to.”
“How old are you?” asked the police officer.
“We are … we are both 12,” said one of the boys as they kept their arms raised in the air.
The boys were subsequently taken into custody without further incident and they were both charged with discharging a firearm and possession of a firearm by a person under 16. The Volusia Sheriff’s Office also confirmed that the boy who pointed the gun at the witnesses who reported the incident was also charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.
The two 12-year-olds have since been transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice and taken in for secure detention, according to authorities.
It is unclear how they procured the handgun or to who it belonged to, but both the gun and the ammunition were recovered from the scene of the crime and the case remains under investigation.
ABC News reached out but were unable to immediately determine the status of the youths and when they are expected to appear in court.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has tapped Colette Peters, who serves as the director of the Oregon Department of Corrections, to lead the federal Bureau of Prisons, according to a statement released by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Peters has been in her current role since 2012 and is expected to take the helm of an agency marred in controversy and mismanagement. It is unclear when Peters will start, as staff was notified Tuesday morning of Peters’ appointment, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The attorney general lauded Peters for her 30 years of public safety service in a statement released Tuesday.
“Director Peters is uniquely qualified to lead BOP in its efforts to ensure the rehabilitation, health, and safety of incarcerated individuals, a safe and secure work environment for correctional staff, and transparency and accountability across federal detention facilities,” the attorney general said.
The Bureau of Prisons is the largest agency inside the Justice Department with responsibility of 122 facilities and over 36,000 employees. Despite congressional attempts to do so, the BOP director is not a Senate-confirmed position, and the current director, Michael Carvajal, has said he will retire once a new director is in place.
Peters has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Shane Fausey, president of the Council of Prison Locals, the union that represents 33,000 federal corrections workers, said he’s looking forward to collaborating with the new director.
“We are optimistic that we can collaboratively focus on our agency’s most difficult challenges by staffing our prisons safely while balancing responsible prison reforms like the First Step Act,” Fausey said in a statement Tuesday. “We believe that the lessons learned while leading the Oregon Department of Corrections can be used to effectively improve the BOP. It is imperative that the priority on any decisions made must be officer and employee safety, including their working conditions within our nation’s federal prisons.”
The Bureau of Prisons has been at the center of some controversy with high-profile inmates and scrutiny over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, notorious crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger was killed at a federal prison in Hazelton, West Virginia, and a year later, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in Manhattan while awaiting trial. BOP has not released any official timeline or after-action report regarding the two incidents.
The sprawling agency was also chided by the union and a government watchdog for its early handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which the Government Accountability Office found insufficient.
(LOS ANGELES) — A man with an ankle monitor and who was already on parole for robbery has been arrested after allegedly committing armed robbery at a cell phone store after he allegedly held up two employees at gun point and ran away with money from the cash register.
The incident occurred at approximately 2:18 p.m. on Sunday when the Culver City Police Department in California received a call saying that an armed robbery had just taken place at a Boost Mobile store located at 4114 Centinela Ave. about three miles northeast of Los Angeles International Airport, according to the Culver City Police Department (CCPD).
When officers arrived to investigate they spoke with the two victims who were Boost Mobile employees who told them what had just happened and provided authorities with video surveillance footage of the robbery.
“Officers learned that the suspect, described as a Male, Black, wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, blue sweatpants, a white mask, and blue surgical gloves, entered the store and pointed a black semi-automatic handgun at both victims,” said the Culver City Police Department in a statement posted on social media. “The suspect then jumped over the counter and forced both employees to lay face down, while he grabbed money from the cash register. The suspect took approximately $500 in US currency and fled the store on foot.”
However, after officers reviewed the security camera footage, they noticed that the suspect had dropped a set of car keys during the theft of the store which led them to conduct an area check.
It didn’t take long for authorities to locate a possible suspect vehicle that was parked one block away from the scene of the crime and, when the responding officers looked inside the car, “they observed the clothing that was worn by the suspect in the rear seat,” Culver City Police Department said.
Authorities continued to search the area and shortly after observed a man matching the description that was given to them by the Boost Mobile employees as well as the surveillance video that was captured of the armed robbery. The Culver City Police Department subsequently approached the suspect, 37-year-old Lawrence Bell from Torrance, California, and he was detained without incident.
“A search of the vehicle revealed a driver’s license in the detained subject’s name (Lawrence Bell), a loaded Glock Semi-automatic handgun, and the aforementioned clothing worn by the suspect during the commission of the robbery,” said the CCPD. “Additionally, the currency stolen during the robbery and other items of evidentiary value were recovered from inside the vehicle.”
Following Bell’s arrest, authorities discovered that he was already on parole for robbery and that he was “wearing an ankle monitor as a condition of his parole at the time of the robbery,” according to the CCPD.
It is unclear if Bell has legal representation but the case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office at a date that has yet to be decided.
(NEW YORK) — An ongoing heat wave is moving east, threatening states from Maine to Texas.
It will be another day of record-breaking temperatures for Texans. Abilene, Waco and San Antonio are under excessive heat warnings, according to the National Weather Service.
San Antonio reached 107 degrees on Monday, tying its hottest July record. Waco has seen record-high heat for the last four days.
Del Rio, Laredo and San Angelo all hit 110 degrees on Monday, breaking previous highs.
Nearly half of Texas continues to endure an extreme drought, made worse by the ongoing heat and dry weather.
Phoenix, Arizona, recorded a temperature of 115 degrees on Monday, a first for the year.
More than 30 million Americans in 13 states face the threat of severe weather.
North of the I-95 corridor, damaging winds, hail and an isolated tornado are the biggest threats to residents.
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, upstate New York and most of inland New England will face the worst of this weather.
Scattered storms are predicted to begin on Tuesday afternoon and continue into the evening.
The Gulf Coast faces a 30% threat of a tropical cyclone over the next few days, as low pressure continues to form.
Ocean waters have been abnormally warm over the northern Gulf, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees on the sea’s surface off of Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle.
Even without the threat of a cyclone, those on the northern Gulf Coast should prepare for flooding.
Out west, dry and hot conditions are paving the way for fire threats.
The Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park is now measured at 2,720 acres and is only 22% contained as of Tuesday morning. Light winds have allowed firefighters to contain the spread.
Lightning and thunderstorms are forecast for Nevada, Northern California and southern Oregon, which could spark or spread new fires.
For now, the areas remain under a red flag warning.
The continuing heat and severe weather pose a significant health threat. For more information on staying safe in the heat, click here.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 will focus Tuesday on extremist groups’ alleged coordination with former President Donald Trump and his allies ahead of and during the Capitol attack.
Stephen Ayres of Warren, Ohio, who recently admitted to illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, will testify, as well as a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers militia group, Jason Van Tatenhove, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:
Jul 12, 12:45 pm
Police officers brace for ‘triggering’ hearing with rioter testifying
Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who testified at the first select committee hearing last fall on how he feared for his life and faced racist attacks while defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott ahead of the hearing today that he’s expecting the afternoon to be “triggering” — and that he is “emotionally, preparing for the worst.”
With Jan. 6 defendant Stephen Ayres set to testify, Dunn said Ayres “owes everyone in the congressional community who was affected by the day an apology.” Adding, “if he stops short of being honest about the violence — that doesn’t do enough for me. If he stops short of apologizing — that doesn’t do enough for me.”
Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, who also defended the Capitol and has also been a regular fixture at the public hearings, said it will be notable for Americans to hear what happened straight from someone who breached the building, given that some continue to downplay the violence.
“Having one of the people involved in the attack on Capitol — in their own words describe their mentality, their intentions and the intentions of the group — you can’t get any closer to the source than that.”
Jul 12, 12:17 pm
Cipollone deposition clips to be heavy focus
Video clips from the roughly eight-hour deposition committee investigators conducted with former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone last Friday are expected to be played at the afternoon hearing, a source familiar with the matter tells ABC News.
Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said last week after Cipollone was subpoenaed by the committee that his testimony did not contradict those of previous witnesses when he met with investigators.
Asked if Americans could assume that Cipollone confirmed the testimony offered by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump’s then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, Lofgren told CNN, “Not contradicting is not the same as confirming.”
While Hutchinson publicly testified last month that Cipollone stressed to her that Trump should not be taken to the Capitol after his rally, warning, “we’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable” if he went, according to Hutchinson, it was not clear if the committee asked Cipollone in his deposition about the comment.
-ABC News’ John Santucci and Katherine Faulders
Jul 12, 12:13 pm
Committee to detail chaotic December 2020 Oval Office meeting
Today’s hearing will partly focus on a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 18, 2020. Sources confirmed the meeting to ABC News at the time.
The meeting was said to be so long that it ended up moving from the Oval Office to the White House residence quarters upstairs. In attendance were Trump allies Sidney Powell; former CEO Patrick Byrne; former national security adviser Michael Flynn; then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone; then-chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, who joined by phone.
Powell, Flynn and Byrne argued with White House officials over invoking rarely used presidential powers to declare a national emergency to seize voting machines – a plan that was ultimately rejected. Trump in the meeting also discussed naming Powell a special counsel overseeing an investigation of voter fraud, as first reported by the New York Times at the time.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl described the meeting in his book “Betrayal” as one “so bizarre, long, and out of control that it may go down in history as the strangest meeting Donald Trump, or any other president, ever had at the White House.”
– ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Will Steakin
Jul 12, 11:17 am
Reps. Murphy, Raskin to lead questioning
Reps. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., will lead Tuesday’s questioning, according to committee aides.
One focus of the hearing, aides said, will be the impact of a Twitter post sent by Trump in December 2020, which read: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
“Today, we’ll show how President Trump’s tweet in the early hours of December 19th activated domestic extremist groups, and how some Members of Congress amplified that message, all leading to the attack on January 6th,” Murphy said on Twitter.
(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. military drone strike in northwest Syria has killed the top ISIS leader in Syria, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.
The drone strike is the latest in a series of operations targeting terrorist leaders who have found refuge in a region of the country controlled by rebel forces affiliated with Islamic extremists groups.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the strike occurred on Tuesday outside of Jindayris in northwest Syria targeting two senior ISIS leaders.
“Maher al-Agal, one of the top five ISIS leaders and the leader of ISIS in Syria, was killed in the strike,” said the statement.
“A senior ISIS official closely associated with Maher was seriously injured during the strike,” it added. “Extensive planning went into this operation to ensure its successful execution. An initial review indicates there were no civilian casualties.”
Al-Agal was also described as “aggressively pursuing the development of ISIS networks outside of Iraq and Syria.”
“This strike reaffirms CENTCOM’s steadfast commitment to the region and the enduring defeat of ISIS,” said Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesperson. “The removal of these ISIS leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carry out global attacks.”
The strike is the latest in a series of U.S. military operations in northwest Syria over the past month targeting the leaders of Islamic terrorist groups who have found refuge in a corner of Syria still controlled by rebel forces belonging to Islamic extremist groups.
On June 15, a rare ground raid into northwest Syria carried out by elite special operations forces captured a Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi, a senior ISIS leader involved in actively planning ISIS operations.
Two weeks later, a drone strike killed Abu Hamzah al Yemeni, a senior leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group, officials said.
“ISIS continues to represent a threat to the U.S. and partners in the region,” said Buccino, the CENTCOM spokesman.
“CENTCOM maintains a sufficient and sustainable presence in the region and will continue to counter threats against regional security,” the spokesman said.
(WASHINGTON) — First lady Jill Biden apologized Tuesday through her spokesperson after receiving public backlash for saying in a speech Monday that Latinos are “as unique as breakfast tacos.”
Spokesperson Michael LaRosa tweeted a brief apology on Tuesday morning following an onslaught of criticism from conservatives and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
“The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community,” the tweet read.
The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.
Biden’s invocation of breakfast tacos came at the UnidosUS annual conference, titled “Siempre Adelante: Our Quest for Equity,” in San Antonio on Monday evening, while speaking to the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy group.
The first lady noted in her remarks that the group’s longtime leader, Raul Yzaguirre, had “helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community — as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio — is your strength.”
Republicans pounced on social media, saying she was comparing Latinos to tacos, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists also clapped back, sending a message to the first lady to “not reduce us to stereotypes.”
NAHJ encourages @FLOTUS & her communications team to take time to better understand the complexities of our people & communities.
We are not tacos.
Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by various diasporas, cultures & food traditions.
“NAHJ encourages @FLOTUS & her communications team to take time to better understand the complexities of our people & communities. We are not tacos. Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by various diasporas, cultures & food traditions. Do not reduce us to stereotypes,” it said.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida responded by changing his Twitter profile picture to an image of a taco and tweeting, “#NewProfilePic.”
But Janet Murguía, the current president and CEO of UnidosUS, tweeted after Biden’s speech that the group was “honored” to host her, calling her “a great educator in, and a great amiga to, our community for years,” and adding she was, “Privileged to call her a friend.”
The analogy and apology from the first lady come at a time with President Joe Biden and Democrats are seeking to reach out to Hispanic voters ahead of the midterm elections and ahead of Biden meeting Tuesday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the White House.
(NAPLES, Italy) — An American tourist fell into Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano in Italy, after trespassing to take a selfie, officials said.
The 23-year-old man, who dropped his phone and tried to retrieve it after the selfie, fell several meters into the ash of the crater before being saved by nearby park officials on Saturday.
He sustained only minor injuries, officials said.
The man, who has not been named, allegedly walked on an unauthorized path to reach the summit of Mount Vesuvius at 1,281 meters, according to a spokesperson from the Carabinieri of the Forestry department of the Park of Vesuvius.
The spokesperson told ABC News he believes the man went on the unmarked path because tickets for visiting Vesuvius, which cost $2,500 per day, were all booked.
The man had come to the opposite side of the crater, where visitors are not permitted, the spokesperson said.
At around 3 p.m., local news sources reported the park’s volcanological guides had spotted some people on the upper part of the crater, an area forbidden for solo access.
The guides immediately started moving toward the area and were able to come to the man’s rescue after seeing him attempt to retrieve his cellphone, according to Carabinieri’s spokesperson.
The guides also performed first aid on the man’s minor injuries to his legs, arms and back.
According to Carabinieri’s spokesperson, two other Americans, two Brits and one Austrian were with the American man who fell.
Some local sources have reported that there were three family members with him, but the spokesperson believes only one of the other Americans is related to the man who fell.
The Branch of Carabinieri arrived at the scene after the man was rescued, taking him and the others into custody. They were charged with encroachment on public land or land for public use, Italian news reported.
The president of the Volcano Vesuvius Permanent Presidium and Figav-Confesercenti, Paolo Cappelli, told the Corriere Della Sera that he was grateful for the guides’ work.
“[The guides] are always on the crater to safeguard the safety of tourists. So, recognizing the promptness and professionalism shown on this occasion as well seemed the right thing to do,” Cappelli said.
“Having spoken directly with those who provided the rescue, I can safely say that last Saturday on Mount Vesuvius they saved a human life. I officially thank the whole group of guides belonging to the Presidio Permanente Vulcano Vesuvio, always ready and operational in any condition,” Cappelli added.
A spokesperson from the Carabinieri of the Forestry department of the Park of Vesuvius told ABC News that the man could have fallen 300 meters if he wasn’t stopped by the nearby guides.
He said that on the opposite side of the crater, where visitors are permitted, there are barriers around the opening, but where this man was there were none.
According to the spokesperson, it is extremely rare that visitors stray from the authorized path.
He added that he does not think any kind of legal action will be taken against the man, except for a fine.
(TOKYO) — Crowds gathered on Tuesday to pay respects and lay flowers near former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s private funeral at Zojoji temple in Tokyo.
Abe was shot and killed in Nara on Friday while campaigning for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate.
Officials identified the gunman as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. Police are still investigating possible motives, but so far Yamagami has told the police he had “a grudge” against a “certain group.” But the authorities haven’t identified the organization or explained its connection to Abe.
The assassination — which was carried out using a homemade gun that police said may have been built by following an online tutorial — has shocked the nation. Gun use is strictly prohibited in Japan without a license, which are limited to hunting, sport or industrial purposes.
“Mr. Abe is one of the greatest prime ministers in Japan’s history. A lot of people look up to him. We are so sad that we lost him,” Shinki Kitaoka, who stood in a crowd in front of the Zojoji temple to commemorate Abe, told ABC News.
When asked about the apparent murder of the leader, Kitaoka said, “Everybody around me, all of my friends and family are shocked. The day I heard the news I just started crying immediately. It was so shocking.”
Yutaka Takeda, another onlooker who came to see the ex-prime minister off, described the shock he felt after the news broke last Friday as being similar to the shock he felt when he heard of U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
“Almost everyone here in Japan is experiencing deep sorrow,” Yutaka said.
A limited number of family members and those who were close to the former prime minister attended the temple funeral, according to Japanese media.
“I have lost my brother. But at the same time, Japan has lost an irreplaceable leader,” Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s brother, said in a statement, calling the assassination an “act of terrorism.”
“You were supposed to be the one giving the memorial address at my funeral. I enjoyed going often to drink and play golf together,” Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said in his memorial address.
Abe’s body was carried in a hearse from the temple and through the streets of Tokyo. Mourners lined the roadway and deeply bowed as the motorcade passed by.
The hearse made brief stops at the former leader’s Liberal Democratic Party headquarters, the prime minister’s office, and the parliament building, before arriving at the Kirigaya Funeral Hall, where Abe would be cremated.
ABC News’ Anthony Trotter, Hakyung Kate Lee, Eunseo Nam and Hyerim Lee contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, ending nearly five decades of a precedent that protected the constitutional right to an abortion, there has been a lot of public debate and confusion over what constitutes an abortion and what is considered legal.
Emergency contraceptive medications such as Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, taken to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse, have also been falsely interpreted by some as a form of abortion.
With no exact consensus, some states have defined “life” as beginning at conception or fertilization — the moment egg meets sperm. Meanwhile, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) — the nation’s leading physician group for OB-GYNs — says complex medical concepts are being “misused” by state legislators.
“Conception and pregnancy are not the same thing,” said Dr. Elizabeth Schmidt, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of family planning at North Shore University Hospital in New York. “Conception is not a medically recognized term.”
But doctors say the debate about when life begins shouldn’t have any bearing on Plan B, which works to stop pregnancy even earlier in the process — before fertilization, or conception.
What is Plan B?
Plan B is a progesterone hormone, which prevents ovulation or the release of an egg when taken at the appropriate time. This effectively prevents fertilization or the meeting of the sperm and egg for pregnancy. If taken after ovulation has already occurred, Plan B has no effect and there is no evidence that it harms an already established pregnancy, according to ACOG.
“Pregnant people make progesterone, and Plan B is a type of progesterone, so it makes sense that it would have no effect on a developing embryo,” Schmidt told ABC News.
Why is it confused with abortion?
Some of the confusion may stem from the Food and Drug Administration’s own website, which explains that Plan B “may prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb (implantation).” The problem, experts say, is that this description is not accurate.
When the FDA first approved emergency contraception back in the late 1990s, it wasn’t totally clear how the pills prevented pregnancy, said Susan F. Wood, Ph.D., George Washington University professor and former director of the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health.
Now, she said, “new evidence [that has] been around for about 10 years now has shown that actually, Plan B works, probably essentially only through that first mechanism — blocking ovulation.”
Still, the FDA’s statement has been interpreted by some to imply abortion, resulting in objections to Plan B.
How does Plan B work?
“When used as emergency contraception, Plan B only affects ovulation,” Schmidt said. “Studies have failed to show any effect from levonorgestrel on the uterine lining when used as a one-time dose in emergency contraception.”
In a 2001 study published in Contraception, scientists looked at 45 women who were treated with short-term levonorgestrel administration — the same hormone found in Plan B — and observed no impairment in the lining of the uterus whether levonorgestrel was administered around or after ovulation. Previous studies on monkeys and rats have also failed to show a significant effect of the levonorgestrel hormone on uterine lining to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.
Taken collectively, this evidence suggests Plan B works primarily on the first step in the process — preventing the body from releasing an egg in the first place, or ovulating.
If the body has already released an egg prior to taking Plan B, the drug does not stop an egg from meeting sperm, and it does nothing to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.
Wood said given the current legal environment, the FDA should consider updating the language on its website “to pull Plan B out of the line of fire” from anti-abortion groups.
When reached for comment by ABC News, an FDA spokesperson did not comment directly on the language on its website but emphasized that “emergency contraception is used to reduce the chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex.”
“Plan B is an extremely safe medication and there are no medical contraindications to its use. It is safer than Tylenol — which is sold over the counter without restriction,” Schmidt said.
Although contraception currently remains legal throughout the U.S., the growing abortion restrictions in the country are now bringing some forms of contraception into question.
In his concurring opinion on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that in the future, the court should reconsider other “demonstrably erroneous” precedents, including the 1965 ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which protects the right of married couples to buy and use contraception without government restriction.
“Limiting access to any medical care can have disastrous effects on communities,” Schmidt said. “It has been shown that states with restricted access to abortion also have higher rates of maternal and infant mortality. The situation is going to get even worse by prohibiting access to emergency contraception and abortion, which will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.”
Dr. Esra Demirel is a fellow in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at NYU Langone Health and is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
