Politics

(WASHINGTON) — The homes of Supreme Court justices are the newest site for protests over abortion access in the United States.

Activists gathered Saturday in the rain outside the Maryland residences of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh to protest a leaked draft opinion reportedly supported by the court’s conservative majority.

The document, reported by Politico last week, showed the panel is poised to repeal Roe v. Wade. The court confirmed the draft’s authenticity but reminded Americans it is not the final ruling. A decision in the case, which centers on a Mississippi abortion restriction, is expected by the end of June or early July.

Protesters held signs that read, “Never Again” and “Don’t Tread on My Choice.”

The demonstrations sparked a response Monday from the White House that justices shouldn’t have to worry about their “personal safety.”

“[President Joe Biden] strongly believes in the Constitutional right to protest,” press secretary Jen Psaki said in a Twitter post. “But that should never include violence, threats, or vandalism. Judges perform an incredibly important function in our society, and they must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety.”

Republicans had accused the administration of not condemning violent threats after Psaki’s initial response to protests taking place at the justices’ homes.

“These activists posted a map with the home addresses of the Supreme Court justices. Is that the kind of thing this president wants to help your side make their point?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked during her daily press briefing May 5.

“I think the president’s view is that there’s a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many, many people across this country about what they saw in that leaked document,” Psaki responded. “We obviously want people’s privacy to be respected. We want people to protest peacefully if they want to protest. That is certainly what the president’s view would be.”

Officers from the Montgomery County Police Department were on the scene as the protests unfolded, as seen in photographs from ABC affiliate station WJLA. The department did not immediately respond to ABC News request for comment. There didn’t appear to be any reports of violence or vandalism during the protests.

Senators Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, and John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, on Monday introduced legislation that would allow the Supreme Court Police to provide all nine justices and their families with around-the-clock security protection.

ShutDownDC said 100 people were part of Saturday’s protests in the Chevy Chase neighborhood where Kavanaugh and Roberts live. It’s unclear if the justices or their families were home at the time.

The group has another protest planned for outside the home of Justice Samuel Alito on Monday night that will include speakers, a candlelight vigil and quiet moments of reflection.

Alito was the author of the Feb. 10 draft opinion, in which he wrote, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”

“It is important that we gather in this way because attacks on abortion rights represent not only a violation of our autonomy over our own bodies and an invasion of privacy between us and our doctors, but also a real and symbolic victory for those who would like to strip even more rights from us – among them contraception, gay marriage, privacy and safety from state scrutiny of our beliefs – and still more from our Black, brown and Indigenous friends and siblings,” ShutDownDC’s Hope Neyer told ABC News.

The bombshell draft opinion on Roe sparked rallies from both abortion rights activists and anti-abortion protesters across the country. A nationwide day of action is planned for Saturday, May 14.

An “unscalable,” eight-foot-high fence was placed around the Supreme Court building last week. Neither the court or law enforcement officials have said anything publicly about possible threats to the institution or the justices, who are set to return in-person for a private conference on May 12.

Republicans are condemning the protests, with Sen. Ted Cruz equating them to “mob violence” even though there were no reports of violence.

“It is disgraceful,” Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News on Sunday.

ShutDownDC responded to Cruz’s comments, telling ABC: “We are exercising our constitutional right to gather and demonstrate and intend to continue to do so regardless of whatever aspersions people like Ted Cruz who are scared of our collective power might cast.”

Democratic strategist Paul Begala also chimed in on the protests in front of Roberts and Kavanaugh’s homes, saying they could do more harm than good.

“This is wrong, stupid, potentially dangerous, and politically counterproductive,” Begala wrote on Twitter.

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(WASHINGTON) — A critical week in the battle over abortion rights — what activists are calling the “fight of a generation” — kicks off in the U.S. Senate on Monday, with Democrats preparing to force a vote seeking to enshrine abortion rights into federal law, following last week’s bombshell leak showing the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ready to overturn Roe versus Wade.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to file cloture on Monday on the Women’s Health Protection Act, setting up the bill for a roll call vote on Wednesday — but without 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate filibuster, the legislation is poised to fail, as a similar version did in February. Republicans are united against both the bill and lowering the threshold to break the Senate filibuster.

Still, the vote, while largely symbolic, will force every single senator, Democrat and Republican, to go on the record on where they stand on the issue, Schumer said.

Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, more Democrats have also expressed outrage over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell telling USA Today in an interview published on Saturday that if Republicans take control of Congress, they could pursue a national ban on abortion — which activists on both sides of the aisle will likely use as a rallying cry this midterm election season.

“If the leaked opinion became the final opinion, legislative bodies — not only at the state level but at the federal level — could certainly legislate in that area,” McConnell said, asked if a national abortion ban was “worthy of debate.”

“So yeah, it’s possible,” he added.

Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, pointed out to ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday that a national ban on abortion would be “inconsistent” with the long-standing Republican argument that the authority over abortion be returned to the states.

“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.”

With Democrats seizing McConnell’s message, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., already launched a digital ad linking her GOP opponents to what her campaign calls “McConnell’s decade-long crusade to criminalize abortion.”

“Ultimately, I think this is going to push a lot of people to the polls this November, that may have otherwise stayed home,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Because they see that this fight is coming not just in the state legislatures, but in Washington as well.”

The stunning leak out of the Supreme Court has offered Democrats a chance to focus on the judiciary and argue that Biden’s judicial choices will be obstructed if Republicans regain control of the Senate, but it has also energized opponents of abortion rights, who have been waiting nearly 50 years for the court to strike down Roe.

Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Washington, rallying to send a message to the conservative-leaning justices on the bench, who appear poised to overturn the 1973 landmark ruling, according to the draft opinion obtained by Politico.

Those demonstrators — some gathering outside of the homes of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts — are part of the majority of Americans who believe Roe versus Wade should be upheld, but across the country, if Roe is overturned, at least 26 states would either ban abortion or severely restrict access to it.

“We need to make sure that every single voter understands that the Republican Party and Mitch McConnell does not believe that their daughters, that their mothers, that their sisters have rights to make fundamental life and death decisions,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

While the House of Representatives had already voted to codify Roe, Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated in a new “Dear Colleague” letter on Monday that more measures would come.

“We know we must carry forward this fight in the weeks and months ahead. Our proud pro-choice House Majority must continue this fight in the public arena so that the American people know that their rights are on the ballot this November,” she said.

Last week, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found a majority of Americans support upholding Roe, say abortion should be legal in all or most cases and — by a wide margin — see abortion as a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor, not by lawmakers.

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(WASHINGTON) — The United States is bringing back a World War II-era program to bolster Ukraine’s war supplies.

Sitting at his desk in the Oval Office on Monday, President Joe Biden signed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 into law. The legislation gives Biden the authority to lend or lease defense equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European nations as Russia’s aggression in the region continues.

“It matters, it really matters,” Biden said as he signed the bill.

A similar lend-lease program was enacted in 1941 to provide pivotal aid to Allied nations in the battle against Nazi Germany. President Franklin Roosevelt said at the time that the U.S. should serve as a “great arsenal of democracy” to defeat Adolf Hitler.

The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 was a bipartisan undertaking, passing the Senate by unanimous consent and the House of Representatives with 417 votes.

Rep. John Katko, a cosponsor of the bill, said the law will “expand our nation’s ability to expeditiously deliver additional defense articles to the Government of Ukraine as they fight back against Vladimir Putin’s barbaric and unlawful invasion.”

“This is a necessary step to protect the future of Ukraine and the safety of its people,” Katko, R-N.Y., added.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, also cosponsor of the lend-lease legislation, said Congress “cannot let up” on providing assistance to Ukraine.

“As Ukraine fights for its future — and the future of liberal democracies around the globe — delivering military equipment to the frontlines is paramount,” Shaheen, D-N.H., told ABC News in a statement.

Biden signed the bill just hours after Russia’s commemoration of Victory Day, a holiday celebrating the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. Russian President Vladimir Putin used the occasion to defend his invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24.

“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 speech on Monday.

Putin notably did not make any declaration of war or victory during his remarks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, remained defiant, stating there will soon be “two Victory Days in Ukraine.”

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

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(WASHINGTON) — As he seeks to close the nation’s digital divide, President Joe Biden will announce on Monday new commitments from 20 internet service providers to expand discounted, high-speed internet access to tens of millions of low-income Americans under an existing federal program.

According to a senior administration official, 20 internet providers have agreed to either increase speeds or cut prices, and to offer enrollees of the Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP, with high-speed internet plans for no more than $30 a month. The new participation from the private sector, in conjunction with the ACP subsidy covering up to $30 a month (or $75 a month on Tribal lands), essentially makes the program free.

“For example,” the White House said in a fact sheet, “as part of this initiative, Verizon lowered the price for its Fios service from $39.99/month to $30/month for a plan that delivers download and upload speeds of at least 200 Megabits per second, and Spectrum doubled the speed of the $30/month plan it makes available to ACP participants from 50 to 100 Megabits per second.”

More than $14 billion in funding for the subsidy program was included in the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which Biden signed into law last November. So far, more than 11 million households have already signed up to receive the benefit — but the White House has said 48 million households are eligible.

Participating companies unveiled Monday include AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum and Comcast, as well as several regional companies, which altogether cover more than 80% of the U.S. population, the White House said, or nearly 40% of households in the country.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is grateful for the efforts of these companies, and encourages additional internet service providers to join this effort to close the digital divide by offering high-speed, low-cost plans,” the White House said in a statement.

As he continues to push his infrastructure agenda, Biden has repeatedly recalled stories of families driving to McDonalds’ parking lots during the pandemic to connect to Wi-Fi.

“How many people did you see out in McDonald’s parking lots with their kids in their cars because they get access to the internet?” Biden said in a speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania last October.

Households with an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, or with a family member participating in one of several federal programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Pell Grants, Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income, are eligible for the discount.

Americans can see if they qualify at Getinternet.gov.

The administration’s effort to lower internet costs for families comes ahead of a dire inflation report expected Tuesday, as Biden struggles to keep prices down for Americans ahead of the midterm election season.

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(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.

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(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.”

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(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.”

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(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.

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(NEW YORK) — The move to add new abortion bans “will be swift” if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday, adding that the Senate will do everything it can to codify a woman’s right to choose.

“With this leaked opinion, the court is looking at reversing 50 years of women’s rights and the fall will be swift. Over 20 states have laws in place already,” Klobuchar, D-Minn., told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

“I think the question that voters are going to be asking when 75% of people are with us on this, is who should make this decision,” Klobuchar said. “Should it be a woman and her doctor or a politician? Should it be Ted Cruz making this decision or a woman and her family? Where are women’s equal rights?”

On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed a leaked draft opinion of a Supreme Court ruling indicating that five conservative justices, three of whom were appointed by former President Trump, are poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The bombshell that the high court could soon overturn the landmark 1973 ruling sparked outrage across the country among people, including elected leaders, who support abortion rights.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the Senate would hold a vote Wednesday to codify federal abortion protections by way of the Women’s Health Protection Act, but not enough votes are expected for the measure to pass. To overcome a filibuster, the bill — which passed the House but has stalled in the Senate — needs support from 60 senators.

“If we are not successful, then we go to the ballot box,” Klobuchar said of the bill. “We march straight to the ballot box, and the women of this country and the men who stand with them will vote like they’ve never voted before.”

All House Democrats except for Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act.

Raddatz pressed Klobuchar on whether the Democratic Party should only back members and candidates who support abortion rights.

“Do you believe there should be a litmus test?” Raddatz asked. “The Democrats have several candidates who do not support abortion rights.”

“You have people who are personally, personally pro-life, but yet believe that that decision should be a woman’s personal choice, even if they may not agree with them,” Klobuchar responded. “So I think it’s important to note that we have people in our party that vote to uphold Roe v. Wade that may have personal opinions that are different.”

The Minnesota senator added that the Democratic Party is “clearly pro-choice.”

“That is the position of our party and I think you see in primary after primary, that matters to our voters — certainly now more than ever,” she said.

While she said abortion will not be the “only issue” for Democrats in the midterm elections, noting voters are also focused on the economy and Ukraine, she said “a new generation of women” are seeing their rights pulled back and saying, “Wait a minute, my mom and my grandma are going to have more rights than I’m going to have going forward?”

Raddatz pressed Klobuchar on public polls showing that while a majority of Americans support the right to an abortion in most cases, within the states that would almost immediately ban abortion if Roe is overturned, a majority of adults believe abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, a New York Times analysis found.

“Why should a woman in Texas have different rights and a different future and a different ability to make decisions about her body and her reproductive choices than a woman in Minnesota?” Klobuchar responded. “How can that be in this country, that we’d have a patchwork of laws?”

Klobuchar added that a reversal of Roe v. Wade would disproportionately affect poor women and women of color.

“This is just wrong, and that is part of why Justice [Harry] Blackmun, who is a Republican-appointed justice, no less, made that thoughtful decision, looked at the Constitution and said, the right to privacy includes the right for women to make a choice like this.”

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(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Vice President Kamala Harris gave a sobering look at the “unsettled” world students are heading into as she delivered the commencement speech at Tennessee State University on Saturday.

The vice president discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the looming possibility Roe v. Wade will be overturned by the Supreme Court after a draft opinion leaked earlier this week.

“The world that you graduate into is unsettled,” Harris said. “It is a world where long-established principles now rest on shaky ground. We see this in Ukraine, where Russia’s invasion threatens international rules and norms that have provided unprecedented peace and security in Europe since World War II.”

“We believed that the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity had for the most part prevailed, that democracy had prevailed,” she continued. “But now the certainty of fundamental principles is being called into question, including the principles of equality and fairness.”

The crowd erupted in cheers when Harris remarked that the students were facing an unsettled world where Roe v. Wade may be overturned.

“In the United States, we are once again forced to defend fundamental principles that we hoped were long settled — principles like the freedom to vote, the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies, even what constitutes the truth, especially in an era, when anyone can post anything online and claim it is a fact,” Harris said.

Harris congratulated the students on succeeding in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Class of 2022, you made it through and it cannot be denied also that your class has traveled a stony road — a pandemic that took away so much of the college experience that you once imagined,” she said.

Shifting to a more optimistic tone, the vice president said that each student is well-equipped to tackle the “biggest challenges of today” by drawing from their lived experiences and personal attributes.

“Most importantly, you have the ability to see what can be unburdened by what has been,” she said, drawing from her stump speech on the campaign trail.

As a fellow graduate of a historically Black college and university, she expressed “there is no limit to your capacity for greatness.”

“I want you all — each and every one of you — to always remember that you are not alone, that you come from people, that you come with people,” she said. “Because I promise you, there will be a time when you will walk into a boardroom or a courtroom or maybe even the Situation Room, and you will walk into the room and find you are the only person in that room who looks like you or has had your life experience.

“At that moment, you must remember you are not in that room alone. Always know that you carry the voices of everyone here and those upon whose shoulders you stand.”

Harris is also scheduled to give the commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on May 18.

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