(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Vice President Kamala Harris issued a call to action Sunday, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and lambasting bans on abortion in several states since constitutional protection for the procedure was removed by the Supreme Court last year.
In a speech in Tallahassee, Florida, where state lawmakers are considering more stringent abortion restrictions, Harris compared the fight for abortion access to that for various other civil rights and warned that existing bans put both women and health care professionals at risk.
“For nearly 50 years, Americans relied on the rights that Roe protected. Today, however, on what would have been its 50th anniversary, we speak of the Roe decision in the past tense. Because last June, the United States Supreme Court took away that constitutional right, a fundamental right, a basic freedom from the people of America, from the women of America,” she said.
“The right of every woman in every state in this country to make decisions about her own body is on the line. And I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: How dare they! How dare they!” the vice president said to cheers.
“Today, we are fighting back,” she said. I’m pleased to announce that President Biden — I’m announcing it today — has issued a presidential memorandum on this issue.”
In the memo, Biden directed the secretary of health and human services, along with the U.S. attorney general and the homeland security secretary, to explore ways to make it easier for patients, providers and pharmacies to access, prescribe and provide abortion medication. It also directs them to work to ensure patients can get abortion medication from pharmacies “free from threats or violence.”
The abortion pill mifepristone, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is increasingly being targeted for restrictions in Republican-led states that want to limit abortions.
Many states with abortion bans restrict the availability of mifepristone either by making the drug illegal or cutting down on who can dispense it.
However, the FDA said earlier this month that it will permit pharmacies to offer abortion pills to patients with a prescription who live in states where abortion is legal.
“Members of our Cabinet and our administration are now directed, as of the president’s order, to identify barriers to access to prescription medications and recommend actions to make sure that doctors can legally prescribe, that pharmacies can dispense and women can secure safe and effective medication,” Harris said in her speech in Tallahassee.
She also called for a federal law to codify the right to access abortion, a proposal that has stalled with legislators.
“Know this, President Biden and I agree, and we will never back down,” she said. “And we know, we know, this fight will not be won until we secure this right for every American. Congress must pass a bill that protects freedom and liberty, a bill that protects reproductive rights, and President Biden will sign it.”
Since Roe was overruled, Republican-led states across the country have imposed various bans on abortion, some with exceptions for rape, incest and considerations for the life of the mother.
A 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court ruled in June that Roe was “egregiously wrong from the start” and that the Constitution “does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion.”
Some anti-abortion activists are pushing for more sweeping regulations such as a federal ban, which has divided Republicans in Washington but united Democrats in opposition.
“Let us not be tired or discouraged, because we’re on the right side of history,” Harris said in her speech. “So we will continue to stand together in the fight to protect the freedom and liberty of all people, of all women everywhere,” she said. “And here now, on this 50th anniversary, let us resolve to make history and secure this right.”
Harris led a call-and-response with the audience, asking, “Can we truly be free?”
“Can we truly be free if a woman cannot make decisions about her own body?” she said as attendees replied, “No!”
“Can we truly be free if a doctor cannot care for her patients?” she asked. “No!” they said.
President Joe Biden commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision in a statement, saying that Republicans are bent on curtailing access to abortion even more after last year’s Supreme Court ruling and despite the failure of anti-abortion measures in Kansas, Kentucky and elsewhere.
“Since the Supreme Court’s decision, Americans, time and time again, have made their voices heard: women should be able to make these deeply personal decisions free from political interference,” Biden said. “Yet, Republicans in Congress and across the country continue to push for a national abortion ban, to criminalize doctors and nurses, and to make contraception harder to access. It’s dangerous, extreme, and out of touch.”
The president, like Harris, urged Congress to act.
(MONTEREY PARK, Calif.) — The suspected gunman who allegedly shot 20 people, 10 fatally, at a dance studio near a Lunar New Year celebration in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park is believed to be connected to a van law enforcement officers surrounded Sunday and forced their way into about 30 miles from there the massacre occurred, authorities said.
SWAT officers broke the driver’s side window of the van around 1 p.m. local time, about two hours after police made a traffic stop in the Los Angeles County city of Torrance and heard a loud noise coming from inside the vehicle, sources told ABC News.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, is believed to have been inside a white cargo van, police officials told ABC station KABC. Live aerial footage shows the van sandwiched between two police armored vehicles, Torrance police officials told ABC station KABC.
But Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said it has not been confirmed that the suspect in the mass shooting suspect hold up inside the van in Torrance.
“We don’t know,” Luna said at a news conference Sunday afternoon as the incident in Torrance continued to unfold. “We believe there is a person inside of that vehicle. Could it be our suspect? Possibly.”
Asked if the person inside the van could be dead, Luna said, “that is a possibility.”
In addition to the armored police vehicles, the van was surrounded by numerous police officers, including SWAT members, many with their guns drawn and trained on the van.
Monterey Park shooting suspect’s photo released
The standoff in Torrance came as the sheriff’s department released surveillance images of the homicide suspect, saying he was wearing a beanie cap and glasses and is about 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds.
“He should be considered armed and dangerous,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
On Saturday January 21, 2023 at 10:22 PM the suspect male/adult/Asian pictured above was involved in a shooting. Investigators have identified him as a Homicide suspect and he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Contact LASD Homicide with any information at 323-890-5000. pic.twitter.com/2gPUBBybvv
Some of those injured in the Monterey Park rampage were in critical condition, while others were reported as stable, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference Sunday morning.
Luna said five women and five men were killed in the rampage.
The gunman was only described as an Asian male 30 to 50 years old, Luna said.
“We’re going to use every resource available to us because we need to get this person off the street as soon as possible,” Luna said.
‘Everything is on the table’
Luna declined to comment on a possible motive, but said, “everything is on the table.”
“We don’t know that this was a hate crime as defined by law, but who walks into a dance hall and guns down 20 people?” Luna said.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting by his Homeland Security advisor, according to the White House, and the FBI has joined the investigation.
“Jill and I are praying for those killed and injured in last night’s deadly mass shooting in Monterey Park. I’m monitoring this situation closely as it develops, and urge the community to follow guidance from local officials and law enforcement in the hours ahead,” Biden said in a statement.
In early alerts sent to Washington, investigators said “they had no idea who the suspect was,” Pierre Thomas, ABC News’ chief justice correspondent, said on ABC’s “This Week.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has also been briefed on the shooting, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Monterey Park had been hosting the Monterey Park Lunar New Year Festival this weekend, marking the beginning of the Chinese lunar calendar. The annual two-day street festival is widely attended, with previous celebrations drawing as many as 100,000 daily visitors, according to the city. More than 65% of Monterey Park’s about 60,000 residents identify as Asian American, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Sheriff’s Department said the shooting erupted around 10:22 p.m. on West Garvey Avenue, near the downtown less than a block from where the festival was being held.
The gunman opened fire shortly after entering a dance hall, where people had been celebrating the holiday, police said. It was unclear what type of weapon he used, but Luna said detectives do not believe an assault weapon was involved.
Chaotic crime scene
Monterey Park Police Scott Wiese said his officers responded to reports of shots fired at the dance studio and described a chaotic scene with panicked people running out of the dance hall and gunshot victims lying in the parking lot.
Police in the nearby city of Alhambra were investigating an incident, which also occurred at a dance studio, that might be connected to the shooting, Luna said.
In the Alhambra incident, which occurred 17 minutes after the Monterey Park shooting, an Asian man entered the dance studio with a gun, and several people there wrestled the weapon away from him before he fled the scene. Luna said a white cargo van witnesses spotted at the Alhambra incident is a “van of interest” in the investigation.
“To have this tragedy occur on Lunar New Year weekend, makes this especially painful,” Alhambra Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez said in a Twitter post Sunday. “Monterey Park is home to one of the largest #AAPI communities in the country. This is a time when residents should be celebrating with family, friends and loved ones – not fearing gun violence.”
In a statement Sunday morning, the city of Monterey Park clarified that the shooting did not occur at the Lunar New Year Festival but at the dance studio near the festival that was not connected to the festivities. Officials said Saturday’s festival events were scheduled to finish at 9 p.m.
City officials said all festival activities for Sunday have been canceled.
“Even though the incident did not occur at the 2023 Lunar New Year Festival, an active investigation is currently underway and the area near and around the festival is affected. As a precaution and for the safety of everyone, the City regrets to announce the cancellation of the second day of the festival,” city officials said in a statement.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said it would lead the investigation, after earlier saying it would assist Monterey Park Police. The FBI said it had responded to the scene to assist.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on Twitter condemning the attack.
“Monterey Park should have had a night of joyful celebration of the Lunar New Year. Instead, they were the victims of a horrific and heartless act of gun violence,” Newsom tweeted. “Our hearts mourn as we learn more about the devastating acts of last night. We are monitoring the situation closely.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. ABC News’ Vanessa Navarrete contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is expected to name Jeff Zients as his next White House chief of staff, replacing Ron Klain, who is set to step down in the coming weeks, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
No official announcement has been made. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The Washington Post first reported the selection.
Zients co-chaired the Biden presidential transition, served as the White House COVID-19 response coordinator and most recently worked at the White House preparing for staffing changes following the midterm elections.
Zients, who like Klain is a member of the president’s inner circle, is well-liked among rank-and-file White House staff. As chief of staff, he would supervise a sprawling executive office.
“Everyone is pretty excited about it. People like him [and] respect him,” one aide told ABC News.
The transition comes as the administration faces near-daily headlines about the president’s potential mishandling of classified materials — with a special counsel appointed to look into the matter — and a debt ceiling and spending fight looming with House Republicans.
Klain, a longtime Biden confidante, has been chief of staff as the administration saw a string of legislative successes over its first two years, such as major COVID-19 aid, investments in infrastructure and on climate change and more.
He is also known as a vocal defender of the White House — on TV and on social media — including as economic anxiety mounted last year over record-high gas prices and inflation.
“We have done a lot of work to bring the economy back … [a] tremendous amount of progress on getting the economy going again in 14 months,” Klain said on ABC’s “This Week” last April. “But a lot of work left to be done.”
Andy Slavitt, who worked closely with Zients on Biden’s COVID-19 response, said that Zients would make a “great choice” for Biden due to his integrity and since “everyone trusts him.”
“He seeks out everyone’s views, but he does it in a way that pushes the ball down the field toward a decision,” Slavitt told ABC News. “Most importantly, he gets the team win. He defines the goal and gets everybody on the same page and makes everybody win.”
A lengthy career in business, politics
A 2021 ABC News profile of Zients described him as a well-connected multimillionaire businessman known in Washington circles for his “Mr. Fix-It” ability to navigate thick bureaucracies.
“Big ideas do change the world — but not on their own,” Zients said in a 2018 commencement speech to business students at American University. “None of it matters unless you execute well, and executing well is really hard.”
Zients’ corporate career was lengthy — having worked in consulting and investing and previously sitting on the boards of Facebook and Sirius XM Radio — before his time in politics, and some progressives in 2021 cited concerns over Zients’ business-world track record.
Under President Barack Obama, Zients was the White House’s first-ever chief performance officer, director of the National Economic Council and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Former Human and Health Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell, who worked with Zients during the debacle over the government’s launch of healthcare.gov, told ABC News in 2021 that “he’s the kind of guy who runs into the fire without drama.”
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
At her father’s iconic estate Graceland in Tennessee Sunday morning, friends and family members gathered for a memorial service to honor Lisa Marie Presley, who passed away at 54 on January 12.
Presley was laid to rest on Thursday next to her son, Benjamin Keough, in Graceland’s Meditation Garden.
Joel Weinshanker, film producer and managing partner of Elvis Presley Enterprises, opened the service by passing along Presley’s wishes for her own service: “Don’t make it sad.”
The former Mayor of Memphis, AC Wharton, explained, “Before Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan had Jack, before Goldie [Hawn] and Kurt [Russell] had Wyatt, before Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet had Zoe, before Jay Z and Beyonce had Blue Ivy, and long before Harry and Meghan had Archie, in this city, our own royal couple, Elvis and Priscilla had our own princess, Lisa Marie.”
He called her the “keeper of the flame,” and “this city’s precious jewel.”
Lisa Marie’s friend and former musical collaborator, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan took the stage, clad in a dark shirt and black suit to perform on an acoustic guitar, his song “To Sheila.”
Following the performance, Presley’s close friend Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, explained they called each other “Sissy,” calling it a “great honor” to celebrate this “extraordinary” woman. Ferguson added of Queen Elizabeth II, “My late mother-in-law used to say, ‘Nothing could take away these moments, because grief is the price we pay for love.'”
Alanis Morissette then took the stage in a long, black coat, and performed “Rest,” accompanied by a piano.
Priscilla Presley chose to let her granddaughter’s written words speak for her, reading a poem her granddaughter wrote, called “The Old Soul.” It touched on the heartbreak Presley endured when her son Benjamin took his own life in 2020. “…Survivor’s guilt some would say, but a broken heart was the doing of her death,” Priscilla said.
Axl Rose then addressed the assembled mourners next, commenting in part, “I feel like I’m supposed to be texting her like right now saying I’m here, telling her how wonderful everyone is. I never in a million years expected to be singing here, especially not in these circumstances.”
Rose went on to express how much Presley loved Baz Lurhmann‘s Elvis movie and Austin Butler‘s performance. “Lisa’s loved and missed by many, and will continue to be loved and missed by all those whose lives she touched,” Rose said, before performing the Guns N’ Roses song “November Rain” on piano.
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet then followed with “How Great Thou Art,” and Jason Clark and the Tennessee Mass Choir closed out the ceremony.
Jeremy Rennerrevealed he broke more than 30 bones in a New Year’s Day snow plow accident that left him hospitalized in critical condition and required emergency surgery.
“Morning workouts, resolutions all changed this particular new years,” the 52-year-old actor wrote in a social media post on Saturday, sharing a photograph of him receiving physical therapy at his home. “Spawned from tragedy for my entire family, and quickly focused into uniting actionable love.”
Renner thanked everyone for their “messages and thoughtfulness” as he continues his recovery.
“These 30 plus broken bones will mend, grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens,” the Marvel star wrote. “Love and blessings to you all.”
Renner suffered “blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries” when he was run over by his unmanned snowcat, a large piece of snow plow equipment, on Jan. 1 in Reno, Nevada, officials said. He was airlifted to a local hospital and underwent emergency surgery on Jan. 2.
On Jan. 16, he revealed he was home from the hospital.
“Outside my brain fog in recovery, I was very excited to watch episode 201 with my family at home,” Renner wrote in a reply to a post from the official Twitter account for his Paramount+ show Mayor of Kingstown.
Renner’s update on Saturday prompted messages of support from the likes of model Heidi Klum, actor Jason Momoa and Renner’s Marvel costar, Chris Hemsworth.
“Your [sic] a champion mate! We love you,” Hemsworth commented.
(FLORIDA) — Police are “currently negotiating” with a woman who allegedly shot her terminally ill husband in his Florida hospital room on Saturday, authorities said.
The Daytona Beach Police Department said midday Saturday that it had responded to a shooting at Advent Health Hospital.
Staff and patients have been removed from the area, our shooter is contained. https://t.co/iShIobchOu
(MICHIGAN) — The Justice Department is investigating conduct at Abbott Laboratories’ infant formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan, in connection with a contamination investigation that closed the plant last year, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The monthslong shutdown of the plant amid a investigation helped trigger a nationwide formula shortage.
An Abbott spokesperson told ABC News, “DOJ has informed us of its investigation and we’re cooperating fully.”
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Consumer Protection branch of the DOJ is conducting the criminal investigation, the source familiar said.
The discovery of Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria inside Abbott’s Sturgis plant prompted a massive voluntary formula recall in February, after four babies who had consumed Abbott’s formula contracted a Cronobacter infection.
Two of the infants subsequently died, although Abbott maintains there has not been conclusive evidence that its formula caused the infant illnesses, since none of the Cronobacter strains found at their plant matched the two samples genetically sequenced from the sickened infants.
Food and Drug Administration officials said the investigation remains ongoing.
Ultimately, it was the combined findings of Cronobacter inside Abbott’s plant — along with a pattern of serious operational deficiencies and consumer complaints — which led to the plant’s closure.
The plant reopened in June and restarted production of its largest formula Similac in August.
(IDAHO) — An Idaho woman who documented her 19-day miscarriage on social media said it was days before she could receive care due to the state’s strict abortion laws.
Carmen Broesder, 35, from Nampa — 20 miles west of Boise — a mother-of-one was just six weeks pregnant when she began miscarrying on Dec. 8. However, she said it took eight days before she was given any medicine to manage her pain and to expel embryonic tissue, and several more days for the miscarriage to end.
In a series of TikTok videos — along with medical records, photos and videos shared with ABC News — she said that despite bleeding heavily and suffering intense cramps, she was denied a dilation and curettage, or D&C, which removes tissue from inside the uterus, multiple times.
Because a D&C can also be used when providing abortion care, she told ABC News she believes it’s directly tied to Idaho’s abortion ban.
“Why should I get to death’s door to get help?” Broesder said. “I am prepared to be a mother. I am a mother and I wanted to have another baby. That is my story and it almost killed me.”
Different than other miscarriages
After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court last summer, Idaho passed a strict near-total abortion ban in August 2022 with only exceptions for rape, incest or if a pregnant person’s life is in danger.
Broesder said she wasn’t seeking an abortion when she went to the hospital the first time. She said she and her boyfriend had been trying to have a second child after the birth of her 16-month-old daughter, Lucy.
While trying to conceive, Broesder said she suffered other miscarriages, but she never experienced as much bleeding or as much pain as she did when she woke up on Thursday, Dec. 8.
“That was the most horrifying moment; I woke up and I had intense stomach pain,” she said. “I couldn’t stand up too much, and I go to the bathroom, and I was just bleeding. It was a horrific amount of blood loss where I instantly know this is not okay.”
After the bleeding wouldn’t stop with a 12-hour menstrual disc or with a super plus tampon, Broesder went to a local hospital. Broesder said she told staff she thought she was experiencing a miscarriage and after they checked her in, she said she waited for hours for someone to examine her.
She said staff eventually performed an ultrasound and confirmed there was no detectable heartbeat but, because she had an OBGYN appointment on Monday, Dec. 12, they advised her to attend as scheduled.
During the OBGYN appointment, Broesder said an ultrasound technician also confirmed the lack of a heartbeat and told her to come back for a follow-up in two days. ABC News reached out to the doctor’s office for a comment on their care for Broesder but did hear back.
‘I’m going to die before someone helps me’
Broesder said she felt like something still wasn’t right with this miscarriage. She was still bleeding heavily and in pain but did not receive any medication.
“I’m feeling like no one’s listening at this point,” she said. “These people are supposed to help. So, I went home and kind of just suffered through.”
Broesder said she felt like something still wasn’t right with this miscarriage. She was still bleeding heavily and in pain but did not receive any medication either from the ER or her OBGYN.
“I’m feeling like no one’s listening at this point,” she said. “These people are supposed to help. So, I went home and kind of just suffered through.”
However, the pain and the bleeding became so bad that Broesder went to the ER the next day, where she said she again waited for hours for someone to see her — and where she made her first TikTok video about her miscarriage, which went viral.
“I’ve been actively miscarrying since the 8th,” she said in the video, posted on Dec. 13. “I have gone to a doctor, and this is my second visit to the ER if you’re wondering why women’s rights matter. I’m just going to [expletive] bleed out on this table before somebody comes and actually helps me.”
She said that she asked twice for a D&C, including from her own OBGYN.
OBGYNs told ABC News the “save the mother’s life” exception of abortions bans — which Broesder may have qualified for in Idaho — is often vague and the language is unclear about what qualifies as a mother’s life being in danger, what the risk of death is, and how imminent death must be before a provider can act.
Providers also may be worried about providing miscarriage care because it could be misconstrued as providing abortion care, and they could face legal repercussions.
“That’s the optimal scenario, that doctors are able to provide the care that’s necessary and evidence-based,” Dr. Beverly Gray, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina, who was not involved in Broesder’s care, told ABC News. “I worry about other systems that are worried about how they could come under attack for taking care of a patient or could a doctor that’s caring for the patient be prosecuted in some way. I think these are real fears that people are facing.”
Broesder was told by the second hospital that she had a complete miscarriage and was given tranexamic acid, medicine that controls bleeding and helps prevent excessive blood loss, according to medical records reviewed by ABC News, and sent home.
The hospital network, answering on behalf of both hospitals Broesder visited, said that “due to federal and state privacy laws, we cannot confirm nor deny that this patient was seen at our facilities” but that it “provides such medical care as required under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act” when a pregnant woman suffers a medical emergency that requires the pregnancy to be terminated.
During this time, Broesder said she thought she was going to die.
“I was in so much pain I didn’t know how much more my body could take,” she said. “I had gone to the ER twice and I got turned away. I go to the OB, and I got turned away. I knew I couldn’t afford much more visits for longevity afterwards to keep my family afloat. So, I was just like, well, it is what it is.”
Finally receiving care
By this time, her very first TikTok video had gone viral – the app shows it currently has more than 620,000 views – and she had been making more videos to keep those following her story updated.
She said many of her new followers told her to go to the ER again and, on Dec. 16, she decided to drive to St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center, where she was given a room and seen by a nurse.
Broesder said she requested a D&C and was denied again.
Dr. Frank Johnson, chief medical officer at St. Luke’s Health System covering Boise, Elmore and McCall, who did not treat Broesder but spoke about her case with ABC News, said “looking over this particular situation, there was no additional need for an interventional procedure by the time that she arrived here at St. Luke’s.”
So, I think in this particular case, medically appropriate care was provided to the patient,” he added.
While D&Cs are generally performed to terminate a pregnancy in the later stages, Dr. Saida Hader, an OBGYN at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told ABC News it can be provided if a patient is bleeding heavily in early pregnancy and miscarrying.
“D&Cs can be performed at any point in pregnancy, including early pregnancy and in the case of a miscarriage if someone is bleeding heavily,” she said, commenting in a general sense and not on Broesder’s care specifically. “What I will say, as a clinician, miscarriage is a very common occurrence in pregnancy and for patients that are clinically ‘less stable,’ which is what we call them when they’re bleeding a lot, the best course of action is a D&C and that is what you use to treat an early pregnancy in this situation.”
In an audio recording of the conversation Broesder had with the physician about why she couldn’t get a D&C, he said “there is some trepidation” about performing one in the wake of Idaho’s new abortion law.
“I felt like 50 pounds of bricks got lifted off my shoulders and got replaced with like 50 pounds of raging fire,” she said. “But I couldn’t do anything because this guy’s helping me so I’m not mad at him and it’s not his fault. I’m obviously mad at the law.”
Johnson did say, at St. Luke’s, doctors do sometimes have to consult with the legal team on cases to make sure they’re staying within the bounds of the law, although it’s not clear if this occurred in Broesder’s case.
“That’s been a new situation, really a necessity based on the ways that the laws are currently devised and written,” he said. “Traditionally, I think it is best when those conversations can occur between a physician, a woman and her family, and having to add the complexity of needing to figure out how to navigate a new law is an added challenge.”
Haider, who was not involved in Broesder’s care said the fear of criminalization and inability to provide care, even in situations where abortion providers might deem it necessary, might prevent them from acting.
“They might have initially acted sooner, they might have acted more aggressively to provide, taken more actions to intervene if they could have and by delaying that care, you’re putting the patients in a worse situation clinically and more at risk of bad outcome,” she told ABC News, speaking in a general sense.
Broesder said the doctor at St. Luke’s did discover part of the embryo was stuck in her cervix, so she received a procedure to remove part of the remaining tissue and was prescribed misoprostol, which treats postpartum bleeding, induces labor and causes an abortion.
From the day Broesder’s miscarriage started to when it ended, she said it was a total of 19 days of bleeding.
She said while she has been encouraged by the supportive comments and messages she has received on social media since her first video, she does not intend to try for another baby. She said the Idaho law worries her that if something similar happens, she could die due to fear from medical professionals about administering care.
“After this, even without the possibility or desire to have a baby, like, why would I want to go through that pain again?” Broesder said. “And why would I want to go through my daughter almost losing her mom again to have another child? That seems selfish and wrong.”
She added, “I did not deserve to have to beg for my life for eight days and nobody else does either.”
(NEW YORK) — Massachusetts man Brian Walshe appeared in court this week on charges he allegedly killed and dismembered his missing wife, Ana Walshe. The case echoes other high-profile cases in recent years involving husbands allegedly killing their wives.
Prosecutors accused Walshe of making incriminating Google searches including “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to” and “can you be charged with murder without a body.”
Walshe’s alleged Google searches also included, “what’s the best state to divorce.”
Walshe has pleaded not guilty to murder and improper transport of a body.
About 34% of the women killed in the U.S. in 2021 died at the hands of an intimate partner, according to the Bureau of Justice statistics. Only about 6% of the men killed in the U.S. in 2021 died from intimate partner homicide.
What are the reasons behind why some husbands kill their wives?
Premeditated vs. spontaneous
Former FBI agent and ABC News contributor Brad Garrett notes two types of domestic homicide: premeditated and spontaneous.
“The spontaneous ones are people who probably have a history of abusing their spouse,” Garrett said. They “may have alcohol or drug dependency issues [or] raging jealousy issues” and end up killing their spouse in a “fit of rage,” he said.
As for the premeditated homicides, motives are often jealousy or greed. For example, they may “become enraged because their wives have become so successful,” Garrett said.
Premeditated homicides are often poorly planned, Garrett said, because “they’re so driven by getting rid of their partner, that they actually don’t even think through the logical things like, ‘My cellphone can be tracked.'”
Control
To Kiersten Stewart, director of public policy and advocacy at nonprofit Futures Without Violence, the core of domestic violence is power and control.
And domestic violence also includes emotional abuse and sexual abuse, she noted.
“If your partner is really possessive…wants to control who you talk to, what you wear, where you go…that’s a red flag,” she said.
If the husband feels like he’s losing control — for example, if he lost his job or his spouse is giving attention to someone else — the wife may feel like he is trying to control her and start to pull away. That’s often when domestic violence will start, Garrett warned.
Domestic homicide remains a threat if the couple has separated, according to Garrett and Stewart.
After a separation, “the abuser is still carrying all of this anger, revenge, resentment baggage,” Garrett explained.
“If possession and control is one of your triggers,” he said, during a divorce “you see even more things disappearing and you have even less control over what happens.”
Personality
When it comes to domestic homicide offenders’ personalities, they are usually narcissistic and anti-social, according to Garrett.
“In particular, with the ones that are planned, you’re really talking about anti-social personalities,” he said. “It’s all about fulfilling their needs and nothing else matters.”
Walshe, for instance, is accused of dismembering his missing wife; dismembering the mother of his three children would be “such a huge step beyond just killing somebody,” Garrett said.
Walshe’s defense attorney, Tracy Miner, told ABC News in a statement Friday: “It is easy to charge a crime and even easier to say a person committed that crime. It is a much more difficult thing to prove it, which we will see if the prosecution can do. I am not going to comment on the evidence, first because I am going to try this case in the court and not in the media. Second, because I haven’t been provided with any evidence by the prosecution. We shall see what they have and what evidence is admissible in court, where the case will ultimately be decided.”
The personality of domestic homicide suspects is also a “complicated mix of how they were raised and their relationship with women,” Garrett said. “Do they view women as their property? Did they get really no emotional support growing up?”
For example, he said, a wife achieving success in her career or finding a new partner can “drive these guys into a fit — that either can be spontaneous or planned.”
But psychological reasons behind a domestic homicide are still complex, Garrett noted, stressing that mental health and drug use can be factors.
‘Take care of yourself first’
Domestic homicides also extend to dating relationships.
After a nationwide search for missing travel blogger Gabby Petito in 2021, her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, admitted in a notebook that he killed her.
Petito, who was killed by strangulation, was found in a national park in Wyoming. Laundrie later died by suicide in Florida.
Petito’s father, Joseph Petito said at her funeral, “If there is a relationship that you’re in that might not be the best thing for you, leave it now. Take care of yourself first.”
How to get help
“Some people don’t always know it’s abuse at first,” Stewart explained. “Usually abusers don’t come with a giant sign.”
“It’s usually somebody you cared about…and the behavior starts to escalate,” she said.
“We know that many men who abuse their partners may themselves have grown up in abusive homes,” Stewart said. In those cases, she said, the victim may show them sympathy, excuse the behavior and not view it as dangerous.
Domestic violence overall is “unbelievably underreported,” Garrett noted. “The person being abused has to figure out a way to report what’s going on.”
Stewart encourages domestic violence victims to contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help developing a safety plan and finding local resources.
And Garrett stressed that anyone in an abusive domestic situation should notify police and friends if there are guns in the house. An average of 70 women in the U.S. are shot and killed by an intimate partner each month, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
Stewart believes preventing domestic violence is everyone’s responsibility.
“When we think about domestic violence, it really starts in adulthood,” she said. “So we’re really asking…everybody in the community to start talking to younger people in your lives about how to build healthy relationships. And when you see behavior that’s not OK, to speak up.”
She added, “We’d so much rather have a conversation with a 14-year-old than be burying a 34-year-old.”
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 for confidential support at 1-800-799-SAFE. You can click here for more information on identifying abuse, click here for help creating a safety plan, and click here to find local resources.
Phoebe Bridgers reveals she takes inspiration from her good friend and collaborator Taylor Swift, but not necessarily in the way you may think.
“I take inspiration from the people I see who are happy, and I’m still trying to,” Phoebe tells Rolling Stonein a new interview about the return of her band boygenius. Shenotes Taylor’s “such a deep, wise human being, and has not sacrificed fun at all.”
Bridgers adds, “She validates those boundaries that people have tried to take from her for her whole life.”
One of the ways Phoebe tries to keep herself happy is by surrounding herself with the right people. “You don’t hear enough about how people become successful and then happy,” she says. “I’m able to hire my best friends to travel the world with me, and I don’t have any s***** people around anymore.”
And Taylor and Phoebe are bound to be around each other a lot more this year, as Bridgers is one of the artists set to open for Taylor on her Eras Tour, which kicks off March 17 in Glendale, Arizona. Phoebe joins the tour May 5 at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.
