(ATLANTA) — Buried in the data about the nation’s abortion debate is an uncomfortable truth: A disproportionate number of women seeking to end their pregnancies are Black.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women as a population have the highest rate of abortions — nearly 24 abortions per 1,000 Black women, compared to about seven abortions per 1,000 white women.
That means that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the biggest impact would be felt by Black women in the South, where conservative legislators are set to enact restrictions.
To Monica Simpson, a leading Black activist in Georgia and executive director of SisterSong, none of this should be surprising.
“If it’s obliterated,” Simpson said of the right to abortion, “then we’re not only dealing with an access issue. In a bigger way, we’re also dealing with criminalization possibilities. And that’s a very scary thing in particular for Black folks in this country who are already over-criminalized in so many ways.”
The Supreme Court was expected to rule on the abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, in the next few weeks. According to a leaked draft opinion, the court’s decision would leave the issue up to states. If that happens, more than two dozen states, mostly in the South and Midwest, plan to move ahead to severely curtail access to abortion.
Simpson’s organization SisterSong, a lead plaintiff in a Georgia abortion case, and several other Black advocacy groups say the decision is tightly coupled with race. Slavery, painful gynecological experiments and forced sterilizations are part of the nation’s history when it comes to Black women.
“We all need to be able to determine how many children we’re going to have, if we’re going to have children. We all have a human right to make decisions about our bodies,” said Toni Bond, an ethics and religious scholar who in the 1990s helped to coined the term “reproductive justice” to distinguish concerns among Black women from those of wealthier white feminists.
Among those concerns: Black women are considerably more likely to die from childbirth than white women, even when accounting for education. According to one federal study, college-educated Black women are five times more likely to die from pregnancy than college-educated white women.
Health care access is limited, too, and expensive, with many of the same states voting to restrict abortion also blocking efforts to expand Medicaid, the government’s insurance for low-income families.
Police brutality is another factor, advocates say.
“When you look at all of that in its totality, then yes, it’s going to feed into the decisions that black women make,” said Simpson.
“And if that decision is that they choose not to bring a child into this world right now, that is a decision that is a human right to make, and they should not be shamed for that decision,” she added.
During arguments on the abortion case, conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested safe-haven laws that allow a woman to relinquish her child to a fire station or police station have relieved women of the burdens of parenthood.
Also, anti-abortion groups say their church-based crisis pregnancy centers can assist every women, regardless of her race or ethnicity, on their journey through motherhood.
Simpson and others said that kind of thinking ignores the unique challenges that minority communities face, including the higher medical risk of pregnancy for Black women.
“I think they are not about pro-life at all. They are absolutely about pro-birth,” Simpson said of pregnancy crisis centers. “They want us to bring babies into this world, but they have not proven to us or shown us in any way where they have walked with our folks in our community through their lives.”
In the end, several advocates told ABC News they were prepared to work outside the legal system if necessary, as Black people have done historically.
“We should see this as something deeply, deeply troubling. This is not just about what is legal. This is about what is moral and just,” said Paris Hatcher, executive director of Black Feminist Future.
Because of that, Hatcher said, “I will make sure that anyone who needs an abortion will get (one) by any means.”
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — According to surveillance video obtained by ABC News Louisville affiliate WHAS, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, Greg Fischer, appears to fall to the ground after being hit.
The mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, was assaulted over the weekend while out attending community events when he was punched by the assailant. Police are still investigating and have yet to make any arrests.
Mayor Greg Fischer was attacked while visiting Fourth Street Live, celebrating Kentuckiana Pride and Juneteenth over the busy weekend.
According to surveillance video obtained by ABC News Louisville affiliate WHAS, the mayor appears to fall to the ground after being hit. The assailant was caught fleeing in surveillance footage.
According to police, and Fischer himself, he is doing fine following the assault.
“My son, who is 30 said, ‘Dad you’re not quite an old geezer yet, but it is good to see you can still take a punch,'” Fischer said on Sunday at the Louisville Central Community Center’s Juneteenth gala. “It is an unfortunate thing. We’re living in weird times these days, so it’s just another day in the life of the mayor.”
Anyone with information can call the Louisville Metro Police Department anonymous tip line at 502-574-5673.
All across the country Monday, Americans are observing Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery. When President Joe Bidensigned a bill last year making Juneteenth a federal holiday in the United States, one woman captured well-deserved attention.
Opal Lee, 94, was described by Biden as the “grandmother of the movement” to help make Juneteenth a nationally recognized holiday. In 2016, 89-year-old Lee, a former teacher and lifelong activist, walked from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to the nation’s capital in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday.
Every year on June 19 Lee walks 2 1/2 miles to mark the time that passed between President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, and when the news arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. This year Lee was joined by a host of residents, visitors and supporters.
At the time of bill signing on June 17, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black vice president, also gave Lee her due, saying, “And looking out across this room, I see the advocates, the activists, the leaders who have been calling for this day for so long, including the one and only Ms. Opal Lee.”
“I was overjoyed. I was ecstatic,” Lee told ABC News last year of her reaction to the holiday being signed into law. “I was so happy I could have done a holy dance.”
Juneteenth — also known as Freedom Day, Liberation Day and Emancipation Day — is celebrated on June 19 to mark the day when African American slaves in Galveston, Texas, were among the last to be told they had been freed two months after the Civil War officially ended.
Turns out Tim McGraw wasn’t the only one who had to stop shaving for his role in 1883.
In a new conversation with actor Courteney Cox for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Faith recounts the rigorous prep the actors had to embrace to get ready for their roles on the show.
There was a two-week “cowboy camp” where they learned about the pioneering lifestyle, but for Faith, the hardest part was a little bit more basic — she had to put down her razor.
“[Show creator] Taylor [Sheridan] actually called my husband. We were at a wedding, our nephew’s wedding, and he said, ‘Who’s gonna be the one to tell your wife she has to stop shaving under her arms?’” the singer remembers. “And I’m thinking, ‘Can this wait?’ He goes, ‘No, stop tonight.’”
And she did — but Faith admits she never really felt comfortable making that adjustment to her personal grooming habits.
“It really grossed me out, I have to say,” she continues. “All due respect to those who love that, and all that freedom, woo! But for me personally …”
1883, the prequel to the hit TV show Yellowstone, streams on Paramount+.
If you want to know how great of a year 2021 was for Ed Sheeran, just ask the United Kingdom.
NME reports the “Shivers” singer is the country’s most-played artist of the past year. His single “Bad Habits” was the top song in the U.K. and his album = (Equals) was the most popular album of 2021.
Ed has been enjoying this top honor since 2017 when he first hit a double-header with his ÷ (Divide) album and the song “Shape of You.” He was only bested once, by Dua Lipa, in 2020.
This year, Dua is third on the list of most-played artists, with DJ David Guetta claiming second place. Also making the roundup is Coldplay at number five, The Weeknd in sixth place, Justin Bieber in seventh, Calvin Harris in eighth, Taylor Swift in ninth, and rounding out the top ten is Pink.
When it comes to the nation’s other top songs, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” claimed fourth, while Coldplay’s “Higher Power” took fifth.
After postponing two concerts because frontman Mick Jagger recently tested positive for COVID-19, The Rolling Stones are ready to relaunch their SIXTY tour on Tuesday in Milan, Italy.
Jagger has posted a video message on his Twitter feed in which he tells fans, “Thanks so much for all your lovely messages. I really appreciate them. And I’m sorry for the inconvenience about the shows, but we’ll be on stage at Milan on Tuesday, so see you there.”
In addition, The Rolling Stones posted a Twitter message Monday featuring a series of photos of their crew setting up the stage at Milan’s San Siro Stadium for Tuesday’s concert.
Unfortunately, the band has announced the second show that was postponed because of Jagger’s illness, a June 17 performance in Bern, Switzerland, can’t be rescheduled and has been canceled.
The announcement explains, “The Stones concert promoters have worked extremely hard all week and tried everything they possibly could to find an alternative date or venue for the concert in Switzerland but sadly this was not possible. The band wish to send a huge apology to all the fans in Switzerland who bought tickets and are deeply saddened they cannot perform in Bern on this tour.”
The message explains that fans who bought tickets can get refunds from their point of purchase until July 17.
As previously reported, the first postponed date, a June 14 show in Amsterdam, has been moved to July 7.
In the new film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Emma Thompson stars as a repressed former religious ed teacher who goes on a sex-positive journey of acceptance with the help of a much younger male escort, played by Daryl McCormack.
The two characters – who meet each other under the aliases Nancy Stokes and Leo Grande – end up changing each others’ lives in different ways, and both Thompson and McCormack agree that making this film was a life-changing experience for them, too.
“I think that’s not an exaggeration, is it?” Thompson, 63, tells ABC Audio. “It’s a timing thing in your life and I think that Nancy and Leo certainly hit us right in the center of our souls, right at the right moment; it’s bizarre. I don’t think I could have played her even five years ago.”
McCormack, 29, adds, “Just seeing a young man presented on screen in that way … the sensitivity that he had, yet he felt masculine, he felt he knew who he was. And I just haven’t seen men portrayed on-screen like that before.”
Thompson and McCormack also had to build intimacy with each other quickly, which they say was aided by the tight production schedule and COVID-19 restrictions.
“We shot it in 19 days. It was all in lockdown. We couldn’t go out with anyone else,” Thompson says. “So we were very like Nancy and Leo. We were locked in a hotel for 19 days making this.”
Brian Wilson was born 80 years ago today, and in celebration of his milestone birthday, special messages from some of TheBeach Boys legend’s famous musical friends, fans and associates have been compiled in a video that’s been posted on Wilson’s official YouTube channel.
Among the stars featured in the video are Bob Dylan, Elton John, John Fogerty, Joe Walsh, Graham Nash, David Crosby and Wilson’s fellow Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine.
Elton, who is the first artist featured in the tribute, tells Brian, “Have a wonderful 80th birthday with [your wife] Melinda and your family…You’ve inspired me all my life. To me, you’re the only real pop genius in the world, and I love you very much.”
Fogerty declares, “Happy 80th birthday, and thank you for all the great music!”
Walsh is shown playing the intro to The Beach Boys classic “California Girls” on an electric guitar, and then singing a fun rendition of “Happy Birthday to You.”
Nash says, “I wanted to take a moment and wish you a very, very happy 80th birthday. Do me a favor, please. Keep writing all your wonderful music. I’ll be listening.”
Crosby adds in a separate clip, “Happy Birthday. I love your music. I always have.”
Jardine, who’s been touring with Wilson in recent years as part of his solo band, says, “Hi Brian, I’m the guy who sings on your left…Always remember, we’ll always be younger than your cousin Mike [Love].”
Dylan ends the presentation with an acoustic rendition of “Happy Birthday to You.”
Among the other stars who are featured in the video are Smokey Robinson, the Bee Gees‘ Barry Gibb, Carole King, The Monkees‘ Micky Dolenz, My Morning Jacket‘s Jim James, producer Don Was, actors Jeff Bridges and John Cusack, and filmmaker Cameron Crowe.
Blake Shelton‘s birthday consisted of two of his favorite things: his wife, Gwen Stefani, and country music.
Blake was headlining Country Summer Music Festival in Santa Rosa, CA on his 46th birthday, June 18, when his wife surprised him on stage with a cake. Gwen’s appearance sent the packed crowd into an excited uproar as she walked out with a chocolate frosting-covered cake in hand.
“Let’s do this!” she shouted into the mic, encouraging fans to show her husband some “birthday love.” She led them in a group sing-a-long of “Happy Birthday,” Blake laughing all the while before pretending to blow out the unlit candles on the cake.
“Thank y’all for all the birthday wishes this past weekend and for y’all who came out to party at Country Summer!!! What a damn time we had.. also.. I love you @gwenstefani!!!!” Blake raved on Twitter.
The famed The Voice coach also spent his birthday weekend performing back up for his wife when Gwen hopped on stage during his set to perform No Doubt’s smash hit “Don’t Speak,” with Blake playing guitar in the background.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 20, 2:10 pm
Russians launching large-scale offensive in Luhansk region
Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Regional Military Administration in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, said the situation along the entire Luhansk front is “extremely” difficult with Russian forces “launching a large-scale offensive in our region.”
“They have accumulated a sufficient number of reserves and today all the free settlements of the region are on fire,” Haidai said.
The city of Lysychansk in the Luhansk Oblast has been coming under “massive” Russian fire all day, he said, with the number of victims unknown. He said Russian forces are advancing along the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway and nearby settlements are under constant fire.
Haidai added that Ukrainian troops are only in control of the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk.
Jun 20, 1:03 pm
Ben Stiller, a goodwill ambassador with UNHCR, visits Ukraine
Actor Ben Stiller, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the last five years, is visiting Ukraine to highlight the refugee crisis.
“I’m here meeting people forced to flee their homes due to the war in Ukraine. People have shared stories about how the war has changed their lives — how they’ve lost everything and are deeply worried about their future,” Stiller said Monday from Ukraine.
“Protecting people forced to flee is a collective global responsibility,” he said. “We have to remember this could happen to anyone, anywhere.”
Stiller also met with displaced people in Poland.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jun 20, 6:31 am
‘Historic week’ begins for Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Monday marks the beginning of a “truly historic week” for Ukraine, as the country awaits a decision on its future within the European Union, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his Sunday evening address.
“We will hear the answer from the European Union on the candidate status for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. Last week, the European Commission backed Ukraine for EU candidate status. Now it is up to the European Council to confirm Ukraine’s status, with a decision expected by the end of this week, the Ukrainian president said.
“I am convinced that only a positive decision meets the interests of the whole of Europe,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that Ukraine — and other European countries — should expect increased hostility from Russia in the coming week.
“We are preparing. We are ready. We warn partners,” he said.
But as combat units from both sides of the conflict remain committed to intense combat in the Donbas, they are likely experiencing dips in morale, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense stated in a Sunday intelligence update.
“Ukrainian forces have likely suffered desertions in recent weeks, however, Russian morale highly likely remains especially troubled,” the ministry said.
As cases of whole Russian units refusing to carry out orders and armed stand-offs between officers and their troops continue to occur, Russian authorities are likely struggling to put legal pressure on the dissenters due to the invasion’s official status as a ‘special military operation’, the UK report said.
Low Russian morale is driven by “perceived poor leadership, limited opportunity for rotation of units out of combat, very heavy casualties, combat stress, continued poor logistics, and problems with pay,” according to the Defense Ministry. Many Russian personnel of all ranks also likely remain confused about the war’s objectives, it said.
The U.K. Defense Ministry also said Monday the struggles of Russia’s air force likely contributed to the exhaustion of Russian ground troops. “In the conflict to date, Russia’s air force has underperformed,” another intelligence update said on Monday.
“Its failure to consistently deliver air power is likely one of the most important factors behind Russia’s very limited campaign success,” the report stated. Despite boasting relatively modern and capable combat jets, Russia’s air combat training has for years highly likely been heavily scripted and designed to impress senior officials, as opposed to fostering modern skill-sets, the Defense Ministry said.
As a result, Russian ground troops in Ukraine are becoming worn out while a heavy reliance on advanced cruise missiles has likely led to their stocks running low, the report concluded.
More shelters, less music
The Ukrainian Parliament on Sunday supported a bill on the construction of a network of bomb shelters across Ukraine, including in new buildings.
“The war has shown that there were few reliable shelters in Ukraine,” said Olena Shulyak, a member of parliament.
Many of the existing shelters are not equipped with evacuation exits, lack access to water supply and sewerage systems, and are not adapted for food storage, Shulyak said on Telegram, adding, “Not to mention their ability to protect the population in the event of weapons of mass destruction.”
The parliament topped off a busy weekend when it banned music by artists with Russian citizenship from being aired in public and in Ukrainian media to prevent the influence of “separatist sentiment in the population,” according to the new bill.
A two-thirds majority of lawmakers agreed that Russian music would make the adoption of a Russian identity more attractive while weakening the Ukrainian state.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Yulia Drozd
Jun 19, 3:45 pm
Ukrainians could soon be ‘lovin’ it’ again as McDonald’s in talks to reopen: Foreign Minister
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Sunday that his country’s leaders are trying to get McDonald’s to reopen its franchises in Ukraine, while the fast-food giant has sold off its restaurants in Russia in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
While people in Russia are eating knockoff McDonald’s burger’s now rebranded as “Tasty, and That’s It” — Kuleba said in a Father’s Day Facebook message that Ukrainians are getting closer to enjoying real Big Mac’s and Quarter Pounders.
“After the war started the company, like many others, closed restaurants in Ukraine for security reasons,” Kuleba wrote. “But we in the MFA are convinced the conditions are right for them to resume work and we’re actively persuading them to return.”
He said that a few weeks ago, Ukrainian officials contacted McDonald’s Ukrainian office and its U.S. headquarters in Chicago to open negotiations on the company resuming operations
“We also raised this issue in official contacts with the U.S. government, as McDonald’s is one of most famous American brands. The process is moving along,” Kuleba said.
There was no immediate response from McDonald’s.
-ABC News’ Max Uzol
Jun 19, 12:02 pm
ABC News gets special access to see US howitzers used in the Donbas
For the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, an ABC News crew was allowed an up-close-view of Ukrainian troops firing U.S. howitzer artillery weapons during active fighting in the country’s Donbas region.
ABC News foreign correspondent James Longman and his crew were the only media outlet allowed to witness the weapons in action on the outskirts of Bakhmut in Eastern Ukraine, where Russian armed forces are slowly making advances.
The cannons are considered crucial in taking out Russian artillery positions as the Ukrainian forces battle to keep the Donbas from falling completely into the hands of the enemy, Ukrainian officials said.
A Ukrainian artillery commander told ABC News he was trained how to use the howitzers in Germany by U.S. personnel.
“It makes a huge difference because this is a NATO weapon,” the artillery commander said. “It keeps the morale of our men high because with it we can work more and do a better job. Also, it demoralizes the enemy when he sees how rapid and precise we can open fire and sees the results of these attacks.”
The commander said the biggest difference between the U.S. M-777 155mm howitzers and the Russian equivalent is the precision, speed and ease of operation.
“These howitzers stand lower, which makes it easier to disguise it,” the commander said. “Also, it is harder to spot it when shots are fired.”
He said the four-ton artillery weapons are light-weight compared to the nine-ton weapons they had been using early in the war.
“So, it takes less people to operate it. Also, it is easier to transport it (and) offload,” the commander said. “Because often we fire it from areas that are not easy to get to. So weight is very important. But what is most important is that we are given lots of ammunition for these weapons. And we can work on much more targets now.”
He said the howitzers’ maneuverability is key to its use in the battlefield.
“We set up the piece, open fire and move rapidly to the new location, where we do the same,” the commander said. “This way we can change location 12 to 20 and even more times a day. And the enemy can’t understand how we work so rapidly and open fire from the areas that are not suitable for artillery.”
Asked by ABC News if he is proud to be operating the weapons against Russian troops, the commander responded, “Sure I am! Sometimes when we move to new locations we meet other artillery officers and hear them, saying, ‘Wow, triple sevens!
“So, we are very proud!” he said.
He said the weapons are so precise that many times troops hit targets with the first shot.
“Give us more weapons!” the commander said is his top request of the United States.
-ABC News’ James Longman
Jun 19, 10:22 am
Russia claims its troops have taken control of Dunbas settlement
Russian forces have purportedly taken control of the settlement of Metyolkino in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, according to Russian military officials.
The Russian Federation Armed Forces said Metyolkino was “liberated” by units from the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic with the help of the Russian army.
Russian officials claimed several units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fighting near Lisichansky in the Donbas region “are abandoning the operation area due to low moral and psychological condition, as well as lack of munitions and logistics supply.”
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.
Meanwhile, Russian troops continued to launch attacks on military targets across Ukraine, according to Russian officials.
The attacks included long-distance sea-based missile attacks on Ukrainian troops in the village of Shirokaya Dacha in the Central Ukraine, according to Russian officials. The attack was launched while Ukrainian military commanders were meeting in the village and “resulted in eliminating more than 50 generals and officers of the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine),” Russian officials said in a statement.
Long-range missile attacks over the past 10 days have destroyed 10 155-mm howitzer cannons and 20 armored combat vehicles Russian military officials said were sent to Ukrainian forces by Western countries. One Russian missile strike destroyed a transformer plant in Nikolayev in Southern Ukraine, according to Russian officials.
