Marlena Sloss for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres believes that women’s rights are vital to gender equality worldwide, a spokesman for Guterres said in response to a question about a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade.
“The Secretary‑General has long believed that sexual and reproductive health and rights are the foundation for lives of choice, empowerment and equality for the world’s women and girls,” said Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the secretary-general.
Haq continued, “Without the full participation of 50% of its population, the world would be the biggest loser.”
The spokesman declined to comment specifically on the leaked document and the court’s upcoming decision.
The court document, obtained by Politico, shows the court’s conservative majority ready to overturn the 1973 abortion rights precedent from Roe v. Wade via a case the court is currently hearing, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The court heard the case last year and is expected to rule on it by the end of June.
“[Guterres] has repeatedly pointed to what he has said is a global push‑back that we’re seeing on women’s rights, including reproductive rights and essential health services, and he believes it’s essential to keep pursuing women’s rights,” Haq said.
Across the country, protests erupted in several cities over the leaked document, with both sides of the reproductive health debate taking to the streets in response to the news.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather caused “significant damage” and wide-spread power outages in Oklahoma Wednesday, officials said.
Seminole got hit especially hard after a reported tornado touched down in the city, located about 65 miles east of Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security reported late Wednesday that there was “significant damage” to structures, including businesses, in Seminole, and that the Red Cross was setting up a shelter for displaced residents there.
The National Weather Service of Norman, Oklahoma, had warned residents of a “damaging tornado” on the ground near Seminole County earlier Wednesday.
Aerial footage from Oklahoma City ABC affiliate KOCO-TV showed widespread damage to structures in Seminole after the storm.
The extent of any casualties is unclear.
The City of Seminole warned residents about multiple downed power lines during the severe storm system.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol said it responded to Seminole in the wake of the storm damage, including protecting drivers from the downed power lines.
There are some 12,400 power outages reported throughout the state, while storms and flooding are forecast to continue overnight, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security said.
A tornado watch remains in effect across much of Oklahoma and West-Central Texas Wednesday overnight.
There have already been at least seven reported tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma — including Crowell, Texas, and Maud, Oklahoma.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center had said there was the potential for “significant” — EF2 or higher — tornadoes in parts of Oklahoma and Texas on Wednesday.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 05, 4:39 am
Russian shelling on residential areas of Kramatorsk injures 25, officials say
At least 25 civilians were injured by Russian shelling on residential areas and the central part of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, according to the local city council.
Six of the wounded required hospitalization, and at least nine homes, a school as well as various civilian infrastructure sustained damaged, the Kramatorsk City Council said in a statement via Telegram.
Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko confirmed in a statement via Facebook that a kindergarten was seriously damaged.
Kramatorsk is a city in eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk Oblast.
May 05, 3:50 am
Over 300 civilians evacuated from Mariupol, surrounding areas
More than 300 civilians have been evacuated from the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and surrounding areas, officials said late Wednesday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it facilitated the safe passage of the civilians in coordination with the United Nations and both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The evacuees arrived Wednesday in Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian government-controlled city about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol.
“We are relieved that more lives have been spared,” Pascal Hundt, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Ukraine, said in a statement Wednesday night. “We welcome the renewed efforts of the parties with regards to safe passage operations. They remain crucial and urgent in light of the immense suffering of the civilians.”
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed that 344 people were evacuated to Zaporizhzhia from the Mariupol area, Manhush, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Vasylivka.
The evacuation did not include civilians trapped inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.
There’s a whole lot of Mike Myers in the new Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate, which debuts Thursday. It’s about a secret society that has been controlling the world for centuries. So as a powerful man in media, is Myers himself part of a real-life secret society?
“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any secret society that I am or not in,” Myers tells ABC Audio, adding, “I’ve been obsessed with secret societies my whole life. My mom was in the Royal Air Force and had a top security clearance, so I knew that there were secrets in the world.”
Myers plays eight characters in The Pentaverate, the most he’s ever done in one project. While that sounds exhausting, he says it’s more of a release for him.
“I always have characters in me that are kind of circling the airport and looking for a place to land,” he shares. “I love performing…and I love playing characters. And that has its own energy that gets you going.”
Citing previous works like Austin Powers, the actor adds, “I’m kind of used to multiple characters.”
In The Pentaverate, instead of being evil or power hungry, the secret society’s five leaders are known for being nice. Myers says the show comes during an interesting time in comedy and “it’s good that people are being conscious of not saying things that marginalize, disempower or ridicule.”
Myers himself is known for his trademark brand of humor that is often silly but never mean, which he uses to uncover truths.
“The truth shall set you free, but at first it’s going to upset you…And it’s important that the truth be told,” Myers expresses. “Now I love speaking the truth faster with kindness, but that’s just me.”
Season two of Sara Bareilles‘ Emmy-nominated Peacock comedy Girls5Eva arrives today, and it finds the main characters doing something that Sara is very familiar with in real life: making an album.
After launching their comeback in season one, the Girls5Eva members — Sara’s Dawn, Renée Elise Goldsberry‘s Wickie, Busy Philipps‘ Summer and Paula Pell‘s Gloria — get a record deal, but with only six weeks to record, they go into “album mode.”
“Dawn takes it really seriously…embracing her role as songwriter and trying to really be the voice for the group that she didn’t feel like she got to explore when they were younger,” Sara says of her character. But there are plenty of distractions: Dawn fights with the producer, Gloria tries to reunite with her ex-wife, Summer wants a divorce and Wickie wants to find love.
“They get messy with each other and with their relationships,” Sara laughs. “And I’m here for that. I love that they’re becoming more and more three dimensional as we go.”
But in real life, Sara says her “album mode” isn’t much fun.
“I mean, to me, it means going [into] sort of hermit mode and getting very self-reflective and self punishing,” she explains. “For me, it can be a little bit of like a downward spiral. I think the best times of album mode have to do with collaboration. And…this season, we really get to see the workings of [the group’s] collaboration.”
Sara also reveals that her character “gets in a little bit of trouble because of her ambition this year,” which rings true to her.
She notes, “Album mode is like, you’re kind of dancing with your own ambition the whole time, and ‘what can I make?’ and ‘is it true?’ and ‘what are you willing to give up for what you want?'”
In a tweet Wednesday, the “Soul Meets Body” band confirmed that their next record is “done.” They also revealed that new music is set to drop next Wednesday, May 11, and is available to pre-save now.
The most recent Death Cab album is 2018’s Thank You for Today, which features the singles “Gold Rush” and “Northern Lights.” Since then, they released The Blue EP in 2019, and a covers EP in 2020 to support voting rights. Meanwhile, frontman Ben Gibbard curated a tribute album to Yoko Ono, which was just released this past February.
You can catch Death Cab for Cutie live on their upcoming U.S. tour, kicking off in July.
On Wednesday, Live Nation launched its 2022 Concert Week promotion, which offers $25 tickets to shows by more than 200 artists taking place across North American throughout the summer.
In total, over 3,700 concerts will be discounted as part of the promotion, which runs through Tuesday, May 10. Among the many participating tours is REO Speedwagon, Styx and Loverboy‘s Live & UnZoomed package trek, which kicks off May 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Founding REO Speedwagon keyboardist Neal Doughty says he and his band mates are excited to be returning to full-scale touring following two years where the number of shows they played was reduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re thrilled that live music is back, of course, because that’s our entire life,” he tells ABC Audio. “But we just want to really let people know that, hey, come out of your house, it’s safe now. Live music is back and Live Nation is gonna kick-start the whole thing.”
Doughty notes that REO and Styx have toured many times together many times over the years, and the two bands really complement each other.
“[I]t just really works well,” Neal maintains. “Like our manager says, ‘One plus one equals three when it’s Styx and REO.’ And then, of course, you put somebody like Loverboy on the show, and who would not go to a show like that? I don’t know.”
Doughty also points out that his band and Styx both deliver a balanced show that offers up “the right mix between the love songs and the hard-rock songs.”
The Live & UnZoomed tour is mapped out through a September 18 concert in Bangor, Maine.
For full details about the Concert Week promotion, including a list of participating artists and venues, visit LiveNation.com/ConcertWeek.
There’s a whole lot of Mike Myers in the new Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate, which debuts today. It’s about a secret society that has been controlling the world for centuries. So as a powerful man in media, is Myers himself part of a real life secret society?
“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any secret society that I am or not in,” Myers tells ABC Audio, adding, “I’ve been obsessed with secret societies my whole life. My mom was in the Royal Air Force and had a top security clearance, so I knew that there were secrets in the world.”
Myers plays eight characters in The Pentaverate, the most he’s ever done in one project. While that sounds exhausting, he says it’s more of a release for him.
“I always have characters in me that are kind of circling the airport and looking for a place to land,” he shares. “I love performing…and I love playing characters. And that has its own energy that gets you going.”
Citing previous works like Austin Powers, the actor adds, “I’m kind of used to multiple characters.”
In The Pentaverate, instead of being evil or power hungry, the secret society’s fiv leaders are known for being nice. Myers says the show comes during an interesting time in comedy and “it’s good that people are being conscious of not saying things that marginalize, disempower or ridicule.”
Myers himself is known for his trademark brand of humor that is often silly but never mean, which he uses to uncover truths.
“The truth shall set you free, but at first it’s going to upset you…And it’s important that the truth be told,” Myers expresses. “Now I love speaking the truth faster with kindness, but that’s just me.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Detroit 3, Pittsburgh 2
St. Louis 10, Kansas City 0
San Diego 5, Cleveland 4
Pittsburgh 7, Detroit 2
Cleveland 6, San Diego 5
Texas 2, Philadelphia 1
Chi White Sox 4, Chi Cubs 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Houston 7, Seattle 2
Tampa Bay 3, Oakland 0
Baltimore 9, Minnesota 4
Toronto 2, NY Yankees 1
LA Angels 10, Boston 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Arizona 8, Miami 7
Final Atlanta 9, NY Mets 2
Colorado 5, Washington 2
Milwaukee 18, Cincinnati 4
LA Dodgers 9, San Francisco 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Miami 119, Philadelphia 103 (Miami leads 2-0)
Phoenix 129, Dallas 109 (Phoenix leads 2-0)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Carolina 5, Boston 2 (Carolina leads 2-0)
Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 3 (Series tied 1-1)
Minnesota 6, St. Louis 2 (Series tied 1-1)
Edmonton 6, Los Angeles 0 (Series tied 1-1)
(WASHINGTON) — State governments across the country are taking steps to firm up abortion rights if the Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that granted protections for a woman’s right to an abortion.
A leaked Supreme Court draft opinion published by Politico on Monday apparently shows that the court will overturn Roe. Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft and ordered an investigation into its release.
More than half of Americans oppose abortion bans. A new ABC News-Washington Post poll found that 57% of Americans oppose a ban after 15 weeks. Fifty-eight percent said abortion should be legal in all or most cases and 54% said the court should uphold Roe.
State legislatures have introduced a range of legislation to end existing restrictions, protect the right to abortion and increase access to abortion care, according data from the Guttmacher Institute, which studies sexual and reproductive health and rights.
While overturning Roe would not criminalize abortion at the federal level, experts said it would be left to states to regulate abortions.
“In the absence of a federal right to abortion, then each state could determine for itself whether to protect and expand abortion rights and access or whether to prohibit abortion entirely,” said Elisabeth Smith, the director for state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Smith added, “Roe, for the last almost 50 years, has provided essentially a federal floor and states are not allowed to go beneath the protections of Roe, but states were always free to create more protections and more access than Roe affords. If Roe is overruled, essentially that federal floor would be removed and all abortion policy would be up to each state.”
This map shows where abortion will remain legal in the U.S. if Roe is indeed overturned.
ABC News
The Center for Reproductive Rights estimates that up to 25 states could outlaw abortion entirely. Of the remaining, 22 states have a state right to abortion established in a state constitution or state statute, while three do not have state protections for abortion.
“So regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, abortion will remain legal in at least 22 states,” Smith said.
Abortion is not protected in New Mexico, Virginia and New Hampshire. Smith said women in these states will still likely have access to abortion in the future.
“In New Mexico, they very recently repealed their pre-Roe ban. Virginia, two years ago, repealed many medically unnecessary abortion restrictions that had been in statute for a long time. New Hampshire does not have many of the abortion bans and restrictions that we see in the states that we term ‘hostile’ to abortion rights,” Smith said.
Live Action, a nonprofit anti-abortion group, told ABC News that 22 states already have anti-abortion laws that would kick in if Roe falls.
“Nine states in this group have pre-Roe abortion restrictions still on the books; 13 states have a so-called ‘trigger ban’ that is tied to Roe being overturned and five states have laws passed after Roe restricting nearly all abortions,” Live Action told ABC News.
Another dozen states have six- or eight-week restrictions there are not currently in effect, while Texas’ six-week restriction is in effect. Four states have constitutions that ban the right to abortion, according to Live Action.
While several states have moved to limit or ban access to abortions, many states have also moved to expand access and increase protections for them.
Progressive states are expanding access for their residents and enacting measures to support people from other states who may need to cross state borders to receive access to abortion services due to new restrictions or bans in their home state, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
State legislatures have introduced 231 protective measures in 29 states and the District of Columbia between Jan. 1 and April 14, according to Guttmacher.
Only 11 protective measures have been enacted in seven states in that time frame, according to Guttmacher.
The governor in Colorado signed a bill in April codifying the right to abortion. A Connecticut bill passed in April that protects women who get abortions, those who assist them and abortion providers, and prevents state agencies from assisting interstate investigators seeking to hold people liable. Vermont passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion which will be on the ballot in November, according to Live Action.
Despite efforts by Maryland’s governor to veto a bill that expands who can provide abortions, state lawmakers were able to override his veto in April.
Efforts to protect access to abortion include provisions expanding the types of health care professionals who can provide abortion care; legislation to assist patients with paying for an abortion; and earmarking state funds for abortion services.
Three states — Colorado, New Jersey and Washington — have enacted rules that establish or expand statutory protections for the right to abortion. Two states, Maryland and Washington, have authorized advanced practice clinicians to provide abortion care, according to Guttmacher.
California, Maryland, New York and Oregon have enacted legislation that requires health plans to cover abortion or establish a state fund to assist with abortion costs, according to Guttmacher.
