On Wednesday, Alabama governor Kay Ivey (R) signed the most restrictive anti-abortion legislation in the U.S. Under the law, doctors in the state could face felony prison time for performing abortions at any stage of a pregnancy, unless there’s a threat to the woman’s life or a lethal fetal anomaly. There are no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
What’s next?
From Vox’s Anna North:
The law is likely to be challenged in court before it can take effect. In fact, that’s the goal of those pushing the legislation. This particular law is part of a larger nationwide shift in abortion politics. With President Trump in the White House and Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, state legislators are passing stricter and stricter anti-abortion laws in an effort to get the Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade. And while abortion opponents once favored an incremental approach to restricting abortion, many have adopted a far more aggressive strategy in hopes of rolling back protections for abortion nationwide.
Missouri also passed strict anti-abortion legislation this week, which bans abortion after the eighth week of pregnancy.
We’re also following the Trump administration’s new immigration plan that aims to reduce family-based immigration to the U.S. in favor of employment-based immigration. The system would include replacing green cards with a points-based “Build America Visa.”
“Priority will also be given to higher wage workers, ensuring we never undercut American labor,” the president said at a news conference. “To protect benefits from American citizens, immigrants must be financially self-sufficient. Finally, to promote integration, assimilation and national unity, future immigrants will be required to learn English and to pass a civics exam prior to admission.”
At the border, a two-and-a-half-year-old Guatemalan boy is the fourth migrant child to die since December after being apprehended. Each child had been from Guatemala, where many residents are fleeing severe drought and poverty.
“We have reiterated the message that trips to the United States, in the condition in which the Guatemalan families are undertaking them, is highly dangerous,” Guatemala Consul Tekandi Paniagua said in a statement. “We’ve seen four cases in a row of children who have lost their lives in this way.”
Finally, in 2020 news, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has entered the race for the Democratic nomination — the 24th to do so.
We get to all this and more.
Text by Kathryn Fink.
GUESTS
Scott Horsley, Chief economics correspondent and former White House correspondent, NPR
Laura Barron-Lopez, National political reporter, Politico; @lbarronlopez
Shane Harris, Intelligence and national security reporter, The Washington Post; Future of War fellow, New America; author, ‘At War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex’ and ‘The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State’; @shaneharris
For more, visit https://the1a.org.
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Copyright 2019 WAMU 88.5
