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How state constitutions could protect abortion rights · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, July 11th. I'm Shumita Basu, this is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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  Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, activists are trying to identify all sorts of ways to protect the right to an abortion. One pathway is through the federal government. Some are calling for Biden to declare a national emergency over abortion access. Another pathway is to use a religious argument. Some Jewish people are arguing that taking away this right is a violation of their religious beliefs. And we're seeing some creative ideas, too. This weekend, a woman in Texas was ticketed while driving in the HOV lane. Now, her argument was, she's pregnant and according to the new state law, her fetus should count as a person. She says she plans to fight the $275 ticket. But some legal scholars are exploring another path based on a document that most people are not that familiar with: your state's constitution.
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  Stephanie Baer: So, there are all these different kinds of language in the constitutions of the states that abortion clinics and their attorneys are looking at now to see if there is an argument to be made that their state constitutions do protect abortion.
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  Stephanie Baer is a reporter with "BuzzFeed News." She explains that even if the phrase "the right to an abortion" isn't explicitly in a state constitution, a lot of them mention a right to privacy. And that could be used to argue that a person has the right to make personal, private decisions about their body and their life. Take what's happening in Florida where Governor DeSantis signed a bill that bans abortion after 15 weeks. A legal challenge to that ban argues that the state constitution protects the right to a medical procedure.
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  Baer: The right to privacy is explicitly in the Florida state constitution. And the courts in Florida for decades have said that that privacy right, that was approved now, I guess, 40 years ago, that that extends to abortion and protects the right to abortion.
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  In 2012, there was a ballot measure in Florida that would have amended the constitution not to protect abortion under that privacy clause. Voters said no. Even so, DeSantis continues to argue that abortion is not a protected right in the state. Now we're seeing a whole host of legal challenges in other states that have moved to ban abortions since the Supreme Court's decision came down.
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  Baer: The center for reproductive rights, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have filed more than 10 legal challenges in different states. And in a lot of those cases, they are seeking temporary blocks.
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  Plaintiffs in at least six of those cases argue that bans on abortion are a violation of people's right to privacy.
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  Baer: And, you know, what their attorneys and the clinics will say is that even a temporary block, every day, every hour, that these clinics can continue to be open or resume providing abortion services, can save lives and really help people who need abortion care.
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  Baer told us, all eyes will be on state courts now to see how they choose to interpret the language in their state's constitution.
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  Sri Lanka's months-long financial and political crisis came to a head over the weekend. Protestors stormed the official residences of the president and the prime minister. Pictures show demonstrators swimming in the pool at the presidential palace, playing cards and roaming the grounds. For some, it was a frustrating glimpse at the contrast between the luxury of the palace and the level of economic hardship that many Sri Lankans are experiencing. By the end of the weekend, both the president and prime minister said they will step down and make way for a new government that'll need to figure out how to pull the country out of debt.
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  "The Wall Street Journal" has a helpful sum-up of how Sri Lanka got to this point. For months now, public anger has been growing over how the government has handled the economy. The pandemic decimated the country's tourism industry, Food inflation is soaring, rolling blackouts are common. People spend hours every day in long lines for fuel and cooking gas.
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  Many people blame the president and, by extension, his family members, who've dominated the country's politics for decades. Critics have accused them of nepotism and corruption, which the family denies. Some protesters were so angry that they torched part of the prime minister's private residence. He was not home at the time. "Reuters" spoke with human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka at the Center for Policy Alternatives about just how uncertain things are right now.
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  Bhavani Fonseka: So, this is going to be an extremely critical time to ensure there's political stability as well as economic stability at a time where there's also a law and order situation erupting. So if violence is not contained, there is concern that this is going to deepen the crisis. So, very, very important times ahead for Sri Lanka.
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  The next government will need to accomplish a few things before the International Monetary Fund would be willing to offer any kind of financial relief. It'll need to commit to difficult reforms, like tax increases and cutting the public sector. The "Journal" points out, Sri Lanka's crisis is a cautionary tale for a number of other countries that are in debt right now and feeling the squeeze of global inflation and food shortages.
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  For Afghans who helped U.S. forces, the rush to leave when the U.S. withdrew last summer was chaotic. Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees made it to America. But they're struggling to find a basic necessity: stable housing. "Verge" reporter Makena Kelly spent time with Afghan immigrants and those who are trying to help them.
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  Makena Kelly: People get their welcome money, which is like $1,200. That is not gonna pay one month's rent for areas like California, for New York, Northern Virginia. For any of the areas where folks really wanna go.
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  The largest population of Afghans in the U.S. is in the Bay Area. That makes it an ideal place to resettle displaced refugees. But it's also the place with the worst housing crisis in the country.
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  Kelly: That collision between the housing crisis and the inability to even really start your life without finding a place to live, it just makes the issue so much more difficult for, when you really meet those people on the ground, the refugees trying to make the U.S. their home.
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  Kelly reports on how resettlement efforts are being coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security. It's a complex, bureaucratic process involving many different agencies. And now, housing and staffing shortages are badly straining the system.
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  Kelly: People tend to get lost a lot in the system. I spoke to one case worker who had 50 different Afghans that she was working on at one time. And, you know, if you have 50 people calling you, it's impossible to address all their needs.
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  Kelly spoke to one Afghan family. The father had helped the U.S. military back in Kabul. He and his wife, four kids with a fifth on the way, They'd all been living in a single hotel room in Turlock, California. It's been months. The town has no public transportation. They walk an hour each way to take their kids to school every day. The mother told Kelly, she thought that they would come to America and find a house. That things would get better. One room, she says, is just not enough.
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  Basketball has Michael Jordan, tennis has Serena Williams, and county fairs have Linda Skeens. This woman, national hero, let's call her, dominated at a Virginia County Fair recently.
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  If you're wondering why we're talking about this hyper-local news story, I gotta list off all her wins for you cause that's the only way you're gonna understand. Okay, ready? She won the top prize for cake, pie, brownies, sweet bread, apple sauce, pumpkin sauce, best canned goods, best canned tomatoes, canned corn, pickled peppers, sauerkraut, relish, spaghetti sauce. Phew, okay. She also took the first, second and third place for best cookies, best candy and best savory bread. Her strawberry fudge won overall best baked good. And if that wasn't enough, she won for best embroidery, too.
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  Now, the county fair posted her wins to Facebook, and she went viral. Everyone wanted to know, who is this mysterious, super-talented person? A Dallas radio station, HOT 93.3, managed to track her down. Skeens told them that she was recently diagnosed with leukemia and that cooking has been a big part of her healing process. The radio host, Mason Mousette, also told Skeens how viral she's gone online.
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  Mason Mousette: You do realize that everyone on the internet wants you to cook for them, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner. They want you to cook it all for them. They are obsessed with you. Are you going to be open for that?
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  Linda Skeens: I'm busy cooking for my family.
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  She says there, she'll be too busy cooking for her own family.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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