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Transcript

Life under Tennessee’s strict abortion law · Apple News Today

• 0:00
  [INTRO MUSIC BEGINS]
• 0:05
  Mark Garrison, Narrating: Good morning. It's Tuesday, February 20th.
• 0:07
  I'm Mark Garrison, in for Shumita Basu.
• 0:09
  This is Apple News Today.
• 0:12
  Coming up, a court ruling threatens the future of IVF,
• 0:16
  inside the collapse of a Gaza hospital,
• 0:18
  and the unusual and innovative way
• 0:21
  Los Angeles is dealing with heavy rain.
• 0:25
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 0:27
  But first, it's been nearly impossible to get an abortion
• 0:30
  in Tennessee since 2022.
• 0:33
  It has one of the strictest laws in the country.
• 0:35
  And once a child is born,
• 0:37
  the state provides very little support for new parents.
• 0:40
  "ProPublica" reporter Kavitha Surana
• 0:43
  spent one year following Mayron Hollis,
• 0:45
  a mother of four who found out just a few months
• 0:48
  after giving birth to her youngest, Zooe, that she was pregnant again.
• 0:52
  [START PROPUBLICA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 0:53
  Kavitha Surana: Doctors told Mayron that she had a very dangerous pregnancy.
• 0:56
  The embryo was implanted in the scar tissue
• 0:58
  from her recent C-section
• 1:00
  and that could rupture her uterus or cause massive bleeding
• 1:03
  and she could even die.
• 1:05
  They knew that it would also be unlikely that the fetus
• 1:08
  would ever make it to term.
• 1:09
  [END PROPUBLICA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:10
  Garrison, Narrating: At the time, she was fighting the state to keep custody of Zooe.
• 1:14
  Mayron was three years sober after a lifetime battle with drugs,
• 1:18
  and the state had already taken custody of her other children
• 1:21
  over child welfare concerns.
• 1:24
  Mayron wanted to end her high-risk pregnancy,
• 1:26
  but she was blocked by the state's abortion ban.
• 1:29
  She delivered three months early.
• 1:32
  Her daughter, Elayna, weighed less than two pounds
• 1:34
  and had to spend several months in the ICU.
• 1:38
  Mayron almost died in childbirth,
• 1:40
  Doctors saved her life with an emergency hysterectomy.
• 1:44
  Tennessee has some of the worst outcomes in the country
• 1:47
  when it comes to maternal health, infant mortality, and child poverty.
• 1:51
  The state does not have paid parental leave.
• 1:54
  And over the last decade,
• 1:55
  state lawmakers have rejected legislation that would strengthen
• 1:58
  the social safety net for babies and parents.
• 2:01
  [START PROPUBLICA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 2:02
  Surana: So, you had this mother who went back to work
• 2:05
  three weeks after her traumatic surgery
• 2:07
  and is sometimes sleeping in her car outside the hospital
• 2:10
  just so that she can see her daughter.
• 2:12
  After Elayna came home, she was on oxygen
• 2:15
  and a feeding tube for months.
• 2:17
  And she was actually eligible for certain services
• 2:19
  like having nurse visits
• 2:21
  and more substantial disability payments.
• 2:24
  But what we observed, I mean, it was such a testament
• 2:26
  to how difficult it is to access these benefits.
• 2:28
  We watched Mayron try to get connected with them
• 2:31
  and constantly get hung up on or not have the exact right paperwork.
• 2:35
  And, you know, Mayron left the hospital with a stack of papers
• 2:38
  and phone numbers.
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  And that was all the connection that she got.
• 2:41
  [END PROPUBLICA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 2:42
  Garrison, Narrating: Surana told us Mayron shared deeply personal details
• 2:45
  and allowed ProPublica to follow her family's struggles
• 2:48
  because she felt it was important that the world know
• 2:51
  the consequences of Tennessee's policy.
• 2:53
  [START PROPUBLICA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 2:54
  Surana: She wanted people to know they forced me, basically,
• 2:56
  to have a child,
• 2:57
  but then they didn't help me take care of that child.
• 3:00
  [END PROPUBLICA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:00
  Garrison, Narrating: You can read Mayron's entire story and see pictures of her
• 3:03
  [PENSIVE MUSIC FADES IN]
• 3:04
  and her family on the Apple News app.
• 3:15
  Now, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news.
• 3:19
  In Alabama, a court's unprecedented ruling that frozen embryos are people
• 3:24
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 3:24
  is raising concerns about the future of IVF.
• 3:27
  It involved a wrongful death case where a patient mistakenly dropped
• 3:31
  and destroyed frozen embryos.
• 3:33
  The court ruled that they could be held liable
• 3:35
  because the state's law, quote,
• 3:37
  "applies to all children, born and unborn."
• 3:41
  Alabama's Medical Association had warned that a ruling like this
• 3:44
  could make IVF more expensive
• 3:46
  and force clinics there to shut down or move out of state.
• 3:51
  To business news,
• 3:51
  where two of America's biggest credit card brands
• 3:54
  are coming together in a deal worth more than $35 billion.
• 3:59
  Capital One is buying Discover Financial.
• 4:01
  Most Capital One cards are Visa or MasterCard,
• 4:04
  so buying Discover gives Capital One another option.
• 4:08
  It plans to switch some cards to Discover
• 4:11
  and keep Visa and MasterCard on others.
• 4:14
  And a notorious leaker of government secrets
• 4:17
  is in a high-stakes court hearing today.
• 4:19
  [INDISTINCT CROWD COMMOTION]
• 4:22
  ["FREE JULIAN ASSANGE" CHANTS]
• 4:25
  Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gathered outside
• 4:29
  a London court, which is hearing, what could be, his last chance
• 4:32
  to avoid extradition to the U.S.
• 4:35
  He's wanted in America for trial over leaking military secrets.
• 4:38
  The first leaks were in 2010.
• 4:40
  U.S. authorities have been trying to get a hold of him ever since.
• 4:43
  Assange took refuge for seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London
• 4:47
  before local police arrested him.
• 4:49
  [DRAMATIC MUSIC FADES IN]
• 4:50
  If he loses in court this time,
• 4:52
  Assange could be handed over to America in a matter of weeks.
• 5:05
  The United Nations is expected to vote today on a resolution
• 5:08
  for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
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  The U.S. has signaled it'll veto it,
• 5:13
  saying that could jeopardize peace talks.
• 5:15
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 5:16
  "Reuters" reports that the U.S. is instead proposing a resolution
• 5:19
  that would call for a temporary ceasefire
• 5:21
  and oppose a major Israeli ground offensive in Rafah.
• 5:25
  One of the greatest humanitarian concerns right now
• 5:28
  is the hospital system in Gaza.
• 5:30
  There's a particular focus on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
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  It's the second largest in Gaza.
• 5:35
  Israel and Gaza's health ministry
• 5:38
  are telling two very different stories about what has happened
• 5:41
  at Nasser since the Israeli military stormed the facility last week.
• 5:45
  The BBC verified social media videos from inside the facility
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  as soldiers came in.
• 5:50
  [START BBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:50
  [LOUD WHIRRING NOISE]
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  Undisclosed Speaker: [SPEAKING ARABIC]
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  [END BBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:55
  Garrison, Narrating: Israel said Hamas was holding hostages
• 5:57
  at Nasser Hospital, which Hamas denied.
• 6:00
  Israel also said it was working to limit civilian harm
• 6:02
  and allow the hospital to keep functioning.
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  But Gaza's health ministry,
• 6:06
  the UN and doctors say that's not true.
• 6:09
  They described catastrophic conditions
• 6:11
  and several patient deaths
• 6:12
  at a hospital that has effectively ceased to function.
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  An eyewitness told "CNN" that Israeli troops pulled doctors
• 6:18
  outside and forced them to strip to their underwear
• 6:21
  and wait in the cold for hours.
• 6:23
  Israel's military didn't immediately respond to "CNN"
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  about how the doctors were treated.
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  One of the people inside was Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi,
• 6:31
  head of the Plastic Surgery and Burns Department.
• 6:34
  After evacuating the hospital, he went on "Al Jazeera"
• 6:36
  and called the situation there Judgment Day.
• 6:39
  [START AL JAZEERA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 6:39
  Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi: It is a real horror, what was happening.
• 6:43
  I'm shouting, we are screaming, and I'm telling you,
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  and I ask the leaders of this world, how many videos do you have to see
• 6:52
  us killing, seeing us, seeing this real genocide
• 6:56
  happening in front of your eyes, and nothing, nothing.
• 7:00
  Just silence, just silence.
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  [END AL JAZEERA ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 7:03
  Garrison, Narrating: He and others from the hospital made it to Rafah.
• 7:05
  Around 1.5 million people are with them,
• 7:08
  having fled heavy fighting elsewhere in Gaza.
• 7:11
  But it could soon become much more dangerous.
• 7:14
  As we've talked about,
• 7:15
  Israel promises a major ground offensive there next month,
• 7:18
  [UPBEAT MUSIC FADES IN]
• 7:18
  at the start of Ramadan,
• 7:19
  if Hamas does not release all remaining hostages.
• 7:31
  At times lately,
• 7:32
  nearly everyone in California has been under flood alerts.
• 7:36
  Heavy rainfall is expected to continue.
• 7:38
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 7:38
  Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass recently spoke
• 7:40
  to a local "ABC" station about the week's weather conditions.
• 7:43
  [START ABC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 7:44
  Karen Bass: We are prepared, but I do still worry
• 7:47
  because the hills have not dried out from the last storm.
• 7:51
  And so, of course,
• 7:52
  every time there's a rain that's going to be heavy,
• 7:55
  we have to worry about mudslides.
• 7:57
  [END ABC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 7:57
  Garrison, Narrating: She's talking about preparation
• 7:59
  for the immediate effects of heavy rain.
• 8:01
  But in recent years, L.A. has also prepared in another way.
• 8:05
  "WIRED" looks at how it's done work
• 8:06
  to become what urban planners call a sponge city.
• 8:10
  That's a place that can gather rainwater in a way
• 8:12
  that helps the community in the long term.
• 8:15
  Historically, L.A. has relied on snowmelt and river water
• 8:18
  brought in from far away,
• 8:19
  but it's working to source more water locally.
• 8:23
  Water managers in L.A.
• 8:24
  have been replacing surfaces like concrete
• 8:26
  with permeable materials like dirt and plants.
• 8:29
  The combination of traditional dams and spongy infrastructure
• 8:33
  captured more than 8 billion gallons of stormwater over just a few days
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  earlier this month.
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  For context, that's enough water
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  for more than 100,000 households for a year.
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  Typically, cities relied on gutters and sewers to funnel rainwater
• 8:47
  out of cities to prevent flooding.
• 8:49
  But with climate change driving heavier rains,
• 8:52
  [OUTRO MUSIC FADES IN]
• 8:53
  old systems aren't working anymore.
• 8:55
  Current weather is pretty rough for Angelenos,
• 8:57
  but the city's trying a new way to deal with it,
• 9:00
  and attacking another problem at the same time.
• 9:06
  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
• 9:09
  And if you're already listening in the News app right now,
• 9:11
  we've got a Narrated Article coming up next
• 9:13
  from "New York Magazine."
• 9:15
  It's about financial scams.
• 9:17
  And if you think that only naive people fall for them,
• 9:19
  you'll want to hear this.
• 9:21
  It's written by a person who was taken in.
• 9:23
  She's a longtime financial journalist
• 9:25
  who speaks to money experts for a living.
• 9:27
  And yet, she fell for a scam
• 9:29
  that ended in her handing over $50,000 in cash to a total stranger.
• 9:34
  If you're listening in the podcast app,
• 9:36
  follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story,
• 9:39
  and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
• 9:44
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]