THE BIG STORY
Americans generally support abortion access, but a vote in Kansas has exposed how protecting reproductive rights won't be that simple |
Abortion rights supporters demonstrate outside the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022 Evert Nelson / Reuters |
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On Tuesday, Kansans are slated to vote on a constitutional amendment that would take away the right to abortion and open the door to a total ban. If approved, the so-called Value Them Both amendment would add language to the Kansas Constitution that it "does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion." It's the first time that voters themselves will weigh in on the issue since the Supreme Court reversed nearly 50 years of precedent protecting people's right to end a pregnancy, and the election will test how fired up people are to defend abortion access. And how they vote won't just affect people in Kansas. If the amendment passes and the Legislature outlaws abortions outright or much earlier in pregnancy, it will mean fewer options for people across the Great Plains states. Local political observers and a recent poll suggest the vote will be close; though most Kansans generally support the right to abortion, there's been a lack of awareness around the vote and confusion over the amendment's implications. The vote is coming in a primary election, during which turnout tends to be low and unaffiliated voters — who might side with Democrats on the issue — typically don't vote. "What is happening in Kansas with the amendment and what's happening around the country … to me would say if you're an American who supports abortion rights, then you need to become engaged on that issue in a way that maybe you have never been before," said Patrick Miller, a professor of political science at the University of Kansas. |
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STAYING ON TOP OF THIS For the first time in months, a grain shipment leaves Odesa |
The cargo ship Razoni departs from the port of Odesa in Ukraine on August 01, 2022 Vladimir Shtanko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images |
- Ukraine's first grain shipment since Russia occupied Odesa has left the city. This comes after Russia and Ukraine came to an agreement to ease the global hunger crisis caused by their disrupted food markets, AP reported.
- One of Ukraine's wealthiest business leaders was killed during shelling in Mykolaiv, according to the New York Times. Oleksiy Vadaturskyi ran a company that built grain shipment infrastructure and was declared a "Hero of Ukraine."
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Star Trek legend Nichelle Nichols has died at 89. A beloved icon of the science-fiction franchise, Nichols' casting as a prominent Black character in a position of authority was unprecedented and radical for a TV show that first aired in 1966. A couple lost all four of their children in the Kentucky floods. "I know they hung on to each other till the very end," Steven Smith, the children's uncle, said. Netflix is suing the women who created the Grammy-winning Unofficial Bridgerton Musical. The streaming company said Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear have gone too far by planning live shows and selling merch.
He deals with gun violence every day, so he wrote a poem about it — and became a Pulitzer winner. Jamar Jackson, who will start 11th grade in the fall at Kenwood Academy in Chicago, won first place in the Pulitzer Center's poetry contest for his poem "One Bullet, One Hundred Sets of Hands," which was inspired by the BuzzFeed News story "One Bullet Can Kill, But It Takes More Than 100 People To Save a Gunshot Victim's Life."
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PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY Here's what you should know about monkeypox in children |
In this current global outbreak of monkeypox, as of July 28, there have been 21,148 cases reported from 78 countries, including 20,804 cases in 71 countries where the disease has not been typically observed in the past. According to the World Health Organization, 84 children under 18 have been affected around the world to date, including two children in the US. Experts believe monkeypox is more likely to spread at home than at school, and anyone who suspects the virus may be in their household should take precautions. Examining possible means of transmission, the CDC remains focused on prolonged and personal contact, as is common with families living together. Public health messaging around monkeypox continues to focus on gay and bisexual men, even as cases are announced among children and pregnant people. Some doctors fear that many will use these words to justify their prejudices or that some families without LGBTQ+ folks in their household may assume they aren't susceptible. Though public health officials believe the chance of widespread infections in youngsters is remote, they're nevertheless urging families and pregnant people to take the virus seriously.
"We need to ensure that children are not left behind yet again," said Fatima Khan, who leads Protect Their Future, an organization that advocates for children's public health policies. "Our government needs to lay out a plan immediately on how it will facilitate vaccinating children with the Jynneos vaccine."
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MOTHER COUNTRY RADICALS The FBI called her the most dangerous woman in America. Now, her son reconsiders her legacy. |
Maddie Abuyuan / BuzzFeed News; Getty Images; Courtesy Zayd Ayers Dohrn |
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Zayd Dohrn is the son of Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, two of the most notorious, mediagenic leaders of a radical wing of the late '60s New Left: the Weather Underground. In his new podcast Mother Country Radicals, he chronicles the story of this now mostly forgotten group. Former community activists disenchanted with the limits of peaceful protest against police brutality and the Vietnam War, the Weather Underground sought nothing less than — as their founding statement put it — "the destruction of U.S. imperialism and the achievement of a classless world." After an accidental explosion at a member's home resulted in the deaths of three people, group leaders like Dohrn's parents went into hiding. The FBI beamed wanted signs across TV screens, turning the members' faces into emblems of white middle-class rage and the radicalization of America's promising young women. The Weather Underground has since been seen as something of a cult, and used by the right wing as exemplary of dangerous, misguided white radicalism.
Decades later, Dohrn and his mother are still grappling with the lessons from that time and how to apply them. Bernardine Douhrn was "trying not to let the contradictions tear apart the joy of being in the struggle," she told BuzzFeed News. "But that being said, I knew that I was fucking up." She laughed. "I knew I wasn't doing it all right."
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