Biden starts to undo Trump-era ban on abortion referrals
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Wednesday began to undo a Trump-era ban on clinics referring women for abortions, a policy that drove Planned Parenthood from the federal family planning program and created new complications for women trying to get birth control.
The proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services follows through on President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to reverse his predecessor’s family planning policy, which was branded a “gag rule” by women’s groups and decried by medical associations as violating the doctor-patient relationship.
But the Biden administration stopped short of immediately suspending the Trump regulation, which went into effect in 2019. While some abortion rights advocates had sought that additional step, administration officials believe that moving carefully and deliberately will increase the odds of the proposed changes being upheld in court.
Known as Title X, the federal family planning program has been in place for 50 years. It makes available about $286 million annually in grants that support clinics serving mainly low-income women.
Those clinics, which provide birth control and basic health care services, have been whipsawed by Trump-era battles over ideology and by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on health services providers. Before exiting the program in 2019, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates served an estimated 40% of the patients.
Though by law federal family planning money could not be used to pay for abortions, religious conservatives long regarded the program as a form of indirect subsidy to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortions. Former President Donald Trump counted on religious conservatives as a cornerstone of his political base and acceded to their demands on a range of women’s health issues.
Iran nuclear deal: Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday dismissed initial offers at talks in Vienna to save Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal as “not worth looking at,” attempting to pressure world powers after an attack on the country’s main nuclear enrichment site.
The comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state in the Islamic Republic, came after a day that saw Iran’s president similarly ratchet up pressure over the accord. European powers, meanwhile, warned Tehran its actions were “particularly regrettable” and “dangerous.”
The talks already have been thrown into disarray by a weekend attack on Iran’s main Natanz nuclear enrichment site suspected to have been carried out by Israel. Tehran retaliated by announcing it would enrich uranium up to 60% — higher than it ever has before but still lower than weapons-grade levels of 90%.
“The offers they provide are usually arrogant and humiliating (and) are not worth looking at,” the 81-year-old Khamenei said in an address.
Gulf arms sales: The Biden administration says it will go ahead with a big Trump administration sale of jet fighters and advanced armed drones to the United Arab Emirates, over objections from Democrats and some others that the Gulf country is fueling conflicts around the Middle East.
The administration initially had paused some Trump-era arms sales to Gulf countries for review, including a $23 billion transfer of F-35 combat aircraft, M-Q9 drones and related weapons to the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. officials argue that the nation benefits from having strong strategic partners with interoperable defense systems. The sales also benefit American arms manufacturers. The United States remains the world’s top arms exporter, with half of its sales between 2015 and 2019 going to the Middle East, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
A State Department official, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the sale, said the U.S. would be working with the UAE in the years leading up to delivery to try to make sure the arms are used in accordance with human rights standards and the laws of war.
Thailand’s COVID-19 spike:
Thailand reported more than 1,300 new COVID19 infections Wednesday, setting another daily record and adding pressure on the government to speed up a nearly nonexistent vaccination drive and do more to control a surge that comes amid mass travel as the country celebrates its traditional New Year festival.
The 1,335 new infections brings the number of new cases to nearly 7,000 since April 1, when a cluster linked to nightclubs and bars in central Bangkok was found. Most of the new cases reported Wednesday were yet again in Bangkok, but also seeing hefty increases were the northern province of Chiang Mai and the southern seaside province of Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Many of the new infections are a more contagious variant of the virus first found in the U.K. and that, coupled with widespread travel for the Songkran festival, or Thai New Year, is fueling the surge, said Dr. Opas Karnkavinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department.
Large daily increases in new infections had been rare for Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations through measures including strict border controls that have decimated the country’s tourism industry.
SC confrontation video: A white non-commissioned Army officer depicted in a viral video accosting and shoving a Black man in a South Carolina neighborhood has been charged with third-degree assault.
Jonathan Pentland, 42, was charged Wednesday, according to an online court records search. He was listed as detained in the Richland County jail and records did not show him as having an attorney.
The video, posted Monday by a woman on Facebook and shared thousands of times, shows a man, identified as Pentland, demanding that a Black man leave the neighborhood before threatening him with physical violence.
“You’re in the wrong neighborhood,” the white man can be heard saying to the other man before using an expletive. “I ain’t playing with you . ... I’m about to show you what I can do.”
Procedure for first lady: Jill Biden had a “common medical procedure” Wednesday, came through it “well” and was expected to resume her normal schedule, the White House said.
President Joe Biden accompanied his wife to an outpatient center near the campus of George Washington University. No further details were immediately released about the condition of the 69-year-old first lady.