White House vows to push back on efforts to ban abortion pill
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is preparing for a worst-case scenario if a conservative federal judge rules in favor of a lawsuit seeking to restrict access to one of the two drugs typically used to induce a medicated abortion.
Two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, can be taken by women at home and are used for just over half of U.S. abortions. But that could be quickly changed by a lawsuit filed by an antiabortion group in Texas that claims the Food and Drug Administration wrongly approved mifepristone for use more than 23 years ago.
The case is before a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump. A ruling in favor of the abortion opponents could immediately shut down the sale of the drug, but women would still have access to medicated abortions with a regimen of misoprostol. Vice President Kamala Harris promised on Friday that the White House would push back on efforts to ban the drug.
After Ohio train wreck, Biden orders door-to-door checks
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday directed federal agencies to go door-todoor in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment that has morphed into a heated political controversy. Teams will visit homes beginning Saturday.
Prosecutor: Alex Murdaugh ‘fuzzy’ about details of case
Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh faced intense questioning about his movements the night his wife and son were killed as the prosecutor challenged inconsistencies in his memory Friday at his double murder trial.
A day after revealing that he was at the kennels where his wife and son were shot, Murdaugh returned to the stand. During cross-examination, prosecutor Creighton Waters grilled Murdaugh about what he repeatedly called the once-prominent lawyer’s “new story” about the evening June 7, 2021.
Waters asked Murdaugh if he meant what he told the jury Thursday — that he tried to help police find the killers.
“Other than lying to them about going to the kennels, I was cooperative in every aspect of this investigation,” Murdaugh said.