
Planned Parenthood fills health care gaps after Indiana's Medicaid cuts
Indiana is the third-worst state in the nation when it comes to maternal mortality because the state is too focused on passing laws against abortion instead of funding programs that keep people alive.
Stewart calls Planned Parenthood 'an abortion clinic." However, abortions make up only 4% of the services they provide.
24% of services they provide involve contraception. Studies have shown that increasing access to contraception reduces abortion rates. Criminalizing abortion does not.
Another 54% of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are STI testing and treatment.
Planned Parenthood is an available and reachable option for those who no longer have coverage for these services following state and federal legislation limiting access to Medicaid.
While Stewart bemoans the ability of patients to access abortion care via telehealth, which one can only assume comes from his personal opinion of when life begins, he does not mention the demise of accessible and affordable health care for living breathing people.

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26 minutes ago
Republican senators caution Trump against firing Fed chair Jerome Powell
WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is gaining some key backing on Capitol Hill from GOP senators who fear the repercussions if President Donald Trump follows through with threats to try and remove the politically independent central banker. As Trump seemingly waffled back and forth this week on trying to dismiss the Fed chair, some Republicans in Congress began to speak up and warn that such a move would be a mistake. Trump would potentially obliterate the Fed's independence from political influence and inject uncertainty into the foundations of the U.S. economy if he fires Powell. 'If anybody thinks it would be a good idea for the Fed to become another agency in the government subject to the president, they're making a huge mistake,' GOP North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said in a floor speech. The measure of support from GOP members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs showed how traditional Republicans are carefully navigating a presidency in which Trump often flirts with ideas — like steep tariffs or firing the Fed chair — that threaten to undermine confidence in the U.S. economy. Tillis, who recently decided not to seek reelection after clashing with Trump, later told The Associated Press that the economic fallout from Powell's firing would mostly hurt 'little guys like me that grew up in trailer parks that may have a few thousand dollars in a 401k.' He also pointed out that the underlying complaint that Trump has with the Fed — its reluctance to cut interest rates — is not controlled by Powell alone, but instead a 12-member committee. 'The markets expect an independent, central bank,' said GOP South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who cautioned against firing Powell. 'And if they thought for a minute that he wasn't independent, it would cast a spell over the forecasts and the integrity of the decisions being made by the bank.' Still, plenty of other Republicans think that dismissing Powell is a fine idea. 'The most incompetent, worst Federal Reserve chairman in American history should resign,' said GOP Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. Trump said he was also encouraged to fire Powell during a meeting with about a dozen far-right House members Tuesday evening. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters that he was 'unhappy with the leadership" at the Fed, but added 'I'm honestly not sure whether that executive authority exists' to fire Powell. House Financial Services Committee chair French Hill has underscored that presidents don't have the authority to fire the Fed chair, yet has also been sympathetic to Trump's complaints about Powell's leadership. He and other Republicans have also noted that Powell's term as chair is ending next year anyway, and Trump will have an opportunity to name a new chair then. When Congress started the Federal Reserve over 100 years ago, it insulated it from political pressure by stipulating that its governors and chair could only be fired 'for cause' — a higher bar than most political appointees. However, the Trump administration has maneuvered to meet that standard by accusing Powell of mishandling a $2.5 billion renovation project at the Fed's headquarters. 'When his initial attempts to bully Powell failed, Trump and Republicans in Congress suddenly decided to look into how much the Fed is spending on building renovations,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a speech Wednesday. 'Independence does not mean impunity and I have long pushed for more transparency and accountability at the Fed. But give me a break.' After Powell sent Congress a letter detailing parts of the renovation project, Sen. Tim Scott, the Senate Banking Committee chair, released a short statement saying Scott 'has continued to call for increased transparency and accountability at the Federal Reserve, and this letter is consistent with improving the communication and transparency he is seeking.' Regardless, it would be legally dubious to fire Powell over the renovation. "That would be litigated and I don't see a reason, for cause or otherwise, to remove him,' Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican member of the Senate committee that oversees the Fed, told reporters this week. He added that he understood the president's 'frustration' with the Fed's reluctance to lower interest rates as it tries to tamp down inflation, saying, 'I get that, but I think it's very important the Federal Reserve remains independent.' Even those Republicans who argued that the president has grounds to fire Powell and piled criticism on the central banker conceded that it would still be a painful step. 'That's a decision the president will make, and he's being very deliberate about it," said Moreno, the Ohio senator who called for Powell's resignation. 'But I don't think we should put the country through any of that."


San Francisco Chronicle
39 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Nationwide protests planned against Trump's immigration crackdown and health care cuts
CHICAGO (AP) — Protests and events against President Donald Trump's controversial policies that include mass deportations and cuts to Medicaid and other safety nets for poor people are planned Thursday at more than 1,600 locations around the country. The 'Good Trouble Lives On' national day of action honors the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Protests are expected to be held along streets, at court houses and other public spaces. Organizers are calling for them to be peaceful. 'We are navigating one of the most terrifying moments in our nation's history,' Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said during an online news conference Tuesday. 'We are all grappling with a rise of authoritarianism and lawlessness within our administration ... as the rights, freedoms and expectations of our very democracy are being challenged.' Public Citizen is a nonprofit with a stated mission of taking on corporate power. It is a member of a coalition of groups behind Thursday's protests. Major protests are planned in Atlanta and St. Louis, as well as Oakland, California, and Annapolis, Maryland. Honoring Lewis' legacy Lewis first was elected to Congress in 1986. He died in 2020 at the age of 80 following an advanced pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1965, a 25-year-old Lewis led some 600 protesters in the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis was beaten by police, suffering a skull fracture. Within days, King led more marches in the state, and President Lyndon Johnson pressed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act that later became law. 'Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America,' Lewis said in 2020 while commemorating the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Chicago will be the flagship city for Thursday's protests as demonstrators are expected to rally downtown in the afternoon. Betty Magness, executive vice president of the League of Women Voters Chicago and one of the organizers of Chicago's event, said the rally will also include a candlelight vigil to honor Lewis. Much of the rest of the rally will have a livelier tone, Magness said, adding 'we have a DJ who's gonna rock us with boots on the ground.' Protesting Trump's policies Pushback against Trump so far in his second term has centered on deportations and immigration enforcement tactics Earlier this month, protesters engaged in a tense standoff as federal authorities conducted mass arrests at two Southern California marijuana farms. One farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof during a chaotic raid. Those raids followed Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard outside federal buildings and to protect immigration agents carrying out arrests on Los Angeles. On June 8, thousands of protesters began taking to the streets in Los Angeles. And organizers of the June 14 'No Kings' demonstrations said millions of people marched in hundreds of events from New York to San Francisco. Demonstrators labeled Trump as a dictator and would-be king for marking his birthday with a military parade. ___ Williams reported from Detroit.


USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
Mike Pence urges Trump to 'release all the files' on Jeffrey Epstein
Former Vice President Mike Pence urged the Trump administration to release all of the investigative findings related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a different stance his ex-boss took on July 16. During an interview with CBS News' Major Garrett, the former Indiana governor said the "time has come" for all the facts to become available to the American people, adding he's "always believed in transparency." Pence emphasized that the names of the victims should be excluded from any disclosure. "Whether or not the facts justify charges, I think anyone who participated or was associated with this despicable man ought to be held to public scrutiny," Pence told Garrett. Pence did not suggest the lack of transparency is politically motivated, but did hint that the investigation into the disgraced financier began during George W. Bush's administration and continued into Barack Obama's tenure at the White House. "I know of no reason why this administration — once the victims' names are protected — should not release all the files on Jeffrey Epstein," he said. The interview follows President Donald Trump's recent criticisms toward Republicans who raised questions about his administration's handling of the Epstein case. In a July 16 social media post, he described conservative backers as "stupid" and "weaklings" falling for Democrats' work. "Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. And my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bulls***,' hook, line, and sinker," Trump wrote. "They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years." USA TODAY reached out to the White House for comment on Pence's interview. Marjorie Taylor Green, Mike Johnson among calls for transparency Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, were among the Trump allies to push for transparency on the Epstein investigation. The calls came after the Justice Department released a memo earlier this month stating that a systematic review "revealed no incriminating 'client list" and that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." The memo also said the department found no evidence to support theories that Epstein was murdered while in custody, affirming New York's chief medical examiner's ruling that he died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. "No one believes there is not a client list," Greene wrote on a July 8 X post. In a July 15 interview with the Benny Johnson Show, Johnson also called for the release of more Epstein records, saying: "I'm for transparency." "It's a very delicate subject," he said. "But we should put everything out there and let the people decide." Trump says he doesn't understand 'fascination' with case Trump said he doesn't understand the "fascination" with the case, blaming "bad people" for the attention and coverage it continues to receive. "It's sordid, but it's boring," he told reporters on July 15,. "And I don't understand why it keeps going. Really only bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going." While Epstein died before sitting for trial, the registered sex offender pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008. Trump, who had a friendship with Epstein years ago, has appeared in legal documents concerning Epstein's crimes but is not implicated. Contributing: Zac Anderson, USA TODAY