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State Rep. Phillip Ensler (D-AL) Discusses Legislation To Protect IVF in Alabama; Closing Arguments Under Way In Trial Of "Rust" Armorer; German Man Intentionally Gets 217 Covid-19 Shots. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired March 06, 2024 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[13:33:11]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Legislation to protect in vitro fertilization in Alabama is nearly on its way to Governor Kay Ivey's desk to be signed into law.

State lawmakers are finalizing a new law after Alabama's Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are the born children. That raised the risk of liability, leading three of the state's fertility clinics to put IVF treatments on hold.

The new legislation now aims to protect patients and providers from any legal liability.

Let's discuss with Alabama Democratic State Representative Phillip Ensler.

Sir, thanks so much for being with us.

Are you relieved now that this bill has passed?

STATE REP. PHILLIP ENSLER (D-AL): Good afternoon. Thank you for having me.

And we actually go in this afternoon to hopefully pass a version of it.

Let me say this though. This has been a traumatic few weeks for so many women and families in Alabama. So I am relieved that we are going to do the right thing. But it didn't have to be this way in the first place.

And we also need to do a lot more. We need to pass a constitutional amendment to make sure that women and families are protected moving forward.

But, yes, we're glad that it looks like these temporary fixes will pass for now.

SANCHEZ: I should have said soon to be passed. And you mentioned that these are temporary -- that these are temporary

fixes. I imagine that there are aspects to this that concern you and potential loopholes that opponents to IVF may exploit in the future.

ENSLER: There are. And that's why we need a constitutional amendment that makes clear that an embryo outside of the uterus is not life. Because we need to allow families the freedom to decide what's best for them.

And also this is about the bigger picture with reproductive rights. We need to make sure that there's health care freedom for women and for individuals to decide what is best for them.

[13:35:07]

So, yes, it's important that we're doing this now to get IVF continuing in the state. That is so important for so many. But we need to make sure we do more as a legislature beyond just what we do today.

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering what your message is to those families that were caught up in limbo for that amount of time that these clinics essentially put their operation on hold. How would you counsel them to move forward now that this is on its way?

ENSLER: Oh, and my heart goes out to them. I mean, the emotional, the financial duress that they were under.

And again, this was the doing of the legislature. We played politics with peoples' lives and with their freedoms because there is a state constitutional personhood amendment. And if we didn't ask that in the first place, we wouldn't have gotten into this situation.

So my heart goes out to all of the Alabamians that have really had a hard time. But please know the legislature is working in a very expeditious way and we're going to get these fertility clinics back open.

And then there are many of us, I include minority leader, Anthony Daniels, who's leading the effort. We're going to keep fighting to make sure that we do even more beyond today.

SANCHEZ: It might be a difficult path considering the makeup of the legislature in Alabama. It's -- it's a ruby red state. And that question of personhood, just where it falls politically, it doesn't seem like there's a great opportunity for those policies to move forward in -- in a smooth way.

I'm wondering if you think the federal government needs to get involved in defending and protecting IVF patients.

ENSLER: Sure. No. And you're absolutely right, the reality of the partisan lines? Yes, the federal government needs to do everything they can. I hope to see federal legislation that protects IVF.

And again, this is bigger than even IVF, though. This is about access to contraceptives. This is about access to reproductive care. The Biden administration has been doing a phenomenal job advocating

and we need to continue to do that on the federal level and the state level.

And at the end of the day, this is about freedom. This is about women and families deciding what is best for them.

Of course, people have deeply held religious convictions. They should be able to carry those out in their own families. We just should not impose those on others.

So we're going to continue to fight the fight. And to all those out there, please know that were going to do everything we can.

SANCHEZ: State Representative Phillip Ensler, thanks so much for sharing your perspective with us.

ENSLER: Thank you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Now to some of the other headlines that were following.

The World Health Organization says a bacterial infection, known as Parrot Fever, is now linked to at least five deaths in people. The outbreak, which began last year, is affecting a number of European countries right now, including Austria, Germany and Denmark.

The disease often infects domesticated or wild birds, but it's rarely fatal for humans. Anyone who works with or has a pet bird is warned to keep their cages clean and to practice good hygiene.

And your last chance to order those free at-home Covid tests from the government is this Friday. The U.S. Postal Services says the program is being suspended once again. You may recall the program went away last May, but then it returned months later as virus season ramped up.

And in Florida, the Orange County Sheriff's Office is sharing dramatic video of deputies pulling two people from a 16-foot-deep retention pond. The deputies seen running into the murky water to rescue the pair last August after their car crash.

Officials say the man was struggling to stay afloat while the woman was unconscious and under the water. Both were pulled to shore where the woman was revived.

And coming up, we're following closing arguments in the "Rust" trial. How the verdict could impact the case against Alec Baldwin.

And a man deliberately got 217 Covid vaccinations. Obviously, not recommended here. What happened? We'll tell you.

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[13:43:31]

KEILAR: Closing arguments are now underway in the manslaughter trial of the "Rust" movie armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed. She has pleaded not guilty to charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, during rehearsal on a movie ranch outside of Santa Fe.

Actor and producer, Alec Baldwin, who was pointing the gun at Hutchins when it went on off, is also facing charges.

CNN's Josh Campbell is following the story for us.

So, Josh, we will soon learn whether the armorer, the person who is responsible for firearm safety on the set, will be held accountable for the fatal discharge of that weapon.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We will, Brianna, very soon. Closing arguments are underway at this hour.

And of course, this is a trial that is being watched from coast to coast, particularly in the entertainment industry because of the precedent that this could set.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed didn't shoot anyone. She wasn't holding a gun on that day. And there's no direct evidence that she actually brought those live rounds of ammunition onto the set.

But the question comes down to negligence. Was she, as the person who, as the prosecutors described, the autonomous decisionmaker regarding gun safety? Is she to be held accountable for the death of cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins?

Now, in closing arguments, prosecutors have described multiple safety violations that they found, blaming Hannah Gutierrez-Reed for not stopping them.

Have a listen at some of those comments.

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KARI MORRISSEY, SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: Gun pointed at a child gun. Pointed at Joel Souza directly at his back. Gun pointed up in the air in the direction of the stunt coordinator.

[13:45:00]

This is not a case where Hannah Gutierrez made one mistake and that one mistake was accidentally putting a live round into that gun.

That's not what this case is about. This case is about constant, never ending safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being and nearly killed another.

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CAMPBELL: Now Reed's attorney doesn't disagree that negligence was at play. But they are blaming the production company, even pointing the finger at Alec Baldwin himself.

Watch.

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JASON BOWLES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Do you know what the primary thing was here? It was rush, get this done so we can get the money. And that's all on production and Mr. Baldwin.

He violated some of the most basic gun safety rules you can ever learn. From a young age, we all learn you don't point a gun at somebody ever unless you want to shoot him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, of course, Baldwin himself has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He will be tried later on this summer.

But again, we're waiting to see what this jury does. Closing arguments expected to wrap up shortly, Brianna, and then the jury will get the case.

KEILAR: Josh, could the verdict here impact the case against Alec Baldwin?

CAMPBELL: You know, it's unclear. One thing that we are hearing from legal analysts is that this actually benefits Baldwins team to go second because they are able to watch the trial.

The charges are very similar. So they're able to see the government lay out its case, all the witnesses who will be called, all the exhibits, all the pieces of evidence.

That provides them with additional time to prepare. And they can also see how Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's attorney fared as far as the raising objections, how the judge rules.

Of course, we'll have to wait and see whether this is the same judge in Baldwin's trial. But a lot of benefit to going second when you're able to actually see what -- what transpired months before you actually go on trial.

KEILAR: Yes.

All right, Josh, fascinating to watch this day in court. Thank you so much for that.

CAMPBELL: Thanks.

KEILAR: Coming up, we now know that at least 20 people have died from malnutrition in Gaza. The U.N. reports that nearly half of their aid missions to the area, including critical food supplies, were blocked or held up by Israel. We have the latest ahead.

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[13:52:07] SANCHEZ: A German man has puzzled scientists after he deliberately got more than 200 Covid-19 vaccinations, 217 to be exact, over two-and-a- half years. That's a shot every four days, roughly.

CNN health reporter, Meg Tirrell, is here to explain more.

Meg, this guy has sort of became a voluntary science experiment.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris. They call this guy a hyper-vaccinated individual.

And researchers sort of found out about him through media reports as he was already more than 200 shots into this self-experiment he was doing. And they asked if they could study him.

He was actually being investigated by the authorities in Germany for a potential fraud. They suspected maybe he was trying to sell vaccination cards. But no charges were ever filed against him there.

Now, this guy is 62 years old. As you said, 217 Covid-19 vaccinations within the span of 29 months.

If you look at the pattern of some of these -- and we've got a bar chart here that shows the dates of some of these shots and these are not even all of them.

But if you just look in this one-year span, he was getting maybe one or two per month as the beginning of the year was happening. As he gets in the January of 2022, he got 48 shots within that one-month period. Most days of that month, he was getting two shots per day, one in each arm.

He continued with a large number of shots in February and then dropped down to just six in March.

Of course, scientists are wondering what the effect was on him. First of all, he didn't report any vaccine-related side effects at all, which is sort of crazy to think about when you think about how you feel about getting a Covid shot the next day.

Secondly, he's immune response did show an increase in immune cells, like antibodies and T-cells, but not necessarily a better or worse immune response even after more than 200 Covid vaccines.

And finally, guys, he never got SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid. But of course, the researchers say they don't know if that's because of so many vaccines, because of just the first few vaccines, or because of his behavior or something else.

But this leading to quite an interesting and of one person experiment -- guys?

SANCHEZ: Yes, maybe tough to answer why someone would get 217 Covid vaccinations in two years.

But, Meg, walk us through the sane current recommendations on how many Covid-19 vaccines to get.

TIRRELL: Yes, it goes without saying it is not 200. Right now, in the United States, the general recommendation is one updated each fall, similarly to how we get the flu vaccine.

And we know that only a fraction of people are actually getting an annual Covid shot at this point.

The CDC did also just come out and recommend an additional shot now for people over the age of 65 to increase their immunity. So you're talking about a couple of shots per year against Covid, really at the most.

This guy going way outside of those bounds, but luckily, he seems to be OK.

[13:55:00]

SANCHEZ: Exponentially, to say the least.

Meg Tirrell, thanks so much for the update on this really odd story.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Meg.

So she's out of the race, but her voters still have to make a choice. Who will Nikki Haley supporters back in November? That story's next.

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