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Markets Open After Better Closing on Tuesday; Abortions Continue to Tend Up in U.S.; NASA Postpones SpaceX Launch; Sam Mewis is Interviewed about Women's Soccer. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 07, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:32:55]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, just moments ago, the markets opened on Wall Street. You're looking at it right now. The Dow up and up pretty big. This is up after being pretty big yesterday, after being down very big the day before.

CNN's Julia Chatterley is with me now.

It has been a heck of a week.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Yes, we're swinging, quite frankly.

BERMAN: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: I would prefer less swinging, quite frankly, and smaller, steadier gains. But unfortunately, I think we're going to stay choppy like this for a while.

You can thank the green, though, I think on what we saw in Japan overnight. Specifically the Japanese Central Bank governor who said, look, we're not going to raise rates further with this kind of volatility. And that's good for us.

If you take a look at what we saw in Japan just over the last three days. Now, if you want to see wild swings, you take a look of what we saw in Japan. Actually, that's the open. It's positive. If we've got that we'll show you. Oh, we're going through all of them here.

Anyway, it was down-

BERMAN: It's all green. It's all green. That's the moral.

CHATTERLEY: We love it. It was down 12, up 10, and then up again overnight. So, it seems crazy, but we need to keep an eye on Japan for what they're doing to dictate what we're seeing too. Green is good.

Tech stocks, yesterday we were up. A gain for tech stocks, which was a good sign. Then we lost ground into the close. If we've got the market open for tech stocks, we'll take a look at those, because, again, that's you've got to watch. That's going to dictate the direction throughout the session. You see we're green, and that's helping us today. Watch that in the close.

And then the final thing, of course, is what's going on with the U.S. economy. Data watching mode. The first thing really upcoming now is jobless or unemployment claims tomorrow. And again, I think we're very sensitive to these things. So, we'll watch that.

But for now, green. We got there in the end.

BERMAN: We got there in the end with the green tech stocks.

CHATTERLEY: Not red. This is a good thing.

BERMAN: The Nasdaq up big in the open so far this morning.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

BERMAN: You talk about looking -

CHATTERLEY: Oh, there we go.

BERMAN: There we go. Still more green.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. But we're swinging.

BERMAN: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: Less swinging, please, to get comfortable with this.

BERMAN: Not going to make any jokes about that.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. No. No.

BERMAN: Julia Chatterley, thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: Green is good. Not greed is good. That's what I heard on this show from Julia Chatterley. Thank you so much, you guys.

All right, reproductive rights are a flashpoint of this election and were front and center when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz took the stage in Philadelphia last night.

[09:35:02]

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom. It turns out now what they meant was the government should be free to invade your doctor's office. Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there's a golden rule, mind your own damn business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: When it comes to abortion, the restrictive laws put in place by dozens of states are having an impact it seems, but it's not exactly what you may think would happen. Now a new report this morning shows that new, restrictive laws aren't actually slowing down the number of abortions in the United States.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is here with more on this.

What are these numbers telling you? They seem to be a bit surprising considering all the states that have started restricting abortions.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. What they show is that nationally the number of abortions through the formal health care system, so those provided in clinics, doctor's offices, hospitals, or through telemedicine, through virtual clinics, have actually been increasing.

These data look at the first three months of 2024. And what they find is that on average there were about 99,000 abortions provided in the United States each month. Now, in one of those months it actually topped 100,000. That's a 14 percent increase compared with the first three months of 2023. So, you are seeing that overall, even though abortion has been restricted quite a bit in a number of states, the overall number has been increasing. A lot of that could be due to the increasing use of telehealth and getting medication abortion.

These data also track the proportion of all abortions obtained through telemedicine. That was 4 percent in April of 2022. That's now up to 20 percent in March of 2024. And we know that medication abortion already is the most common way people access abortion. It accounts for two- thirds of abortions. So, people can get those in-person from a doctor or a clinic, but also through telemedicine. And we're seeing that quite a bit.

Now, we know that 14 states have implemented almost total bans on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. An additional four states have six-week bans. The most recent one to go into place was Iowa. And what you are seeing is that a lot of folks are traveling from those states to other states to access abortion.

SIDNER: And the other states I know have been talking about this and preparing for this as well, the influx.

We did hear just earlier Tim Walz, the new vice presidential candidate with Kamala Harris, he talked about abortion. He talked about IVF as well. What's his record on this issue?

TIRRELL: Yes. Well, one of those states that has seen an influx of patients has been Minnesota because under Governor Tim Walz it is seen as one of the more protective states for accessing abortion. In January of 2023, so after Roe v. Wade was overturned, he signed a law enshrining the right to access abortion in that state. Then in April of 2023, he put into place what's known as the shield law, which protects clinicians in the state from being prosecuted by other states for providing abortion care and also potentially can protect people who had come to Minnesota to access abortion.

I also talked with the Guttmacher Institute, which is a research and policy organization that supports abortion rights. They pointed out he has also supported insurance paying for abortions in the state. And so he has kind of a more complex understanding of what is needed beyond just the legality of it.

Of course, when Kamala Harris visited a - an abortion clinic in March of this year, the first time it's thought that a sitting vice president or president has done that. She chose Minnesota. And Governor Tim Walz was there as well.

SIDNER: And now he is her vice presidential partner.

Thank you so much, Meg Tirrell, for a really interesting report this morning.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

SIDNER: Appreciate it.

All right, a scrubbed SpaceX launch could mean even more delays for two astronauts who were supposed to be there just for a few days on the ISS, have been there now for 61 days. Hear what NASA has to say about this whole debacle.

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[09:43:38]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, this is what I know, two astronauts who were supposed to be on the International Space Station for two weeks back in June, they are still there and it's two months later. And now they might have to wait even longer to get home.

CNN's Kristin Fisher is with us to explain why.

This is like a cursed mission. Kristin.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, you know, John, these two veteran NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have been up at the International Space Station now for more than 60 days. Remember, this was only supposed to be a roughly eight- day mission. The first crewed flight test for this Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

Then it ran into all of these issues that we now know about. These problems with the thrusters. The problems with these helium leaks. And so, Boeing and NASA have spent all these weeks testing these problems. The thrusters. The helium leaks. They've been doing tests up at the International Space Station. They've been doing tests on the ground. But still this many weeks in, NASA and Boeing say they still are not comfortable and still have not made a decision on whether or not Butch and Suni are going to be allowed to return to earth on that Starliner spacecraft. And so what's happening now is it's impacting other missions to the International Space Station, like that SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which was supposed to launch in mid-August.

[09:45:01]

It has now slipped, NASA announcing just yesterday, to mid-September. Launches do slip all the time, but this significant because NASA says they're doing it to maintain what's called "operational flexibility" up at the International Space Station. In other words, they say that this, quote, "allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning."

And so now what's happening is, in the next few days we believe that NASA is going to hold what's called an agency level flight readiness review. And so this is the moment when all the Boeing engineers are going to sit before NASA and say, this is why we think our spacecraft is either safe or not safe to bring Butch and Suni home. And then from there, these top-level NASA executives are going to determine if they can come back on Starliner.

But I asked Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator's press secretary, who exactly has the final say here. And this is what she said in a statement. She said, quote, "the administrator, Bill Nelson, is going to make the final decision. His top priority, as always, is the safety of the crew."

And, you know, John, this is really significant because Bill Nelson knows what happens when you can make the wrong decision in spaceflight. He was first assigned to the Challenger crew. He later was put on a different crew. And then, as a member of the House, a congressman, he sat on the committee that investigated the Challenger accident. Those seven astronauts that were killed were his friends. And so he is going to be the person making that final decision.

And, you know, John, it's something that he, of course, is going to take very seriously.

BERMAN: Yes, no question about that.

All alright, Kristin Fisher, thank you very much. And as for Butch and Suni, you said, I just hope they brought a change of sox.

Sara.

SIDNER: Right.

At the top of the hour, J.D. Vance set to speak to the media in Michigan, a state where Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are taking their campaign today as well.

Also, a dramatic win means Team USA will be going for gold in women's soccer for the first time in 12 years.

That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:51:38]

SIDNER: It's finally happening again, the U.S. women's soccer team is going for gold after winning a semifinal thriller against Germany.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smith on the burst. And Smith might get there! Smith does get there! And Germany have been -

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SIDNER: Amaze balls (ph). The game winner scored there by Sophia Smith, with just minutes left in the match.

The women's team will now take on Brazil in the gold medal match this Saturday. They'll look to win gold for the first time since 2012.

Joining me now, Sam Mewis, retired member of the World Cup champion U.S. national women's team.

Thank you so much for joining us.

You're also the editor in chief of "The Women's Game," part of the Men in Blazers Media Network.

Awesome.

Sam, just tell us how - what is it like to be there? What is it like to have to experience this when you know that the next game is going for gold?

SAM MEWIS, USWNT WORLD CUP CHAMPION: Oh my gosh, well, as a player, I mean, this team has come so far, so quickly. They're under a brand new manager who's this gold medal match will be only her tenth game coaching this team.

As a player here, it's all been building, it's all been culminating. I think there's so much pressure being at a world tournament like this. They're in Paris. It's the Olympics. There's pressure internally within the team to perform really well. It's competitive within the team. And I think just as this has built and grown, the players are feeling so excited. Any tired legs they might have are kind of falling by the wayside. I think going through something like this as a group just really unites you, brings you together. It must be such a dream come true.

SIDNER: How do you deal with that pressure though? The pressure not just of, you know, the coach and your teammates and the expectation, but the pressure from the public to win gold. It is such a heavy burden to bear, although it can be really excited.

MEWIS: Definitely. I mean, I think this team is coming off of what was a pretty disappointing World Cup last summer. They exited in the first knockout stage game in a heartbreaking penalty kick shootout. And so I think that having a performance like that may have lifted some pressure off of this team.

The U.S. women's national team is always the pinnacle of women's soccer globally. It has been really for as long as the team has existed, I think. Winning so many championships. Winning so many World Cups. So many Olympics. The team has always been looked at as, we must win or it's deemed a failure.

And I think that through the last couple of years the team has had a chance to rebuild a little bit. Like I said, get this new manager. There is this new generation of talent emerging. And I almost feel like some of that pressure was lifted off of the team this past year. We - there was some doubt cast on them in the media about how they would perform this tournament. And as it's gone on, they've just kind of shed all of that doubt. They've lifted themselves up and they've used their talent and their connection to each other. And this newfound trust they found with the manager, Emma Hayes. And so I think it's been such a joy to watch them. They're able to play through that pressure with joy and excitement and love for the game and passion.

SIDNER: Yes, sometimes it is easier to be the underdog and then rise up. And it makes it that much more exciting.

I do want to talk to you about women in sport. There has been a lot of talk about pay parity and that sort of thing. Where do you stand on that and where is it now when it comes to women in sports since the soccer team, frankly, is the soccer team, better than the men, generally speaking?

[09:55:02]

MEWIS: Yes. So, I was part of the group of women who sued U.S. Soccer a few years ago as part of the equal pay lawsuit. And I think that I learned so much about sticking together through times like that. The power really is in the collective.

Obviously, I am very gung-ho for pay equity, for pay equality across all sport. I think that it takes players stepping up and speaking out in order to make things like that happen. And what I learned through the journey of the U.S. women's national team, being part of that, is you have to push for what you want. You have to ask for more. And players, like the players on the U.S. team, we were in a privileged position where we could step up safely and ask for that. We have great labor laws here in the U.S. And I think it's now our obligation to help players from other countries who are not as protected as we were and continuing to push for that is showing in the quality of the game that is going on at a tournament like the Olympics right now.

SIDNER: It was a heck of a lot of excitement.

Sam Mewis, thank you for taking the time with us. You are a champion in our eyes and will always be. Appreciate you.

MEWIS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Yes, I love the way the U.S. team is playing right now.

SIDNER: Amazing.

BERMAN: A big turnaround from the World Cup.

Thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL with John Berman, Sara Sidner, and Kate Bolduan.

"NEWSROOM," up next.

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