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Emily Wales is Interviewed about Planned Parenthood; Biden Releases Statement; evacuees Arrive from Azovstal; Warrant Out for Corrections Officer. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired May 03, 2022 - 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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[09:33:47]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A decision to uphold Mississippi's abortion ban or to overturn Roe v. Wade all together would curb access to abortion, of course, for millions of people across the country. More than half the states in the country are certain or likely to ban abortion if the Supreme Court does overturn Roe.

One of those states, Oklahoma. The state's governor, Kevin Stitt, could sign a bill any day now which has been modeled after the controversial Texas law. In Oklahoma, this law would essentially ban most abortions and it would also allow private citizens to enforce the law through lawsuits.

Joining me now is Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. Her organization covers facilities in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas.

Emily, I'm curious, based on what happened last night, and this draft that we saw, how are you planning for what could very well be an end to Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks?

EMILY WALES, INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CEO, PLANNED PARENTHOOD GREAT PLAINS: This is a really devastating morning for our team. We have been talking about the possibility that Roe would be overturned for some time. And in many ways we've been living in a post Roe reality. We've been seeing patients fleeing from Texas for eight months now who are desperate, in crisis, and understand that they have fewer rights than they did a year ago. But at the same time there is something empowering, not being able to say out loud this is what's happening.

[09:35:05]

The Supreme Court is going to overturn Roe. It seems very clear in the draft decision that's the plan. And so now we mobilize and push back and fight for our patients.

HILL: You mentioned you've been, in many ways, preparing for this for some time. Representative Mikie Sherrill was just on and said to Jim Sciutto, you know, sort of similar, that you could see this coming, and yet it is still a surprise to so many people this morning. Does that surprise surprise you at this point in 2022?

WALES: It doesn't surprise me because I'm often in conversation with people who do support abortion access and rights and our patients. And they didn't really think that Roe could be overturned. For a long time now, in the four states that we serve, we have been dealing with a web of restrictions and delays and burdens on patients. So, we understood how close we were to losing access. But if you haven't been paying attention, if you haven't had to get in the car and drive hours overnight to access abortion, you may not realize just how close we are to the end of access in our (INAUDIBLE) country. But here we are, and the message could not be more clear, this is what's coming and it will be incumbent upon states to take action and to protect the people who live within their borders.

HILL: Emily, stay with me for a minute.

I do just want to go to my colleague, Jeremy Diamond, who's at the White House, where there has just been a statement released from President Biden.

Jeremy, what is he saying?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, listen, we have this first reaction from President Biden and the White House to this apparent draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, overturning nearly 50 years of precedence.

Now, the president does say in this statement that we don't know whether this draft is genuine or whether it reflects the final decision of the court. And so with that caveat, he continues to say that he believes that a woman's right to choose is fundamental, and he says that Roe has been the law of the land for almost 50 years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned.

The president also references previous efforts that his administration has made so far as we've seen several of these other states overturn or degrade a women's right to choose in various states across the country, saying that his administration has been looking at ways that it can use federal government powers to try and restrict what this administration sees as a backsliding of those fundamental rights. And he says, we will be ready when any ruling is issued as a result of those efforts.

And then, finally, the president also talks about the political implications of such a decision and what would result from this. And that is to say that this is going to turn into a central argument for Democrats heading into those midterm elections in November. The president writes, third, if the court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation's elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman's right to choose. And he says it will fall on voters in November to elect pro-choice officials.

Finally, he writes, at the federal level, we will need more pro-choice senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.

Now, we've heard the president previously say that he believes that the Roe v. Wade fundamental right to access abortion should be codified into legislation. Of course, right now, with the current makeup of the House and the Senate, that is not possible. As long as the filibuster remains in place, that is not possible. So you see the president here very clearly going to be making that case heading into these midterm elections in November, particularly if this is indeed the final decision of the Supreme Court, which we expect to hear later this summer.

Erica.

HILL: Jeremy Diamond, live at the White House. Jeremy, thank you.

And if you're just joining us, also with is us Emily Wales, who's interim president and CEO of Planned Parent Great Plains.

Emily, you just heard the president's statement there. And as Jeremy pointed out, there's been some talk about whether anything could be codified into law. The reality is, there is also talk this morning about what could happen if Republicans take back the House, if they take control of the Senate, if a Republican wins the presidency in the next election and what that could mean nationwide.

Do you see that in the future here?

WALES: Federal protections have been important. And I am hopeful that we'll be able to see more of those in the future.

But the reality for the patients we serve is that even when Roe is, and it is today, the law of the land, we have people who cannot get abortion in our regions past six weeks. We have people who cannot arrange for two trips to a health center to get care.

It is not a protected right that exists in the way it does in other parts of the country where I live. And so it's going to be essential for states to also take action.

The four states that we serve, Kansas has a state constitutional protection for abortion care and it's going to be the first state in the country to vote on whether to keep that protection there or actually remove it and take away rights from the people who live in Kansas. We are seeing this play out in real time because we have one state that has served a huge number of Texans and another state that's about to vote on whether to continue access for its own citizens. This moment could not be more real for the people we're seeing.

[09:40:03]

HILL: Really quickly before I let you go, it's not just about banning abortion. There are groups which work actively to elect officials to ban abortions that also talk about care for pregnant women and care for those children. How much do you see that as being a focus legislatively moving forward, especially in areas that are looking to ban abortion? Do you think there will be more attempt to take into account the physical and emotional well-being and maternal health and also the health of that child post birth?

WALES: That would certainly be a change for the four states in which we operate. We do not have public health investments in people who do choose to mother and carry children. We also have seen things recommended this year that would actually prevent people from going out of state to get care. The focus, the single focus seems to be on limiting access to abortion, and really punishing and shaming people who need it. I would be surprised to see things that are proactive steps to protect people who do parent.

HILL: Emily Wales, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

WALES: Thank you.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: We do continue to follow developments in Ukraine. And this is new, right now, refugees are arriving from Mariupol, where they have taken shelter under intense Russian attack for weeks. We're going to be live there in moments.

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[09:46:00]

SCIUTTO: We told you their stories for weeks now, hundreds of civilians hunkering down in the basement of a steel plant inside Mariupol. Well, now finally, just in recent days, some of them are fleeing to safety, arriving just now in Zaporizhzhia, where CNN is on the ground.

HILL: CNN's international security editor Nick Paton Walsh is there. And I think he's trying to talk with some folks who have just arrived.

Nick, what are you hearing from them?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: What you're seeing here, guys, what you're seeing here in front of our cameras are the first people to emerge from the buses here.

Now, you may actually recognize this lady from the reports that we put out last night. She emerged on video, in fact, in one of the videos taken of those who were lucky to get out from Mariupol and has just emerged here, was asked where she's going to go, and said, look, I have nobody here. I don't know where to go now. And has been tears on a couple of occasions.

This is the journey that they will all be making as they've endured that extraordinary escape from under Azovstal, from where she has been for weeks. And now they have to try and piece their lives back together again.

You can see in the exhaustion of her face, and you can see there just the head torch around her neck that she's clearly been living in the dark. I asked her, just a moment ago, what's it like being in the sunlight? And she said, look, I'm actually having some difficulty seeing. And so these scenes are extraordinary because of the conditions people have endured over the past weeks just to get to this very point.

Now in the last ten minutes we've seen four, I think, buses arrive, possibly five. And they have -- they have emerged, talking of what they've seen. And so the issue now for the United Nations and for the Red Cross is to take people from these buses here, make sure that they're in comfort, that they understand the steps ahead of them. We understand there are about 100 or so individuals who have come off these buses here and will now move towards the tents in this direction.

Now, the importance of this moment for these people is, of course, deeply personal because of the time they've spent underground during Russian bombardment. And I can see in that lady's bag she was carrying, just the small amounts of medicine, the plastic cup, the toothbrush, the tissue paper that had been the things she was living off over the past weeks.

And around here, too, there are more people emerging from these buses. Unfortunate (ph) crowd of media because Ukraine does want the world to know exactly what they have endured. And this is hoped to be the start that there may, using this mechanism, be yet more people to emerge from Mariupol in the weeks ahead. Possibly thousands. But these scenes are full -- fulfilling a lot of expectation hope over the past days and a moment, I think, of final peace for those who have been trapped in Azovstal for, some cases, some two months.

Back to you.

SCIUTTO: We should always remind Nick that the reason they were taking refuge there was that Russian forces were leveling the city. It was the only safe place they could find. Civilians, the deliberate target of Russian attacks, as they have been so often in this war.

Nick Paton Walsh, thanks for bringing us some of their stories.

Still ahead, another story we're following, a corrections officer is now accused of helping a murder suspect escape a jail in Alabama. The last video of the two, and why officials are now warning the public. That's coming up.

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[09:54:26]

SCIUTTO: A judge has now issued a warrant for a corrections officer accused of helping an mate escape an Alabama jail. Last Friday, Vicky White, that officer, said she was taking Casey White, no relation, for a mental health evaluation at the Lauderdale County Courthouse.

HILL: Well, the two then disappeared. Authorities later discovered there was no evaluation, no hearing scheduled for White that day.

CNN's Ryan Young is live in Alabama this morning.

So, Ryan, some new evidence, though, apparently convinced investigators these new charges are warranted, obviously. So what is it that led to those charges?

[09:55:02]

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, first of all, everyone here is still in shock, disbelief about this. You're talking about the second in command here believed to be involved in this. When we went inside yesterday and looked at the procedures that would have to take place for someone to move an inmate, you can obviously tell there was some forethought given to this.

And so what we are told is, there is some additional video and the location that they actually drove to. It's about an eight-minute drive away from here. And they captured some video of them getting out of a car near a shopping center. They believe there was another car at that location, and they were able to get in that car and flee.

One thing I will tell you, all this media attention that's been brought to this story has helped all these tips start rolling in. So far those tips haven't helped them. They've heard from people from Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

But you got to think about this individual, Casey White, you know, he is 6'9", over 260 pounds. You're talking about a big dude. So they believe that when people see this man with a tattoo down his arm and looking like this with a shaved head, he'll be easy to notice.

But inside this jail, they are so shocked about this because this is a woman they worked with for years, and they cannot believe the level of betrayal that happened here. You've got to remember, this inmate was transferred in February to this, and then this woman, Vicky, was talking about retiring for months, talking about moving to a beach. Sold her house, moved in with her mother. But there is no indication at all that there was something going on.

Now, look, there have been some reports about what could have been happening in this jail, but the jail workers themselves say they don't believe there was anything that was going on for quite some time. They are still shocked by this. And, of course, at this point, remember, there is a reward for both of them, and they're hoping some of this evidence that they're going through now will help them find these two.

Guys.

SCIUTTO: Ryan Young, good to have you on the story. Thanks so much.

HILL: Just ahead here, we continue our coverage of the fallout from that leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court. We'll take you live to the Supreme Court. That decision, could it overturn abortion rights in the United States? You're going to hear from abortion rights advocates and opponents just ahead.

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[10:00:07]

SCIUTTO: A good Tuesday morning to you. A busy news morning.