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Supreme Court's Decision To Overturn Roe Divides America; Legal Battles Unfold Nationwide After Controversial Abortion Ruling; Dems Hope Abortion Ruling Will Motivate Voters In November; Jan. 6 Committee Adds New Hearing For Tomorrow Afternoon. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 27, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: It's the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Fallout continues following the Supreme Court striking down a woman's federal right to an abortion. At least nine states have now effectively banned abortion just since Friday's ruling. In Louisiana, a judge there just temporarily blocked its trigger law. Emotions are running high as we see demonstrations on both sides of the issue. Legal battles also continue.

Abortion rights advocates filing lawsuits in Florida and Utah to head off the bans. And we could see a similar lawsuit this week in Ohio. California lawmakers are rushing to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to protect access to abortion and reproductive care.

Let's go to our correspondents because we have CNN's Carlos Suarez in Florida, that's where a hearing is underway, on whether to temporarily block the state's 15 week abortion ban. We also have CNN's Alexandra Field, who's in St. Louis for us, where nearly all abortions are now illegal.

So Alex, let's start there. Even before the Supreme Court ruling, there was just one clinic, as I understand located in St. Louis that was providing surgical abortions, so what happens next?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. This state had long been one of the most restrictive when it came to access for abortions. It was among the first to declare itself to have banned abortions in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision. Now Republican lawmakers here are saying that their legislative priority is ensuring that ban remains in place protecting it from the possible court challenges, the kinds of things that you were seeing in the other states that you just pointed out, Alisyn.

They said they need to show that Missouri's state constitution provides no right to abortion and that they could be looking at measures like a referendum or a ballot initiative. Thousands of women every year have already been leaving the state of Missouri to access abortion care in other places. That's something that we are seeing women in so many states across the country now look to do. We spoke to an abortion coordinator in Wisconsin, she says she was

coordinating a medically complex abortion when this decision came down, throwing all of it into chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then all of a sudden, the next email said there's been a Supreme Court decision and we cannot proceed with scheduling this patient in Wisconsin and she needs to seek care elsewhere. So there were all of these new things that we needed to coordinate for this patient that would not have been an issue had this patient been diagnosed a week earlier.

If she'd been diagnosed a week earlier, she would have had two appointments in town and that would have been that, so it's really - it was really just the worst possible timing for this patient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: That coordinator who wanted to remain anonymous says the patient had been told that the pregnancy would not result in a living child, that patient was able to seek care in another state, but she needed logistical and financial support. We're hearing from abortion funds across the country, that they are being tapped for similar support and they are expecting that demand, of course, to surge now, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Carlos, so you're in Florida, what's happening where you are?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Tallahassee is hoping to have a decision on whether or not to block that 50-week ban in the State of Florida after a number of organizations including the Planned Parenthood, as well as the ACLU, they filed a lawsuit saying that that ban violates a privacy right in the state constitution. Again, that Judge hopes to have a decision at the earliest on Thursday.

There's a synagogue in South Florida that has also filed suit, saying that the restriction violates their religious freedom rights. The law which was passed earlier this week makes no exception for rape or incest and lawmakers signed off on it in anticipation of the ruling by the Supreme Court.

On Friday, Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, he praised the ruling saying that the State of Florida would 'expand a pro life protections'. Now, it is unclear if lawmakers are going to pass any additional restrictions ahead of the November elections considering that the governor is up for reelection.

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And at least one poll in Florida showing that a number of Floridians residents they support the right to an abortion. Republicans, they're also trying to keep control of the state legislature and there's also a Senate seat up for grabs. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Okay. Carlos Suarez, Alexandra Field, thank you both.

So many companies are now offering financial support to employees who need abortion care but live in a state that now bans it. Rahel Solomon is CNN's Business Correspondent. So what are companies doing?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, within hours of Friday's decision, companies were faced with a decision of what they were going to do to support employees who may have to travel now to access abortion care. And you could argue, because of the leak they had some time to think about it, but what we're finding and what we heard from these companies from Apple to Zillow is that some were stepping up to provide travel related expenses to help employees receive abortion procedures, Microsoft, Meta, Yelp.

But also interestingly, Alisyn, some of the same companies like Citi and Meta saying that they're also still trying to understand the legality of all of this, trying to assess the impact of all of this. So companies find themselves in a very difficult situation now if they're trying to support their employees, but also just trying to understand legally what they can do.

Also interesting is who we did not hear from. We've reached out to many companies across industries, small and large. We did not hear from Wal-Mart, we did not hear from Target, no requests - no responses to our request for a comment. And I reached out to a brand strategist Friday, and I just jumped off the phone with him a few minutes ago also just asking, what are you telling your clients, companies that are reaching out to you asking what to do.

And he said, look, if it does not benefit you to speak, don't, which I thought was really interesting. And I asked in this environment, can you even make a case for not saying something when employees want to hear how their employers stand, but also consumers want to know how the companies that they support stand.

And he said, look, companies that haven't spoken out just yet, there's probably no benefit for them to do so. But also saying for companies who want to say the right thing or do the right thing, whatever the right thing is deemed by them. They find it very difficult because they're balancing different interests from their consumers to their employees to shareholders.

CAMEROTA: It's complicated for everyone right now.

SOLOMON: True.

CAMEROTA: Rahel, thank you for spelling all that out.

SOLOMON: Yep.

CAMEROTA: All right. Now, let's bring in NARAL Pro-Choice America, that is the oldest abortion rights advocacy group in the country that is still in operation and it tweeted today, "This is an all-hands-on- deck moment." Adding, "Now's the time to fight back."

The President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, Mini Timmaraju, joins us now (inaudible) we have Dr. Bhavik Kumar. He's provided care for women seeking abortions in Texas. And as the medical director for primary and trans care for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Texas. Thank you both for being here.

Okay, Mini, what's next? I mean, I know that NARAL tweeted now is the time to fight back. What does that fight look like? What do you plan to do?

MINI TIMMARAJU, PRESIDENT OF NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA: We're an advocacy organization. So we - as far as we're concerned, the midterms started on Friday. It's really key that we hold and flip crucial governor seats, where we have hostile anti choice legislator.

So that means reelecting folks like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Wisconsin; Tony Evers; Kansas, Laura Kelly, but also picking up some governor seats in some places that are tough, like Pennsylvania and Georgia, where you have Josh Shapiro and Stacey Abrams.

So I was already on the ground with Josh yesterday or day before yesterday, I should say, rallying here in Philadelphia. We also are looking at attorneys general, district attorneys even. We know we have the majority of Americans on our side and this is a very motivating issue for Democrats. So we've got to start educating voters right away.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Kumar, you're in Texas and Texas has won - already, had one of the country's most restrictive laws banning abortion even before this Supreme Court decision. So how have pregnant women's lives changed in Texas in the past couple of months and how has your life as a doctor there changed now? I mean, when somebody comes in and wants or needs an abortion?

DR. BHAVIK KUMAR, TEXAS ABORTION PROVIDER: Yes, you're right. Texas has been living in a pre-war or post-war world for the last almost 10 months now where we've been forced as physicians and healthcare providers to deny people the care that they need. And so for the last 10 months, many of the people that are coming to us where instead of helping them get out of state, figure out the logistics of travel, the cost that's involved, taking time off of work, child care, all the other things that may go into somebody having to travel out of state for a very safe and common procedure.

And I think now the rest of the country is waking up and seeing what we've been going through, unfortunately. And, of course, at the heart of all of this is folks trying to do what's best for them and their families and access the care that they need. And instead they're meeting all of these restrictions. And in today's world, a post-war world, the inability to access care potentially in a state where they live and instead being forced to travel out of state if they're able to.

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We've also seen a number of people that simply aren't able to travel and are instead forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will.

CAMEROTA: And Dr. Kumar, do you worry that you will be prosecuted for helping women?

KUMAR: Certainly, that's one of the considerations, especially in Texas, given how harsh this government is, how harsh the - our state attorney is and the pattern of behavior that we've seen from them. It's very difficult to know exactly what we can and cannot do. And we're waiting for some guidance from our attorneys, but that's certainly one of the considerations even in just providing information, let alone actually providing abortion care for people.

CAMEROTA: Mini, we just had earlier in the program on a pro-life activist who said their fight isn't over either. They're very heartened, obviously, by the Supreme Court decision. I mean, this is the moment they've been waiting for, but now they're swinging into action on all sorts of other things, including how to prosecute doctors who help women. So let me just play a portion of what she said to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTAN HAWKINS, PRESIDENT, STUDENTS FOR LIFE OF AMERICA: If a family member or spouse knows of an abortionist, who's preying upon a vulnerable woman, who's committing an abortion, who's sending these dangerous pills without a woman ever even seeing a doctor to confirm she's not experiencing at risk life threatening ectopic pregnancy, that a civil suit could be brought. She could bring the civil suit upon the abortionist herself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Mini, what's the plan for that - to fight that?

TIMMARAJU: That's just really appalling. And frankly, this is exactly the kind of extremism that we're seeing out of extremist GOP leadership across the country. The plan has to be to fight back with elections. I hate to keep going back to that. But we have state and local legislators who can stop this, who can stop this action in its tracks.

And even in places as difficult as Texas, in places like Houston, where we have Dr. Kumar and his wonderful team working, we have Democratic majorities on the city council, a Democratic DA, Democratic county judge, so there's ways to really block some of these really problematic extremist threats.

And you're right, the - our opposition is incredibly emboldened by this ruling, but we have the majority on our side (inaudible) Americans and we've got to exercise our voice at the ballot box.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Kumar, there's also a question about abortion pills. So women can - have been able to meet with their doctor and that was an option for them. There is now talk among some governors, Kristi Noem comes to mind, that they will ban telehealth appointments because - in which a doctor would have prescribed the abortion pill to the woman. How will they police that and what do you - what will you do when that happens - if and when that happens?

KUMAR: Yes. I think for me as a physician who has been through medical school and residency training and actually takes care of real people, as a physician, it's important to point out using science and research and what we know to be factual that medication abortion has been FDA approved in this country for over 20 years. It has one of the highest safety records that is very safe to use, whether it's through accessing in person in a clinic or through telemedicine and people are able to read labels and self manage their abortions if that's what they choose to do.

So it's important to really name and choose to listen to facts when we're presented with a disinformation just like we've heard from that person who's speaking before Mini. How this will actually play out and what the reality will be from folks that are anti-abortion and folks that are seeking to take away options from people, I'm not sure. But we have to remember the facts that medication abortion is safe, telemedicine abortion is safe and people should have those options available to them.

CAMEROTA: Mini, I see you nodding, we only have 10 seconds left. Do you want to add something?

TIMMARAJU: Yes, the disinformation is key. What Dr. Kumar just mentioned, our opponents have really, really put a lot of resources into disinformation. Abortion medication, the abortion pill, abortion procedure, they're incredibly safe. And I really encourage all of our friends in the press to really push back on some of this problematic messaging coming from the extremists MAGA Republican wing of the party.

CAMEROTA: Mini Timmaraju, Dr. Kumar, thank you both very much. Great to get your perspective.

TIMMARAJU: In some of the very first polling since the Roe vs. Wade decision came out, a new CBS YouGov poll shows 59 percent of Americans disapprove of the court's decision. Among women, they found 67 percent disapproval. CNN senior political analyst Ronald Brownstein and CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger are here.

Gloria, let me just start with that. I mean, so this is - obviously we keep hearing Democratic politicians who say that this will translate into motivation at the polls, it could change the equation of the midterms unknown.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: It's completely unknown. I mean, they're hoping that it will. There's some recent polling that shows that maybe it is to a to a certain degree, but their hope is that it takes the focus off of what is not where working for them which is the economy and allows people, particularly women voters, suburban women voters to focus on Roe-Wade.

[15:15:08]

And what they will characterize as a sort of right-wing Republicans and they're saying these are the people you're electing, they're right-wing, this is part of their platform and this is - it's going to continue and it's going to get worse. And as Joe Biden said, well, Roe's on the ballot in November.

CAMEROTA: Ron, you wrote a really interesting piece. I think it was in the wake of the Texas abortion ruling. They pointed out that the states that are limiting abortion the most also happened to be the ones that rate most unfavorably when it comes to economic conditions for children.

And so I've been trying to ask this question, I think it's just the practical question, what happens when 10s of thousands, let's take Texas for an example, of kids whose parents had decided they couldn't afford to take care of them or for whatever reason, we're forced to have those kids, what is the plan going to be now to take care of those kids to house them, to feed them, to care for them?

RONALD BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, if past is prologue, these - the states that are poised or in fact already are banning abortion are going to do the least to help kids and mothers succeed. I mean, the states that have the laws on the books that will now be activated by the - decision by the Republican majority on the Supreme Court rank near the bottom on almost every measure, you can think of, childhood poverty, low birth rate births, maternal deaths, access to health care for low income women, coverage under Medicaid for people, for women after they give birth.

These are states that are heavily concentrated among those like Texas, that have refused to expand Medicaid. So you've got this situation where the state is saying you have to have this child. But we are going to do very little to help you - to help that child succeed and it is a striking contradiction.

But don't forget, these are also the states that have put in these triggers that have already many of them place laws regarding restricting or banning telehealth for use of abortion - medication abortion as you were discussing about in your last section. It is a broad effort in the states to, as I've written, to roll back the rights revolution of the past, really 60 years to return us to an era in the 1950s where - and earlier where your rights depended much more diverge - much more depending on where you live, and at the same time, not provide the practical support that these new parents will need.

BORGER: This has always been a movement that it is really focused on politics and not on what you can do for these women if your laws get enacted. And now that the Supreme Court has done this with one fell swoop, this is going to cost the States a lot of money. They've got to figure out what to do now.

And instead, what you hear is that they're talking about additional restrictions. They're not talking about, okay, we got to spend money doing this to help these women who need this extra medical care who need this counseling. That's not what they're talking about. They're talking about how to get more states to pass restrictive policies. And the truth of the matter is that no matter how much Joe Biden doesn't like it, he can't codify abortion rights into law right now.

CAMEROTA: But can he do something, Gloria, creative?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And the reason I ask is because we heard from ...

BORGIA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: ... Sen. Warren and we'd heard from Congresswoman AOC who were basically saying, all right, well, we'll have to use - maybe the Biden administration can use federal lands for abortion providers now. Can - are there creative things do we know being discuss (inaudible) ...

BORGIA: Well, they're trying to make abortion medication easier to access. They're trying to help people, for example, with travel, to get an abortion and you talk about using federal land, et cetera. But again, this is nibbling around the edges here. The President, much to his frustration and Democrats' frustration, cannot do anything huge, because while they passed a bill in the House protecting abortion rights, it's not going to go anywhere in the Senate, so it is very difficult. But, again, you can you can nibble away, but you can't do anything big.

CAMEROTA: Ron, your final thought?

BROWNSTEIN: There are two really choices Democrats face. One, I think Gloria was alluding to is that there have been many voices in the party in the last few days who said that they should put on the floor - the House has already passed a bill codifying Roe, but Clarence Thomas laid out a hit list of other rights that might be threatened, same sex marriage, contraception, inter - potentially, interracial marriage.

BORGIA: (Inaudible) ...

BROWNSTEIN: Put those (inaudible) put those on the floor and force - and pass them through the House and put them into the Senate. And the other thing that's probably even more consequential is will 48 Senate Democrats sign a statement that says - and the White House support a statement that says, if they get two more votes, they would end the filibuster to pass to codify Roe, carve out Roe from the filibuster.

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That is something that could be, I think, consequential in the election. There's a lot of voice in the Democratic Party already saying they should do that. I think that's going to be a very big choice that the Senate Democrats will face in the next (inaudible) ...

BORGER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: All right.

BORGER: And Joe Biden has not said he's in favor of that, so ...

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Right. BORGER: ... that's where the pressure comes in on the President.

BROWNSTEIN: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: Gloria Borger, Ronald Brownstein, thank you both very much.

Well, the House Select Committee investigating January 6 just unexpectedly added a hearing for tomorrow. What that means next.

And as Russia makes significant advances in Ukraine, the U.S. is set to pledge more military assistance for Ukraine, (inaudible) ...

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CAMEROTA: The January 6 Committee just announcing a surprise hearing for tomorrow afternoon to 'present recently obtained evidence' and receive witness testimony. The committee was not supposed to resume hearings until next month. Melanie Zanona is CNN's Capitol Hill Reporter. Melanie, what kind of evidence might have prompted this?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, clearly, it's something new and clearly it is something significant. Just to put this into a little bit of context, the House has already left Washington for a two week recess and we were told not to expect any more hearings from the Select Committee until mid July, so this was a complete surprise.

But the Select Committee must feel like it has found some new evidence that is so urgent and so important that they needed to hold a last minute hearing to put it out there as soon as possible. And I think it's also worth noting that since the hearings began, the Select Committee says they've seen an influx of tips into their tip line. They have also been using the high profile hearings to try to implore more witnesses to come forward. So perhaps those efforts were successful, but as of right now, we are all in suspense and certainly the expectations for tomorrow are heightening.

CAMEROTA: The element of surprise cannot be overstated here.

ZANONA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So the Committee Chair, Congressman Bennie Thompson said that future hearings will also include more scenes from that documentary about the Trumps, what do we know about that?

ZANONA: Yes. Yes. Yes. This documentary is supposed to include never before seen footage of the Trump family on the 2020 campaign trail and also of their reactions to the 2020 election results. And we know one particular scene of Ivanka Trump saying that she believes her father needs to continue fighting the 2020 election results, but that stands in stark contrast to what she told the Select Committee under oath, which is that when Bill Barr, the attorney general, told her that there was no evidence of voter fraud, she believed it. So just one of potential many scenes that could come forward, but the

Select Committee has only recently obtained this footage, they said they need time to really comb through it. However, we are expecting to see it and one of those remaining hearings in mid January, Alisyn - July.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Melanie Zanona, thank you.

ZANONA: Sorry.

CAMEROTA: Got it. Thank you very much.

We have some breaking news right now out of Missouri where rescue teams are responding to a multiple car Amtrak train derailment. This is in Chariton County. This is in western Missouri, just outside of Kansas City. There are approximately 243 passengers on board, we understand. There are early reports of injuries. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago when it struck a dump truck as we understand it at a public crossing. So we're getting more information into our NEWSROOM we will update you as soon as we get more details about this incident.

Okay. Meanwhile, in the wake of Roe vs. Wade being overturned, Democratic lawmakers are looking to President Biden to intervene. How the White House is reacting next.

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