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Today, Trigger Laws Banning Abortions Take Effect in Three States; L.A. to Vote on Requiring Hotels to House Homeless Population; Georgia Elementary School Student Tests Positive for Monkeypox. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 25, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. This morning, abortion laws take effect in three states, Texas, Idaho and Tennessee, effectively banning the procedure with few exceptions. In Texas, abortions are now illegal unless the mother is at risk of death or bodily impairment. There are no exceptions in this law for rape or incest.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: No exceptions. Idaho's new law does allow for abortions in those cases, with the caveat that they have to be reported to law enforcement. It also allows abortions, if necessary, to prevent the mother's death. But overnight, a federal judge ruled they must also be allowed in certain other medical emergencies.

And in Tennessee, abortions up to six weeks of pregnancy had been available, but as of today, all abortions are banned with exceptions only, only for the health of the mother.

HARLOW: So, in the next few days, North Dakota and Oklahoma will also add restrictions, also add criminal penalties for abortion providers. According to the Guttmacher Institute, nearly 21 million, about a third of women and girls of reproductive age in the United States have lost access to abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Let's talk about what this actually means on the ground in Tennessee. Jennifer Pepper is with me, she is the president and CEO of Choices Memphis Center for Reproductive Health.

And, Jennifer, I just want to read to people what it says on your website says today as this change happens. Is says, attention, starting August 25th, Choices can no longer provide abortion services in Memphis due to a new law banning abortions entirely in Tennessee, and new choices clinic is opening in Carbondale, Illinois, in mid- September. Please check back for updated information.

So, let's just begin with, you know, what -- today, your clinic has been providing abortions since 1974, a year after Roe versus Wade was passed by the court. So, what does today mean for your pregnant patients? JENNIFER PEPPER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CHOICES, MEMPHIS CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH: It is a hard day, right? It has been really hard for the last month under the six-week ban. Patients have been very angry, confused, frustrated, all of those things you might imagine. And our staff have been working really hard to serve those we can and to connect the others with as many other services as we can. But it is hard. It has been a really hard few couple of weeks for patients and staff.

HARLOW: Were you -- were the physicians at your clinic performing abortions up until midnight?

PEPPER: Not until midnight. But we saw as many patients yesterday as we could. Unfortunately, the mandatory 48-hour waiting period is still in effect in Tennessee. And so it made it very hard to see more patients.

After the days, after the Dobbs decision, our staff made the decision to stay open all day Saturday and all day Sunday to serve as many patients as they could then before the six-week ban went into effect. And I'm really proud of the staff. We have been talking about it. We've been planning for this since November. And we have been talking about we were going to provide abortions until the last minute, and that's, in fact, what we have done. Our 48 years of providing abortion in Memphis have ended as of yesterday.

HARLOW: You're referring to November when the oral arguments in this case happened in the Supreme Court. What you're doing is interesting. You are opening a new clinic in Carbondale, Illinois. I should note that's more than three hours drive away, you got to cross two states to get probations to get there, and that can be prohibitive to a lot of folks.

[10:35:01]

I mean, you know, it is just a fact, as the late Justice Ginsburg did point out previously, that it is the poorest women, with the least economic means, that are affected most by a decision like this. Do you have any assurance that your patients will even be able to afford to get there, leave their job, get time off, get child care to be able to take a trip like that?

PEPPER: Absolutely not. Those things have been a problem since the decision of Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade provided access, but it did not ensure access. And so many people in communities like ours throughout the southeast have been fighting with those very things to access abortion for decades now. There has never been enough abortion providers, and with clinics closing every day, there are fewer and fewer.

So, pregnant people are already driving hours and now they have to drive further. We were seeing patients from Texas for the last six months. Patients were driving 12, 13, 14 hours, if they had to. And lots of patients weren't able to leave their states. So, that is the real travesty. HARLOW: I do want to add, I should note that your employees are not going away. They're actually changing what they do. And many of them, as I understand it, are becoming birth assistants in your birth center?

PEPPER: Yes. We were really proud. Until today, we were the only nonprofit in the country that provided abortion and birth in the same physical space. And that's because it is the same person at different points in their life that need to access abortion services and birth services. And so, yes, we have not laid off any staff. And, in fact, we are retraining and redeploying our staff as birth assistants, people are learning interpreting, we're helping folks skill up on coding and billing, and we're very proud to be able to keep our staff if that's what they want to do.

HARLOW: Jennifer, let me ask you something very about the law here, because in Tennessee, anyone who performs an abortion for the most part is subject to criminal penalty, prosecution. The district attorney in your county, Shelby County, the district attorney-elect, a man by the name of Steve Mulroy said this about the law. Listen.

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STEVE MULROY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY-ELECT FOR SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE: Well, I've been very, very clear from the beginning that, as a policy matter, I personally don't think the criminal justice system should be used on matters of reproductive choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: But, the governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, says he expects prosecutors, like that soon to be D.A., to follow the law, and this is the law. I wonder how that divide complicates things for your patients.

PEPPER: Well, these laws are doing exactly what they're intended to do. They are putting prosecutors, attorneys, and the criminal justice system between healthcare providers and their patients. And so now doctors are being forced to consult with ethics committees, lawyers and different folks before they can provide care. And people are going to be criminalized for seeking healthcare. And that is -- it is scary and it is unfortunate.

HARLOW: I just want to be clear for our viewers about the law, as I have read it, is that it is providers, someone who provides an abortion that is now illegal, could be prosecuted, not the women, just to clarify for the viewers. And, Jennifer, thank you for your time on this important day for you.

PEPPER: Sure. Thank you so much.

HARLOW: Jim?

SCIUTTO: Such an important conversation, the changes are coming quickly. Coming up next, a look at a proposal to house the unhoused, the homeless, in empty hotel rooms in the city of Los Angeles. Why some support it but some say it could do more harm than good.

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[10:40:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back. So, the city council in Los Angeles is trying to decide whether to require hotel rooms to be opened up, vacant rooms, for the homeless population.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It is a solution that's been considered before. Supporters say it is a bold solution. But some of the hotel industry, they are saying, absolutely not. Now, the city is going to hold a vote.

CNN's Nick Watt has more.

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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Los Angeles County, more than 60,000 people are homeless on the average night and more than 20,000 hotel rooms lie empty on the average night. See where this might be going?

STUART WALDMAN, PRESIDENT, VALLEY INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ASSOCIATION: It is insane. It isn't going to solve the problem.

KURT PETERSEN, CO-PRESIDENT, UNITE HERE LOCAL 11: We think this is one part of the solution. By no means do we think this solves the homelessness crisis, but do hotels have a role it play? Of course, they do.

WATT: So, the union he leads, which reps hotel workers, gathered enough signatures and Angelinos will vote on a bill that will force every hotel in town to report vacancies at 2:00 P.M. every day, then welcome homeless people into those vacant rooms.

MANOJ PATEL, MANAGER, MOTEL 6: Honestly, would you check into a hotel knowing that the chance of your neighbor to the left or right is a homeless individual?

WATT: Manoj Patel voluntarily rents some hotel rooms to homeless people who are vetted and paid for by a local church, but he's against this bill that would make that mandatory.

PATEL: We barely are surviving, number one.

[10:45:00]

Number two, we have to think of the safety of our staff. And number three, we're not professionally or any other ways equipped with any of the supporting mechanism that the homeless guest would require.

WATT: What services would be provided remains unclear. Also unclear, the funding and hotels would be paid fair market rate.

PETERSEN: It is up to the city. I mean, they did it during Project Roomkey.

WATT: The pandemic-era program now winding down that inspired this bill by placing more than 10,000 people in hotels that volunteered, Shawn Bigdeli among them.

SHAWN BIGDELI, RECIPIENT, PROJECT ROOMKEY: Well, first of all, it is a blessing. It is a great room. The technology is not up to par, but what technologies do you have in a tent?

WATT: This bill would force developers to replace housing demolished to make way for new hotels and hotel permits would be introduced as well as making every hotel from a Super 8 to the Biltmore accept homeless people as guests.

BIGDELI: I don't think that is a good idea.

WATT: Why not?

BIGDELI: Maybe for some. But there is a lot of people with untreated mental health and some people do some damage to these poor buildings, man.

WATT: This happens in Manoj Patel's hotel.

PATEL: And she marked all walls, curtains she burnt, thank God there was no fire, even marked the ceiling.

WATT: Opponents of housing, the homeless in hotels, fear this and fear tourists could be put off from even coming to L.A.

WALDMAN: I wouldn't want my kids around people that I'm not sure about. I wouldn't want to be in an elevator with somebody who is clearly having a mental break. The idea that you can intermingle homeless folks with paying normal guests just doesn't work out.

PETERSEN: We don't want to head backwards into the segregated south, but that's kind of the language that they're talking about. There is a certain class of people, less than humans, animals, they almost describe them as, to be honest with you, they don't seem to understand who the unhoused are. We're talking about seniors, students, working people. That's who the voucher program would benefit the most.

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HARLOW: What a fascinating piece.

SCIUTTO: No question.

HARLOW: Right?

SCIUTTO: Absolutely. And questions about how that vote will turn out. We'll certainly bring those results as they come. Well, another story we're following today, the teacher strike in Columbus, Ohio, is now over. This morning, the teachers union and Board of Education say they have reached an agreement to get students back to class starting on --

HARLOW: That's great.

SCIUTTO: Yes, no question. I mean, parents were facing otherwise more remote learning. Imagine that. Thousands of school workers, you may remember, went on strike over the weekend, they demanded better conditions in the classroom.

HARLOW: Yes. Wow. The school year began online yesterday. You'll remember. Lucy, our colleague, was there reporting on the ground. The district admits there were some technology issues, so tough for some children. Classes will remain virtual for the next two days while staff prepare to return next week. Glad those negotiations finally did work out.

First, it was COVID, now the CDC is issuing new guidance on stopping the spread of monkeypox in schools after a student in Georgia tested positive this week. We'll tell you that parents need to know next.

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[10:50:00]

HARLOW: Quite a development on monkeypox. New this morning, a Georgia elementary school student tested positive for monkeypox, another student there is currently being tested. This virus is rare. I want to be clear, in children, it is rare. But at least 17 cases in children age 15 and younger have been reported to the CDC. So, the agency has issued new guidance for K through 12 schools and children and child care centers, I should say, to help reduce the spread.

SCIUTTO: CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard has been following this. Jacqueline, put this into the larger picture for us here. What is the level of concern right now?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Jim, I can tell you schools say that they are watching the number of cases closely in their respective counties. But the level of concern is still low. And the reason why, there is still very few cases reported among children.

If we take a look at the numbers, so far, as Poppy mentioned, about 17 cases, you see here, have been reported among children ages 15 and younger. Six among children younger than five, seven among children ages six to ten and four among children ages 11 to 15. So, that's why the level of concern is still low, but schools do have infectious disease protocols in place just in case someone is infected within their school.

And nationally we have to keep in mind that monkeypox is still a public health emergency. Most cases are among adults, and the United States is still leading globally in the number of cases. The rest of the world, the outbreak appears to be slowing down. Have a listen to the World Health Organization's director general.

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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: In the early stages of the outbreak, most reported cases were in Europe with a smaller proportion in the Americas. That has now reversed with less than 40 percent of reported cases in Europe, and 60 percent in the Americas.

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HOWARD: So, that's the current state of the outbreak right now, Jim and Poppy. But the National Association of School Nurses did share with me some steps parents can take if they are concerned about monkeypox this school year.

Number one, familiarize yourself with monkeypox symptoms. Number two, keep children home if they do have a fever and rash.

[10:55:01]

But, of course, several illnesses can cause a fever and rash, so still talk to your pediatrician. And if there is a case within your kids' school, of course, avoid excluding or blaming that child based on fear or stigma for their illness. And, finally, wash your hands, clean and disinfect surfaces. These are all easy steps we can take to keep ourselves healthy. Jim and Poppy?

HARLOW: Good reminder, as always. Jacqueline Howard, thanks very much for that reality check on this at this point and the impact on kids.

Well, there is a new study painting a picture of the long-term economic impact of the COVID pandemic. The Brookings Institution has found as many as 4 million Americans suffering from long COVID have not been able to go back to work. That totals an estimated $168 billion for them in lost earnings.

SCIUTTO: The study estimates about 16 million working age Americans have what is known as long COVID, which can cause a variety of symptoms, from fatigue to brain fog, to even trouble breathing. Researchers say the government should expand paid sick leave, improve work place accommodations and grant wider access to disability insurance to help keep those people, and this is key here, keep them in the workforce.

HARLOW: Yes, that's a stunning number.

Well, thank you all for joining us. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: I'm Jim sciutto, so good to have you with us.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right after a short break.

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