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Protests Intensify as Justices Set to Release More Opinions; Women of Color Most Impacted by Reversal of Roe; Zelenskyy Address G-7 Leaders as Tide Turns in Russia's War. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 27, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is Monday, June 27. I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman this morning.

[05:59:44]

And the nation is waking up to a different America after the consequential Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that will define generations to come.

At least ten states quickly moving to implement laws effectively banning abortions since Friday. Another five states are expected to enact trigger laws limiting abortion. In all, 26 states have laws that indicate they could outlaw or set extreme limits on the procedure.

Protests intensifying nationwide, both for and against the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn the federal constitutional right to an abortion. While many protests were peaceful, there were instances of clashes erupting between police and demonstrators, with some protesters getting arrested.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And as some states move to restrict abortion rights, others are taking steps to protect access and funding. Also, some major companies are pledging to provide support for employees and, in some cases, their dependents, in states where abortions are now being outlawed.

Meanwhile, there are questions about the future of other court- determined rights. A consenting opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas calls for the court to reconsider precedents on contraception and same-sex marriage.

We want to get right to the Supreme Court this morning. CNN's Josh Campbell is there. Josh, for everything that happened, the court is not done yet.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're not done yet. You can see behind me, it's very quiet here right now at the Supreme Court That's because it's 6 a.m.

But as you mentioned, even after that controversial abortion rights ruling, the court is still in session. We're expecting a number of opinions as early as today. Those include an effort by the Biden administration to end the Trump administration's so-called "remain in Mexico" policy. There's another pending opinion on religious freedom and another one involving the Environmental Protection Agency and climate change regulations. And our colleague Jeff Snyder (ph) is tracking all of those. We'll be bringing you live updates throughout the day.

We're actually standing here outside the Supreme Court, John and Brianna. This was the epicenter of a wave of protests across the weekend. Most of the protesters that we observed were those who were against this controversial ruling. There were some pro-life demonstrators out here, as well, some heated exchanges, certainly no altercations of note.

That wasn't the same in other parts of the country. In Los Angeles, for example, protesters took to the street, at one point entering the busy 101 Freeway.

Now, in one viral video online there, you see, actually, former "Full House" star Jodie Sweetin being pushed to the ground by a police officer. The LAPD says that that incident is under review.

North up in Portland, Oregon, a group of hundreds of peaceful protesters had their effort hijacked by vandals. I say hijacked, because you can see in the images in the aftermath, shattered windows, some of the graffiti left behind has nothing even to do with abortion rights.

Moving across the country, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a very frightening situation, involving demonstrators and the driver of a large pickup. Police say that a pedestrian was struck. That truck being surrounded by demonstrators. The driver trying to push his way through that crowd.

No serious injuries to note. Authorities do say that it is under investigation, no arrests thus far.

But guys, you can see, obviously, tempers flaring across the country. Where we are here, that's why this area that is often open to visitors and pedestrians and staffers here at the Capitol, at the Supreme Court, it is now a veritable fortress.

Authorities with fencing out here, trying to create a safe space for people to come out and demonstrate. They don't want to see here the same kind of altercations that we saw in other parts of the country over the weekend.

BERMAN: All right. Josh Campbell for us at the Supreme Court. Again, good thing no injuries out of Cedar Rapids. Thanks, Josh.

KEILAR: The fall of Roe v. Wade could have particular consequences for women of color. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): When Alana Edmondson (ph) unexpectedly got pregnant with her partner at 21, she had a choice to make. She was working a low-wage retail job in Seattle while dreaming of getting her Ph.D. at Yale. She made the tough decision to have an abortion.

ALANA EDMONDSON (PH), SETTLE RESIDENT: I knew that I would be stuck in a cycle of poverty that I was trying to get out of.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): The Supreme Court dismantled 50 years of precedent when it overturned Roe v. Wade, returning abortion laws to states. There will be significant economic repercussions.

Women denied abortion access who gave birth were more likely to experience increased poverty lasting at least four years, compared to women who received an abortion, according to the University of California, San Francisco.

EDMONDSON (ph): It would just be very, very difficult, especially with, like, the prices of day care. I mean, even feeding somebody else.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Twenty-six states will likely ban abortions. Those states already have lower wages, barriers to healthcare, and less funding for social services, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The impacts would be felt most by women of color.

ASHA BANERJEE, ANALYST, ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: When women are not able to complete their education or get the job they want, this has severe economic consequences, yes, for them. But this loss of economic potential of possibility will have ramifications for the state economy, the national economy, as well.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): The anti-abortion group Right to Life cites public assistance efforts in five of the 26 states likely to ban abortion, aimed at helping pregnant women and new moms.

And now dozens of corporations are stepping in, providing protections for employees in those states.

[06:05:05]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think for any employer that cares about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, to stay silent on such an issue is really just not -- not OK.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Yelp, which calls the SCOTUS decision a denial of human rights and a threat to workplace gender equality, said before the ruling it's covering travel and health care for employees, family members and partners seeking an abortion anywhere in the U.S.

YURKEVICH: Do you think it's both an asset for retention of employees and then also an asset for attracting new employees to the company?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's both. It has really been a wonderful recruiting tool in terms of prospective employees saying, I want to work at a company that is out there and loud about what they believe in and what they care about. YURKEVICH (voice-over): Edmondson (ph) went on to realize her dream

and move to Connecticut to get her Ph.D. in literature at Yale. She says she feels lucky to have been able to make her own choice.

EDMONDSON (ph): Thinking outside of myself, it felt very scary for other people who can get pregnant who might not have the option to live their dream if they wanted it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now, as well as CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon. As we see in your piece, and that's the case for many women who choose to get an abortion, they do it for economic reasons, for personal economic reasons. What does the data show?

YURKEVICH: The University of California, San Francisco, says that women who wanted to get an abortion and who ended up getting one were actually more financially stable in the future. They also set more ambitious goals, and they actually went on to go ahead and want children in the future. And that's actually the case for Elena, who you heard from there. She does want children in the future but she just wasn't ready economically to support a child.

And we also did ask Right to Life for their economic data supporting their anti-abortion position, and they didn't have any to provide us. So we did go ahead and ask them, but they didn't have anything to supplement why they felt that their stance was an economic reason, as well.

BERMAN: And Rahel, the data shows that this decision could have a disproportionate effect on women of color.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. So since Friday's decision, we have heard from all sorts of organizations representing not just people of color but also Latino people, also AAPI community members, Native-American members, essentially with concerns about physical health concerns but also financial health concerns.

We know that black women tend to face more maternal complications than their white counterparts. There is a Duke study that suggests that maternal deaths would increase for black women 33 percent in subsequent years after a total abortion ban.

So there is plenty of concern in terms of just the physical health of women who might be turned away from abortions. But there's also lots to talk about in terms of the economic ramifications as Vanessa just mentioned.

We know that about 75 percent of women who've received abortions are considered poor or low-income and that their fortunes, when turned away, they have really significant negative impacts. One economist who I spoke to overnight telling me, Caitlin Myers (ph), saying that, look, my research suggested about a quarter of the women living in the banned states will be unable to travel to these new and much longer distances. These women will be disproportionately the poorest and most

vulnerable, adding that research has shown that women who are turned away from abortions they wish to obtain experience an 80 percent increase in financial events like bankruptcies compared to women who seek and obtain abortions.

So it's obviously a very complicated issue in terms of the morality of it all. But in terms of the physical health of women who are turned away, certainly women of color and also the financial health of people who are poor or low-income, others -- that's another part of it, too.

KEILAR: What, Vanessa, are big companies doing? And specifically, what are big companies that have employees who fit into the category that this is disproportionately going to affect doing?

YURKEVICH: We've heard from so many companies over the past few days ever since this ruling, anywhere from real estate companies, to tech companies, to retail companies.

I spoke to the chief diversity officer of Yelp and asked, you know, why did you want to come out so openly with this position? She said, We want to say that we're going to support our employees, pay for them to travel if needed, because we also want to set a tone for other companies.

We have not heard from some of the companies that Rahel and I have reached out to: McDonald's, Target, Walmart. These are companies that have very big reach in terms of messaging, but also big reach in terms of the amount of employees they have around the country, especially in states where abortion laws could be rolled back.

So it's important to note that, yes, some companies have come out and said something. Some have not. And at the end of the day, Yelp's chief diversity officer then said to me that you want to take a position on this, because you want employees to know where you stand. We're also in an incredibly competitive labor market right now, and that may be a draw for some employees who are looking for a company that stands and supports them.

[06:10:08]

SOLOMON: And look, I spoke to one brand strategist on Friday about this, just in terms of the corporate reaction. And he actually told me that he is advising his clients, corporations, that if it does not benefit you to speak, don't.

And I pushed back and said, in this environment, is silence even an option? And he said for some, it appears to be, because the case for corporations, at least according to what he told me, is that corporations are balancing many interests, right? Even just in terms of the employees, they have a diverse workforce. Some perhaps celebrating Friday's decision; some, of course, horrified by it.

Also consumer base, a diverse consumer base and shareholders. So corporations find themselves in a very sort of delicate balance, trying to manage all of these interests. But he even said to me, look, even when a company wants to say the right thing, whatever you decide that right thing is, some of them don't feel like they can, because they're managing all of these interests.

KEILAR: Yes. There are a few issues as divisive as this one, and certainly they're not going to please all of their shareholders or their consumers. That is for sure.

Rahel, Vanessa, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

BERMAN: So joining us now, executive administrator of Tulsa Women's Clinic and Alamo Women's Reproductive Services, Andrea Gallegos.

So when the Supreme Court decision happened, she had to break the news to a waiting room full of patients, including a 13-year-old who was there for an abortion with her mother.

Andrea, thanks so much for being with us. I want to turn to the future and talk about what now, but first just tell us about that moment inside the clinic when the decision was announced.

ANDREA GALLEGOS, EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATOR, TULSA WOMEN'S CLINIC AND ALAMO WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES: It was a very difficult moment for, obviously, our patients in the waiting room, but for the staff and the physician that was there that morning, having to break this news. There were shrieks and cries and screams of just utter despair because of this decision and what that meant for access to women.

KEILAR: And what is next for them? What -- what did you say to the women in the clinic, and what did they say to you about what they would do to pursue something that they've chosen for themselves but may be out of reach now?

GALLEGOS: Right. So once we explained what had just happened with the Supreme Court decision and why we were needing to halt services at that time, we gave resources to all of the patients with other clinics, names and phone numbers out of state, as well as resources that could help pay for the abortion and help pay for travel to get to those states.

You know, the reaction was many said, You know, I've got to get this done. This is my only option. Then, you know, I have to figure this out.

And many others said, There's no way. There's no way I can take time off work. There's no way I can schedule child care for my other children. I -- how am I supposed to leave the state?

And sometimes this isn't just one state border. This is one, two, three. You know, this decision is going to impact women's health like nothing before.

BERMAN: If you look at the map right there, we can see you're in Texas. Where are they supposed to go? Can they get to New Mexico? Can they get to Colorado? It's not close from where you are in San Antonio.

Do you have a sense of what you are allowed to do at your clinic going forward? Are you free to offer counseling for how to get an abortion in another state? Can you put them in contact with officials in other states? Can you call other states?

GALLEGOS: You know, that's what's so difficult about these laws is they're so confusing and unprecedented. These trigger bans that states like Texas have put into place that originally wasn't supposed to go into effect for 30 days. The attorney general of North Carolina announced Friday morning that, you know, we should be enacting pre-Roe law, which would criminalize abortion immediately.

And so we were forced to halt services on Friday when we should have that extra 30 days to continue to provide care. And you know, aiding and abetting abortion is a part of that. And does that make us criminals for providing good medical advice of just giving alternative states? I'll tell you that right now that that's exactly what we're doing, because we see that as within our right at the moment.

BERMAN: You are counseling. You are giving people information on how to reach or contact people in other states if they still want to get an abortion?

GALLEGOS: Yes, we are. We're giving names of clinics, phone numbers, and also organizations that can help with the cost of these services.

[06:15:06]

KEILAR: People are still calling, right, unaware what happened on Friday, trying to schedule?

GALLEGOS: Yes. We are getting phone calls of women who have not heard the news. And so we're continuing to have to break the news to people trying to schedule what's happened. And that continued shock and disbelief and despair, you know, it continues among people finding out this news.

BERMAN: Andrea Gallegos, thank you for being with us this morning and explaining what you're seeing. Appreciate it.

GALLEGOS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Happening now, the G-7 summit is under way in Germany as President Biden and world leaders map out their next move to confront Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

And the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressed the Congress moments ago as Russia is making substantial progress on the ground. Has the tide now turned in Putin's favor?

KEILAR: Plus, Rudy Giuliani claims he was assaulted at a supermarket in Staten Island. What the video evidence shows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:22]

KEILAR: Under way right now, the G-7 summit in Germany where President Biden and other world leaders are planning their next moves against Vladimir Putin, as Russia makes progress in Eastern Ukraine and attacks the capital for the first time in weeks.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is live for us this morning near the summit site. Kaitlan, what are you learning?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so these meetings are now on day two, with these G-7 leaders gathering. And of course, first and foremost on their agenda is Ukraine.

And what's happening there, which is really notable, given that a year ago, that would have been unthinkable to be the complete focus almost of their summit.

But it is so much, Brianna. This morning they dedicated their entire opening session to Ukraine. And you saw reporters were taken into the room for just a few brief moments.

And you saw the leaders of these G-7 countries, the world's wealthiest democracies, sitting there around the table, waiting for President Zelenskyy to address them virtually. He's obviously not here in person, but he is speaking to them virtually about the latest that's happening on the ground in Ukraine.

And two really notable things are emerging from this. One is that we are learning that the U.S. has purchased an advanced missile, basically surface-to-air defense system for Ukraine, that we don't know when it's going to go to Ukraine, when they will be able to start using it.

But that is something that Ukrainian officials have been wanting for weeks now. They have been saying that they need that to help fend themselves off from these Russian forces that are obviously attacking Ukraine still. And so that is significant, though the details still remain to be seen.

And another thing that's happening, Brianna, with these G-7 leaders is that they appear to be closing in on an agreement to cap the price of Russian oil.

That would be really notable if they actually work out the fine details of that, because obviously, they want to be able to limit how much revenue Russia can get; because they say that's what they're relying on to finance this invasion of Ukraine.

And these G-7 leaders have worked to isolate Russia economically from the rest of the community and the rest of the global world. And so that is something they are working on.

But we should note that so far this seems to just be an agreement in principle. The countries' finance ministers actually have to work out the details of that. But it is significant, because it's another step that these leaders have agreed to, to try to isolate Putin. BERMAN: Kaitlan, from the very beginning of this conflict, one of the

main challenges for President Biden and the White House has been to keep all of the major allies in line, to speak with one voice.

How hard is that at this point, when it does seem that it's impossible to imagine an ending for this conflict in Ukraine?

COLLINS: I think it's become more difficult, because to a degree, publicly, they are all on the same page. They are saying that they are continuing with this support for Ukraine.

But remember the last time they met, really, right after this invasion, had significantly gotten under way. There was this kind of excited feeling.

They were so surprised that Ukraine had been able to push back the Russian forces in the way that they had, that there was just a different level of momentum behind it.

But now these leaders are recognizing that this is going to be a slog. This is going to go on for some time. And right now there is no end in sight to this war.

And so those are the big questions because, yes, here they're talking about ways to punish Putin, but also the idea that they -- the fact that they can't ignore that's also hovering over their discussion is what they're facing back at home.

And the fact that there are rising prices when it comes to food, when it comes to energy that is causing and exacerbating inflation in a lot of these countries. And it is something that every world leader has to reckon with.

Certainly, President Biden does at home, as you've seen his poll numbers on the economy drop because of the fact that people are paying so much for gas and for food right now.

And so that is where the difficulty is going to lie, in making sure that they can continue with their momentum and their energy behind this and to supporting Ukraine, while also still balancing the dealing with it at home and what's happening with these rising prices. And the potential for fatigue to set in, because that is something that you've heard the Ukrainians voice concerns about. The idea that there could be less energy, less excitement and momentum behind backing Ukraine.

Now, the White House has said they are not concerned about this when it comes to supplying them with defense weapons. Obviously, we just talked about this advanced defense system that they've now purchased for Ukraine.

But it is something that I think is on the minds of these leaders here in a way that is different from when they last met several months ago.

KEILAR: Yes. They may all have different breaking points on this and the pressure is on. Kaitlan, thank you so much. There's a potential turning point here in the war on Ukraine, as the

country's Eastern region falls almost entirely under Russian control. We're going to get the latest from the front line, ahead.

BERMAN: Plus did former President Trump believe his own election lies, and if so, could that save him from criminal liability?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. This just in, moments ago the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he addressed the G-7, the world leaders meeting in Germany. What he told them was that he wants the war in Ukraine, he wants the conflict, to be over by the winter, before the cold sets in. That's his wish.

Of course, is it his eventuality to control?

Joining me now is Jonathan Wachtel. He's a foreign policy analyst and the former director of communications at the U.S. mission to the United Nations.

Jonathan, thank you so much for being with us. Zelenskyy wants the war over by winter. Can he do anything to make that happen?

[06:30:00]