U.S. Politics

A day after the Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling overturning Roe v. Wade ended the constitutional right to abortion, emotional protests and prayer vigils are turning to resolve as several states enact bans and both supporters and foes of abortion rights map out their next moves. A Texas group that helps women pay for abortions has halted its efforts while evaluating its legal risk under a ban it says will disproportionately hurt poor and minority women. Mississippi’s only abortion clinic is continuing to see patients while awaiting a 10-day notice that will trigger a ban. Some elected officials are vowing to protect women’s access to abortion, while opponents of the procedure say their fight is far from over.

A 5-month-old girl has been shot to death while sitting in the rear of a car in Chicago. Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified the child as Cecilia Thomas. She was struck in the head when shots were fired from another vehicle. She later died at a hospital. Police said a 41-year-old man in another vehicle was in good condition at a hospital after suffering a gunshot wound near his eye. No arrests have been made. The baby is among the youngest victims of gun violence in Chicago. She would have turned 6-months-old in four days, according to Natalia Derevyanny, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Mitt Romney isn’t up for reelection this year, but his name is surfacing in Republican primaries throughout the nation. Candidates are using the label “Mitt Romney Republican” to frame opponents as insufficiently conservative and enemies of the Trump-era GOP. Candidates have employed the concept in attack ads and talking points in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In Romney's home state Utah, Republican challengers taking on incumbent congressmen are using the attack, even though Romney won overwhelmingly only four years ago. The fact that Romney remains potent attack fodder reflects his singular position in politics and ongoing divisions within the Republican Party.

Pfizer says tweaking its COVID-19 vaccine to better target the omicron variant is safe and boosts protection. Saturday's announcement comes just days before regulators debate whether to offer Americans updated booster shots this fall. The current COVID-19 vaccines still offer strong protection against hospitalization and death. But protection against infection has dropped markedly with the omicron variant, and now its even more transmissible relatives are spreading. Pfizer says either an omicron-targeted booster or a combination shot that mixes the original vaccine with omicron protection substantially increases protection. Rival Moderna hopes to offer a similar combination shot.

The Supreme Court’s decision to end the nation’s constitutional protections for abortion has catapulted businesses of all types into the most divisive corner of politics. A rash of iconic names including The Walt Disney Company, Facebook parent Meta, and Goldman Sachs announced they would pay for travel expenses for those who want the procedure but can't get it in the states they live in. Others including J.P. Morgan Chase, Starbucks and Yelp reiterated past pledges they would cover travel expenses. But of the dozens of big companies that The Associated Press reached out to, many like McDonald's, PepsiCo and Walmart remained silent, underscoring how divisive the issue is.

And so, the interminable wait after the leak of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade has come to an end — nearly two months in which abortion and all of its complexities have been have been hashed and rehashed, while the U.S. Supreme Court was silent. Throughout, much of the focus was on who would suffer the most if abortion was widely illegal. Women in many places were already forced to travel long distances to undergo the procedure, and children in the states with the toughest abortion laws got the least support from states. Both sides waited, some with fear, others with expectations, for the decision that arrived Friday.

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York’s tight restrictions on who can carry a handgun, condemnation erupted from liberal leaders and activists. But some public defenders, often allies of progressive activists, have praised the court’s ruling, saying gun-permitting rules like New York’s have long been a license for racial discrimination. The defense lawyers say that by making it a crime for most people to carry a handgun, New York and a few other states have ended up putting people — overwhelmingly people of color — behind bars for conduct that would be legal elsewhere.

Democratic officials across the nation hope to harness their party's collective outrage and sadness to improve their political outlook this fall after the Supreme Court's stunning decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Abortion was an afterthought for much of the year for many voters. It was overshadowed by record gas prices, surging inflation and President Joe Biden’s low popularity. But on Friday, a Supreme Court majority of conservative justices ensured that abortion would be a central issue in U.S. politics for the foreseeable future. Polling shows that relatively few Americans wanted to see Roe overturned.