By Lizbeth Diaz and Drazen Jorgic
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican military captured on Friday notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, convicted for the murder and torture of a U.S. anti-narcotics agent in 1985, a major coup for both Mexican and U.S. law enforcement agencies.
By Makini Brice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden said on Friday he would take steps on his own to reduce climate emissions after efforts to pass legislation through Congress collapsed once again.
"If the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment," Biden said in a prepared statement.
The Democratic president did not say specifically what steps he would take. He said his actions would address climate change, create jobs, bolster U.S. energy security and domestic manufacturing, and shield the economy from fossil-fuel price spikes.
For more than a year, Democrats have struggled to pass a sweeping domestic policy bill that would boost incentives to reduce climate emissions, lower prescription drug costs and raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
Those talks appeared to collapse after Senator Joe Manchin, a lone Democratic holdout, told Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer this week that he would only support legislation that lowered prescription drug pricing and would be unwilling to back proposed tax hike and climate provisions, according to a Democrat briefed on the conversations.
Democrats want to pass legislation by August, when many states set healthcare premiums.
Manchin told a West Virginia radio station that he was still open to talks. But he said he would only support quick action on the drug pricing aspect of the plan, and wanted to hold off on the other elements.
"I want climate. I want an energy policy," he said. "I would not put myself through this if I wasn't sincere."
Manchin represents the coal-producing state of West Virginia and has been skeptical about some efforts to tackle climate change.
Without Manchin's support, Democrats would be unable to advance the legislation in the Senate, which is divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats.
"Senator Manchin's refusal to act is infuriating," Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich said on Twitter.
That would leave them unable to deliver on major portions of Biden's domestic agenda ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections, in which Republicans are favored to win control of at least one chamber of Congress.
Biden will now have to rely largely on executive actions to tackle climate change, such as issuing new Environmental Protection Agency rules on power-plant emissions and limiting oil and gas activity on public lands.
Those rules could be overturned by future presidents.
Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said Biden could impose a carbon border tariff on imports from countries with relatively worse carbon emissions, require carbon capture from major emitters and impose stronger emissions controls on vehicles.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; additional reporting by Katharine Jackson, Moira Warburton and Rose Horowitch in Washington; editing by Andy Sullivan and Jonathan Oatis)
A terminated pregnancy report — a document all physicians providing abortions must submit to the state of Indiana — confirms details Dr. Caitlin Bernard gave to the Indianapolis Star in a July 1 story.
Bernard said she performed an abortion for a 10-year-old girl who was raped and had to travel from her home in Ohio to Indiana due to Ohio’s newly implemented six-week abortion ban. The document reviewed by The 19th confirms that Bernard reported an abortion for a 10-year-old who she indicated had been sexually abused. The 27-year old Guatemalan national accused of raping the 10-year old was arrested on Tuesday.
The story drew national attention. Some pointed at it to show the impact of abortion bans; others questioned its veracity, and Bernard faced public criticism, media scrutiny and even threats of investigation. In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced he was investigating Bernard, claiming the abortion provider had a “history of failing to report” abortion services she had provided and that his office would be looking into whether proper documentation existed for this particular abortion. The document reviewed by The 19th confirms that Bernard did in fact file the required documentation by the state deadline.
In addition to being the subject of a state investigation, Bernard has also been doxxed and faced death threats by anti-abortion activists who claimed that Bernard had fabricated details. The story of the girl’s rape and abortion were referenced by President Joe Biden when he announced the signing of a new executive order meant to help protect abortion rights last week.
In a statement, Bernard’s attorney Kathleen DeLaney said, “My client, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, took every appropriate and proper action in accordance with the law and both her medical and ethical training as a physician. She followed all relevant policies, procedures, and regulations in this case, just as she does every day to provide the best possible care for her patients. She has not violated any law, including patient privacy laws, and she has not been disciplined by her employer. We are considering legal action against those who have smeared my client, including Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, and know that the facts will all come out in due time.”
Per the original Star report, the minor was allegedly raped on May 12 in Ohio. On June 22, the child’s mother reported the assault to child services in Ohio. On June 30, the girl then traveled to Indianapolis to obtain an abortion. She was six weeks and three days pregnant, and thus no longer eligible for an abortion in her home state as a result of the six-week ban. The document reviewed by The 19th corroborates this timeline.
The 2021 annual report produced by the state of Indiana based on the annual termination of pregnancy filings stated that last year, 8,414 abortions were performed in Indiana. Of those, 7,949 were obtained by state residents. Sixty-eight percent of abortions performed in Indiana in 2021 were performed before eight weeks gestational age, and 0.8 percent of all abortions were performed on minors under the age of 16.
