Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Kate Cox has left Texas

A pregnant woman's story illuminates abortion in America today.

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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Tue Dec 12 2023

 

Nicole Fallert Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

The Travis County 459th District Court is seen prior to an emergency hearing in Cox v Texas, in Austin, Texas, on December 7, 2023. Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother-of-two from Dallas-Fort Worth, sued the state of Texas on December 5, 2023, in order to get an abortion for a pregnancy that she and her doctors say threatens her life and future fertility. Cox learned last week that her fetus has full trisomy 18, a condition that means her pregnancy may not survive   until birth and if it does her baby would be stillborn or live for minutes, hours or days, according to the lawsuit.

A pregnant woman's story illuminates abortion in America today.

A pregnant woman has left Texas to access an abortion after the state Supreme Court blocked her from receiving one. Also in the news: The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday will vote on a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and Ukraine's president is in Washington to support the cause for aid.

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Here is the news to know Tuesday.

Why can't Kate Cox get an abortion in Texas?

After doctors confirmed Kate Cox's fetus has a deadly genetic condition, they recommended an abortion to preserve her reproductive health – a procedure largely prohibited under several Texas laws.

Cox and her husband, along with her doctor, asked a Texas court to temporarily block the state's abortion bans and allow her to terminate the pregnancy.

Last week, a lower court granted Cox an injunction. District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble found Cox needed an abortion "to preserve her life, health, and fertility." The order marked the first such intervention in the state since before Roe v. Wade was decided 50 years ago.
But hours later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a petition in the state Supreme Court to reverse the injunction. Paxton argued the state would suffer an "irreparable loss" should Cox terminate her pregnancy.
After her attorneys announced Cox had left the state to obtain the procedure, the state Supreme Court issued its decision that ruled against Cox. "Some difficulties in pregnancy, however, even serious ones, do not pose the heightened risks to the mother the exception encompasses," the court wrote.

Related: Indigenous women are facing tougher abortion restrictions post-Roe. They want Congress to step in.

UN General Assembly to address cease-fire resolution

Palestinians are hoping that a vote in the U.N. General Assembly on a nonbinding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire will demonstrate widespread global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war. After the United States vetoed a resolution in the Security Council on Friday demanding a humanitarian cease-fire, Arab and Islamic nations called for an emergency session of the 193-member General Assembly on Tuesday afternoon to vote on a resolution making the same demand. But the differences are no member country has veto power in the General Assembly, and its approved resolutions are not binding. Read more

Ap Israel Palestinians

Palestinians look at a blood stain at the site of the Israeli army operation, in the Jenin refugee camp in West Bank, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.

Majdi Mohammed, AP

More news to know now

The United Nations' critical climate summit COP28 is expected to end Tuesday, but a stand-off over a resolution on fossil fuels could delay the talks.
Britain wants to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Here's why homemade gun devices are back in ATF's crosshairs.
A Georgia high school football player was found dead the day before a state championship game.
For subscribers: The Arizona Supreme Court will hear a case Tuesday on whether a 2022 measure or a 19th-century, Civil War-era near-total ban on abortion will rule the state.
On today's The Excerpt podcastprosecutors ask the Supreme Court to decide if Donald Trump may claim immunity. Listen on Apple Podcasts Spotify, or your smart speaker.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits to the White House as Congress fights over Ukraine aid

President Joe Biden has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House on Tuesday to help jumpstart negotiations with Congress on providing additional aid to the war-ravaged country. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave town at the end of the week until early January, and they have not been able to come to an agreement on funding for Ukraine. They also haven't reached a deal on the president's other national security priorities, leading the White House to warn that it would run out of money to help Ukraine's military combat Russia's invasion by the end of the year. Read more

Ap Russia Ukraine War

A local resident sorts out debris at the site of a private house ruined in the Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.

Efrem Lukatsky, AP

Final round of student debt relief talks begin as Biden doubles down

The final round of talks by a committee of stakeholders from higher education, loan servicers and borrowers begins Tuesday. Members will discuss the use of a process called negotiated rulemaking, or neg reg, to draft a new plan for loan forgiveness after President Joe Biden's original plan for large-scale student loan forgiveness was undone by the Supreme Court in June. Frustrations arose almost immediately in yesterday's session. Committee members expressed disappointment in the department's latest forgiveness proposal, released last week, which many said doesn't go far enough in its current form to address the issues they've spent months debating. Read more

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Will Harvard President Claudine Gay step down?

It's not clear if Harvard University President Claudine Gay will heed calls for her resignation following her testimony on Capitol Hill last week about campus responses to rising cases of antisemitism. All eyes are on Gay after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned over the weekend. Gay, Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth testified last week before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Gay apologized last week and said she failed in her testimony to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students. Read more

Ap Congress Education Colleges Antisemitism

Harvard President Claudine Gay, left, speaks as University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill listens, during a hearing of the House Committee on Education on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 in Washington.

Mark Schiefelbein, AP

Photo of the day: Zac Efron gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

 "High School Musical" alumnus, Zac Efron, 36, was joined by his family and friends such as "The Iron Claw" costar Jeremy Allen White and "That Awkward Moment" buddy Miles Teller on Monday when he received a star on Hollywood Boulevard. Read more

Zac Efron Hollywood Walk of Fame 2023

Zac Efron poses with his star during his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony on Dec. 11, 2023 in Hollywood, California.

Leon Bennett, Getty Images

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on  Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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