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u.s. news Diaranson 4 Mei 2022

“Still in shock.” Abortion defenders, foes stunned by leak

(AP) - The owner of an late Monday by Politico, is a
Alabama clinic was fly- 98-page opinion in Dobbs v.
ing home from a confer- Jackson Women’s Health Or-
ence for abortion provid- ganization, which challenged
ers Monday night when the constitutionality of the
a leaked Supreme Court Mississippi bill that banned
draft opinion began rico- abortion after 15 weeks. If the
cheting around the world. decision stands as written, it
would also overturn Planned
As Dalton Johnson read it, he Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992
was struck by the bluntness of decision that protected abor-
the language that would end tion services even though it
the constitutional right to an allowed states to add some
abortion, shuttering clinics in limitations.
about half of American states,
including his. “Roe was egregiously wrong
from the start,” the draft
“I’m still in shock,” Johnson opinion states. It was signed
said Tuesday. by Justice Samuel Alito, a
member of the court’s 6-3
People on both sides of the conservative majority. Ac-
abortion divide have been ex- cording to Politico, four other
pecting the Supreme Court justices — Clarence Thomas,
this summer to reverse the Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kava-
landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade naugh and Amy Coney Bar-
case that legalized abortion rett — have agreed with the as they always do: protesters help pregnant people pass “I kind of can’t believe that I
nationwide. But many said opinion. screamed at people walking protesters like Beavers. live in a country where things
the draft opinion was nev- inside, clinic escorts tried to seem to be moving back-
ertheless stunning, forcing The draft opinion was writ- shield them and hustle them “I really appreciate their ef- wards,” she said.
them to reckon with the real- ten in February and the lan- in the doors. forts, and obviously based on
ity the nation is likely to enter guage could change before the news last night, I’m wor- Inside clinics, the news
soon. the court issues its final rul- “Please overturn Roe v. ried that this is one of the last prompted frantic phone calls.
ing. As written, it would give Wade,” said Barbara Beavers, times I’ll see them,” said Fol- People were confused about
“I can’t stop crying,” said an states the power to decide the who stood outside the clinic som. She and her family eat whether abortion remains le-
elated Mississippi state Rep. legality of abortion. Roughly in Jackson, Mississippi, on breakfast every Saturday at a gal, and for how long.
Becky Currie, who spon- half, largely in the South and Tuesday, trying to persuade coffee shop near the clinic,
sored the 2018 law that is the Midwest, are likely to quickly people against going inside. and always felt grateful for “I immediately felt sick to my
basis for the Supreme Court ban abortion. “Have mercy on our unborn the volunteers willing to help stomach,” said Tammi Krom-
case. “I am not quite sure I children. We’re destroying people in a state where oppo- enaker, who owns a clinic in
have the words to express Abortion clinics in those our future, killing our ba- sition to abortion is strong. Fargo, North Dakota. “And
how I feel right now, but God states opened Tuesday morn- bies.” 20 million thoughts started
has had his hands on that bill ing, still seeing patients but Folsom said she felt devas- going through my head about
since the beginning.” uncertain about the future. Jean Folsom stopped by the tated when she read the news what can we do? What does
clinic on her way to work, Monday night. my staff need to hear? What
The leaked draft, published The daily rituals unfolded to thank the volunteers who do our patients need to hear?”

US to hold back Lake Powell water to protect hydropower

(AP) — U.S. officials announced The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Tanya Trujillo, the bureau’s assistant seven U.S. states that rely on the
plans Tuesday that they charac- plans to hold back about 480,000 secretary of water and science, said Colorado River, which supplies wa-
terized as extraordinary to keep acre-feet of water in Lake Powell to keeping the water stored in the res- ter to about 40 million people and a
hundreds of billions of gallons maintain Glen Canyon Dam’s ability ervoir would stave off hydropower $5 billion-a-year agricultural sector.
of water stored in a reservoir on to produce hydropower for millions concerns for at least 12 months, giv-
the Utah-Arizona line to pre- of homes and businesses in the re- ing officials time to strategize for how There is less water flowing through
vent it from shrinking more amid gion. That’s roughly enough water to to operate the dam at a lower water the river than is consumed by cities
prolonged drought and climate serve 1 million to 1.5 million average elevation. The lake currently holds and farms throughout the region.
change. households annually. less than one-fourth of its full capac- And the water levels in the river’s
ity and the dam produces electricity two primary storage reservoirs —
for about 5 million customers in sev- Lake Mead and Lake Powell — have
en U.S. states. plummeted substantially over the
past two decades — to such an extent
“We have never taken this step before that boaters found a decades-old dead
in the Colorado River basin, but con- body in a barrel exposed on Sunday.
ditions we see today and the potential
risks we see on the horizon demand The action announced Tuesday is
that we take prompt action,” Trujillo one of several that have been taken to
said. shore up Lake Powell. The Bureau of
Reclamation has also ordered releases
The decision will not have any imme- from other reservoirs upstream frpm
diate impacts on the amount of water Lake Powell, including 500,000 acre-
allocated for the region’s cities. And feet of water from the Flaming Gorge
it won’t affect farms that rely on the Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming
Colorado River, which already face border announced last month. Re-
mandatory cuts in central Arizona. leases from Flaming Gorge as well as
Blue Mesa reservoir in Colorado and
But it illustrates the compounding the Navajo reservoir in New Mexico
challenges facing Mexico and the were ordered last year.