Politics
More California nurse practitioners could offer abortions under new bill
California would enable nurse practitioners to extra simply work independently of a health care provider and carry out abortions underneath laws that expands reproductive care as different states transfer to limit entry.
The invoice is one among a number of launched this yr by California Democrats who’ve been getting ready countermeasures to develop abortion entry for many who stay out and in of the state, a months-long effort that is available in response to the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court docket might overturn Roe vs. Wade, the almost 50-year-old landmark choice that barred states from criminalizing abortions.
Senate President Professional Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) stated Senate Invoice 1375 addresses two points by permitting skilled nurse practitioners in California to extra rapidly qualify to work independently of a health care provider and including abortion care to the companies they will provide with out doctor oversight.
“SB 1375 is a proactive step additional to extend entry to reasonably priced high quality abortion care in California,” Atkins stated. “Our state is dealing with a critical scarcity of main care clinicians, particularly for our Latino, Black and Native American communities — an issue that’s anticipated to get much more dire over the following decade.”
California is anticipated to face an enormous scarcity of healthcare employees within the subsequent decade, with the necessity for care growing because the inhabitants ages. A 2019 report by the California Future Well being Workforce Fee really helpful increasing the companies that 30,0000 nurse practitioners within the state can independently present as a part of a plan to fulfill the state’s wants.
As well as, Atkins stated greater than 40% of counties in California don’t have clinics that present abortions, leaving individuals unable to entry reproductive companies.
In 2013, Atkins wrote a invoice that was signed into legislation permitting licensed nurse midwives, doctor assistants and nurse practitioners who full particular coaching and function underneath the supervision of a health care provider to carry out first-trimester abortions. A separate invoice, Meeting Invoice 890, was signed into legislation two years in the past permitting nurse practitioners with superior coaching certification to work independently of medical doctors, however it didn’t particularly point out abortion companies as a part of the expanded scope.
That invoice, by Assemblymember Jim Wooden (D-Santa Rosa), is slated to take impact subsequent yr, with specifics concerning the standards a nurse practitioner should meet earlier than working independently nonetheless being weighed by the Board of Registered Nursing.
Atkins stated her new laws bridges the hole between the 2 earlier payments by together with abortions as among the many companies nurse practitioners can carry out with out oversight of a health care provider. It additionally goes a step additional in eradicating the Board of Registered Nursing’s authority to outline the minimal commonplace a nurse practitioner wants to fulfill to function independently, setting it at three years of full-time work that may embody prior apply expertise.
Patti Gurney, president of the California Assn. for Nurse Practitioners, welcomed Atkins’ efforts, saying the Board of Registered Nursing has had “many conferences with enter and little or no motion” in setting the standards for working independently.
“These of us who’ve been working for a lot of, a few years as nurse practitioners then would robotically meet that transition to apply,” Gurney stated.
That provision of the invoice, nonetheless, is more likely to elicit concern from the medical doctors’ lobbying group, the California Medical Assn., which has fought earlier efforts to develop the scope of apply for nurse practitioners. A spokeswoman for the affiliation stated Wednesday that the group didn’t but have a place on the invoice.
“This new invoice defines a transition interval and acknowledges work expertise that nurse practitioners have had and that’s actually essential,” Wooden stated.
Antiabortion teams such because the California Catholic Convention oppose the invoice, arguing that lawmakers ought to prioritize the excessive price of housing, youngster care and healthcare that may lead a girl to decide on abortion.
“It’s a harmful invoice,” stated Kathleen Domingo, government director of the California Catholic Convention. “I feel what that is actually doing is undermining the security of girls in all of their healthcare interactions. It’s placing entry earlier than security.”
In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders requested Deliberate Parenthood Associates of California and dozens of different supporters to develop a plan for the state to turn into a sanctuary for anybody denied abortion companies in different components of the nation. The coalition, the California Way forward for Abortion Council, really helpful 45 modifications in December to enhance entry and create extra capability ought to different states outlaw abortion.
The suggestions included easing the competency necessities for nurse practitioners, licensed nurse-midwives and physicians to ensure that them to carry out aspiration abortions.
Most abortions are carried out within the first trimester by one among two strategies. A medical abortion is a nonsurgical method to terminate a being pregnant that entails taking two prescription drugs hours aside throughout a girl’s first 10 weeks of being pregnant to induce a miscarriage. An aspiration abortion, which is an possibility till the top of the primary trimester, works through the use of suction to empty out a girl’s uterus.
Different payments embody Senate Invoice 245 by Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Lengthy Seaside), which might put an finish to out-of-pocket prices paid by these searching for abortions that on common vary from $300 for a drugs abortion to almost $900 for a procedural abortion, in accordance with the California Well being Advantages Evaluate Program.
“I feel if you happen to had requested me 30 years in the past once I was managing clinic companies for a girls’s reproductive well being middle if I’d nonetheless be speaking about defending Roe vs. Wade and combating for abortion entry in 2022, I might have stated I actually hope not,” Atkins stated. “However right here we’re. In statehouses and courthouses throughout the nation all the way in which as much as the Supreme Court docket, our reproductive rights are being stolen from us.”
Politics
Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.”
“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote.
Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.
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It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.
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Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.
He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.”
“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”
The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration.
In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.
The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.
Politics
Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”
Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”
Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.
In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.
She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”
“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.
Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.
The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.
Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.
Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”
The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”
Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.
One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.
Politics
Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
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“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.
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The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family.
Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”
“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”
Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”
“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”
The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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