After three weeks of trying, the Arizona House of Representatives has voted to repeal a near-total abortion ban that was written in 1864 after the state Supreme Court earlier this month ruled that it could be enforced, setting the stage for the end of abortion services in the Grand Canyon State. The 32-29 vote came after three Republican legislators, Reps. Tim Dunn, Matt Gress and Justin Wilmeth, crossed party lines to join Democrats in backing the bill.  Dunn and Gress supported parliamentary maneuvers that brought the repeal legislation to the House floor for an immediate vote. Wednesda ..read more

Climate change and reproductive justice aren’t often linked – but they should be. To close out Earth Month, Errin sits down with Jessica Kutz, the 19th’s gender, climate and sustainability reporter, to talk about her latest reporting on climate and reproductive justice, the missing perspectives in climate journalism, and the future of the climate movement. Listen or subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. On today’s episode Our host Errin Haines is The 19th’s editor-at-large and writer of ..read more

Four Texas advocacy groups announced Monday that they’re joining a lawsuit against the state’s Department of Criminal Justice, which they say is failing to address life-threatening temperatures inside its prisons. The joint lawsuit expands on a complaint filed against the state in August 2023 on behalf of Bernie Tiede, a 65-year-old man with diabetes and high blood pressure, whose health has been affected by the heat, according to the complaint. The groups are calling for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to implement a policy that matches the state’s requirement for jails, which ..read more

At a national park in Virginia on Monday, President Joe Biden announced that people can start applying to the American Climate Corps, a program that is expected to connect workers with over 20,000 green jobs.  “You’ll get paid to fight climate change, learning how to install those solar panels, fight wildfires, rebuild wetlands, weatherize homes, and so much more that’s going to protect the environment and build a clean energy economy,” Biden said at the Earth Day event.  The American Climate Corps (ACC) is modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which was created by Pre ..read more

Last month, six autistic academics published a letter in “Autism,” a journal dedicated to autism research, with an explosive assertion: Sociologist Judy Singer, who has been described as the “mother of neurodiversity,” should not be regarded as such and did not originate the concept she has built her career on.  The claims come on the heels of a rocky year for Singer, who has been accused of making transphobic statements on social media, allegations she denies. The letter’s authors say it has been those comments that spurred them to speak out.  “She was getting away with taking credi ..read more

It was near midnight just a couple days before Thanksgiving 2020 when 17-year-old Kayden Asher arrived at yet another temporary home during his yearslong tumble through Texas’ chaotic foster care system.  His caseworker had given him just two hours to pack his bags before they drove into the night from a short-term shelter in South Texas to a nondescript building in Austin where foster kids in need of emergency shelter can live temporarily. When Asher arrived, the staff pulled him aside to ask some questions. “What are your pronouns? Do you feel safe talking about being trans around your ..read more

More than a decade ago, Celia Sims sat in a room with parents whose precious children had died while at day care. Most had been neglected by their caregivers. Some died from injuries, others in their sleep.  Most of the children attended licensed facilities, and at the time, their parents believed that licensing meant providers were safe, that unqualified workers were screened out. But they weren’t.  In the early 2010s, there was no federal requirement that child care providers undergo background checks. Fewer than a dozen states required a comprehensive check of criminal, child abus ..read more

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pennsylvania — Rep. Summer Lee stood in the backyard of a recently built dream home in exurban Pittsburgh and peered at a rusted pipe coming out of the ground topped by an empty, upside down bucket.   It was an orphaned well, probably for natural gas — Murrysville is a hotbed of them and they date to the late 1800s. The state has identified about 27,000 that need capping, but the total number of abandoned oil and gas wells across Pennsylvania could be as high as 350,000. These wells can leak climate-warming methane into the air and leach carcinogens into the wate ..read more

Health care providers aren’t allowed to tell law enforcement about a patient’s abortion if they received the procedure in a state where it is legal, it is protected by federal law, or it is permitted by state law, the Biden administration said Monday.  The new rule is based on the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. It could shield patients’ medical information if they live in a state with an abortion ban and travel elsewhere to seek care. Those are details that could show up in their health records if they seek subsequent medical care in their home stat ..read more

Just two days after Juror No. 2 had been selected to sit on the jury of one of the most high-profile trials in modern history, she wanted off. If the woman’s phone and the incoming messages from family, friends and co-workers were any indication, people had figured out that she was set to weigh in on the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president — a president who regularly attacks people he views unfavorably, spurring his many followers to do the same.  Before being excused, Juror No. 2 told the presiding judge: “I definitely have concerns now, one of them especially being the aspec ..read more