live from washington, this is bbc news. a legal challenge over the approval of an abortion drug is set to be heard by the supreme court. we'll look at the high—profile legal battle of kate cox in texas and the impact it may have on other cases. and how abortion referendums could influence the 2024 election in several key battleground states. hello i'm sumi somaskanda. we'll be looking at all that and more in a moment. but first, a quick look at today's top stories. israeli military forces told the bbc that they are investigating the accidental killing of three hostages. israeli authroties said that they misidentified them as a threat. yotam haim, alon shamriz and samer talalka were abducted on october seventh when hamas

carried out its deadly attacks on israel. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has called the incident "an unbearable tragedy". relatives of hostages taken by hamas have been protesting the accidental killings in tel aviv, while also calling for a ceasefire and agreement for the release of those still held captive. more than 100 hostages remain in gaza. a federaljury has ordered former president donald trump's ex—lawyer rudy giuliani to pay more than $1118 million, or $116 million, to two women over lies that they tampered with votes in the 2020 presidential election. a judge had already found mr giuliani liable of making defamatory claims about the georgia poll workers. mr giuliani told reporters outside the court he has no regrets. we'll have more on these stories and more in the next hour. we start with the us supreme court, which announced this week it will hear a case challenging the food and drugs administration's approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. the biden administration asked the supreme court to intervene

after an appeals court ruled to allow the pill to remain legal, but with significant restrictions on patients' access. the supreme court, which has a 6—3 conservative majority, will hear arguments early next year. a ruling is expected by summer, just months before the presidential election. this is the first time a major abortion case will appear on the supreme court's docket since it overturned the constitutional right to the procedure injune 2022. since then, more than a dozen states have enacted abortion bans or restrictions. shortly after the court's announcement on wednesday, i spoke to nicole freehill, an 0bgyn in louisiana who previously prescribed mifepristone/misoprostol to her patients. mifepristone is an already very safe medicine and safety is what it comes down to. there are a lot of complications in things happening when patients do not have access to

healthcare, and mifepristone is healthcare, and mifepristone is healthcare, and mifepristone is healthcare, and limiting its use and the burning and could only potentially cause catastrophic events as far as safety is concerned. the focus has been on medication abortions, which is now the most common method of ending pregnancies in the us, according to pro—choice research group the guttmacher institute. the two drug—regimen was approved by the fda in the year 2000 for use up to 10 weeks into pregnancy. a patient is first given mifepristone to induce an abortion and then misoprostol to empty the uterus. conservative and anti—abortion groups warn that mifepristone is a dangerous drug — despite the food and drug administration assuring it is safe. and they have accused the fda of being reckless in removing safeguards on how the medication is used. the susan b anthony pro—life america's state policy director kate daniel said the following: "under multiple democrat administrations, the fda has put politics before its duty

to protect health and safety, with tragic the alliance defending freedom, an anti—abortion organisation, says on its website that as many as 20% of women who have a chemical abortion will suffer a complication. i spoke to the president and ceo of the planned parenthood federation of america, alexis mcgilljohnson, about the abortion medication and access. we saw that the supreme court is taking up access to the abortion medication mifepristone. from your perspective, what implications could this have on abortion access in the us? it could this have on abortion access in the us?— access in the us? it is critical _ access in the us? it is critical that _ access in the us? it is critical that the - access in the us? it is critical that the court. access in the us? it is i critical that the court has taken up this case, because

mifepristone is in its hands right now. here we are, just 18 months after the gobs decision, and one in three women in america are now seeking access to abortion, when the libyan state that no longer have access to abortion, so it is kind of outrageous that we are back here, with 50% of patients who seek abortion using mifepristone, it all put it into perspective.- mifepristone, it all put it into perspective. given the number of _ into perspective. given the number of conservative - number of conservative justices on the court, do you have any sense of how you would expect the court might rule on this? it's hard to read the tea leaves, it may have been easier last year, but i think it is important they took up the case, had they denied that, what i can see now, to all of our patients and those people who will be needing access to abortions, mifepristone remains

legal, and we will continue to demonstrate in the court of public opinion how critical it is for us to maintain access to mifepristone and medication, and a banner mifepristone would not affect just what is happening on bad states but also across the country, so we obviously have a critical fight ahead of us, and we do hope that the court understands and offers safety to many patients seeking access. the conservative - seeking access. the | conservative group is challenging mifepristone, they deem this drug to be dangerous and they made these points on their website, and they made these points on theirwebsite, i and they made these points on their website, i want to read them to you, as manners gas many as 20% of women who have an abortion was a complication, and one review of 42,000 first trimester abortions found more than one in six women suffer from severe bleeding after

taking these drugs, again, this is on our website and i know the fda has deemed this to be saved, but is a guarantee that mifepristone is safe women to take? it mifepristone is safe women to take? , ,., mifepristone is safe women to take? , ., , . take? it is safe and effective, used by more _ take? it is safe and effective, used by more than _ take? it is safe and effective, used by more than 5 - take? it is safe and effective, used by more than 5 million l used by more than 5 million people since it was approved 20 years ago for abortion and miscarriage care. there are many instances in which pregnancy is actually no longer safe for many people because of these abortion bands, so i think it is a little bit, they are trying to undermine a public health and create more of a healthcare crisis related to maternity and seeking access to maternity and seeking access to abortion care, and the fda has already approved that and proven that mifepristone is safe and we have many cases to approve that. safe and we have many cases to approve that-— approve that. looking at the bi aer approve that. looking at the bigger picture. _ approve that. looking at the bigger picture, since - approve that. looking at the bigger picture, since the - bigger picture, since the overturning of roe v wade, the constitutional right to an abortion, we have seen several

states implement very restrictive masses on access to abortion. how have things across the country changed since then? 21 across the country changed since then?— across the country changed since then? ' , . , ., ., since then? 21 states that have restrictions on _ since then? 21 states that have restrictions on bands _ since then? 21 states that have restrictions on bands and - restrictions on bands and access to abortion, meaning that patients are no longer able to get care when they neededin able to get care when they needed in their own state, meaning they have to get on planes and trains and drive long distances, in some cases upwards of 900 miles in order just to get an appointment out—of—state. the landscape has really devastated maternal healthcare, it is definitely devastated the experience for notjust patients, it has also created a lot of chaos of our providers, who are in fear of actually being criminalised by providing care that they know will be necessary for many of their patients, so it's a public health crisis, as i have said before and i think that is

something that again, is going be leaning on the court of public opinion when the supreme court looks at this case next year. court looks at this case next ear. , ., ., ., court looks at this case next ear. , ., i. year. very good to get your thoughts — year. very good to get your thoughts on _ year. very good to get your thoughts on the _ year. very good to get your thoughts on the story, - year. very good to get yourl thoughts on the story, thank you so much forjoining us today. this follows the highly publicized legal battle of kate cox versus texas. the 31—year—old mother of two from dallas sought an abortion after learning her fetus had a fatal genetic condition. ms cox's doctor said she needed the procedure to preserve her health and future fertility. but due to the us supreme court's overturning roe v wade over a year ago, her doctors told her they could not legally perform the abortion. ms cox did get a court order allowing her to terminate her pregnancy, but the texas attorney general ken paxton then appealed to the state's supreme court which subsequently reversed the lower court's ruling. her lawyers say she left the state to receive the procedure elsewhere. here's what one of them told us earlier this week. this is a stunning development

out of texas, if you are in the united states, abortion is prohibited in 14 different states, and there are severe gestation of restrictions and many others, so patients like kate cox simply cannot get abortion care in their home states, and while politicians like to tell medical exceptions as being reasonable and available, as kate's experience shows, they simply do not exist in practice and what we have in texasis in practice and what we have in texas is politicians refusing to take responsibility for the laws passed, we have courts saying they cannot help, the medical board says they cannot help, and it leads to patients being in impossible positions and leave so many patients suffering. the texas supreme court's decision could possibly deter future women in similar situations from seeking a court—authorized abortion, and potentially have political consequences for republicans in the state. texas senators ted cruz and john cornyn have refused to weigh in on the case. 0ne republican taking it on is the former un amabssador nikki haley, who is looking to beat former president donald trump

for their party presidential nomination next year. here's what she's said during the campaign. you know i'm pro—life. i welcome the states that have become pro—life, but this is exactly why you have to show compassion and humanize the situation. we don't want any women to sit there and deal with a rare situation and have to deliver a baby in that sort of circumstance. any more than we want women getting an abortion at 37, 38, 39 weeks. we have to humanize this situation and deal with it with compassion. i think texas is going to go back and have their medical board look at this and say how should we deal with this. i spoke to michelle erenberg, executive director of lift lousiana, an advocacy organisation that campaigns for abortion rights and policy change about the impact the abortion ban was having on patients in the state. good to see you. louisiana has completely banned abortions with very limited exceptions.

have those exceptions been tested in louisiana like they have now been in texas with kate cox? they have. what is happening in texas is frighteningly familiar here in louisiana. we have had several stories that have been reported and local and national media, including a story about a woman who had a diagnosis of a foetus that had a severe abnormality and her doctor would not perform the abortion. the position was not included on a list of conditions for the department of health that are deemed eligible for the limited exception in a statute. she had to travel 1500 miles out—of—state in order to access the abortion care that she deserved and that she should have been able to receive based on the exception. the vagueness of the laws in louisiana and texas

and countless other states around the country are creating a lot of confusion and quite frankly a lot of fear among medical providers because although their best medical judgement may be to intervene and provide their patient with the best care they know how, there is a risk of them going to jail for ten or maybe even 15 years in louisiana. since louisiana enacted a band, what have women there been doing to want to access an abortion? a lot of women are finding the means to travel out—of—state and we're very grateful for all the abortion funds, the public aid organisations that have come to their assistance and try to provide them with the resources to go out—of—state. louisiana is one of the worst season the country, we are flanked on all by band stays and so to access an abortion, illegal abortion, in another state, people are having to drive hours and hours, hundreds of miles, and so that is a huge barrier and there are many people that become pregnant that ijust absolutely not going to be able to overcome those barriers. people that have never gotten on an aeroplane before, they have never left the state

of louisiana before. they are being forced to carry these pregnancies to term in a state that is really doing way too little to support single balms, to support low income families, and to really provide the resources that people need to bring a child into the world and to raise them in a safe and comfortable environment. i have spoken to pro—life groups who say they are trying to provide exactly that. better access to care is for mothers so they can choose to carry their baby to term. are those changes being felt? is that at all having an impact? i don't think so.

their solution is to pump a lot of taxpayer dollars into pregnancy resource centres. or some may know them as crisis pregnancy centres. these are anti—abortion centres that provide very few or if any actual medical services to medical people. they are at best referral centres. most of them are religiously affiliated and in order to receive services there, people have to actually undergo some sort of religious counselling, attend religious classes to access services they are providing. it is not providing the type of care and especially the kind of long—term care people need. one more quick question.

there is a republican supermajority in the louisiana house senate as a result of voters choosing these elected representatives who have chosen to act on a ban on abortion. is that reflective of how people with deanna veal on abortion? ——in louisiana. absolutely not. the public opinion has shifted so dramatically. lsu published a poll earlier this year that showed 52% of people in louisiana said abortion should be legal in almost all states. a poll we did earlier in the year said 73% of people support allowing patients to obtain an abortion if in a doctor's medical judgement it is necessary to protect the patient�*s health. let's turn to the politcal implications of all of this. there are at least 12 us

states where we could see abortion access on the ballot next year. they include colorado, iowa, maryland, missouri, nebraska, new york, south dakota, and washington. and in the key battleground states of arizona, florida, pennsylvania, and nevada — abortion referendums may play a crucial role in boosting turnout in november 2024. and a new npr/marist survey, polling americans on when they believe abortions should be allowed says that: 25% of americans believe that a woman should be allowed to have an abortion at any time, while 21% believe the procedure should be done at 15 weeks. 21% of americans are not in favour of an abortion at any time and 18% believe that abortions should be allowed during the first six weeks. three states from across the political spectrum have already put the issue of abortion access to a public vote and in each state: 0hio, kentucky and virginia, voters came down in favour of protecting that access. to talk about the political implications, i spoke to eleanor klibanoff and caroline kitchener — two reporters who cover

women's health issues. we have seen two important developments in abortion access this week and i want to start with the texas supreme court ruling against kate cox. eleanor, starting with you. this is a story garnering national attention. what impact has it had on taxes? this case was the first significant test of texas abortion laws on a pregnant person seeking abortion actively in that moment. i think in many ways this was the case. a lot of people were waiting for. while she was not able to get a abortion in texas it revealed a lot about how the state intends to go after people, these edge cases where it is not clear if the exceptions would apply or not. the texas supreme court showing its hand a little bit,

showing it is not really planning to intervene and showing the full force of going after people who try to find workarounds. this case has been reverberating in washington as well. picked up by democrats in particular. tell us more about the reaction you have seen. i think democrats are really eager to talk about this case because a lot of people don't really understand what it means to qualify or not qualify for a medical exemption under some of these laws. a lot of people would have assumed just hearing the details of kate cox's case that she would have easily qualified. this is an example democrats are pointing to to show how restrictive these laws can be. we know from election after election since the dob decision that americans are very frustrated and concerned with abortion bans. this is something that

really turns out voters and so democrats are eager to talk about this as much as possible. to follow up on that, we also saw that other development, mifepristone taken up by the supreme court. abortion medication. is this something democrats are speaking about? what is important about that case is in affects notjust the states with strict abortion bans but the entire country. this is a drug used in over 50% of abortions this country. we are talking about going back to 2016 protocols for the drug which would make it significantly more difficult for people across the country to access. that is something else that in the lead up to the election democrats are going to be very quick to point to. if you look at the poll numbers we look at how americans feel

about abortion access, there is broad support for that access. as we heard, democrats believe this will be an important issue to galvanise voters in an election year. we spoke to the former texas congressmen and presidential candidate 0'rourke, i want to play you a clip of what he told us. as more americans realise how cruel and dystopian republican| leadership is, it is on full. display right here in texas, they are going - to choose democrats. not just at the top of- the ticket but in congressional races that will decide i control of the house of representatives. i found it interesting. he added it might not be enough to savejoe biden when he was asked that question. what do you make of his words? i think abortion is having significant repercussions. at basically every level of government. in elections we are seeing it is forcing republicans to talk about something i think many of them would prefer to leave in 2021. really forcing them

to grapple with the outcomes of these laws. whether it will shift elections, we found when the question is do you want more abortion restrictions, people will say no. but when voting on a whole person, a whole candidate, on a whole slew of issues, is abortion a thing that will motivate voters? that remains to be seen. we are looking at a map on screen where abortion access might be on 2024 ballot. democrats are really pushing to get abortion—related initiatives onto the ballot in some very important states. we know there were referenda in ohio, kentucky, virginia that showed more support for the right to access abortion. if you look at that, could this issue threaten republicans in some of these more competitive races next year? i think that is the democratic strategy. they are honing in on florida,

arizona, other states they would really like to win because they know it is still a little unclear whether the candidate's view on abortion is going to turn out people in the same way these referendums, pro—abortion or against are turning people out in droves as we have seen since the court decision. i think there are a lot of conversations happening within the democratic party, with abortion rights activists, how can they strategise to make sure this makes it on the ballot in places most strategically important forjoe biden. how are you seeing republicans dealing with this particularly with an eye on the elections coming up. some candidates have been asked specifically about abortion, they seem to thread the needle on this. i think the kate cox case has forced people to grapple

with the reality of these abortion bans including republican candidates at all levels of the ticket. it is a lot easier to talk about abortion bans in the abstract and a lot harder when you talk about an individual case where you are able to say do you think this specific woman in texas should be forced to continue pregnancy? should she have to travel out of state? that is putting people on the spot and forcing them to grapple with the ramifications of these laws. we are seeing i think a lot more spread between the candidates on that than we do when we talk about are you pro life, pro—choice in these terms that candidates will prefer talking in. we have about 30 seconds left but i want to get your take on that as well and how you see republicans handling this. i think former president donald trump stands apart on this.

he has come and said that abortion bans are terrible. this is the man that shows the anti abortion justices allowed roe v wade to be overturned. he is making every strategic choice early in the election to get there and say he is not behind strict abortion restrictions despite his record. it will be one of the most important questions of the election, will people buy that? interesting to get your thoughts and i thank you forjoining us on bbc news. thank you. we'll have all the headlines next hour, including the response to israel admitting it accidentally shot dead three hostages in gaza. relatives of the hostages taken by hamas on the streets, protesting. also coming up — a legal blow to rudy giuliani and his claims

about a 2020 election fraud. hello there. it was a stunning end to the day that we had across northeast england with some amazing sunsets reported pretty widely. caused by a few gaps in the cloud opening up at the right time to allow those setting sun rays through. it was across eastern england and parts of eastern scotland we had today's lowest temperatures, six degrees in fylingdales. here it is set to get milder into the weekend. temperaturesjumping up to around 11 degrees. it is mild because it is cloudy and that cloud sheet is with us for the next few hours. damp weather moving across scotland where it is quite breezy. a few patches of drizzle around western coasts and hills and there may well be one or two mist and fog patches but no frost around.

it will be a mild start to saturday. this weekend sees a weather front that gets stuck across the north—west of scotland and it will bring very large rainfall accumulations with rain building up through the weekend. the met office have issued an amber warning for this. potentially as much as 200 millimetres of rain across the high ground in the highlands, enough to cause flooding concerns and one or two landslips as well. the weekend dominated by these mild southwesterly winds. temperatures will be reaching double figures widely. saturday, rain across the far northwest of scotland. damp weather to start the day in the west with a few patches of drizzle and a bit of mist and fog around, otherwise cloudy. a chance of a few breaks developing given there is more wind over the welsh mountains. to the east of the high ground and across the midlands, might actually start to see breaks in the crowd and a bit of sunshine otherwise staying cloudy for most of the day. similar story on sunday. a bit more in the way of rain, more extensively over scotland. some damp weather for northern ireland. at the same time, better prospect of seeing cloud breaks move up from north france. could see a bit of sunshine across the south of england and the southern parts of wales for the second part of the weekend. monday continues with the mild flow of air. some areas of rain mainly

across western areas. that east having a better chance of a few breaks and a few bright sunny spells. it is going to be a very mild day for december. beyond that, the weather does turn colder. may will be cold enough for some of these showers to start to turn wintry towards the end of the week or perhaps the following weekend.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.

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