♪ wanna taste taste taste wanna get you goin' ♪ ♪ i i i wanna lay lay lay ♪ ♪ wanna taste taste taste ♪ i wanna feel love ♪ ♪ ♪ dance with me ♪ ♪ make you mine ♪ [ cheering and applause ] ♪ this is "nightline." >> juju: tonight, hurricane beryl barreling towards jamaica. the category 4 storm taking at least six lives as it swept through gra nadia, now heading toward the caribbean island. could it then turn straight for the u.s.? the arkansas abortion fight.

the latest battle on the ground just days away from the deadline to put abortion rights on the ballot this fall. >> you can vote for whoever you want at the top of the ticket, and you can still support this amendment. >> juju: the confrontation between sides. >> this amendment is more extreme than roe v. wade. >> i just want to shake people and wake them up. do you not know what's going on? >> juju: canvassers claiming protesters will stop at nothing to intimidate them. >> we have had to file police reports. >> juju: will they get enough signatures to make it onto the ballot? jamie foxx. ♪ everybody here gonna have some fun ♪ >> juju: the "ray" star speaking out. what he's now saying about his health scare last year that had him out for nearly three weeks. and how it's changed his outlook on life. plus, bronny james now an l.a. lake letter are the

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♪ >> juju: thanks for joining us. tonight, hurricane beryl putting parts of the caribbean on alert

with record winds at one point reaching up to 165 miles an hour. now expected to make landfall in jamaica tomorrow. some americans scrambling to make it off the island before airports closed. beryl has already taken six lives, decimating parts of granada before heading to jamaica, then either to the coast of mexico or possibly texas. here's abc's faith abubey. >> reporter: the strongest hurricane ever in the month of july taking aim at jamaica after decimating several caribbean islands and causing death and widespread construction. hurricane beryl's fury as it roared ashore in granada. 150-mile-per-hour winds whipping off roofs, bending trees, shredding power lines. drenching neighborhoods with torrential rain. drone video showing the extent. homes torn apart. nearly every building on the tiny island of caricou damaged.

>> the situation is grim. >> reporter: authorities saying at least six people were killed. tammy duncan touring what's left of her home in st. vincent and the grenadines, roof gone. >> i'm homeless. you don't stay in your home. a scary thing. i was trying to pull my son to safety. >> reporter: beryl's wind bands lashing puerto rico. forecasters warning jamaica would take a far more devastating hit. many lines up for supplies. we caught up with americans desperate to get off the before beryl strikes past it's starting to get stronger and serious, if there was an opportunity to get out, we probably should. >> reporter: reid kirk and over a dozen other missionaries from texas saw the forecast and cut their trip short. you're getting emotional? >> yeah, we love this place. we love this place, and we love the people here. we have a special family here

that serves. i hate to leave them. i want to take them back. >> juju: our thanks to faith. we will continue to cover beryl's progress and monitor its possible path towards the u.s. we turn to an all-out battle in the very red state of arkansas to get the issue of abortion onto the ballot. though it's the sixth most republican state in the u.s., canvassers are within striking distance of the threshold to put abortion rights in the hands of the state's voters. but anti-abortion rights activists are fighting back. here's abc's rachel scott. >> there are a lot of people here. >> yeah. >> that's good. >> reporter: chelsea and thomas stovall never thought they'd be here doing this. >> thank you. >> thank you for coming out, do you want a button? >> reporter: standing outside in nearly 100-degree arkansas summer heat asking people to sign a petition supporting abortion rights. did you ever think that you would be sitting here, now on this side of the issue? >> not in a million years. >> no. >> reporter: what drove them out

here? to jump headfirst into politics in a time when issues like abortion seem so divisive? their answer -- is heartbreaking. how much of your personal story are you sharing when you meet people, when you're trying to get them to sign on to this petition? >> all of it. i give up all the details first and they go, "oh my god." >> reporter: in 2022, the couple was excited to be pregnant with their third child. only to find out at the 20-week appointment their daughter had a fatal fetal anomaly and would not survive. but they live in arkansas, home to one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country. here, the only exception, to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency. chelsea didn't qualify. so they had to spend thousands of dollars and travel hundreds of miles away to illinois. >> it is painful to relive that over and over again. but i think it's -- it's so necessary to get people to understand that this is affecting real people.

>> reporter: they're in a race against time to help collect enough petition signatures before the july 5th deadline. the goal, to get a constitutional amendment added to the november ballot that would allow voters to decide if abortion should be legal in arkansas. >> the amendment itself would restore abortion access up to 18 weeks post-fertilization. after 18 weeks, it would allow for abortion access in certain circumstances, like fatal fetal anomaly, rape or sin cyst, or to protect not just a woman's life but also her health. >> reporter: arkansas is one of a dozen states where abortion rights could be up to the voters this november. it's not getting the attention as initiatives in swing states like arizona and florida. >> i think we know which way the state is going to go with regards to the presidency. but i think what's really important for people to know is that you can vote for whoever you want at the top of the ticket, and you can still support this amendment. >> reporter: in the two years since roe v. wade fell, six states have voted on ballot

initiatives and each time the voters have supported abortion rights. >> as soon as we found out about the ballot initiative, you know, we were some of the first to come and sign up. it wasn't enough to change anything. so we had to get more involved. >> reporter: i first met chelsea and thomas during our "impact on nightline" special, "on the brink." >> we know this is such a polarizing issue. >> but why? why? it shouldn't be. in my personal opinion, i was 100% against it. >> he had only heard the who are error stories of, abortion is birth control for people who don't want to close their legs. >> the question is, how did i change my view from one side to the other? it's not necessarily that i went from one side to the other, it's more that i had all the right information in front of me now, and i knew the full story. >> reporter: now the couple is confronting those same ideas thomas once believed, because

here in arkansas -- even in petition rife is sparking backlash. >> we have had people in some of the smaller areas run us out of town. we've had people get death threats. >> this amendment is more extreme than roe v. wade. it would obliterate all of the good laws that arkansas has passed over the last 50 years to protect the health and safety of women. >> these are bill that is we have been able to get passed -- >> reporter: jerry cox is founder and president of conservative group family coun council. >> governor bill clinton, who later became president, signed this into law -- >> you said family council represents the values of what people in this state believe. what are those core values? >> well, i think much of it is based on their christian faith. arkansas, i believe, has more churches per capita than any state in the nation. >> reporter: on the issue of

abortion, how much has the landscape changed? >> well, it's changed a lot. because i walked into the state capitol in 1989. nobody wanted to be known as pro-life. back then. today, among the republican majority at the state capitol, it's almost an insult if you insinuate that they're not pro-l pro-life. our work here is motivated by the fact that we care about people, we care about the unborn, but we also care about the women who may feel like they're just -- their backs are against the wall. >> reporter: family council is behind one of seven committees opposing the abortion petition, but volunteers all across the state taking part in "decline to sign" events. cox says he's worried the amendment would wipe out all of arkansas's abortion-related laws which he says protect women. >> it says, no one, nobody in arkansas, no elected group, can prohibit, they can't penalize

abortion, they can't delay an abortion, and they can't restrict it. now, the amendment doesn't define those words, but those are powerful words. >> reporter: i'm hearing you lay out reasons why you don't support the amendment, but what are the reasons why people shouldn't sign on to the petition to ultimately get it on the ballot? >> for one thing, they can vote now on it by saying, you know what? i don't support it, i'm not going to sign the petition, and if it does make the ballot, i intend to vote against it. it's a way they can voice their support, the same way the proponents are doing. >> reporter: but those fight fog the petition say his group has taken its efforts too far. on the committee's website, family council posted a list of paid canvassers, their names and hometowns, which some saw as doxing. >> we took that as active intimidation. we have, unfortunately, had encounters with individuals who have threatened our volunteers and our paid canvassers, threaten to kill them.

we have had to file police reports. >> hi, are y'all registered to vote in arkansas? >> yes. >> reporter: one of the names on that list, 22-year-old bethany sinclair. >> i found out because a lot of the volunteers messaged me. i saw my name right on their website. and it's very shocking. >> reporter: destiny closegoes school and has a full-time job. she says she thinks family council has made herself and everyone on that list a target. >> that is scary to know they could find where i work, they could find where i live. th they doxed these canvassers because they want to silence their voice, and here i am using it even louder. >> we've got our tent set up. this is going to go to the news if you have any of your own commentary. >> it's not a money thing for me. but for some people, it may be. i'm sure they want to try and scare those people into finding new employment or scare people into staying home. >> reporter: alison guthrie's

name was on that list. >> it's taken my peace of mind. every time i get a ring notification on my phone, i want to check and see, who's at my front door? >> reporter: alison lives with her brother and disabled mother. she says jerry cox and family council potentially put them at risk when the list went public. >> to be out here fighting for what i believe in, but being put in danger because of what he believes in, i just don't think it's right. >> reporter: you say it's transparency. the other side of this says intimidation. >> you know, it's not. let me tell you why. because when we publish the list of people who are paid canvassers -- not the volunteers, just the paid ones -- we could have published their phone numbers. it's a part of the public record. but we didn't. we could have published their home address. it's a part of the public record. but we didn't. we published name and hometown is what we did. >> reporter: are you surprised at how much concern there is from some of the paid canvassers

who are worried about their safety? >> i don't discount their concern, because we here at this office have had people actually threaten us. >> reporter: bottom line, you think it was necessary to put that information into one list and publish it? >> yes, i do, because i think the people have a right to know who is trying -- who's getting paid, who's getting paid to amend their constitution. >> reporter: so jerry cox and family council likes to intimidate and bully people to force their religious beliefs on others. >> reporter: veronica mcclain is a longtime group. she says it isn't only family council, it's state lawmakers as well. why do you think there is so much opposition to even just, put this on the ballot to let voters weigh in? >> i think because they know that if it gets on the ballot, that the people will vote for it. >> reporter: the arkansas state constitution says petitions need to be signed by voters from at least 15 of the state's 75 counties.

but last year, the republican-controlled legislature passed a law to make it 50 of the 75 counties, a change that flies in the face of voters since they voted down a similar measure in 2020. >> 15 to 50 is a really big jump. is this an uphill challenge? >> yes. yes, it is. it takes money. because you have to drive, you have to do all these things. there's no electronic signature process. it all has to be in person. >> i'm very optimistic that if we get this on the ballot, that it will >> reporter: how optimistic are you are you that you'll you'll get it on the ballot. >> i think it's going to be close. >> reporter: the canvassers are determined to try. >> i want to shake people and wake then up. do you not know what's going on? wake up this needs to >> reporter: what would you say to some who are hesitant to sign on? >> i talked to a gentleman today. he came and signed all the initiatives to put on the

ballot. he didn't agree with some of them, but he signed his name because he wanted it to be put to the people. >> there was another lady that did the same thing. she did not believe in abortion at all. if somebody who doesn't believe in abortion can still sign it that gives me hope. >> we have a little 4-year-old girl. >> i will not let her be raised in this state if they do not change their laws. >> reporter: you would move out of the state? >> yeah. >> it should be an easy thing. just give the people the right to choose. give them the right to vote. >> juju: our thanks to rachel. when we return, "ray" star jamie foxx speaking out about the health scare that took him out of commission a year ago. what he says he remembers and what he's grateful for. ♪ everybody doing it mess around ♪ living with hiv, craigd he can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato.

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>> juju: welcome back. jamie foxx talks about the early days of his health scare, telling a group of fans how a bad headache last april led to him forgetting the next 20 days. here's abc's ike ajoch chee. >> jamie foxx sharing more details about his medical emergency that landed him in the hospital last year. >> remember last year? bad headache? asks my boys what happened. gone for 20 days. >> reporter: the academy award-winning actor and comedian speaking to a group of fans in phoenix, arizona, over the weekend telling them how doctors treated him during his health scare. >> they told me, i'm in atlanta, they told me my sister took me to the first doctor.

gave me a cortisone shot. next doctor said, "something's going on up there." >> we don't know a lot of specificth when it comes to the medical condition. last year we were hearing reports of him being unable to walk, so whatever he went through, it was obviously very, very serious. ♪ everybody here gonna have some fun ♪ >> reporter: foxx is best-known for his oscar-winning depiction of ray charles in the film "ray." he was in atlanta shooting the upcoming netflix film "back in," when he experienced what his daughter corinne called a medical complication, the entertainer making an emotional appearance at the critics' choice celebration in december, thankful fors fans, thankful for life. >> it feels good to be here. i cherish every single minute. >> it seems like jamie is kind of still trying to process exactly what happened to him. really wants to hold on to

whatever it was that he was going through for some perhaps larger moment down the line. >> juju: our thanks to ike. when we come back, father and son lakers. lebron and bronny james making it official. (♪) (♪) (♪) the thrill of finding your path with the nissan pathfinder rock creek. (♪) pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. hi. i use febreze fade defy plug.

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♪ >> juju: finally tonight, it's not exactly passing the torch, it's more like sharing the torch. bronny james making it official. today making his first appearance with the l.a. lakers. >> and i've just been extremely excited to get to work. >> juju: the 19-year-old rookie drafted by the lakers and fulfilling a dream he shares with his superstar dad, lebron,

to play on the same team, saying his dad has taught him what to expect. >> just having that work ethic. listen to your coaches, being coachable. stuff like that he's driven into my head my whole life. >> juju: the younger james entered the draft from usc after undergoing a heart procedure last summer, today saying this feels like a big break. >> i just feel like i've been given opportunity to showcase what i can really do. >> juju: addressing the online grumbling suggesting he's a nepo baby. >> i've been dealing with stuff like this my whole life. it's amplified for sure, but i'll get through it. >> juju: bronny james is expected to sign his contract before donning the number 9 jersey at his first summer league lakers game this saturday. and that's night line. watch full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.