geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the “news hour” tonight, the supreme court issues major decisions on abortion, the environment, and purdue pharma's opioids settlement. geoff: our panel of experts previews tonight's cnn presidential debate. amna: and saltwater from rising sea levels in the chesapeake bay disrupts the livelihood of farmers in coastal maryland. >> when we have this concept of

climate change, we kind of think of it as something that's going to happen. and what we were saying is, it is happening. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences.

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thank you. geoff: welcome to the “news hour.” the u.s. supreme court handed down rulings in a number of high-profile cases this morning. amna: the justices ripped up a controversial bankruptcy deal, one that would have provided billions of dollars to states devastated by the opioid epidemic, and shielded the family accused of pushing painkillers in search of profits. the justices also reinstated access to abortions for those facing medical emergencies in idaho, for now. and the court temporarily blocked a biden environmental policy regulating air pollution from taking effect. geoff: to help unpack the details and the significance of the rulings, we're joined first by john yang, anchor of "pbs news weekend" who also covers the supreme court. let's start with this abortion case because the abortion case formally dismissed an appeal over idaho's district abortion ban. how did that ruling track with

the case document mistakenly uploaded to the supreme court website yesterday? john: it was essentially what we had a sneak preview of yesterday. a 6-3 majority said the case is not ready to decide yet so they are going to allow emergency care abortions in idaho while the idaho law is challenged. and to get that challenge they are sending it back to the lower courts pretty this also means there are a lot of unanswered questions and no guidance to the lower courts about how to deal with similar laws around the country. texas, and almost identical law has gone into effect in the fifth circuit court of appeals over the biden administration's objections. here is a law professor at uc davis who has written extensively on abortion. >> the impact in the short term is going to be pretty limited. the court's ruling will have the effect of reinstating the injunction in the district court that allowed emergency abortions to continue in idaho.

it doesn't really have any impact on any of the other states with narrow abortion bans, or on any of the other litigation around these questions that's been proceeding in other courts. so for the most part, this is deferring a decision and kicking the can down the road, although it will have immediate impacts in idaho. geoff: so what were the major differences between how the liberal justices and conservative justices approached this case? john: essentially this is an administrative order but there were four different opinions. the conservatives, the three most conservative justices wrote the opinion overturning roe two years ago. justice thomas and justice gorsuch dissented. they said they would have upheld the idaho law. the three liberal justices, sonia sotomayor, elena kagan, and ketanji brown jackson, all sided with the biden administration and indicated they would overturn the idaho law. and justice jackson said the court should not have waited.

the court should have decided this now. she wrote an opinion to show how strongly she felt. she took the unusual step of reading it from the bench this morning. she wrote in part, this court had a chance to bring clarity and certainty to a tragic situation and we have squandered it. as long as we refused to declare what the law requires, pregnant patients in idaho, texas, and elsewhere will be paying the price. as for the osler -- as for the other justices, justice barrett said it should go back but did not tip or hand on the larger question. justices roberts and cavanaugh did not write at all. geoff: the court also blocked an epa regulation meant to protect states downwind from polluting neighbors. tell us about that ruling. john: this is a plan the epa calls good neighbors. they wanted to work with the states to limit air pollution that drifts across state lines.

it was challenged by the state of ohio and corporate interests. today in a 5-4 decision, justice gorsuch wrote that the challenges were likely to prevail in the end because the epa had not fully justified what they were doing. geoff: epa has lost a handful of cases before the court in recent years. is there a theme that connect these cases? john: absolutely. the conservative majority in this court has been consistent in trying to rein in what they call the administrative state. they have said in case after case not only environmental law but other regulatory agency, saying the regulators cannot do anything unless they are specifically authorized to do it by law. here is carol davenport covers environmental policy for the new york times. >> the broader theme, you know, of this is the court kind of

really acting consistently in this very preliminary fashion to kind of shut down regulations before they even get on the books, before they're even hitting the american economy. and that's a really striking new trend from the court. you know, we're really seeing it -- in particular, this is a court that doesn't like regulations, that doesn't like the administrative state, but the environmental protection agency environmental rules in particular, are really kind of being hamstrung before they even get out the door. john: today the court took another swipe at a regulatory agency, saying the sec's use of internal panels, of administrative judges, to judge civil claims about securities fraud were unconstitutional because they violated the seventh amendment right to a jury trial. geoff: and lastly are there was a major ruling where the justices rejected this bankruptcy agreement that would have protected the maker of

oxycontin. there were a lot of states that were expecting to get some of that money. why send this back to the negotiating table? john: the major issue was what they painstakingly negotiated over months protected the sackler family. it shielded them from civil lawsuits against them. that made a lot of the families angry but also some of the families wanted this to go forward so they would get the money from this settlement. also the states wanted to get the money to fight opioid addiction. it was another 5-4 decision. justice neil gorsuch said there was nothing in the bankruptcy law that allowed this because the sacklers were not firing -- filing for bankruptcy themselves. and you cannot do that due to how justice gorsuch interpreted the law. geoff: john yang, thank you for

walking us all through this. we appreciate it. amna: the decision to reject the opioids settlement is a major blow to states, local governments, individuals, and tribes all expecting more than $6 billion. for more on the court's decision, we're joined by brian mann, who covers this as npr's national addiction correspondent. it is worth underscoring here what you have reported on for a long time that more than 300,000 americans have died from opioid overdoses since the year 2000. briefly remind us about the role played by purdue pharma and the sackler family in the making of that crisis. brian: when purdue pharma introduced oxycontin under the leadership of members of the sackler family, they pushed hard and marketed this medication as lower risk, something that more doctors, more dentists, more people across the medical profession could prescribe almost casually. it turned out oxycontin was highly addictive, and opened the floodgates to this addiction and

overdose death crisis we are in the middle of right now. we are seeing 100,000 opioid and drug deaths every year in the u.s. and a lot of public health experts say the opening gate of that was purdue pharma marketing of oxycontin. amna: so the tribes, the states, and the families all wanted to see this deal go through and now it is not. what is the reaction? brian: it is really complicated. a lot of people say they want members of the sackler family who denied any wrongdoing held accountable for their role in the opioid crisis. at the same time the family was offering $6 billion -- [indiscernible] amna: brian mann, i apologize for the interruption, i think we

are having some problems with your connection. i will take this time to ask you this idea that the sackler family is no longer shielded from litigation as part of this settlement that is not going forward now. does that mean we should expect to see lawsuits against the family in the weeks or months ahead? i apologize to our viewers at home. i'm so sorry, we seem to have lost your audio. but we thank you so much for joining us tonight. brian mann, npr's national addiction correspondent. thank you. ♪ in the day's other headlines, the national transportation safety board sanctioned boeing today, after an executive disclosed non-public information in a media briefing. that information was about the

agency's probe into an alaska airlines door plug blowout. the executive also speculated about its cause. the ntsb will now revoke boeing's access to investigative information, and require boeing to appear at an investigative hearing in august. in the middle east, around 20 critically-ill children were cleared to leave gaza today, along with dozens of their companions, in what palestinian officials say was the first medical evacuation since the rafah border was shut down last month. among those evacuated, “news hour” has learned, was three-year-old julia abu zaiter, who suffers a rare neurological disorder and whose story we brought you last month. dozens of parents, meanwhile, bid tearful goodbyes to their children outside gaza's nasser hospital. among them, kamela abu kwaik, whose five-year-old son, fayez, has cancer. >> tumors in his body have spread and we don't know what

the reason is. how i am going to leave him? he is only five years old. i don't even know where he is going to, to which hospital. we don't know. just get on the bus and that is it. it is all unknown. amna: meanwhile, israel carried out another round of air strikes in gaza city. palestinian authorities say at least seven people were killed. in bolivia, more than a dozen military officers were arrested today after a failed coup attempt, and could face up to 30 years in prison. army chief juan jose zuniga was taken into custody and removed from his post, just hours after he led troops in storming the presidential palace. in la paz, an uneasy calm today, as security forces patrolled the streets, and supporters of president luis arce condemned the coup attempt. >> these soldiers who have come here and who want to kill us, who want to repress us, we're not afraid. we will not allow it. we are totally united. yesterday has strengthened us.

the entire bolivian people are more united than ever. amna: the coup attempt comes as bolivia's 12 million people grapple with an economic slump, and amid infighting within the president's movement for socialism party. international experts have provided new and grim details of the famine in war-torn sudan. according to integrated food security phase classification, or ipc, some 755,000 people will face famine in the coming months. 8.5 million people are already experiencing extreme food shortages. the world food program has called sudan's hunger crisis the worst in the world. it comes after 14 months of relentless fighting between rival generals. european union leaders signed security agreements with ukraine today during a two-day summit in brussels. that extends the 27-nation bloc's military and financial aid commitment to kyiv that began after russia's february 2022 invasion.

ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy thanked the eu, but stressed that time was of the essence. >> of course the urgent things. air defense, that is one, and of course all the packages thanks to all the partners. what we had, signed it or accepted it, but we need them urgently on the battlefield. amna: zelenskyy also signed bilateral security agreements with lithuania and estonia today. that follows a decade-long pact signed with the u.s. earlier this month. oklahoma's state superintendent is mandating that public schools teach the bible in class. it's the latest conservative push to introduce religion into public education. last week, louisiana became the first state to require that the 10 commandments be displayed in public school classrooms. in making his announcement, ryan walters said quote, the bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the

history of this country. the justice department announced charges today against nearly 200 people in a nationwide crackdown on healthcare fraud schemes. doctors, nurse practitioners, and others are accused of filing false claims worth more than $2.7 billion. the alleged scams include, wholesalers distributing mislabeled hiv drugs from black-market sources, facilities grossly overcharging terminally-ill medicare patients, and the unlawful distribution of millions of adderall pills that weren't medically necessary. in announcing the charges, attorney general merrick garland said such crimes deserve punishment. >> i want to be clear, it does not matter if you're a trafficker in a drug cartel or a corporate executive or medical professional employed by a healthcare company, if you profit from the unlawful distribution of controlled substances, you will be held accountable. amna: as part of the crackdown,

officials seized over $230 million in assets, including cash, luxury cars, and gold. and stocks inched higher on wall street today, as investors wait for tomorrow's latest reading on inflation. the dow jones barely budged, adding just 36 points. the nasdaq tacked on more than 50 points. the s&p 500 ended virtually unchanged. still to come on the “news hour,” a new study reveals infant mortality in texas spiked after the state's restrictive abortion ban went into place. and as pride month continues, detroit carves out a new international space for queer art. >> this is the "pbs news hour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: it's the biggest night of the 2024 presidential campaign so far. president joe biden and former

president donald trump will square off in atlanta for their first debate of the year. we've got a full table here in the studio for reporting on how the candidates are preparing and analysis of what's at stake. laura barron-lopez covers the biden campaign. and lisa desjardins covers the trump campaign. amna: and of course our panel of political analysts, amy walter of the cook political report, democratic strategist guy cecil, and republican strategist kevin madden. geoff: let's start with you lisa and laura. how has president biden been preparing? laura: has been at camp david for most of the week preparing in a very traditional manner. he has a lot of his close senior aides around him who have helped mock debate. some of them have played donald trump. they have been trying to prepare him for whatever version of donald trump may show up. whether it is a calm one or a more aggressive one. the campaign feels this is a big moment for the president and they will get a larger audience

then they typically would. the president wants to strike a strong contrast with donald trump, and really prove the point unlike in 2020 when they did not pick donald trump, there is even more reason to. namely he is going to focus on the january 6 insurrection and donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. he wants to get across to voters that january 6 was a seismic event and that it was something that left a collective scar on the country and it is something they should reject donald trump over. geoff: lisa, how does the trump approach compared to the biden approach tonight? lisa: the debate has not started yet and we already have a stark contrast. the trump campaign said he did not do any preparation. that is what they say. but it is not clear what he has done. trump said his preparation is his rallies, talk radio. it is not clear. we do know they are taking this seriously.

there is also an issue that they know he has to contend with, that he did not do well in the first debate against biden in 2020. if you talk to trump campaigners and his allies, they like that among the rules tonight is that his mic will be cut off when biden is speaking. they think that will help trump even if he does not like it because they want the calm trump . they think that will help him more with voters. we expect him to talk about inflation and immigration. and they are launching ads attacking biden. this is one about issues. >> are you financially better off since he became president? are you and your family safer since he became president? is our country more secure since he became president? after four years of failure under joe biden, it is time to make america prosperous and strong again. lisa: i am told that is playing in some swing states and d.c.

as much as they try to say that joe biden is someone who cannot actually be capable of being president, they say he is a great debater. they want to set that expectation. there already attacking the moderators, setting up if he doesn't do well they are going to blame it on them. geoff: the trump campaign on immigration and crime. what is the biden campaign focused on? laura: abortion will be a big one for president biden. the campaign launched a number of ads this week marking the anniversary of the dobbs decision, including one today that will run during the debate featuring dr. lauren miller, who is a high risk pregnancy physician and she left idaho because of their near total abortion ban. >> these laws are truly barbaric. they are putting us back decades if not centuries. donald trump did this. he put women's lives in danger. this election is the most important election of my

generation and my daughter's generation. laura: president biden's campaign will be featuring a lot of voices like that including some women who had to travel out of their state to get abortions. once who felt they almost died because they had trouble getting abortions since the fall of roe. also president biden is expected to try to get out ahead of donald trump and counter his attacks he may have on the economy, specifically pointing to leading economists including some 16 nobel laureates this week who had a warning about donald trump's second term. they said they believe a second trump term would have a negative impact on the u.s.'s economic standing in the world as well as a negative impact on the domestic economy. president biden is essentially going to warn a second trump term would increase inflation. and on immigration he is going to try to beat back some of donald trump's attacks and remind voters about the family separation policy under trump's

administration and point out the recent actions he has taken, specifically the crackdown on asylum-seekers at the border as well as his relief to undocumented spouse or's. geoff: what is your sense of whether or not people will tune in tonight and whether it really matters in terms of how they are going to cast their vote? there has never been a debate this early in a presidential election cycle. lisa: americans are not happy about this election but they are taking it seriously. we know this from polling about planning to watch. we also know this about talking to voters. dozens of voters over the past couple of weeks we have been talking to, as part of a project reach discontented voters. we wanted to pull a couple soundbites from interviews. this is from one republican and one democrat about what they want to watch for tonight. >> i want him to come across as the powerful leader that he has. and i want him to overcome this feebleness narrative.

you look back at his state of the union address and how moving that was and i hope that he can tap into that again. and move people to be excited about their government again instead of annoyed or exhausted. i think i have watched every presidential debate up until this point. i am not learning anything new about either of these candidates. they have long since told us exactly who they are. >> we get debate parties together and our families get together and we watch that. this is the first year where i am not as excited as i would have been in the past. for trump, what i'm looking for is going to be just like a command of the issues. can he offer specific policy proposals to say i see you have a command of this now. if i see biden be successful in standing up to trump and he can show me he has energy to go out and fight, that might make a difference. lisa: that is the exact kind of

voter trump needs. no one thinks this debate will determine the winner but it could tell an important question, which of these two men will be more stable in the future. one more note, moderators are not doing fact checking. so now is a good time to go online, there are a lot of stories about things expected to come up and facts to arm yourself with now. geoff: lisa and laura, thanks to you both. amna: let's turn now to your -- to our panel. our poll has shown the majority of registered voters are unsatisfied with these candidates. it is across both parties. 51% of democrats, 42% of republicans, 70% of independents. how much of tonight is about the candidates calling those concerns just within their own parties? kevin: look, you probably have about 95% of the audience

tonight is going to be tuning in with a rooting interest. even if they are not happy with the candidates and he wished someone else was running. they are probably more inclined to vote if they are leaning. this debate has more of an opportunity for that 4% or 5% that has not yet made up their mind. and while the candidates will be trying to juice their base and remind everybody that they are the fighter and they are the candidate they need to get out for. we still have those voters who have not me up their mind and that is the issue set that those voters care about. these candidates now have an opportunity to talk directly to those voters about those issues. for trump it is motivating those voters on immigration and inflation. the economic sentiments they have right now come anxiety they have about the economy. he has to speak directly to those votersn those concerns. as we heard earlier for biden, a lot of this is reminding voters about the january 6 donald trump

in the chaos that he brings. and raising the stakes of the election so that not only do his base voters get out the swing voters in suburban areas around this country take a second thought on whether or not they really want to support trump and they can be reminded that joe biden is the candidate who has always put himself forward as the candidate of stability, someone who can bring people together in the country. and lastly i think the issue of abortion. this is an issue where joe biden feels he can draw the hardest contrast. it is also an issue where right now republicans are in disarray on this issue. legislatively, with trying to find a cohesive message. drawn that contrast, and some of these swing voters where a lot of debates about abortion are had against the backdrop of what many voters would see as extreme policies. that is his best chance to motivate those voters to get out on election day for him. so this is one of those moments where everything in the political world stops and for one moment, 90 minutes, you have

concentrated attention of these swing voters. amna: what does president biden have to do tonight? guy: first of all, the calm donald trump may rsv to the debate but we all know he will not stay around very long. it's important for joe biden not to take the bait. joe biden's job is to do two things. one, talk directly to the american people about what he has done. two, remind them of what donald trump has done as president. we're in a unique situation, a current president and a former president running as each other. it is joe biden's job to remind people what donald trump was like as president, and more importantly, what will he do again. you will see him focus on the economy, abortion. you will also see them focus on democracy, and trying to draw a sharp contrast between what their two visions of american democracy looks like going forward. trump's his job is just try to distract joe biden. he may not be able to do it with a mic off, but he can try when

the mic is on. i think you will see a lot of the same what you saw from his last debate, which is attack his family, i think you will see a lot of attacks on family. i think you will see a lot of attacks on immigration issues. and i think it is important that joe biden response. it was donald trump that killed the most recent immigration bill that was on the house floor, not joe biden. and so i think continuing to draw that contrast. finally i think we all know it is important for joe biden to be strong in his presentation. the two voters you interviewed could replace the two of us because i think they nailed what most americans are going to be looking for. amna: when you say strong you mean in terms of presentation, overcoming that feebleness narrative. guy: he was focused, talking to the american people. and he had the maga republicans in the house to play off of in his response. in many ways, trump is the perfect foil for joe biden's

steady approach to governing and politics. amna: tell us more about the people tuning in. we know there is a lot of interest. we know folks are unsatisfied with the candidates. but who are they speaking to? are there people whose minds can be changed? amy: i think the key for this debate, especially if you are biden, because he is starting off behind in this race, according to where we are in the polling. he needs to change the trajectory of this race from one that is only about joe biden and what he has done for the last four years, specifically where he has fallen short on inflation and on immigration, and put the focus onto this choice. make it less of a referendum and more of a choice between these two candidates. everything that kevin and guy were just discussing about the ways in which donald trump's personality can overwhelm the stage and remind people who had voted for biden before why they

voted for him. to me, the group of people who are going to be the most important for this debate are the people who voted for joe biden in 2020 but are on -- the economy and also immigration. while abortion will be an issue and is something that president biden has going for him, these are voters, the reason they are sitting at undecided right now and not sticking with biden, is they are frustrated with the cost of things. and they need to hear from the president how he is going to make things better. and trump needs to do the same thing. remember, have we ever had a candidate who was the challenger

who has come into a debate without having any debate? he did not have any debates in the primary. for many voters, sure, they may remember what he did back when he was president. but he has not had to set out any of his policies, answer questions about what he was going to do in a new term. amna: and see them side-by-side. i want to ask each of you, because you have been in his rooms, you know what it is to get ready for this moment. everyone seems to know a lot about both of these candidates already. they are not tuning in. learn something new. what is it the campaigns are sending out to -- what is the message? kevin: two rules of any debate. you win or lose these in the first 30 minutes. it is important to come out very strong. second, if you are not on offense you are losing. i expect both candidates will come out and be very aggressive. the last thing i would say is

the candidate who wins presidential races is the candidate who answers the questions affirmatively. is this candidate on my side? that is the key rhetorical touchstone the candidates i think are going to try to reference tonight. guy: i think that is what we have seen the biden campaign did. everything leading up to this has been about joe biden being on the side of the middle class, the working class, the american people, and donald trump being on the side of himself and the very wealthy. the fact we have a presidential candidate that will arrive with more felony conditions than presidential debates or interviews leading up to the first debate will be an important point as i go back and forth. amna: we will watch and we will see. kevin madden, guy cecil, amy walter, thank you so much. geoff: to watch the simulcast of the cnn presidential debate with more reporting and analysis to follow, be sure to tune in to pbs tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. we will all be back. ♪

amna: in the wake of today's supreme court ruling allowing idaho hospitals to provide emergency abortions for now, questions remain about the impact of restrictions on access to abortion. a new study focused on texas looks at the year after its so-called heartbeat act went into effect, banning all abortions after six weeks with no exceptions for rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities. it found a significant increase in infant deaths, much higher than the rest of the country. one of the authors of the study joins us now, professor suzanne bell of the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. professor bell, thanks for joining us. prof. bell: thanks. happy to be here. amna: so this study looks at a period from 2021 to 2022 after the texas ban went into place, but before roe v. wade was overturned by the supreme court.

we should we should point out. and it found infant deaths in texas rose nearly 13% compared to an increase of just 1.8% in the rest of the country. what did your study show was driving that increase? prof. bell: our findings regarding changes in the cause of death suggest deaths due to fetal anomalies that were incompatible with life were the largest source of the overall increase in infant mortality that we saw in texas. deaths due to birth defects increased by 23% in texas from 2021 to 2022, while in the rest of the united states they decreased by 3%. and in the absence of an abortion ban, pregnant people that receive a diagnosis of a fetal anomaly would be counseled on the option to terminate, which is the choice many people like when the anomalies are incompatible with life or would cause significant suffering for the child. amna: so the key question here is about correlation versus causation. so, can you say for sure that you know that the abortion ban that passed in texas led to that increase in infant deaths?

prof. bell: that's a great question. so correlation means that two things are related to one another, that they may change in tandem. but it is not necessarily mean that change in one leads to a change in the other. we believe sb8, did in fact lead to an increase in infant deaths in texas. we used one of the strongest study designs for estimating causality, looking over time and across states to see if increases in infant mortality were above what we would have expected given ongoing trends prior to the policy, which make us confident that the increase in infant mortality we observed in texas during this period was a result of sb8. and when we conducted these same analysis and other states, we did not see the same pattern we observed in texas. if the increase in infant mortality we saw in texas following sb8 is not due to sb8

than those who don't think this is causal would need to come up with an alternative explanation that was unique to texas in this post sb8 period. amna: and just to clarify sb8 is, of course, the heartbeat act that we referred to earlier we should note when the ban was passed in texas, it was among one of the more restrictive bands in the entire country. now we have a number of states who have imposed similar bans. here's a look at a map that shows the 14 states that have a total ban in the seven states that have partial bans that ban abortion access up to about 18 weeks or so. i guess professor bell, the question is, are the findings in texas indicative of what you would expect to find in other states with similar bans? i mean, is that something you can extrapolate from what you saw in your study? prof. bell: we do expect to see potentially similar outcomes to what we've seen in texas in other states that banned abortion after the supreme court dobbs decision. the same potential mechanisms would lead us to suspect an increase in infant deaths via more live births, which would mean more infants at risk of death and more live birth specifically with congenital anomalies that have a higher risk of infant death. amna: and tell me a little bit more about the impact of a fetal anomaly in in this case?

we were talking about a six weeks ban in in texas is typically well before any kinds of tests to detect those anomalies or even carried out. so when those pregnancies are carried to term, what does it mean in terms of implications to consider, access to care, the level of support needed the cost of care, and so on? prof. bell: fundamentally, these are really heartbreaking experiences for the pregnant person and the family who receives this diagnosis and then is not able to receive evidence based care in the state where they reside. and we have stories from people like kate cox, who was forced to travel out of state to receive reproductive health care that she should have been able to receive at home in texas. and this causes incredible trauma to the birthing person and their family, with potential long term consequences in terms of the health of the child, if they do survive, long term care, and then people may still be

struggling in the aftermath of this horrible experience for those who'd experience an infant death. amna: when we look at the impact of these bans, and this gives us insight into one state and one moment in time. i'm just curious from your perspective as a researcher in this space, what other questions do you think we should be looking to answer right now, as we live in this patchwork of laws across the entire country? prof. bell: researchers will be studying the impact of recent abortion bans for many years, as there's so many potential negative effects of these policies. with regard to infant health outcomes specifically, we think infant mortality is likely just the tip of the iceberg. we suspect abortion bans have also led to significant increases in infants born with serious complications, but who survived with long term care implications. we've also seen increases in live births in relation to sb8 and in recently published work on the fertility impacts of abortion bans imposed following the dobbs decision. we also anticipate and intend to study the potential effects of abortion bans on maternal morbidity, with more people forced to continue high risk pregnancies, the heartbreaking

stories of which we have heard about in the media. and there are many other negative physical, mental and financial health impacts that we might expect to see in relation to not only the pregnant person, but also their partner and existing children. amna: all right. that is professor suzanne bell of the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. professor bell, thank you for joining us. prof. bell: thank you. ♪ geoff: near the chesapeake bay, farms have flourished for hundreds of years on the rich, fertile soil of coastal maryland. but as sea levels rise, driven in part by climate change, encroaching salt water is quickly disrupting the lives and livelihoods of many farmers. a preview of what other farming areas near salt water may soon be confronting. william brangham reports for our ongoing series on climate change and water, tipping point. >> when i bought this farm, this field was perfect.

now the tide comes in and out of here all the time. william: kevin anderson's farm near princess anne, maryland is now plagued by salt water. >> this area that we're standing here now in the last 90 days, i would tell you it's had water on it at least half the time. william: this corn field is nestled near a creek connected to the chesapeake bay, and a decade ago, he says that salt water mostly stayed in the creek. but now, it's increasingly coming on-shore, making some of his land completely unfarmable. >> there's an acre of corn right here that cost $650 an acrew to grow that i won't make a dime off of because nothing productive will come from that. william: about 30 miles away, a group of researchers who study sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, as this phenomenon is known, are trying to help farmers find solutions for what

could be a potentially existential threat from all that saltwater. the university of maryland's kate tully is one of the conference organizers. she studies the connections between agriculture and ecology. >> when we have this concept of climate change, we kind of think of it as something that's going to happen. and what we were saying is, it is happening. william: the delmarva peninsula bordered by the atlantic to the east, and the chesapeake bay to the west, is experiencing sea level rise at three times the global average. that's driven by climate change, but the land here is also slowly sinking. as a result, low-lying farmland is being lost at an alarming rate as salt water continues to flow onto the land, from storms and higher tides, and below the land, as salt water keeps infiltrating the groundwater. in a study published last year, tully and her colleagues showed

how visible salt patches on land almost doubled from 2011 to 2017, and about 20,000 farmable acres were transformed into marsh. >> that's pretty staggering, especially because the time period was small. we're kind of this testbed, so we don't have a lot of time. and people are looking to this region for solutions. right? because we're kind of -- we might be a couple years, 10 years ahead of what folks are going to see in other parts of the world. william: perhaps the starkest example of what salt can do to this landscape is right here. this is what they call a ghost forest, and 20 years ago, all those white stumps that you see behind me were living, green pine trees. as salty water crept into this forest, it poisoned all those trees, like it does to most crops. it's the exact fate farmer wendell meekins is trying to avoid in his nearby fields. >> the soil structure has gone

from a farmable, tillable soil, and it's changing into a marshland. all of this now has become what you would essentially look at as a river bottom. william: a massive tidal surge of salt water last year killed 65 acres of corn that he'd planted on these fields. >> i mean, it just devastated this whole crop. it was a 100% loss. william: meekins says managing salty water in this low-lying region has always been a challenge. the fields here are flanked by ditches designed to keep the tidal flows away from his crops. this year, he built up more protection. >> this is a berm that we've tried to put up. i'd say this is about three feet higher than your ditch bank here, trying to keep some of the tidal surge at bay. william: but he acknowledges it's all just a band-aid. >> if we see the water changes that i've seen in 2023 and 2024, in 2025, we're in big, big trouble here. william: so you think it's

crystal clear that farming cannot continue over the long haul here? >> not here. nope. 100% over. >> how is this salt patch extended in your memory? william: researcher kate tully says there are some crops that might survive in saltier soil, like sorghum or even quinoa. >> some farmers will start planting sorghum or another crop that might be more salt tolerant and have less inputs, but it's going to have a lower return on it. william: you don't get as much money out of that. >> as you do out of corn. but i will say that in most cases, some of these farms where you see that salt damage, it's a little too late to really sort of remediate that property. william: fifth generation farmer kevin anderson says he's desperate for some clear guidance. >> we just don't know what to do. there's not a program. there's not a strategy.

we're just kind of left out here for each individual farmer to see, what works and what doesn't work with our own time and our own money. william: he too has considered building a barrier against the tide, but isn't sure if it's worth the investment. >> we're looking for someone to help us draw a line in the sand and say, this elevation is where you need to protect. and from this elevation below. in 20 years, it's not going to be here. william: to help farmers get a handle on how their lands are changing, the university of delaware's jarrod miller uses drones to photograph how crops are growing, and matches those with measurements of salinity in the soil. >> a lot of times with agricultural research, we might have yield at the end of the season, but what drones have provided us with is measurements of plant growth or correlations to plant growth throughout the season. it's been another piece of information that's really helped us line up and make sure that

our soil measurements we're taking match what we expect in -- expected. william: miller says data like this can help farmers make tricky economic calculations. >> it's a tight margin on that grain. so every time you lose an acre, you lose yield. and there's only so many acres left on delmarva to make any money off of so every time we lose this bit, you might be cutting into someone's bottom line or their survival. william: but with sea level expected to rise nearly three feet in this region by 2100, a lot of current farmland will likely turn to salt marsh. >> on the positive side, if we thoughtfully manage some of these agricultural fields as they are starting to be intruded, we could allow that to sort of transition into marsh and that would store a lot of carbon underground. and it actually can serve as a buffer for storm surge. william: but for farmers like wendell meekins, finding ways to

save agricultural land while he can is his top priority. >> we need to protect what we have here now and find a use for it. it really takes some thinking, you know, to do something the right way for future generations. william: a future that will include higher sea levels in a region with more than 2500 miles of coastline. for the pbs “news hour,” i'm william brangham on the eastern shore of maryland. ♪ amna: this pride month, the city of detroit plays host to a pioneering exhibition, what's thought to be the first queer international art biennial. special correspondent christopher booker has the story part of our arts and culture series, caas. christopher: in his detroit studio, artist tylonn sawyer works on his latest series, large scale portraits of black authors, including james baldwin and octavia butler, on

horseback. >> traditionally in art, equestrian portraits have been saved for the rich, the high elite. i'm taking it away from the aristocracy and more or less ascribing importance to people who are writers, who are intellects. christopher: history, race, and politics weave throughout much of sawyer's work, themes, that he says, explore what it means to be american. that includes his most recent work, called forever young, pulse nightclub 49: a collection of portraits, one for each victim of the 2016 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in orlando. >> the fact that this happened in a gay club, which is supposed to be a safe space, it just was really tragic to me. christopher: sawyer, who is gay, only used the colors of the pride flag for the piece, which covers an entire wall at galerie camille, a contemporary gallery in detroit's midtown. >> it's ok to remember the tragedy but also enjoy the

beauty of who these people are. christopher: forever young is one of more than 800 works, part of what organizers describe as the first-ever major biennial of works by lgbtq+ artists. entitled "i'll be your mirror, reflections of the contemporary queer," the biennial was produced by mighty realqueer detroit, a non-profit founded by artist and public school teacher, patrick burton. >> not only are we celebrating with parades, we want to reflect, we want to enlighten, we want to affirm our committee, we want to educate young people. christopher: the biennial features more than 170 artists representing over a century of queer self-expression. from early twentieth century german photographer baron von gloeden, one of the founders of modern gay iconography, to painter hugh steers, who captured everyday life under the specter of aids in 1980's new york, to contemporary artists, like detroiter bre-ann white. oliver ragsdale junior is director of the carr center, a

key detroit black art institution, one of 11 biennial venues. >> we were excited about the opportunity to show our support and recognize there are so many black queer artists and others and to welcome them into our house. >> we have shown artists who have a queer background but not a full exhibition of this scale. christopher: laura makar manages wayne state university's elaine l. jacob gallery. she says pieces like "in darkness" by julie shafer, which traces matthew shepard's last moments using long exposure photography, have taught students about queer history. >> a lot of students that i talked to, they know about the stonewall riots, but they don't know what happened necessarily in between. christopher: other works, like these bricks by artist peter mcgough mcgoff, emblazoned with a homophobic slur, are intended to portray an act of defiance and resistance. >> the word is something that's now just being introduced as an

affirming word, a word to take back. and i know that not everybody agrees with that idea. there's a few pieces i'm sure that might shock or possibly challenge the viewer. christopher: the biennial is also a response to what burton sees as a worsening political environment in this country for the queer community. according to the american civil liberties union, since january, more than 500 bills targeting lgbtq rights have been introduced in local and state legislatures. >> i would say i'm a queer civil servant. i see the exhibition as a response, as a remedy, hopefully changing hearts and minds slowly. >> we were mighty warriors, say it loud, gay and proud. oooh, i'm always so proud of myself when i time that with the music. christopher: together with visual arts, the biennial includes events, like the drag explosion, a presentation by drag queen linda simpson of her photography documenting new york's underground drag scene in the 1980's. >> in the east village they were celebrating drag in sort of a tongue in cheek, you know, it's

so out that it's in way. that really intrigued me because it had almost like an artsy feel to it and sort of punk rock. christopher: simpson's candid photos captured the arc of this subculture through the early 1990's, when it exploded into the mainstream. >> the buzz was incredible. christopher: her work features the early years of world-famous drag queen rupaul and more obscure figures like transgender performance artist page. >> if page had wanted to, she could have blended into straight society. but page's loyalties were with the freaks and the outcasts and the drag queens like me. christopher: what do you hope people take away from seeing your show? >> well, i hope they're entertained, first of all. more than anything, my slideshow pays respect to these people. christopher: for artist tylonn sawyer, showing his work at the biennial places it in dialogue with the past and future of his community. >> queer people are not all the same. an exhibition like this shows that, and it's really important

for me to be a part of it, because i'm not like this artist, but this artist isn't like me. but yet our work can sit in concert with one another. and it's beautiful and i think it works. christopher: an exhibition that organizers say will now become a regular fixture on detroit's arts calendar. for the "pbs news hour," i'm christopher booker. ♪ geoff: and that's the "news hour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. we will see you back here at 9:00 p.m. eastern for the presidential debate. thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. ♪

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