03/04/24 03/04/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> and given the immense scale of suffering in gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire. for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on

the table. amy: is the official death toll in gaza tops 3500 -- 30,500, vice president, harris calls for ceasefire. the move comes after israeli soldiers opened fire on palestinians desperately seeking food aid in gaza city. we will go to rafah to speak with akram al-satarri, whose brother was at the aid convoy would israeli soldiers opened fire. the two russia to update after thousands gathered for the funeral of opposition leader alexei navalny who suddenly died in an arctic prison last month. >> i came to remember a good man who is deprived of his life. his family was deprived of love. we had hopes for him. it is very unfortunate. we are very worried. amy: add to alabama where

reproductive health and medical groups have requested the alabama supreme court revisit its february ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children. alabama republicans blocked a bill that would create federal protections for in vitro fertilization, introduced by tammy duckworth, who had both of her daughters using in vitro fertilization. >> women willing to go through expensive, painful medical treatment just for a chance to experience the smallest moment of parenthood. just have a new board to swaddle, a baby who needs to be changed, a toddler who needs shoes to be tied. if you believe they have the right to be called "mom" without also be called "a criminal" let as past this should be obvious legislation. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. health officials in gaza say at least 16 children have died in recent days from starvation and dehydration as israel's assault on gaza continues. unicef is warning the number of child deaths will likely "rapidly increase" unless the war ends. pediatricians in gaza say they have nothing to give malnourished children. >> malnutrition plays a major role in number of children that come to us in the number of deaths there are. when a child supposed to eat three meals a day and ends up eating one meal, that is not enough. her your body becomes deficient. it goes into severe dehydration state. we can't even deal properly with 60% of the cases we receive because we have nothing to give them. the most we can do is either give them sailing solution or

sugar solution. amy: on sunday, u.s. vice president kamala harris called for a ceasefire in gaza. she made the comments in a speech in selma, alabama, marking the 59th anniversary of bloody sunday. vice pres. harris: and given the immense scale of suffering in gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire. [cheers] for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table. a make of the u.s. vice president's remarks came three days after the united states blocked a u.n. security council statement condemning israel after israeli soldiers opened fire at palestinians seeking aid in gaza city in a massacre that left 112 dead. over 700 were injured. on sunday, officials in gaza accused israeli forces of

killing and wounding dozens more aid seekers who had gathered at the kuwaiti roundabout in gaza city. facing growing international criticism, president biden on friday announced the u.s. would begin air dropping food aid into gaza. while reading from an index card, biden twice mistakenly referred to ukraine instead of gaza. pres. biden: in the coming days, we're going to join with our friends in jordan and others with airdrops of additional food and supplies into ukraine and seek to continue of other avenues into ukraine, including the possibility of delivering large amounts of humanitarian assistance. amy: on saturday, u.s. air force and royal jordanian air force dropped 38,000 ready-to-eat meals into gaza, and i for about 1.6% of gaza's population.

humanitarian groups say far more aid is needed in gaza where a quarter of the population is on the verge of famine. major protests against israel's assault on gaza were held saturday in a worldwide day of action. in san francisco, police fired pepper spray and hit protesters with batons as a march passed the israeli consulate. thousands also marched in new york, washington, d.c., baltimore, albuquerque, charlotte, and other cities. protesters in washington, d.c., included the longtime peace activist kathy boylan with the dorothy day catholic worker who called on biden to stop arming israel. >> we are dropping some food and we're dropping the bombs and the tanks and the bullets and everything else at the same time. that is what he has got to do, stop sending the money and the weapons. amy: negotiations for a temporary ceasefire faced another setback sunday when israel boycotted talks in cairo after israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu accused hamas

of failing to provide a list of all living israeli hostages. on saturday, thousands of israelis marched in tel aviv against netanyahu. >> israel is being controlled by a coalition of fascist people who don't have the courage of the people in their hearts. we are being misled and led into this enlist war --endless war. our government doesn't care about the hostages held in gaza right now. our government doesn't care about the people of israel, they only care about their interests. they are criminals and they need to go out. amy: on sunday, israeli war cabinet minister benny gantz arrived in the united states in what's being described as an unauthorized trip. gantz, who is seen as a rival to netanyahu, is scheduled to hold

talks with vice president kamala harris and other top officials. netanyahu has reportedly lashed out at gantz for making the trip without his approval. the israeli embassy in washington has been instructed not to facilitate gantz's trip. in more news from the region, israel repeatedly attacked southern lebanon on saturday killing at least seven members of hezbollah. there are reports the dead included a grandson of hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah. meanwhile, in the red sea, a u.k.-owned cargo ship the rubymar sank on saturday days after it was attacked by houthi forces from yemen. greenpeace has warned the sinking could result in a major environmental crisis since the ship was carrying 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer and a large amount of fuel. the rubymar is the first ship to sink in the red sea since the houthis began attacking ships to protest israel's assault on gaza.

nikki haley beat donald trump in the republican primary in washington, d.c., on sunday. haley won about 63% of the vote, making her the first woman to ever win a republican primary. but her victory came just a day after trump easily won republican caucuses in michigan, missouri, and idaho, giving him a commanding lead in the race ahead of super tuesday. 15 states will hold primaries and caucuses tomorrow. in ukraine, at least 12 people have died after a russian drone struck a nine-story apartment building in the city of odesa saturday. the dead reportedly included at least five children, the youngest being four months old. in other news on ukraine, the german military has launched an internal probe after a russian news outlet obtained tape of a private meeting where german officials discussed providing ukraine with long range missiles that could be used to destroy the kerch bridge, which links russia to occupied crimea.

during the leaked call, one german general is heard saying, "there is no real reason to say we can't do this. it only depends on the political red lines." in russia, crowds are continuing to lay flowers at the grave of opposition leader alexei navalny who was buried on friday after thousands attended his funeral in moscow. navalny died two weeks ago at an arctic prison. according to one count people , 45 were arrested across russia for publicly paying respects to navalny. we will have more on russia later in the program. the united nations human rights chief has called on the warring sides in sudan to give safe access to humanitarian agencies as the crisis worsens. volker turk spoke on friday. >> sudan has become a living nightmare. almost half of the population, 25 million people, are in urgent need of an medical aid.

some 80% of hospitals have been put out of service. the apparent deliberate denial of unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies into sudan itself constitutes a serious violation of international law and may amount to war crimes. amy: volker türk speaking in geneva on friday. lawmakers in pakistan have elected shehbaz sharif to serve as pakistan's new prime minister for a second time despite protests by supporters of imran khan, the imprisoned former leader of pakistan who was ousted in 2022. allies of khan won the most seats in february's election but fell short of a majority, allowing sharif to form a coalition government. khan's supporters say the election in february was rigged to prevent them from winning more seats. this is zartaj gul who served in khan's government. >> shehbaz is not elected by the

people of pakistan. he has stolen the word of pakistani people. he cannot deliver. amy: haiti has declared a state of emergency for after armed 72 hours groups stormed haiti's two largest prisons, freeing as many as 4000 prisoners. the jail break came as haiti's unelected and deeply unpopular prime minister ariel henry was visiting kenya to sign an agreement that would allow the deployment of thousands have canyon police officers to haiti as part of a u.s.-backed security plan. one of the most powerful gang leaders in haiti, jimmy chérizier, who is known as "barbecue," has openly threatened to topple henry who has ruled haiti with the backing of the u.s. since the assassination of president jovenel moïse in july 2021. chérizier spoke on friday. >> we ask the haitian national

police and military to take responsibility and arrest henry. once again, the population is not our enemy. the armed groups are not your enemy. you arrest and refer the country's liberation. these weapons we have are not here to hurt our brothers who came with the same milliueu as is. we will liberate the country and these weapons will change the country. amy: the largest wildfire in texas history, the smokehouse creek fire, continues to grow and has spread into oklahoma. as of sunday, the fire was only 15% contained and had burned a size of land larger than the state of rhode island. homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas said the blaze, which occurred amid record heat, is a sign that the nation must be better prepared for extreme weather caused by climate change. in health news, the centers for

disease control and prevention has dropped its guidance that individuals who test positive for covid-19 should isolate for five days. under the new guidelines, the cdc urge people to stay home until symptoms improve and they have been fever-free for 24 hours. the new guidelines are similar to cdc recommendations for other respiratory viruses. federal authorities are investigating the death of nex benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary high school sophomore, who died in february -- a day after they were assaulted by three girls in a high school bathroom. the u.s. education department said friday it had opened a probe into whether the owasso public schools district "failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment" faced by nex. family members said nex faced bullying since last year. their cause of death has yet to be determined. and a judge in colorado has sentenced a paramedic to five

years in prison for his role in the 2019 death of elijah mcclain, a 23-year-old black man who was walking home from the store when he was tackled by police, placed in a carotid hold, and later injected with ketamine, a powerful sedative. the sentencing of peter cichuniec comes after a colorado judge found him and another paramedic to be criminally negligent homicide for mcclain's death. during the trial, an expert witness testified there was no reason for the paramedics to give mcclain ketamine. they were also found to have failed to provide medical care to mcclain after they drugged him and he lay handcuffed and unconscious on the ground. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in gaza where palestinian health officials say at least 16 children have died in recent days from starvation and dehydration as israel's assault

continues. unicef warns a number of child deaths will likely rapidly increase unless the war in. palestinians in rafah searched under the rubble of the family home hit by an israeli strike the night before that killed as many as 14 people, including a father and twin babies born in the last few months. >> we want the united states to get away from us. we don't want anything from the united states. they are lying and conspiring against us. amy: here in the united states, vice president harris sunday called for ceasefire in gaza. she made the comments in a speech in selma, alabama, marking the 59th anniversary of lettie sunday. vice pres. harris: and given the immense scale of suffering in

gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire. [cheers] four at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table. this will get the hostages out and give a significant amount of aid in. this would allow us to build something more enduring to ensure israel is secure and to respect the right of the palestinian people to dignity, freedom, and self-determination. hamas claims it wants a ceasefire. well, there is a deal on the table. and as we have said, hamas needs to agree to that deal. let's get a ceasefire. let's reunite the hostages with their families. and let's provide immediate

relief to the people of gaza. amy: vice president harris spoke three days after the united states blocked a u.n. security council statement condemning israel after israeli soldiers opened fire on palestinians seeking aid in gaza city in a massacre that left at least 118 people dead. on sunday, officials in gaza accused israeli forces of killing and wounding dozens more aid seekers who gathered at the kuwaiti roundabout in gaza city. facing growing international criticism, president biden friday announced the u.s. would begin air dropping food aid into gaza. negotiations for temporary ceasefire faced another setback sunday when israel boycotted talks in cairo after israeli prime minister netanyahu accused hamas a failed to provide a list of all living israeli hostages. meanwhile, israeli war cabinet minister benny gantz is in the u.s. for what is being described as an unauthorized trip to hold

talks with vice president harris, tony blinken, and other top officials. he is seen as a rival to netanyahu. all of this comes as the official death toll in gaza has topped 30,500. for more we go to rafah for an update from akram al-satarri, the gaza-based journalist. your brother was at the aid convoy went israeli soldiers opened fire. what did he explain to you happened, what is now being called the flour massacre, for the flo people wereu coming to get to make breadr?

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amy: israeli forces they said did that attacked the convoy but most of the fatalities were caused by a stampede. at the same time the director of the hospital told united nations

some 80% of the wounded brought into the hospital had been shot. if you could respond further? >> [no audio]

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[no audio] expecting more of the misery and death and displacement so the international community is failing and i don't think the palestinians trust any statements made by the israeli army about her limited investigation because there were many preliminary investigations to be done but they were never done and many expected to be done for the palestinians but was not done. amy: if you can comment on the united states working with the jordanian air force dropping 38,000 ready-to-eat meals, largely on the beach in gaza --

if you can respond -- we just played clips of mass protests around the world but one person in washington, d.c., commented on the fact the u.s. is providing is dropping this food, they should stop providing israel with the bombs a drop on palestinians. >> the clear analysis of the situation when it comes to the relationship between israel and the misery the palestinians have been living, 103 planes were dropping food on the palestinians while countless numbers of f-16s, f-15s, f-22s and f-35's with the most advanced munition provided by united states to israel. on one hand they're providing people with food and the other hand there providing people

taking their lives. i think the u.s. should be considering when it comes to providing israel with killing and thinking there providing people in gaza with around 35,000 or 36,000 meals that are ready-to-eat. the palestinians might not be able to eat them. some of the airdrops went to the sea. one of the people was talking to come he was mocking the whole situation we are living in and saying they're grateful for the american administration because they dropped -- the fish are very grateful for the american administration because they drop the food into the gaza say. i think the president that is dropping for the ukrainians while gaza is the target is -- needs to reconsider everything about that and they need to make sure they provide to the crossings of gaza for those who are displaced. in the gaza south and north.

palestinians find it ridiculous, find a way that needs to be reviewed and change. amy: what word are you getting of ceasefire negotiations? what is happening on the ground where you are in rafah right now? al jazeera reporting at least 11 were killed, 50 wounded after an israeli air attack on a tent housing displaced people next to an entrance to a hospital in rafah city, not far from where you are standing. >> well, the negotiations are still underway. it looks like israel has some demands to make. some were not agreed upon in the past but now they're coming up with them. palestinians have high expectations -- do not have high expectations when it comes to negotiations. because of the expansion and khan younis, they have already targeted cities earlier and an

expansion -- already rolling in khan younis for the last three months. the occupation forces targeted a tent by the hospital in the rafah area and homes. the number of people killed for the last 24 hours in rafah is more than 50 people in different incidences taking place. the misery is continuous and the bombardment is continuous and the number of palestinians killed because of that and the number of people displaced is increasing i would say by the second, not the minute. amy: finally, benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister, has negotiated team boycotting the negotiations and the seas negotiations in cairo.

because he says hamas has refused to provide the list of living hostages. your thoughts on this and where these negotiations stand? >> i've been following the news about that from the media sources. that specific request was not paid by the israeli security forces. netanyahu is inventing something new for the sake of continuing the delay that looks like political reasons when netanyahu is interested in prolonging the war. one of the top leaders is now in the usa and netanyahu is busy calling blinken and others saying it is an unauthorized

trip. it looks like something internally happening and the israeli political arena that netanyahu wants to stop from happening and that is what everything he wants to do eventually affects the palestinians. or killing, more displacement. now refusing to provide names. not asking to provide names. i think we will see a great deal of procrastination like the one we have seen for the past few months. netanyahu is interested in his personal safety when it comes to his political career and i think that is why even the security forces are not being able to end military confrontation in gaza now trying to the political means to come to would say honorable end for this but they are failing to do so. amy: you're talking about benny gantz being in washington now to meet today with kamala harris,

tony blinken, other officials. i wanted to ask you about the issue of famine, about the number of children who are dying of hunger and dehydration and how the palestinians are dealing with this at this point. >> well, according to what was released by the ministry of health, around one million palestinians have developed some to visa -- some diseases having to do with the digestive system, respiratory system which is indicative of the quality of life in gaza. when you don't have water desalination plants, when you destroy the solar panels on top of the houses of the people, when you destroy the heavy vehicles used by the

municipalities to remove the waste, when you're destroying everything that has to do with the life of the palestinians, results -- it will continue to deteriorate. with the children, 18 children have died in northern gaza. more children are dying in southern gaza. people cannot get decent good for their children. the people are drinking the water, it is polluted and it causes them some serious public health issues. now the children are the most vulnerable within the community. we have one million children in gaza. one million children that do not have appropriate shelter, do not have appropriate feeding systems, don't have appropriate water systems, and they are consuming water that is polluted. food that is polluted. they end up exposed. the twins called yesterday, they were killed with their father. they were deprived from the right to live and they're still deprived him the right to access

decent water, shelter, and food supplies. this is the situation in gaza. it is ongoing suffering because of the fact the occupation deny them the right to be treated as humans. this is the whole issue. amy: akram al-satarri, thank you for being with us gaza-based , journalist. speaking to us today from rafah. when we come back, thousands gathered friday in moscow for the funeral of alexi navalny died in an arctic risen -- prison last month. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to russia, where thousands gathered friday in moscow for the funeral of the russian opposition leader alexi navalny. weeks after he died in an arctic penal colony at the age of 47. the funeral was livestreamed on navalny's youtube channel. >> i came to remember a good man who was deprived of his life.

his family was deprived of love, of everything. we had hopes for him. it is very unfortunate. we have one more place to visit, god for bid, more places like these occur. we are very worried. amy: navalny's family held a funeral service at a church with his body displayed in an open casket. his mother and father attended the ceremony. his widow yulia navalnaya is outside of russia and could not attend. neither could his children. navalnaya has accused putin of murdering her husband and delaying the release of his body to cover it up. the family reportedly wanted to bury navalny thursday, the same day as russian president vladimir putin's state of nation address. several foreign diplomats attended the funeral, including the u.s., german, and french ambassadors to russia. the kremlin has warned against unauthorized gatherings and the russian rights group ovd-info reported "at least 67 arrests in

16 towns" friday, including six arrests in moscow. overall, the organization reports about 400 people have been detained at memorials for navalny since his death. earlier today in geneva, the u.n. human rights chief volker türk addressed the situation in russia while giving his global update to the u.n. human rights council. he expressed concerns about the persecution of navalny and others in the run-up to russia's presidential elections starting march 15. >> in the russian federation, the authorities have further intensified their oppression of dissenting voices prior to this month's presidential election. several candidates have been prevented from running due to alleged in ministry to irregularities. the death of alexi navalny adds to my serious concerns about his persecution. since the onset of russia's war in ukraine, thousands of

politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, people who have simply spoken their minds on social media have faced administrative and criminal charges, and this trend appears to have worsened in recent months with many cultural seekers being targeted. last month a new bill passing into law that further punishes people conflicted of distributing information about russia's armed forces as well as people who seek to implement decisions by international organizations the russian federation does not take part in. i urge a swift and comprehensive review of all cases of deprivation of liberty that result from the exercise of fundamental freedoms, as well as any immediate end to the repression of independent voices of the legal people who represent them. the future of a country depends on an open space. amy: we're joined in berkeley, california by ilya budraitskis,

russian historian and political theorist who was previously based in moscow and recently joined the university of california berkeley as a visiting scholar. he is a member of the russian antiwar posle.media, a leftwing online platform founded after the 2022 russian invasion of ukraine. he's the author of the award-winning book "dissidents among dissidents: ideology, politics and the left in post-soviet russia." his new piece for the jacobin is titled "alexei navalny taught russia's opposition how to mobilize." welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about what you understand took place on friday and the lead up to the funeral -- the funeral itself, if people felt threatened? and the message you think this funeral was to the world. >> thank you so much stop the

first thing to say the russian authority did a lot to prevent this funeral to happen because they hide the body, they tried to prevent any public funeral in moscow. so all of this happened during the week and finally they decided it will be easier to make this funeral happened in a suburb of moscow. it is important to know the suburb is a long way to come from let's say the center of the city. of course it happened just a day after the address of putin, which was his main pre-election address. that is why the authorities were not interested to attract too

much attention to the funeral. and the fact more than 20,000 people came to the funeral in the suburbs in the situation of fear and the situation where everyone of these people could be arrested, prosecuted, and so on -- it is really amazing. it is the first time during this let's say two years of the start of the war when we saw such a big opposition in the city, in russia in general. amy: was the family able to get an independent autopsy? the kremlin said he died of natural causes.

navalny was 47 years old. >> so the first thing to say, navalny was tortured in prison. he spent more than 200 days in a prison cell, a prison inside the prison. extremely hard conditions. we still don't know for sure of the reasons of his death, if it was the result of torture or it was outcome of the poisoning. for me it is quite clear any way he was killed because -- it was murder which happened consistently during his prison term. amy: you right in your piece,

"now after the murder of navalny and face with the rise of authoritarian forms of capitalism around the world, we must remember that without basic freedom of speech and assembly the left and are pressed have very little chance of winning anything." do you hold out hope in russia navalny -- i mean, you have's wife saying she's going to take on the mantle. what about forms of leadership within russia that are dissenting? the other forms of opposition? the success of navalny as the leader that unified opposition, that was able to start weaponizations in russia, it all happened before the war.

and when he was poisoned in 2020 and after, he understood the only way to continue his activities as a public leader is to come back to the country. we have the situation in russia which is totally different with what was before the war. so for now we live in the open, let's say dictatorship, where any forms of public disobedience are forbidden. and of course for yulia navalnaya, hard to present yourself as the alternative leader being outside of the country. but on the others, there is an opportunity for the moment to speak publicly, to address

russian audience with open antiwar, anti-putin. so i think the position is very controversial, very challenging. amy: your thoughts on the second anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine? russian army sustained nearly 30,000 casualties in february alone, making it the bloodiest month for russia since the war began. and you have the ukrainian president zelenskyy hinting at a potential focus on occupied crimea this year. put those together. >> so for now, we have to situation where the russian army is taking initiative because russia definitely has much more

arms. it has much more people, lives to turn into soldiers. and the situation for ukraine is not very promising for the moment. for russia, the rules of this war is still very unclear. if you follow russian propaganda, if you follow statements of some people around putin, you can see they are openly talking about how to occupy kyiv, odesa. there was a public lecture of the former president it would leaders on how to divide ukraine into parts. so some parts will go to poland and other parts will go to romania and the main part of

ukraine, odesa and kharkiv, will go to russia. you see clearly russia is already to continue this war. it was very clear from putin's address a week ago. so i think the situation is very clear -- if ukraine will be not supportive from the west, russia will continue its offensive and realize its final goal, the elimination of ukraine as a state. amy: ilya budraitskis, thank you for being with us, russian historian and political theorist who was previously based in moscow who has just joined university california berkeley as a visiting scholar. we will link to your piece for the jacobin "alexei navalny taught russia's opposition how to mobilize." when we come back, we go to

alabama to stick with a journalist and artist who had been going -- undergoing ivf treatments and was preparing to transfer her frozen embryos when the alabama supreme court ruled they should be considered children. she just met with vice president harris. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. reproductive health and medical

groups have asked the alabama supreme court to revisit its decision that frozen embryos to be considered children. the decision has sent shockwaves through the world of reproductive medicine as legal experts and infertility specialists try to measure the potential effects on access to ivf and other fertility treatments. the defendants in the lawsuit on friday filed a petition the medical association in the state of alabama and the alabama hospital association filed a brief in support. last week alabama's state house and senate passed legislation to enact civil and criminal protections for ivf providers, but the bills do not change the classification of embryos as children. neither bill even mentions the word "embryo." this came after a single republican senator blocked quick

passage friday have a bill to create federal protections for in vitro fertilization. the measure was introduced by democratic illinois senator tammy duckworth, who had both of her daughters using ivf. this is republican senator cindy hyde-smith who blocked the bill. but first, senator duckworth. >> women willing to go through painful medical treatments just for a chance to experience the smallest, most banal moment of parenthood. just to have a newborn to swaddle him a baby whose diaper needs to be changed, a toddler who needs her shoes to be tied, and if you believe that a right to be called "mom" without also being called "a criminal," all you have to do is let us pass this obvious legislation. >> the court hold it in favor of the parents found these frozen human embryos are children under alabama law. it did not ban ivf nor has any

state bqanned ivf. the bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far. far beyond ensuring legal access to ivf. amy: the recent alabama support ruling -- supreme court ruling stems from appeals cases brought by three couples whose frozen embryos at a reproductive clinic in mobile, alabama, were accidentally destroyed when a hospital patient dropped them on the floor. in a 7-to-2 decision, the alabama supreme court ruled the couples can now sue the clinic for wrongful death. the decisions partly hinged on anti-abortion language added to the alabama constitution in 2018 that says the state recognizes the "rights of the unborn child." for more, we're joined in birmingham, alabama, by abbey crain, a journalist and artist who had been undergoing ivf treatments for nearly two years and was preparing to transfer

her frozen embryos when the alabama state supreme court ruled frozen embryos can be considered children. on thursday, she traveled to the white house to meet with vice president kamala harris. abbey crain also reports on women and gender issues for the news outlet reckon. we welcome you to democracy now! can you start off by responding to the alabama supreme court ruling and then talked about how it has affected you personally. >> thank you for having me. when it first came out, i was aware ruling and what they were trying to do. then on wednesday, this past wednesday, i saw on social media , on instagram, that my clinic was pausing in response. my first reaction was just sheer

rage. i was extremely angry. honestly, fell apart or a little bit. amy: how does it affect what you're going through? i think what is missing and a lot of the coverage is what people go through when you undergo ivf. the hopes and dreams you have but also physically what this means. >> sure. i have been undergoing ivf for the past two years but i have been receiving infertility treatment for the last five years. so the ups and downs of injecting yourself with hormones , the ways it affects your mental health, the ways it affects your physical body, the pain of the procedures. you constantly have to be in

this -- when you're in it, i say i compartmentalize the hope. i try to be present and hopeful but when i am taking a pause on the procedure, i have to just put it away in order to put one foot in front of the other and do something else. but i am so fortunate. i am thankful i was not in the middle of a procedure or on medication currently or had an egg retrieval scheduled. i can imagine the folks who were in the middle of treatment. but because we were gearing up to schedule an implantation, the fact that these men down the street from me who serve on the

alabama supreme court have more say over when i choose to become a mother right now than me -- that is the reality of things. i don't care how quickly they resolve this, that they put in their exception for ivf, the damage has already been done to folks who are in this, to me personally. they show their cards. amy: can you move your frozen embryos to another state? >> i don't know that yet. right now all i have received from my clinic is just the standard what they have been sending everybody. i think what most people can access through press releases. right now i don't think there are places that will transport them from alabama just because i think the transportation companies are looking at things the same way the fertility clinics are, which they could be

liable for embryos that were damaged. amy: can you talk about your meeting with the vice president harris? what did you talk about? what do you think of the fact congress is trying to protect ivf and that was blocked. tammy duckworth, the senator who had both her kids fight ivf, and the mississippi senator blocked it. >> it is enraging. i found that out while i think was right after i had met with the vice president. yeah, i got to have a one-on-one private meeting with her, talking about my experience. her talking about how important it is for folks like me to continue speaking on this and sharing our story and showing that the folks in power, playing

politics, it harms real-life people and affects real vulnerable nuance conversations between patients and doctors. amy: the alabama representative terry collins introduced in ivf protection built into the alabama state house. your supporting this legislation but you're concerned about the record of the state rep. collins: and other alabama republicans on reproductive rights. >> i believe i heard her on this program earlier. she was -- she did the 2019 alabama bill or law that banned abortion should roe v. wade be overturned with no exceptions to rape and incest. it got all into personhood.

i think the cognitive dissidents is enraging. i have interviewed this woman who has children. and to talk about her beliefs on reproductive health. she is insisted that life begins at conception. i don't understand how these folks are pushing to have their cake and eat it, too, and saying these embryos -- which were not even referenced in the bill, like you said -- are humans while any other reproductive health choice, including abortion and miscarriage, could be affected by alabama's current law on abortion. amy: finally, abby, you wrote and glamour open i want people reading this who don't live in alabama to know you're not special and you are not safe."

will do part two of our conversation and put it online with that point. abbey crain is based in alabama, birmingham, journalists and artist. she has been undergoing ivf treatments for nearly two years. she just met with vice president