bury people alive. >> reporter: the u.s. department of labor has also raised the alarm on drc cobalt mining, saying children are often forced to work in, quote, terrible conditions. with lithium ion batteries powering more and more of our lives, and the problem is not look likely going anywhere soon, with many taking part in this trend hope the interest and attention can lead to concrete changes, like formalizing the operation of smaller mines and requiring safety equipment. >> i think it is fantastic that these users are raising awareness. instead of just quitting the vaping, i would love for this campaign to make the concrete ask for the formalization of artisanal mining. >> reporter: helping those who helped make our 24 century technology possible. apple telling nbc news it will use 100 percent recycled cobalt batteries by 2025. meanwhile, the expert we spoke

to is saying there have been pilot programs to formalize the operations of the smaller minds. the results were promising, paying workers and keeping them safe while also continuing the operations. we've got a lot more to come. you're watching msnbc. our second hour starts right now. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey there, top of the. our thanks for being here. i'm stephen romo in for yasmin. if you are just joining, us welcome. before still with, us thank you. we are taking a look at live images from dubai, where a new year's celebration is underway, as the clock there strikes midnight. and for many around the world, it is already 2024 as well. some of the amazing sights and sounds as humans paused the world over to recognize the flipping of that calendar page. despite these festivities, the concerns of 2024 are already upon us as well. wars, political divide, and humans rights issues are

already waiting for us in the new year. and we will dive into many of those coming up this hour. we do begin with those celebrations. it's already 2024 for so many countries in the eastern hemisphere. major cities like beijing, bangkok, sydney, and hong kong celebrated with beautiful fireworks, music, and lights. they reveled at those displays. others participated in some time tested cultural practices to ring in the new year. heren new york, we are still a few hours away from the ball drop a times square. crowds are already gathered for e celebration. of courcurity is tight there. earlier this month, the fbi warned the war in the middle east could push lone actors to commit acts of violence. officials say there are no known direct threats to the events in new york city. nbc's antonia hylton joins us with more from times square. what are the crowds like at this hour? give us a brief update on the security situation. >> reporter: steven, first, let me tell you there is not much

of a crowd behind me here because they've all been pushed to eighth avenue and that's where the nypd is doing a security check of every single person who wants to be part of the festivities tonight. that is not optional. they've been talking to people all day who've been trying to have to relax or hang out with friends in certain parts of times square to make sure that they all do that. this is all part of a massive effort. there's always been tight security here. because it is on the factors you just outlined here, the global concerns are on a heightened security threat because of the middle east conflict, the possibility of protests, pro palestinian protests, there have been hundreds of protests in the city since october 7th. it is that kind of instability that we are seeing around the world right now. it is that uncertainty that the nypd has been preparing for days to try to make sure that these festivities can still go on and people can be as safe here as possible. what they have done is not just thousands of officers here who are in uniform, plain clothes,

on horseback in some cases, there are canine dogs here. they are also using new technology. they are using drones and all kinds of cameras, some you can see in some you cannot see. there are boats on the water. there are officers in public transportation wanting people as they travel through the city right now. you will remember, about this time last year on new year's eve a man drove from maine and came here to the celebrations in times square and attacked three police officers with a machete. that is the kind of extreme violence they are on alert for right now. there is no credible and confirmed threats, but there is this heightened level of threat throughout the country, not just in new york city. all the police officers, nonprofits, organizations, all of the teams in new york city have been on alert and offering people support. in addition to doing all the security work, officers have been people -- helping people all day, find a warm place to, go find out what street they are on if they are not familiar with the city, and give people that sense that this is going to be going

smoothly and you will have a fun time tonight, stephen. >> there are plenty of people out there to help. antonia hylton, thank you so much. security also is tight as they prepare to ring in the new year in -- nbc news foreign car spawned it megan fitzgerald has that story from london. >> steven, good to be with. you i can tell you that several law enforcement agencies across europe are on high alert. counter intelligence experts are concerned that the israel-hamas war could reignite extremist attacks across europe and the west. officials in france, for example, say they have deployed 90,000 law enforcement officers across the country. 1.5 million people are expected to celebrate new years eve around the chandeliers in paris. the french minister says 6000 officers will be in paris tonight, citing a very high terrorist threat. again, because of what is happening with the israel-hamas war. in germany, a similar situation. berlin is gearing up for what they are calling its biggest

police operation in decades. the streets of the capitol are expected to see twice as many officers as last year. some 3500 police officers will be out in force. of course, countries around the world have already brought in the new year, you can certainly say countries across europe are on edge as we edge closer to midnight. stephen? >> all right, megan fitzgerald from london, thank you. now the middle east, where the u.s. navy exchanged fire with a militant group off the coast of yemen. the american show of force comes after the pentagon says houthi fighters -- commercial cargo ship the red sea. the iranian-backed militant group attacked the ships along this busy trade route shortly after the start of the israel-hamas war. joining me now from st. croix in the u.s. virgin islands, nbc correspondent erin gilchrist traveling with the president. what is the biden administration saying about the increased tensions and the attacks going on in the red sea? >> reporter: steven, we know

president biden was briefed about this incident this morning he on st. croix by his national security adviser who is here as well. this reallydo represent an escalation in the tensions we've beentching the red sea for about o nths now. al since november is when we've been tracking these attacks. for the most part, they had been attacked drones and missiles that had been launched from houthi controlled parts of yemen into the red sea not really having done any significant damage. not seeming to target military assets in the city. now we do have this incident where we've seen boats, small boats come into the red sea with fighters on them trying to engage in a firefight with security forces on these container ship involved today. and then firing at u.s. navy helicopters that responded to distress calls from that sh. we know those helicopters were ab to return fire, sink three of those for small ats, and kill the rebels who were on bod. the question that is still in front of us, though, is whether

the united states and other countries that have engaged in some of these activities with houthi rebels are going to do more, whether they are going to do something preemptive to stop the series of attacks we've been seeing? that question was put to the national spokesman today on -- america. listen to his response. >> we've got significant national security interests in the region, just on our own, the united states. and we are going to put the kind of forces we need in the region to protect those interests. we are going to act in self-defense going forward. again, i'm not ruling anything in or out, but we made clear publicly to the houthis we've made it clear privately to allies and partners in the region that we take these threats seriously. we are going to make the right decisions going forward. >> the united states and several other countries have now formed and armada of source. 20 nations, 20 plus nations that have put military, naval assets in that region to respond to any attacks that may happen by the houthis, to make sure that that presence is seen

and that they can essentially swat down anything that may be launched from the houthi controlled areas of yemen. this is something that in the united states and other countries have said is not something they want to see happen, obviously, because of the threat it poses to the shipping lane and the global economy, really. steven, we can expect to continue to see the u.s. respond to these sorts of attacks as well as other countries in the red sea. stephen? >> certainly a lot at risk. aaron gilchrist, thank you. up next, we are just weeks away now from the 2024 iowa caucuses. but those contenders who were seemingly vying for second place are saying about the front runner. [speaking in a global language] and as we mentioned at the top of the, our countries around the world have already started off their 2024. there is a look at beijing, which rang in the new year just

about four hours ago. we are back in just 60 seconds. it's amazing. it's so good. it makes it look like i have magical powers. magic eraser and sheets make cleaning look easy. narrator: time is running out to give a year-end gift like no other, a gift that can help st. jude children's research hospital save lives. woman: cancer doesn't care how old you are, and it's devastatingly scary. if you're donating to st. jude, you're supporting finding a cure, because the fight never stops. narrator: every gift counts, and whatever you can give will make a difference for children like gideon. welcome. make your donation today to help st. jude save lives.

back we are a little more than two weeks away from the official start of the 2024 election. the iowa caucuses are coming up fast. the republican white house hopefuls know the hawkeye state pretty well by now, with vivek ramaswamy and ron desantis each holding more than 100 events there since may. but it's yet to be seen whether the number of events will actually translate into higher numbers of votes for those candidates that they can actually. get nbc news campaign embed alex joins me with more on this. good to see you. what are these final two weeks before iowa, what are they going to look like for these campaigns? >> reporter: well, steven, let's go candidate by candidate. four former prize president donald, trump as you just saw, he has hosted a fraction of the number of events here in iowa compared to his competitors.

but he is still dominating in the polls. in 2024, the, we can expect him to kick it up a notch, with a rally almost every day. the days he's not hosting rallies, one of the surrogates, like ben carson, will be here rallying on his behalf. for florida governor ron desantis, he has really made iowa his bread and butter. he's not wasting any time to get the party started. tonight in iowa, he will have a new years eve rally. he will have a strong presence here all up until january 15th. nikki haley earlier in her campaign focused a lot on new hampshire and her home state of south carolina. but as she's been moving up in the polls, as her candidacy has been gaining momentum, she's been spending more time in iowa hoping to get good results here. and vivek ramaswamy has been nonstop. eight, nine, ten events a day, doing his best to try to improve those sagging poll numbers. steven? >> ramaswamy super focused on iowa. you spoke to him, alex, about

why he's choosing to put his focus on iowa instead of new hampshire. what did he have to say? >> he's actually host of the most events both in iowa and new hampshire, but in iowa he spent really a lot of time here and there are some challenges for ramaswamy in iowa. he is of hindu, faith and faith is something very important to iowans. about two thirds of the republican electorate is evangelical. i asked him why iowa instead of new hampshire, why are you focusing so much here? take a listen to what he had to say. >> do you feel like there's any opportunity cost for dedicating so much time here in iowa compared to new hampshire? >> there's only so many hours in a day. so many days in a week, weeks in a year. of course, time is not fungible. that is the truth. yes, we are trading off more time in iowa right now. on the bet that over-delivering here in iowa, which i expect we will do, will actually propel us forward in new hampshire in

the week afterwards. i think we are sort of exactly where we want to be. >> reporter: ramaswamy is projecting a lot of confidence, saying he's going to win the iowa caucuses. it would be a huge shock, given his single digit polling numbers. when i talked to his campaign manager, who gave a more tempered expectation, he said he is hoping for ramaswamy to end in the top three slots here in iowa. stephen? >> only a couple weeks now until we can find that out. nbc news campaign in bed, alex tapper, thank you so much. joining me now for more on this is rick wilson, cofounder of the lincoln project and a former republican strategist. rick, thanks for being here. is it by now a foregone conclusion that donald trump is going to win iowa? >> you know, i know most of us in politics where humanities guys and math is hard, but the math here does not add up for any of these other folks. donald trump is weaker than people anticipated because

about 35 to 40% of the party is backing someone else at the moment. but he is stronger in the broader sense, the battlefield is rigged in his favor. as you start rolling forward in the primaries, you will have a lot of folks who are these winner-take-all states. the non-trump vote is divided. trump is almost certainly going to hold his nomination, and we will probably end up with him having the nomination with in the first week of march. >> watch what to do to this race if someone does much better than they thought that they were going to do? obviously, as you are saying, trump is most likely going to, when according to polling. but if haley or desantis or someone gets much more support than they expected, what would that do to the race moving forward? >> i think the nikki haley of a week ago had a predicate to say, i'm going to perform amazingly in new hampshire, and i'm going to roll out of it because i'm skillful and smart candidate. then of course nikki haley

couldn't say the words slavery in describing the cause of the civil war this week. and so her campaign sort of took a nosedive very quickly. ron desantis's campaign has been headed south from the very beginning. it is not performing at the levels people thought it would. look, if you had a shocker when nikki haley beat donald trump in south carolina, she still has to roll into the fact that donald trump is ahead of her in her own state by over 40 points. that donald trump is ahead of her in florida, texas, california, ohio, by close to 50 points. and all those states, as they move forward on super tuesday and the other things that follow the first three, you are going to end up with this expectation that she did well in one place, but does that scale? just as we saw in the past, my company won iowa, ted cruz won iowa. if ron desantis somehow pulls out iowa, it doesn't make that much of a difference. it is not the predictive state that a lot of people would like to believe it is.

not the predictive sta>> on the, the last thing she wanted two weeks before i was dealing with this gaffe, which she had been fairly gaffe free from. viewers don't know about this, yet let's play that sound what she said just a few days ago. >> what was the cause of the united states civil war? >> well, don't come with an easy question or anything. i think the cause of the civil war was basically how government was going to run. the freedoms of what people could and couldn't do. what do you think the cause of the civil war was? >> slavery. it is an easy question there, rick. i want to get your take on that. were you surprised when you heard her say this? >> you know, this is the easiest political question in the book. this is something that anyone with a single shred of

conscience would've said, the cause of the civil war was the unspeakable evil f chattel slavery, that is all. she can't because she is afraid of the base of the republican party. she's afraid of the base. there is a nationalist populist element in that base that quite frankly would like it to be an answer that's not about slavery. they want to rewrite the history of the darkest part of our nations past and bolder i said somehow. but nikki haley had an opportunity to do the right thing. instead, she took the cowardly path. that is not the kind of candidate people are going to respect and flock to. especially if you are trying to make the case that donald trump is this a moral and horrible creature, which i believe him to be. you can adopt the same kind of philosophy and tone and language of that creature if you are going to try to defeat him. >> it was surprising for many people. others were not so surprised by the answer. rick, i also wanted to ask

about some of trump's rivals being outspoken about their promises to pardon him, if they are elected, and if trump were convicted of a felony. let's listen to that. >> i would pardon trump. if he is found guilty, a leader needs to think about what's in the best interest of the country. what is in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail that continues to divide our country. what is in the best interest of the country would be to pardon him so that we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him. >> nikki haley said she would pardon trump if he ends up being convicted and she wins the election. would you commit to the same? >> i've already said that a while ago. i think we have to move on as a country. >> what do you think this says about their candidacies? >> it says their candidacies are a moral vacuum with not the slightest understanding of what would actually happen if we pardon donald trump.

the idea that trump is above the law, that trump cannot be held accountable, that trump, nothing that he does could ever be held up to judicial scrutiny in this country, that is not the american system of governance. they are saying, we will carve out a special exception for a guy who we know has committed criminal acts. who we know tried to overthrow the united states government. and they will pardon him. the response from trump is not going to be, oh, thank you for pardoning me, i'm an 80-year-old man. the response will be, now that i've been vindicated, i will seek power again. this is a guy who has been told over and over again the rules don't apply to him, the law doesn't apply to him. they are repeating the stupidest and most pernicious assertion you can make about trump. which is that we are going to give the guy a free pass, that his illegality, his criminality, his unbelievably corrosive behavior in this democracy is going to be forgiven if a

republican somehow gets the nomination against him. it is astounding. >> we will see what happens there. i do want to mention, we should note, nikki haley did come back and say that the civil war was one of the causes of slavery. rick wilson, thank you so much for your time today. >> anytime. still ahead, new statistics show a drop in crime in 2023. but if you ask the general public, they might be surprised by that. we are looking at why americans's perceptions about crime don't really reflect reality, when we come back. n we come back for generations. this life is in our blood. give the gift of family heritage with ancestry.

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>> reporter: and scenes of chaotic theft and violence in major u.s. cities. crime for 2023 in almost every category is down. that is according to new data from the fbi that runs counter to popular perception, according to a gala poll, 70% of americans believe crime in the u.s. is up compared to a year ago. but violent crime this year, according to the fbi, it is down 8%. while the agency doesn't specifically break out retail theft, property crime is down more than 6%. and murder in major american cities is down 12.7% after going up during the pandemic. >> we had this really big surge in 2020 -- 2021, and then it started to come down in 2022. >> reporter: crime data analyst jeff asher shows every major category of crime except auto theft declined this year. when you think explains the gap between reality and perception?

>> i think this is only inflamed by social media, viral videos. you can get one incident, have millions of clicks because of this terrible incident that happened. >> reporter: it is a notion some republican candidates have seized on. >> new york city is a crime then. chicago is a crime done. you look at these great cities, los angeles, san francisco. >> murder in each of those cities is actually down. other major cities like philadelphia, detroit, and atlanta's show even sharper declines. in some places, like washington, d.c., memphis, and el paso, murders this year are on the rise. earlier this year, the biden administration announced more than $200 million for state and local governments to hire 1700 new police officers, as it continues to combat both crime and how it is perceived. monika alba, nbc news. >> our thanks to monika for that report. up next, the 2023 started

with 15 ballots and a gavel for kevin mccarthy and ended with a lot of questions about what is next for the republican party. we are taking a look at what is in store for 2024. plus, congress is going to need to hit the ground running next year if they want to avoid a government shutdown. i will talk to congressman robert garcia about how they can get it done. that is coming up. at is coming up.

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republican party comes to a close, next year is shaping up to be even busier. nbc senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake looks at what is in store for 2024. >> reporter: the strength of donald trump's hold on the republican party is one of the first questions 2024 may answer. the gop presidential field, which peaked with more than a dozen active candidates in 2023, and the year with just five credible campaigns remaining. polling shows the republican race remains donald trump's to lose. >> we are leading with 51% while rhonda sanctimonious is atlas than 19 and haley is that 16. what happened to the haley surge? >> reporter: iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina likely to -- be for what could be a decisive super tuesday on march 5th. trump's biggest roadblock on the path to the convention and nomination in july may not be another candidate at all, but his legal challenges.

including 91 criminal charges, spread across four cases. and a civil fraud trial set to conclude in january, which has already bogged him down in new york. he has denied all charges. >> i should be right now in iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina. i shouldn't be sitting in a courthouse. >> reporter: january could prove a pivotal month on capitol hill, to. with the first of two government funding deadlines, which could lead to a partial shutdown, even as negotiators resume work on a stalled bill to send aid to israel and ukraine, and overhaul immigration policy. >> negotiations will continue in earnest until we get there. >> reporter: all while house republicans impeachment inquiry aims to pick up steam. >> we expect to depose the president's son and then we will be more than happy to have a public hearing with him. >> reporter: the house will face still challenges with a majority somehow even slimmer than the one they began within 2023. when they struggled for days to elect kevin mccarthy as speaker initiatory 15 ballots.

>> he won't have the votes. >> reporter: with mccarthy, who made history a second time when he was ousted from the speakership, by eight republicans in october, retiring from congress in december. >> i would do it all again. >> reporter: and new york's george santos, who practically re-wrote the definition of congressional scandal. >> if i leave, they win. >> reporter: expelled in disgrace and facing federal prosecution. and while new how speaker mike johnson continues to learn on the job, top senate republican mitch mcconnell will likely remain the subject of speculation over how long he will hold on to his leadership post after a march concussion contributed to two threatening freezes for the 81-year-old. >> i'm sorry, we will need a minute. >> reporter: whoever's in charge, the pow parties key issues in 2024 seem set. addressing border security and the economy uniting them. >> i think we need to prove in 2024 that we have the policies and the will and the ability to make those differences. >> reporter: and finding consensus on abortion and, yes,

a trump among the issues that defy the parties old guard from the new. >> the focus has to be just completely right now on making sure we don't return donald trump to the white house. >> what do we learn about republicans in 2024? >> that we are going to win, that's what you are going to learn. it's got to be tumultuous, it's going to be issues, it's going to be disagreements. guess, what there's disagreements in every household in america. >> reporter: garrett haake, nbc news, washington. >> joining me now to discuss, democratic congressman robert garcia of california, he's a member of the oversight and homeland security committees. thank you for being here. after looking at the gop's chaotic year, how confident are you that the house can pass that funding bill by january 19th? >> i mean, i hope we are able to get some sort of agreement. the truth is that republicans were all about chaos and dysfunction last year. as a freshman member, the first thing i was met with were those 15 votes to elect a new speaker. of course, kevin mccarthy is not even in congress anymore. it's going to be a very

difficult january. we should have all our focus on ensuring that we ensure funding the government. there are millions of people counting on services, but also federal jobs. instead, unfortunately, republicans are already to go all in on this sham impeachment inquiry. we want to focus on getting the job done. but house republicans and mike johnson, who quite frankly is not up to the job, are completely focused on the culture wars, and completely focused on trying to impeach president biden for doing absolutely nothing wrong. >> certainly a lot going on at home. but foreign policies becoming even more important. president biden just bypassing congress again to send more weapons to israel. he's getting a lot of criticism for that. what do you make of that and what can this tell us about the conversation surrounding getting more aid to ukraine? >> i think first, the fact that funding for ukraine has been held up by house republicans i think is really shameful. we've been pushing to have a clean funding bill. initially we were going to have a funding bill for ukraine. we know that what putin is

doing in the region, not just, there is very dangerous for democracy, for europe, and really for the entire world. we've been encouraging them to come to the fore, some type of foreign aid package. unfortunately, that's being held up, because republicans want to put in this package. some type of draconian and bad immigration and border policy. we actually agree that we need to have smart immigration reform, smart funding for a common sense border solution. democrats agree on that. a lot of republicans agree on that. but instead, republicans led by donald trump want to demonize immigrants. they want to create more issues. they don't want to actually funds to solutions like technology, like supporting some of the men and women that work along the border, the nonprofits that do the work. we want to de-lengthen these proposals. we want to get foreign aid done. we want to pass a clean foreign aid package. we also want to work on issues as it relates to immigration as well. both can get done. i'm not sure that they want to do that, though. >> on the topic of immigration,

congress is under a lot of pressure to actually do something. we were talking earlier about the situation in texas, where the federal government does not want texas to enforce the new state law, to enforce immigration policy. what are you looking for a senator's return to try to get something passed, what specifically do you think will help the situation, this record migration we're seeing? >> look, let me start by saying that i'm an immigrant myself, so i came to the u.s. as a young child, a young citizen in my early twenties. i understand the immigration system in this country. i have largely been built on immigrants and all of the contributions that were made across the country. but we all agree that there needs to be more solutions as it relates to immigration policy. congress and the u.s. has not passed an immigration policy bill in over 30 years. or immigration system in this country has been broken. we've had proposals, including, by the way, president biden who proposed immigration reform package on his first day in

office, that does things like fix worker programs, streamlines migration, strengthens the asylum system, provides support along the border for nonprofits. but instead, republicans don't want to talk about solutions. they are so focused on demonizing immigrants that they are not willing to actually put in the work. so we agree, solutions are needed along the border. more broadly on immigration. we are hopeful that republicans will come to the table and actually work with this on us. >> a huge task ahead. i want to turn to your work as co-chair of the quality caucus. nbc news reports 75 anti lgbtq bills were signed into law this year. what is your message to other lgbtq+ americans during this environment, this climate? >> i will tell, you i talked to a lot of lgbtq+ folks, a lot of gay folks across not just my district but the country, people feel scared. they feel that this is a very dark moment for the community. they feel like we are actually moving backwards as it relates

to rights. 2024 is going to be very important year for us to protect our rights across the country. we see lgbtq families being attacked constantly. we see the leader of the republican side, the likely presidential nominee, donald trump, continuing to attack lgbtq+ families. we are going to have to win not just at the ballot box but continue to remind folks that everyone in this country, regardless of who they love, deserves equal rights. we are in a huge fight in 2024. quite frankly, our community needs the support of everyone to ensure we have equal rights. >> a lot of big battles already brewing for 2024. california congressman robert garcia, thank you so much. >> thank you. after the break, the debate over abortion rights is only getting more contentious. as we head into the new year, what further impact it could have for women's reproductive rights. i will talk to a women's march executive director rachel o'leary cremona next. anton, don't miss the 13th

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care has been on the minds of the majority of americans since the fall of roe. according to a gallup poll conducted around the anniversary of the dobbs decision, 85% of americans are in favor of abortion in at least some circumstances. so how will that stark statistic play out in the year ahead? i want to bring in rachel o'leary carmona, the executive director of women's march, to discuss more on this. rachel, when you look back on the rolling back of women's reproductive freedoms this year, what comes to mind? are you hopeful that 2024 could see change? >> well, what we saw post dogs's public opinion on abortion shifted for the first time in a lot of decades, and it shifted towards reproductive freedom. i think most americans think that what the supreme court did went too far. most americans are not in favor of -- as we see with the criminalization of britney watts and kate cox in texas, we know that -- don't work. we know that bans don't work because it doesn't stop people from terminating abortions or losing or miscarrying children

and needing health care. it does not stop the need for abortion as a procedure and reproductive freedom as a right most people want to see enshrined. so i think that what we've seen is a political overreach. and we've seen consequences. >> there vince o much organizing since the dobbs decision. abortion rights supporters in nine states are trying to put this issue on the ballot in 2024. looking to extend their winning streak following the midterm elections this year. but i want to focus on florida. republicans there are helping to get abortion on the ballot. what do you make of that grassroots effort? what does it tell you about the issue beyond party lines? >> beyond party lines is a really interesting way to put it, because what we've seen is that in deep red states and blue states, abortion rights being enshrined. we also see a schism inside the

gop where folks really want to see this come to a vote because antiabortion activists think they are going to win. and i think our party -- politico understands this has been a losing issue since the dobbs decision. i think we see a schism in the gop and we see a democratic base either to come to a vote because they know they've been waiting. >> you mentioned britney watts earlier, that case out of ohio. i want to speak more about it. she was charged with felony, with a felony after suffering a miscarriage in her own toilet. how should women around the country be looking at that case? >> i, mean i think anybody should be looking at the criminalization of medical procedures, abortions, and the women who are seeking those -- britney watts sought medical care and was denied twice, i believe. and so, i think anytime we are leaning towards criminalization or to blocking people, to getting lifesaving medical care, as we saw with kate cox and the

other 22 women who are currently suing the state of texas for similarly being denied that care, i think we have to look at that is not just an attack on women, and attack on these but specific families who were impacted, but and it attack on democracy itself. bodily according me is the cornerstone of our democracy. when we see attacks on, it i think we have to recognize it for what it is. >> on the topic of democracy, i know we -- in just three weeks your organization will be marching for abortion rights and democracy itself. tell us more about that. why now? why is this moment so key? >> well, we will be marching on the row anniversary weekend, as it is observed. specifically focusing on the nine states where a ballot initiative will be -- you know, ballot initiatives are going to happen, in the states you talked about previously. we expect to see marches, as usual, across all 50 states and probably in other countries as well. we are going to focus on getting those signatures so we can get those ballot

initiatives ready for 2024, so we can get the people to decide. >> already a heightened situation. with this being an election year, a lot more people want their voices heard. rachel o'leary carmona, thanks for your time today. >> thank you for having me. >> up next, a thank you to the people who helped get shows like this on the air each and every day. we will be back. will be back. alized she was overweight. she was always out of breath. that's when i decided to introduce the farmer's dog to her diet. it's just so fresh that she literally gets bubbles in her mouth. now she's a lot more active, she's able to join us on our adventures. and we're all able to do things as a family. ♪ get started at betterforthem.com have you ever thought of getting a walk-in tub for you or someone you love? now is a great time to take a look at getting a safe step walk-in tub. with safe step's standard heated seat and new fast fill faucet, you can enjoy a nice warm bath up to 20% faster!

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