welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. we begin with this breaking news, texas is now home to the most restrictive abortion law in the united states. it would ban abortions at six week of pregnancy before most women even know they are pregnant. there are no exceptions for rape or incest, only medical emergencies. the u.s. supreme court and a federal appeals court failed to

rule on emergency challenges to the law, meaning it went into effect just hours ago. cnn's senior legal analyst laura coats explains how this law is different from others around the country. >> if you are talking about up ending the trimester framework not only of roe v. wade but of subsequent decisions that talk about a woman's right to choose prior to the viability of a fetus, meaning it can actually exist and survive out of a womb. what they are doing is so sneaky, it needs to be explained even more. what they have done in texas is essentially said any person can sue anyone in a very vague term who aids and abets an abortion, meaning somebody who encourages it, who drives you to, somebody who may have donated money to an abortion-related cause, that person could then have to pay a penalty of about $10,000.

the idea of a plaintiff who might have to have something that they cannot reverse in the form of having a risk of imminent harm by a law, they can't now go to the courts to redress their grievance, they have doctors who can't perform what is legal under roe v. wade, the only option is for the supreme court to say look, fifth circuit has to say that the lower court actually gets to decide at this point in time whether the law is actually unconstitutional or the supreme court can do it themselves. >> and the american civil liberties union tweeted this is a full scale assault on patients, our health care providers and our support systems. this abortion ban is blatantly unconstitutional. we won't stop fighting until it is blocked. and we will have much more ahead on this breaking news. meanwhile, the texas governor is vowing to sign a

bill that will tighten the state's voting rules. the republican-controlled legislature passed the bill tuesday on a party line vote after democrats ran out of options to block the move. the legislation includes new i.d. requirements for mail in ballots and broad access for partisan poll watchers among other changes. along the u.s. gulf coast, more than a million homes and businesses are without power. mostly in louisiana after hurricane ida damaged the power grid. on tuesday, the death toll from the storm rose to at least five people. hundreds more have been rescued. search efforts are still under way, but access to some of the hardest hit areas remains difficult and it is unclear how much people might still be trapped. meanwhile power crews are hoping to restore some service to new

orleans by wednesday night. but officials say that process could take weeks in other areas. this as sweltering heat and humidity are only making conditions worse. now louisiana's governor is telling residents who evacuated to stay away for now. >> i'm trying to make sure people understand that many of the life-supporting infrastructure elements are not present. they are not operating right now. so if you have already evacuated, do not return here or elsewhere in southeast louisiana until the office of emergency preparedness tells you it is ready to receive you. schools are not open, businesses are not open, hospitals are slammed, there is not going to be electricity or water in your home. >> and for those who decided to stay in the new orleans area, the mayor says distribution centers are being set up with essentials like food, water and charging stations. but in other hard hit areas,

officials say vital supplies including gasoline are quickly running out. brian todd is following that part of the story. >> reporter: urgent and sometimes desperate measures people are taking to get the things that they need. gas, food, water, other supplies. this is a line for gas here in new orleans. look at this line, it goes down this street and i'll have you go to the shot as far as you can. and the cars on the adjacent cross street going that way. that line goes as far as the eye can see. you talk to motorists here who have waited 3, 4 hours to get gas. this is their destination, this racetrack station here. we tried to talk to the owners of the station to get an assessment of when they think they might run out because there was a shell station that we were at next door yesterday and he ran out of gas as of last night

and there were long lines of very desperate people to get gas at his station. and there were some altercations along the way. so again, a very tense situation as the gas shortages continue here in new orleans. >> and we're also getting a better sense of the extent of the storm damage. these before and after satellite images are from st. john the baptist parish in louisiana. and you can see just how much water levels rose across the area. the parish president says ida, the worst disaster they have ever seen. one resident there posted video to social media as he waded through waist deep water on monday. take a listen. >> had to go back and get the supplies. need that gas.

tired. this water is nasty. >> cnn's ed lavendera is in la place where he spoke with one homeowner who is just beginning to assess the damage. >> reporter: the water got up just above the floor board? >> yes. >> reporter: the day after hurricane ida recked anonymous sneak's home, she is cleaning up the disaster. she has lived through many storms before, but this was different. >> you could hear everything ripping and flying and banging and people's roofs were coming off. and we just prayed that we would all like life. >> reporter: and the emotions of experiencing hurricane ida's fury have caught up to the 32-year-old mother. >> the most scariest thing we ever did, it really was. it happened for so long not knowing how high the water was going to get.

>> reporter: the day after hurricane ida ripped through southeast louisiana, officials are warning residents across the region it will take considerable time to get life back to normal. there are more than a million customers without electricity and for many, it could take weeks to get the power restored. water systems are down as well, and cellphone communication is spotty. the coming days and weeks will be long and hot. >> we are resilient group of people. this is going to be very difficult. worst disaster that we've all seen in st. john parish. and it is going to take a long time. >> reporter: in la place, residents say they were stunned by the storm's winds and the structural damage it caused. w s . >> it was horrible. i've never had winds shake the house the way it did. >> reporter: debbie and ronnie say after 4 feet of water poured into their home, the roof started to collapse.

>> the ceiling started caving in and it was like oh, my god, is the roof going to blow off and we'll be out exposed. >> reporter: some of the hardest hit areas are still nearly impossible to reach. this is what grand isle looks like, this video was captured by one of several dozen people who didn't evacuate and are now stuck on the barrier island. >> it was seeping in from all the doors, all the closets. >> reporter: dominique thomas is bracing for weeks of recovery, but she can't stop thinking about the eight brutal hours her family endured. >> the doors were rocking back and forth, windows were shaking. it was just a matter of time before you felt like everything would go right off. >> reporter: the cleanup process in some of the smaller communities surrounding new orleans, some of which were the hardest hit by hurricane ida, is still in it early stages. crews are still trying to clear roadways of downed power lines and large trees. in fact local officials are

urging people who evacuated not to come back for as long as they can so that crews can get as much of that work done as fast as possible. ed lavendera, cnn, la place, louisiana. the lake tahoe region is normally a popular tourist attraction right now. instead more than 50,000 people have been told to evacuate because of a wildfire near the california/nevada border. the fire is being fueled by dangerously dry conditions. dan simon reports. >> reporter: we are looking at a potential worst case scenario with this fire pushing either way into the lake tahoe region. this community has completely emptied out with people heeding the evacuation orders. this is a very popular tourist destination. so you are talking about hotels, restaurants and stores with no customers. of course a devastating impact on tourism because the most immediate concern is people's safety. listen to one resident who is

packing up her belongings. >> we're all packed up, ready to go to reno. we have friends in reno. so we'll figure it out. >> what is going through your mind? >> everything, our hotel, our whole town, our jobs, everything. >> reporter: california officials have been predicting an active and challenging wildfire season. of course we've seen that and more. caldor is the number one firefighting priority in the country, so the race is on to save this and other nearby communities. dan simon, cnn, south lake tahoe. and pedram javaheri is joining us with the latest on all of this. what are you seeing? >> rosemary, we'll start off with what is happening across portions of louisiana. as we noted here, massive power outages still remain in place for upwards of a million customers. but peak summer-like weather

across the region with heat indices or what it will feel like close to 100 degrees in some areas such as baton rouge already exceeding 100 degrees wednesday afternoon. and heat advisories from the national weather service including much of southern louisiana, portions of texas into oklahoma, climbing up to 110 degrees. again, incredible heat if it was the middle of july when it is peak season for excessive heat, but here in september we're seeing them take place across portions of the south. what is left of the storm system? there it is, you kind of still see some organization with this, it is a tropical depression as it rains itself out across parts of the ohio valley into the northeast. and tremendous amount of rainfall in store here across the northeast. upwards of 70 million americans already under a flood risk. storm prediction center gives this a level 4 on a scale of 1 to 4 for excessive rainfall risk including some of the major metro cities in and around new york city whereas much as 3 maybe 4 inches of rainfall are possible in this area. and the storm system kind of its final act here. and you notice what happens on

wednesday afternoon, we do expect some of these storms to be severe a level 3 enhaensed risk on a scale of 1 to 5 for the severity of the storms. a 10% chance at any point within 25 miles or so in this area indicated in orange in that region for tornadoes to be possible into this afternoon and this evening. so certainly the storm system that has quite a bit of potency left before it is all said and done just in the form of remnants of hurricane ida. andhe tropics, kate is weakening. we don't expect much for fr this storm. but tropical depression 12 is what we're a little more concerned about. very early in the ball game here, but the initial forecast the next five days, keep it over open waters, but you will notice gradual strengthening and of course we'll follow the track very carefully into early next week and see where eventually hurricane larry ends up as that would be the next storm in line here. so a lot of activity in the world of weather right now.

>> there most certainly is and you are staying right on top of it. thank you so much. and for more on how you can help those affected by hurricane ida, just go to cnn.com/impact. you will find a list of verified organizations already making a difference. still to come, president biden responds to his critics forcefully defending his decisions on afghanistan. >> those asking for a third decade of war in afghanistan, i ask, what is the vital national interests? >> we will have more on the president's address to the nation ahead as he explains why it was time to end what he calls a forever war. plus the u.n. is warning of a humanitarian crisis, how the world body is vowing to stay involved in afghanistan. - that moment you walk in the office and people are wearing the same gear, you feel a sense of connectedness and belonging right away. and our shirts from custom ink help bring us together. - [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products

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afghan allies being left behind. >> this decision about afghanistan is not just about afghanistan. it is about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries. that was the choice, the real choice between leaving or escalating. i was not going to extended this forever war. and i was not extending a forever exit. >> in his address to the nation on tuesday, president biden reaffirmed the u.s. commitment to help those who still want to get out of afghanistan. and he defended the timing of the u.s. withdrawal. >> imagine if we had begun evacuations in june or july, bringing in thousands of american troops and evacuating more than 120,000 people in the middle of a civil war.

there still would have been a rush to the airport, a breakdown of confidence and control of the government, and it still would have been very difficult and dangerous mission. >> the president also said an evolving terrorist threat means the u.s. strategy must change too. and he issued this warning -- >> let me say clearly, no those who wish america harm, to those engaged in terrorism against us or our allies, know this, the united states will never rest, we will not forgive, we will not forget, we'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth and you will pay the ultimate price. >> the taliban is faced with moving beyond celebrating victory to governing a country in crisis. the militants drove into kabul's airport tuesday, now empty after two weeks of frantic

evacuations. the u.s. insists the major military equipment left behind was disabled. but the taliban has released video that purports to show fighters driving some of the 70 mine-resistant ambush protectant vehicles left behind. there were many logistical elements to air lifting more than 122,000 people out of kabul. and details are now emerging about an arrangement with the taliban to escort groups of americans to the airport gates. oren liebermann has more. >> reporter: the taliban has been a part of this process, the u.s. evacuation and withdrawal pretty much since the very beginning, and they only became a bigger more critical part as the u.s. evacuation and withdrawal neared its conclusion. daily communication, constant communication on the ground with u.s. forces that were there, the commanders there, and the taliban. we've now learned just how deep that was, a secret arrangement

according to two defense officials where the u.s. would tell american citizens to go to a gathering point or a muster point and then the taliban would bring them from that point to the airport. it could only be revealed now because of how sensitive this is. first if the taliban had to respond in some way and second if isis-k, the threat we saw, knew about this, they will have another chance to target americans on the way to the airport and that is why it was kept is he yet until new. but there was another part to the evacuation, the secret attempts to get americans out of the country. special operations forces that were operating on the ground there had a secret door to the airport that they would use to guide americans to that door and bring them on to airport grounds. now, it is unclear to what extent the taliban allowed all of the americans through to the airport, there are reports of them not letting all americans through. and if some were stopped and turned back, that remains part of the question. we do know that general frank mckenzie acknowledged how much

special operations forces did in the final days there, that is because he said on monday when he spoke at a press briefing at the pentagon that special operations forces brought in more than 1,000 american citizens and 2,000 afghans. and so now we're learning more about the connections around that. oren liebermann, cnn, at the pentagon. and for the regional perspective, let's turn now to nic robertson who is joining us live from islamabad. good to see you. so the taliban now have to govern afghanistan. and do that, they will need help and support from the international community. so how are they likely to govern. >> reporter: we're expecting to hear the makeup of the new government in the upcoming days. they had a leadership council

meeting in kandahar which is the spiritual heartland, kind of significant that they will did not hold it in kabul. but it doesn't make a great matter on the outcome. the outcome of how they shape their government is important. it is because they promise to include nontaliban members. and i think everyone is looking to see how prominent those nontaliban members are in that government, do they have roles of significance. and i think the early assessment is that is unlikely. but you know, the pressure on the taliban as you say to govern, the pressure is on them, it is a country that is racked with poor economy, racked with a drought at the moment, dependent on international aid. and really that is where the levers of international influence are over the taliban. but you know, the mechanism by which those levers can be used is really unclear. there is a lot of diplomacy still going on with the taliban, with regional parties like

pakistan, the dutch foreign ministry is here meeting with pakistan, german foreign minister was here meeting yesterday. and so i think that lot of effort is being applied to the taliban to try to make sure that those other afghans who were associated with nato that wanted to leave, those other american citizens that want to leave are able to leave. but really, you know, the next steps at the moment really depend on the formation of that government and the longer the taliban waits to announce that government, the more the country is in limbo, the more the economy is hurt and the greater the possibility of people wanting to flee the country. >> nic robertson joining us live from islamabad. many thanks for that. the u.n. is vowing to stay in afghanistan amid the deepening humanitarian crisis. for the tens of thousands of

afghans who manage to flee the country and escape taliban rule, they don't know what comes next or where they will be able to make a new home. the european union doesn't know either. on tuesday, the bloc met and offered to boost aid to afghanistan and its neighbors, but it is sharply divided when it comes to offering asylum to these evacuees. >> we are in a situation of course where we need a comprehensive approach towards afghanistan. we need to avoid humanitarian crisis. we need to avoid a hmigratory crisis and security threats. >> most important thing now is to send the right message into the region. stay there and we will support the region to help to people there. >> western allies evacuated about 100,000 people from

afghanistan before the airlift ended. european leaders say they do not want to repeat the region's immigration crisis of 2015. just ahead, hurricane ida's fierce winds and torrential rain left the small town of grand isle, louisiana in ruins. we will take a tour of the city and meet one long time resident who says he won't rebuild. plus, more on our breaking news out of texas which now has the most restrictive abortion law in the united states.

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banning abortions after the sixth week of preg nanpregnancy. most women don't even know they are pregnant to that point. the u.s. supreme court and federal appeals court failed to rule on emergency challenges to the law which is one of the strictest in the u.s. the high court is set to rule next month on a similar mississippi law that bans abortions at 15 weeks. lindey lee is a political activist who served as a women's co-chair with the democratic national committee. and she joins me now to talk more about this ruling. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> so i want to ask you for your reaction. >> i'm heart one, but with he all saw it coming. the federalist society and koch network have been working toward this for decades. this is a long time coming.

installation of amy comkcompany barrett was the final piece of the puzzle. we lost so much so quickly. >> so what will the new law ultimately mean for texas, women and girls who have unwanted pregnancies laparticularly if ty have been raped? >> so many aspects are heinous. for example neighbors or any random person can file a lawsuit defense a woman or abortion provider, even a friend who drives a woman to planned parent hood for instance. they can file a lawsuit and collect a $10,000 wobounty. and many women don't even know that they are pregnant at six

weeks. this is very personal. my period has been thougnotorio sporadic so i doubt that i would even know. i feel this is a slippery slope because now it is abortion, but what about birth control pill itself. so many women use birth control not only to control or prevent pregnancy, but also for health reasons. i had an eating disorder when i was younger, and i used birth control to regulate my period. women need birth control to have a healthy life, many of us do. so it is not just with birth, it is also gabout women's rights. >> and so what can people do, what can women do specifically?

presumelyably they could travel other states. >> yes. well, we are very depressingly awaiting the overturning of row vc r roe v. wade by the supreme court. we could pressure congress to enact legislation to render roe v. wade moot in that if we have the laws in place to enshrine reproceed ductive rights in law wouldn't be solely dependent on the supreme court case. but i'm not very positive about this congressional session. for women who care about their own bodies, they must control because control of the senate is hanging in the wall. we have the recall going on in california, we have the 2022 mid

term leelections, all these factors will impact if women will be able to have control over their bodies in 2022. and one quick thing i want to mention, we see a lot of republicans and just people across the chattering class worry with the women in afghanistan. yes, their situation is dire. and our hearts where s break fo. but what about the women in the united states and i'll never stop fighting for us. >> lindey lee, many thanks. >> thank you so much. the death toll from hurricane ida has climbed to at least five people and more than a million homes and businesses are still without power in louisiana and mississippi three days after the storm. food, water and other essentials are also running low in many areas. as dwaer gary tuchman reports, places were hit harder than

grand i'll. >> reporter: when you get your first look at the town of grand isle, you gasp. utter devastation. colorful homes destroyed, vehicles still under flood waters. but there are no known deaths or injuries which is clear evidence how seriously evacuation orders were taken. grand isle is a peaceful place and so it is wrenching to see it december owe we sodecember latee this. most are in the fishing or oil industry. yes, there was a lot of damage during katrina, remember the eye passed over mississippi. this eye passed over louisiana. only a few miles to the west of this very town. ricky wiltbuilt this home when s

19 and he is now 58. he and his family evacuated and he feared what he would find when he came back and now realized. >> with katrina we had lost the front porch and step but the house was intact. >> reporter: and now like so many, unlivable. >> trying to get a few things, my wife wanting me to get wedding video and stuff and trying to find that right now. >> i'm so sorry for you guys. how are you coping with it? is it disbelief? >> just trust the lord and, you know, as he gives, he takes away. >> reporter: ricky doesn't plan to rebuild. he and his wife will you've to kentucky where they have family. most residents have not jeyet ce back, they will face similar decisions to rebuild or not to reguild. and coming up, the u.s. hits

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powering possibilities. the fallout from hurricane ida is making it even hmore difficult to fight the coronavirus. patients in the city of houma had to be evacuated from the local hospital after losing power and water service. and some health care workers have been on shifts for more than 24 hours to keep patients safe. louisiana's governor says the state is working to secure more generators to keep hospitals up and running. meantime five states have nearly run out of icu beds for covid patients. according to health officials, alabama, arkansas, florida, georgia and texas all have less

than 10% of icu beds available. even children are getting very sick. the cdc says more children were hospitalized with covid in august than any other month this year. the american academy of pediatrics says more than 200,000 children were infected last week with pennsylvania reporting a 300% increase in new cases in children over the past six weeks. the cdc director says parents play the biggest role in protecting their children. >> parents should educate themselves on the cdc recommendations for k through 12 operations. parents can ask questions of their school administrators and learn how these steps will be inch plemented. parents should encourage their children to wear masks in indoor settings. and finally parents can protect their children by getting vaccinated themselves.

this will create a protective bubble around their children who are not yet eligible for their own vaccine. >> and one north carolina husband says his wife is stage four cancer patient, and the tragic example of what happens when hospitals are too full of unvaccinated covid patients. he slammed those refusing to get the vaccine in this tiktok video. >> last week i had to bring my wife into the hospital. she has stage four breast cancer, she was dealing with some symptoms. instead of draining her fluid and what they wanted to do, they had to -- they told us that she had to be discharged because they had no room left in the hospital because of covid. 99% of everybody that is in the hospital with covid right now is unvaccinated. what i'm going to argue you about is you running to the [ bleep ] hospital once you get the virus. if you don't trust the medical field to prevent you from getting it, why do you trust them to cure you from it some. >> and his wife has since died. here is what he told cnn about

his experience. >> after numerous complaints from me, they just told me that they had no rooms available to bring anybody that was -- everybody that was in the e.r. was already at mitdmitted and n rooms so that my wife could go in the back. they put an oxygen mask on her and she sat in a wheelchair in the rating room for four hours. she got discharged early and i know why they did it. logical choice for the doctor. my wife was stage four breast cancer. she had severe symptoms. they have seen her scans. they did a scan, they saw her blood work. they understand that she is going to pass. they are in a position that they need to cut people that they can't help any further and try to get people out of the e.r. because of we're waiting 13 hours, so was everybody else. >> heartbreaking story happening again and again.

and meanwhile in florida, as local and state officials fight over masks, new cases are rising and the strain on hospitals is becoming dire. leyla santiago has our report. >> reporter: rosemary, where we are right now here at jackson health, one of the largest health systems in south florida, they actually have refrigerated freight trucks on standby because of the upward trend that they have seen in covid-19 deaths. and you head a little further north and the central florida disaster medical coalition, they have been talking to hospitals and health systems that have said that is what they need, more capacity. so by the end of the week, they expect to have 14 portable morgues that they will deliver to help with that capacity. i also spoke to a funeral director who told me that they too are witnessing an uptick in deaths and they are being

inundated in a way that makes storage and capacity an issue here in florida. rosemary. >> thanks so much for that report. and it is a far different story in vermont which is leading the nation on multiple fronts in battling covid-19. it has the lowest hospitalization rate in the country with only 28 covid patients statewide. it also has the highest percentage of residents vaccinated. that is the message. and the governor says 75% of children ages 12 to 17 have already gotten at least one vaccine dose. meanwhile the european union is touting its own significant covid milestone. >> today rerewe reached an impot milestone, 70% of adults in the european union are now fully vaccinated. and that is more than 250

million people who are i'mmuhe noised. and this really show what is we can do when we work together. >> it is impressive. but the spread of vaccination in europe is still uneven with eastern europe lagging way behind. and the w.h.o. warns another 236,000 people could die from covid by december. coming up, florida school districts are taking steps to protect children and families from the coronavirus. but a vocal contingent of parents are not happy about the mask mandates. >> maybe the reason why we have people in the hospitals is all this mask wearing. did we ever think of that? t: it even kills the covid-19 virus. science supports these simple facts. there's only one true lysol. lysol. what it takes to protect. well, would ya look at that! it was an accident. i was—

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we showed you this yesterday, police stepping in to break up a fight between parents outside a florida school board meeting. the scuffles erupted after district officials announced a mask mandate in schools due to surgerying number of covid cases statewide. emotions were also running high

inside that meeting. take a look. >> these are demonic entities and all the school boards in all of the united states of america and all of us christians will be sticking together to take them all out. masks don't work. these doctors that sit up here, that were sneering at us like we're scum bags, they need to go back to [ bleep ] medical school. >> despite some of these vocal parents and new financial penalties from the state, at least a dozen school boards are moving forward with their mask mandates to protect children. a cnn analysis found more than 27,000 confirmed cases in florida's 15 largest school districts since the beginning of the academic year. a new survey found an encouraging sign in the fight against the pandemic. the number of americans who said that they are not very likely or not at all likely to get a

covid-19 vaccine has actually dropped from 34% back in march to 20%. and that is according to a new axios poll. perhaps it is because of the increased spread of the delta variant and the subsequent spike in covid death and hospitalizations. in recent weeks, several prominent voices on the right who were opposed to vaccines have died. sara sidner has the details. >> do not be vaccinated. you must survive the genocide. >> reporter: a growing number of conservatives who have used their platforms to badmouth covid-19 vaccines but did not live long enough or are too sick to tell their public just how much they regret it. >> he didn't want to be a guinea pig. >> reporter: amy lee is talking about her friend, florida conservative radio show out dick ferrell. he repeatedly told people not to trust the vaccine. why get a vax promoted by people who lied to you, he posted.

and vaccine bogus blp he proclaimed. that was early july. a few weeks later, he was in the hospital dying from covid-19. >> he told me this pandemic ain't no joke and he said you need to get the shot and he told me he wished he had. >> reporter: the statistics that more than 600,000 americans have died from covid hadn't swayed him or her. why did it take dick ferrell dying from covid for you to say i'm taking it? >> there is a pandemic of misinformation out there, and i think that there is no truer thing ever was said. >> reporter: and didn't dick ferrell add to that misinformation? >> yeah, he did. >> reporter: but she is sharing his last words to her hoping that they resonate. >> just a whole bunch of people that said because of dick i went and got it. so hopefully he did some good in the end. >> reporter: ferrell's story is not an anomaly. two week after his death, talk

show host phil ballentine also died of covid-19. before he got sick he wrote a song mocking the push to get vaccinated. ♪ i don't care if you want me ♪ -- >> reporter: changing the tax man to vax man. he told everyone that he was not getting the vaccine. he got covid instead. his family had to relay his regret. >> he recognizes now that his not getting the vaccination has probably caused a bunch of other people not to get vaccinated and that he regret. >> reporter: valentine died but his brother said his story influenced denies to get the shot. no surprise to behavioral scientists. >> when there is a vivid story about someone you trust you know got sick, hospitalized or even died, that will carry more weight. >> reporter: but there are a litany of other vaccine skeptics who got covid and have yet to acknowledge the benefits of the vaccine from conservative cardinal raymond leo burke who

used his pulpit to spread baseless conspiracy theories about the vaccine and ended up on a ventilator. >> and even the kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person. >> reporter: and to florida pastor rick wils. >> i'm not going to be vaccinated. i'll be one of the survivors. >> reporter: he too was hospitalized but remains defiant. how big of an influence is and you are own ego? >> they didn't want to recognize that they have made a mistake especially publically. >> reporter: but she has no problem saying she changed her mind to honor her friend's wishes. >> i just thought it was important to put it out there but i did change my mind. >> reporter: sara sidner, cnn, los angeles. >> the message? get the vaccine, wear a mask and let's get through this. thanks for your company. be sure to connect with me on twitter @rosemarycnn. "early start" is up next.

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on your wireless bill. plus, save up to $400 when you purchase a new samsung phone or upgrade your existing phone. learn more at your local xfinity store today. a near total ban on abortion in texas, the biggest blow yet to roe vs. wade. >> it is probably going to be a three, four ryear process. >> year of recovery lie ahead in louisiana, millions face swelters heat with no air conditioning. cnn is on the ground in the gulf. hello everyone, it is wednesday, september 1, a new month. it is 5:00 a.m. here in new york. thanks for getting an early start with us. >> and welcome to ou