legal across the entire united states for almost 50 years attempts to change that starts and stops but no success is then about to change tonight a legal battle over the unborn made possible by a president named. berlin this is the day. the compound is just a room in the 4 disregard that we pay a declaration that all busy life. is all life matters and that all life is worthy of why do i want to control our bodies i would never ever know. it's about preventing women from the having control over our bodies we will not back and we will always continue to fight for it really shows

that there is absolutely no respect for women in health care providers among the legislators who are voting in favor of the. also coming up tonight it has kitsch politics more kit and even more music it's that time of year again for the vision song contest my favorite and my bad hopefully. the french are 19 years old muslim gay and he's now climbed up to 4th place in the odds hopefully a way. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with attempts to abort abortion in america inspired by the presidency of donald trump in the u.s. state of alabama lawmakers have passed legislation that out walls abortion with practically no exceptions but before we go further with protecting the lives of the unborn let's get some context with the. of ending the lives of the living the u.s.

ranks number one among developed countries in gun deaths in fact on average there is almost one mass shooting in america every day in the 20 years since the columbine high school shooting the us congress has passed no significant legislation on gun control nothing to protect people from being shot to death now from the outside it can seem that us lawmakers are tuned in to the 1st 9 months and tuned out to everything that happens afterwards i want you to take a look at what is happening across the country since march 4th u.s. states have signed so-called heartbeat legislation into law all abortions are forbidden as soon as doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat usually 6 weeks in to pregnancy now many women will tell you they do not even realize that they are pregnant that early in the 1st trimester where

the white house apparently is in sync with those state legislatures trump has taken his anti-abortion rhetoric to dangerous levels recently last month he told supporters at a political rally that mothers are having their newborns murdered immediately after birth a claim that is verifiably faults they wrap the baby beautifully and then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute that they be i don't. well since trump took office 2 years ago he has appointed more than 100 conservative judges he has also appointed 2 supreme court judges you see them right here in the far right there the man known as brett kavanaugh now those 2 men change the composition and the calculus of the court conservative justices who critics say if presented the opportunity would overturn the landmark supreme court case roe v wade which legalized abortion in all 50 states almost half

a century ago. and motions were running high both outside the alabama legislature with pro-abortion activists rallying against the bill and inside the state senate where lawmakers in gauged in fierce debates. why do i want to control our bodies. i would never ever know. and i know that many of you have daughters mr wagner conservative legislators say this is about more than the law in alabama they want to see abortion banned. and so the focus of this bill certainly is on the child will make its way hopefully up to the supreme court where we can revisit roe v wade and place into law places in jurisprudence of the united states understanding that science and technology has been clear about that there is in

fact a life in the womb that life ought to be protected the alabama bill bans abortions at every stage of pregnancy unless a woman's life is in danger an amendment to allow exceptions in cases of rape and incest was voted down by doctors who perform the procedure could face up to 1009 years in prison it's the latest in a wave of attempts by states to impose new abortion restrictions last week georgia governor brian kemp followed kentucky mississippi and ohio in signing the bill that criminalizes abortions performed after 6 weeks with republicans in control of most state legislatures and an increasingly conservative judiciary pro-choice activists face an uphill battle to maintain abortion rights one nearly 50 years ago. these are unprecedented times in the united states to talk about where this goes from here i'm joined by travis change to joins us from the pro-choice groups center for reproductive rights he is senior counsel for us litigation that puts him on the

front lines of legal battles over abortion travis joins us from new york tonight good to have you on the show the the alabama law all is designed to trigger a legal challenge that will go all the way to the u.s. supreme court the pro-life the advocates for women and their reproductive rights is their camp your camp are you prepared for this battle. absolutely laws like what we saw in alabama are blatantly unconstitutional and we stand ready to challenge whenever states and act these harmful laws we've already succeeded this year in striking down similar bans in mississippi in north carolina and the fight continues today yet those bands are being struck down you know state levels appellate court levels but then of course will be appealed and you'll go to

the supreme court what do you do though if this conservative majority u.s. supreme court decides that roe v wade needs to be overturned you know obviously if the u.s. supreme court decides that women in this country no longer have the right to make reproductive health decisions it's a major change for the worse for women in the united states we are going to fight to ensure that that does not happen we've had 50 years of a recognized right in this country for women to make those decisions for themselves with their doctors and with their family and this supreme court even with this change composition we think we'll recognize that this you know this development is not something that was predicted when donald trump won the presidency it's really it's been almost a sleeper event that has now erupted but he has been spending the past 2 years

packing the court with conservative judges as well as 2 supreme court judges i mean that's where the power is at the end of the day you really do you don't have anything to contest that if you did you see this coming. i think those of us who care deeply about women's rights and reproductive choice have been worried about this for a long time because the campaign to erode roe v wade and to make reproductive health care decisions out of reach for women has been going on for decades ever since roe was decided anti-abortion forces have been on a steady campaign to make abortion illegal out of reach and impossible for women to exercise their rights what's changed now is that they have a friend in the white house and so those forces that are opposed to abortion have renewed energy and enthusiasm but their campaign has been in wage for

a long time well i would say that what has changed is that they may have friends in the supreme court and at the end of the day that's much more powerful than the person who was sitting in the the white hells before we run out of time talk to me about. the polls in support what are the numbers of me what percentage of americans think that abortion should remain legal. an overwhelming majority of americans believe that women should have this right and that roe v wade should group maintain the law of the land it is a very small minority of people who think that abortion should be illegal in the states and unfortunately those that small minority has an outsized voice in some of these more conservative states in the united states so we're in an interesting time in the history of the united states where the states are really dividing and getting further apart on abortion rights so we have states like the state i live in new york which are. acting to ensure that this protection is enshrined in state

laws and we have other states that are acting to actively erode their rights and to challenge roe and you're right ultimately it will be for the supreme court to decide whether we're going to have this patchwork of laws across the united states or whether all american women are entitled to this right you know you're in new york this is dissolved past alabama i mean these are completely 2 completely different worlds and that that's part of this culture war that's going on in the united states have you thought about what will happen if the supreme court were to overturn roe v wade what happens to society in the united states on the day after that route. i don't know exactly what happens to society what i would tell you is that this is been a hotly contested issue in this country for decades and it will remain so regardless of what the supreme court decides what happens if we wake up to

a world without roe v wade is that for thousands if not millions of women in the united states abortion access will be almost immediately out of reach and for women who don't have the resources to travel there reproductive health care decisions will be made for them that is a travesty if that happens and organizations like ours are going to fight to ensure that doesn't happen travis joining us tonight from new york with the pro-choice groups center for reproductive rights travis we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you thank you. he has been called vladimir putin's public enemy number one the man the russian president loves to hate and would love even more to have arrested bill browder american british investment titan turned human rights advocate he was once a high flying foreign investment manager in russia until the kremlin labeled him

a threat to national security the reality is broader is a threat to vladimir putin's broader was in berlin today lobbying lawmakers to join the u.s. and other nations in passing the magnitsky act it enables governments to use all legal means to shut down and freeze out russians judged to be responsible for human rights violations i met with brawler this evening to talk about his mission the germans the russians and donald trump. we spend so much time trying to define and explain and analyze the trump putin nexus bromance relationship call it what you want do you understand it can you tell us what it is well i can trump and is a very transparent individual and so he's going to meet his feelings clear them in twitter in his public statements that. he really thinks that putin is great he

doesn't think that he's a criminal and as he said he wants to get along with him really well now what motivates that. anyone's i don't i don't i can't get inside the head of donald trump to understand whether he is doing this for. because he's got bad judgment or there's some other incentive but what i can say is is that. his opinions of lattimer putin are just dead wrong what does your experience tell you though i mean you know there is there's always this conspiracy theorist strain in society saying that there must be something that putin knows about trump the troops afraid we'll get out do you know come for much as the russians say do you think there's something there epley. well i don't i mean so moeller had a good opportunity of 2 years and wiretaps subpoenas and all that kind of stuff to prove that and at a criminal standard he couldn't prove it and. i mean

a more charitable explanation of why trump is behaving this way is that trump is a real estate developer he's a businessman maybe not as rich is as some people think he is and he likes really rich guys and putin is one of the richest guys in the world to live if you're really rich guy to not a rich guy like a lot of reputing is veteran putin is the richest man in the world and so if donald trump is the kind of guy who wants to suck up to rich guys there's no richer guy than vladimir putin and and if you look at it there's actually some consistency to this whole thing mohamed bin solomon another human rights violator a killer torturer. who was maybe as rich as putin or little lass or little more who knows but i'm sure putin there seems to be some consistency in that and that. trump makes friends with these very rich bad guys and you know we've seen pompei of the u.s. secretary of state meeting with putin this week and you have the feeling that putin is playing the u.s.

secretary of state when they meet that this is all for show when that putin is really pulling the strings do you think he has that much power well i think that it's much more complicated story than that so it's so you have trump with his ideas you've got putin with his ideas but trump. is not all powerful he's not a dictator he operates in a system where the presidency is totally connected to all sorts of other things connected to congress congress can prevent him from lifting sanctions he doesn't even control his own administration so he has his defense secretary he would tell him to do things jim matters before he resigned in the gym at his wouldn't just wouldn't do him and i know pump aoe is a clear eyed guy about russia and so trump probably says he wants to do certain things with russia and pump a 0 probably just doesn't do them. and so when you get inside the when you watch these situations you have to think ok what is pump ale want what is congress want what are the american people want what does trump want what is putin want and so it

gets you know it gets sanded down and distorted and pushed in different directions based on all of these different interests and so i don't think putin is running circles around anybody i think that putin has a great he's in a very powerful position because he's unlike trumpy doesn't have any constituents whatsoever he can wake up one day just decide what he wants to do you think is a very dangerous for me and for the world and the part of their life mission now is to to rein him in right well i mean i say i don't have to think he is he is. there's no other head of state that's invaded ukraine and invaded georgia and bombed innocent people into oblivion in syria and shot down a passenger plane with 298 innocent people on board who's interfered in the elections of the united states and france and germany and the u.k. and sort of better putin is a menace i mean there's no question it's objective it's clear he's done

a lot of bad stuff and he's done a lot of bad stuff that affects me personally because he was the one responsible for his regime was when responsible for murdering my lawyer sergei magnitsky. after sergei magnitsky uncovered a massive putin government corruption scheme and putin was personally involved. in the obstruction of justice of covering up the murder of sergei magnitsky personally got involved and so i've seen it up close and personal i see it on a daily basis and i see how putin has reacted to all the work that i've done to get sanctions imposed on his government and that's what brings you to berlin right so i'm here in berlin to get the magnitsky act passed in germany the magnitsky act is a piece of legislation which imposes visa bans and asset freezes on human rights violators in russia and other countries around the world it's named after my lawyer sergei magnitsky it's been passed in 6 countries including united states canada and great britain germany is a very important country for a lot of different reasons why hasn't been passed in germany yet well you germany

has been a hard nut to crack there are there is more what i would call a desire to be understanding of russia in germany than other countries i mean in apologies well i don't know if his apology or there is like there's a lot of history here of course that go going back all the way to the 2nd world war and for whatever reason it's very difficult to get germans to take as hard a line on on putin's clear criminal actions as other countries what you did for the former president obama. germany or the german chancellor angela merkel it was useful to him he used her as a window into the mind of the latter by the mere putin so the relationship between germany and russia was considered a positive but we don't have that dynamic anymore do you think that the germans or are they naive when they think about the threat posed by but let me well i think

that the historically germany has has been less than than thoroughly robust when it comes to vladimir putin. the idea that germany will for example become more to the. and on on russia for gas by building north stream is something that perplexes those of us who are looking at it from so you so you agree with the troubled ministration that the pipeline deal should be x. well i don't think it's just the trump administration who thinks that i think the the administration's already europe think that i mean it's it's very few administrations that don't think that it's a it's a obvious thing that that if you have russia which is a country that uses all of its power as leverage and has used gas as a weapon and it's turned off the gas on numerous occasions to fight with its neighbors all of a sudden become more dependent on russian gas seems to be the to meed to be something that i don't understand what standing in the way of germany passing the

vagueness yet here i think at this point anything is standing the way so so for 4 or 5 years ago there was this idea that we need to like let's just calm down and and try to understand these people better let's not provoke them they we can work together putin has proven that that he is a menace to the world and i think that those apologists don't really get much of a voice anymore and i think that there is an actual there's a real appetite now certainly in the biggest dog in the parliament to get a magnitsky can you give me a timeframe when you think it's going to be asked is very difficult to predict timeframes when it comes to what's a go well we get the goal is to get it passed in the next 18 months that would be a realistic time frame is still chancellor well i don't think it depends on angle merkel i think it depends on. depends on the will of the of the parliament it depends on public opinion and vision because your biggest supporter in the german government report right now well the person who has organized my trip and who has helped me set up meetings is the head of the foreign affairs committee of the

bundestag norbert rudd kim he's a member of angela merkel's party has a very complicated and successful politician and he has helped me work work to find the other allies not just in his own party but other parties and we have a very full day with people from every differ. party tomorrow who we believe will be joining our coalition for a magnitsky act before we let you go i want to ask you just real briefly about your life you know has tried to have you arrested numerous times we know that he never forgets he's a vengeful person. i mean do you fear for your life i mean when you leave your are you looking over your shoulder well i the answer is that they threaten me with murder with kidnapping with the rest with they suing me they're making movies about me there and dating me they're sentencing me in prison i don't let this change my behavior in other words that i may be under risk but what they're looking for is to

to terminate me and and i won't be intimidated i will carry on doing this because it comes back to the murder of sergei magnitsky he was killed because he was my lawyer i owe it to him to stand up for him and if i for justice and i won't be intimidated i won't back down. nice to meet you could have your very much. the euro vision song contest once again politics could overshadow the turn of the final takes place on saturday in television in israel among the final is this year of the czech republic san marino iceland and all straw you know the 2nd round takes place on thursday before the big events this weekend on saturday activists have urged artisan visitors to boycott euro vision in solidarity with the palestinians are is really correspondent tanya kramer she went to tel aviv to gauge the mood. beach sun and music as the east sea as it's known to its legions of followers hit

tel aviv on the beach a mix of tourists and fans await saturday's grand finale with anticipation to levy visit this city when it's it's always fun and that when people from the whole europe coming here to see something i think it will become more fun then it's always. to. go in the big stage here. i am happy to represent my counter albania and read this there they go. israel is hosting this year's year edition song contest because of this single minute about silly who won in lisp and last year she will perform her new single man or banana at the final on saturday. making people come here and see how amazing israel is giving us a chance to show how how how big of

a party we can make and how amazing and genuine it can be energy wise. wow. 41 nations are competing to win europe's oldest song contest it's the 3rd time is violence hosted it security has been beefed up along the beach promenade but the everglades event has not escaped the country of the sea. the event has been highly politicized from the beginning that have been some calls to by quote the event because of israel's military occupation of the palestinian territories. international palestinian and israeli artists sign petitions to urge of this just a way from the event now that it's arrived they still want to highlight what they see as the political reality. let's stop for a 2nd try to look at reality for a bit higher perspective not only this you know the speech is really beautiful and

everybody is happy and smiling in the beer is the state. but just a few kilometers from here really. crazy things are happening here at the eurovision press enter politics couldn't be further away the organizer of the contest the european broadcasting union has said strict rules spending politics from the stage among bloggers and journalists covering the event it's all about who is going to win this year's contest the dutch and tree is one of the favorites if you are foreign visitors then expected to have turned up but this pop icon madonna making a guest appearance the final on saturday is still sold out. and if you never seen it you don't know what you're missing but there he is almost down the conversation continues on line i'll see you tomorrow.

the for. standing up to or been. paid to market a small town mayor in hungary. he's for a progressive society. welcoming minorities and fighting corruption. being a man who's proud to call himself a european. next d.w. .

i'm not laughing tap the gentle smile i just sometimes am but i stand up and whimper that can be said to have been thinks deep into gemma culture of looking at the stereotypes question but if you think the future of the country that i'm not the time. kenya needed seems pretty good for this drama day out. it's all that they know i'm a joke join me for meet the gem and sunday w. post. plus 90 the new channel for an independent view on current affairs in turkey. the latest developments accurate analysis. with comprehensive background. for drama and political and social topics

considered from different perspectives. we cover the issues that move turkey. all the time for more information. connect to an unbiased subscriber i want you to. you. 28 nations joined in and strasburg is the seat of that welcome to a special edition of focus on europe with me. just days to go now to elections to the poll event with the euro's and european policies in the ascendancy in many parts of the cons.