announcer: building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. >> good afternoon. i am liz kreutz. you are watching "getting answers," live on abc 7, hulu thank you for joining us. this is where we ask experts questions at 3:00 to get you the answers in real time. we will look at overdose prevention programs as a bill to make the sites a reality is headed to the governor's desk. our guest will join us in 10 minutes. also, uc davis researchers have launched a study looking at the impact of west -- wildfire smoke on reproductive health. but first, kansas rejected a

statewide ban on abortion. it was the first date in the country to let the voters weigh in on abortion since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. huge news nationally. joining us to talk about the vote and the potential impact on california and other states is new york times reporter maggie aster. thank you for joining us. guest: thanks for having me. >> how surprised where you by these results? did you see them coming? guest: i understood that it was possible that the constitution amendment in kansas that, that it might fail. i expected it to be a close race in either direction. i was definitely surprised and i think the experts in kansas were also surprised by the huge margin for the pro-abortion rights approach. this fish right, the amendment did not just failed, it failed by a really wide margin. what do you think that says about where the country stands on abortion rights right now?

guest: it certainly indicates that there is a lot of anger among supporters of abortion rights about the overturning of roe v. wade and the consequences of that, the abortion ban and significant restrictions being passed in many states. it shows that that is a energizing factor for folks who support abortion rights. this is an incredibly important issue, something that will motivate them to turn out to vote in an election in which they otherwise would likely not have, that was a very significant thing about the kansas board. it was a primary, it was mostly a republican primary on the ballot, there wasn't a lot of reason for democrats or independents to turnout for that election except for this referendum, so it is really a strong indication of the salience of this specific issue for voters going forward.

liz: for sure. what was the turn out like yesterday in kansas? guest: we don't have the final numbers yet, but it was very high. estimates by my colleagues at the times are that turnout was around 49%, which may not seem high, but primaries in kansas and many other states, especially now presidential election years, routinely draw less than 30% turnout. so to get nearly 50% would be absolutely huge for a primary race. liz: absolutely huge. in terms of who was coming out, was it a big wave of democrats coming out to vote who were not expected to, or were you seeing mostly those in the republican party vote for abortion rates? guest: it was a combination of both. we don't have the full demographic breakdown of who turned out, but certainly turnout was very high in the

regions of kansas that are more democratic, the regions around kansas city, for example. so there was absolutely high democratic turnout, no doubt about that the support for abortion rights was stronger than you might have expected, really across-the-board. if you look at a couple of counties in western kansas, a very rural and very conservative region, if you look at hamilton county, for example, which voted 81% for president trump in 2020, less than 56% chose the antiabortion position on tuesday. so the antiabortion position was underperforming president trump by a significant, double-digit margin, even in that very conservative county.

so it was a combination of really both turnout among democrats and republicans not being as universally in favor of these sorts of abortion restrictions. liz: so ultimately, women are at the heart of this, at the heart of this decision. what is the impact for women? guest: well, the immediate impact of the vote yesterday is that since roe v. wade was overturned, kansas has this sort of island of abortion access in a region where almost every state is outlawing or significantly restricting it. talking about the southern states, these plane states. if you live in that part of the country, kansas has been one of the only states in that region where abortion remained accessible. so the immediate impact of yesterday's boat is that that

will remain the case. if the vote had gone the other way, the legislature could fairly quickly have begun to pass significant restrictions that would have eroded that access. so that is a very consequential and tangible impact for people in kansas and the surrounding states. liz: a huge impact for women in the midwest. what do you think this says big-picture about the midterms? is there anything we can foreshadow about this decision? guest: [inaudible] liz: repeat that over again, we lusting for just a second. guest: sorry. i would definitely caution against extrapolating too much from the vote yesterday. not only because it is just one state, albeit a very conservative state, but because this was a very specific referendum.

there were no other issues that, any issues where voters were weighing do i care about this issue more than any other issue? is abortion more important than inflation? and party loyalties were not coming into play as much, because voters were not voting for a candidate. and so when the race was narrowed to this very specific issue, the verdict was very, very clear, and that certainly has implications for candidates who choose to campaign on abortion for november. it certainly has implications potentially for swing voters, who may vote on this issue. but it is difficult to draw direct extrapolations from a referendum on a single issue to the much more complicated landscape of the campaign in which people are voting on multiple issues and on people and personalities. liz: but it is certainly a

message to the supreme court. maggie, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. coming up, we will look at overdose prevention programs here in california, what are they, will they work? and what you should know.

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- you okay? - there's a flex alert today so i'm mentally preparing for the power outage. oh, well we can help stop one because we are going to reduce our energy use from 4-9pm. what now? i stepped on a plug. oh that's my bad! unplugging. when it comes to preventing outages the power is ours. liz: welcome back. a bill to provide safe injection sites in the area cities is headed to governor newsom's desk. the senate gave final approval to sb 57, and it clears the way for cities to authorize places for people to use illegal drugs under supervision. if the law is approved, it would

take effect january 1 joining. us to talk about the potential impact is the director of the drug policy alliance. thank you for joining us, jeanette. guest:. guest: thank you for having me. liz: for people who are maybe not following this closely, what are safe injection sites, and how do they work? guest: safe injection sites are models that have been used for the past 20 years in places like europe to allow folks who are substance users could a safe, clean and hygienic space to be able to inject drugs. in addition to providing these safe spaces, the centers become sources of information and connection for individuals who potentially are homeless, or unhoused. who may use drugs in isolation. the whole purpose is, one, to prevent overdoses, but two, to ensure that connections are made

with individuals who, when they earn it to seek treatment, or access to housing or food, they have a center where they can have a trusted source of information. liz: there is clearly a major drug crisis in california. why, in your opinion, do you think programs like this are a good solution for that? guest: the past 20 years have demonstrated that these centers are backed by science and evidence and have proven effective to help alleviate the overdose crisis in different parts of europe, as well as in canada. but in addition to that, i think that what we have been doing in our country in terms of criminalizing folk who use drugs and stigmatizing its use without looking at a public health approach or without offering assistance for things like health care, mental health, and substance treatment, we have just been failing.

so we really need to use every tool in the toolbox to address the overdose crisis in california. our overdose crisis in california is particularly hitting communities of color in a significant way, and we need to make these centers accessible to all californians. liz: now that the bill has passed and it is on the governor's desk, what happens next? do you expect the governor to sign it? guest: we remain hopeful that he will sign it, depending on what it gets sent to the governor. he may have 12 days to sign, he may have 30. we are in that window right now, doing all of our advocacy efforts to ensure that the governor signs the bill. when he was running for governor in 2018, he said that he would sign this measure, so we are hopeful that he will keep true to his word and takes california a step closer to ensuring that we are using every tool in our

toolbox to address the overdose crisis. liz: you mentioned other cities like new york city, cities in europe and canada have implemented programs like this already. what can we learn from them? have they been proven to lower overdoses? what else can we learn from them? guest: so new york has been operating centers like this, one in harlem and one in washington heights, since november. they have been able to reverse over 300 overdoses within that timeframe. in 2021, new york city lost over 2000 folks to the overdose crisis, a significant number of lives saved. we also know that convention centers -- overdose centers, they are able to make connections, possibly expanding treatment services and getting resources to help with the overdose crisis. what we also know is that no one has ever died in an overdose prevention center worldwide.

that is significant. liz: so what do you say to people who hear about these sites and they feel that it will just further enable drug use? guest: we hear from those sites. we hear from parents who have lost children to the overdose crisis and they have stated, had my child or my adult daughter had access to one of these overdose prevention centers, they may be here today. i think that all the science, evidence, and research prove the efficacy. we need to make these available in communities where the overdose crisis hits california the hardest. liz: in san francisco, what is it going to look like in practice, and what services will be offered? guest: every jurisdiction adopt an overdose prevention center to fit the needs of their community. so they may look physically different, they may be housed in a building, there may be other

options in terms of other types of units created. in every sense of the word, they look like health clinics. you walk in to a center, you sign up, and you will have access to clean syringes, cleaning supplies, the able to get advice from medical personnel should you have any questions and should you need referrals, you will get referred for whatever services you may need. so in every sense of the word, it is like walking into a clinic where someone who uses substances will not feel criminalized for their drug abuse. liz: is there evidence to show that it can help clean up the streets? in the tenderloin in san francisco, it is just blocks and blocks of books thing out on the street. guest: yes, it does. if you look at new york city, one of their centers is located

across a preschool. so you can imagine what the streets looks like in the mornings when parents were taking their kids to school. we know that anecdotally the street is definitely a lot cleaner, we don't have folks loitering out in front of the center in new york. syringe litter is down. folks are utilizing the services to the extent possible, which is providing word-of-mouth, more and more folks taking advantage of these centers, and public safety is enhanced because of this. liz: so what is next. say it gets signed by the governor, do you think that means we will be seeing it beyond just l.a., san francisco and oakland? beyond southern california? guest: right now the bill only allows for a pilot in the next five years in these three jurisdictions. the bill was amended to ensure that we also evaluate.

depending on how the pilot goes and the evaluation, we may see expansion, but we have to wait for the five-year period. liz: aright, we will see. jeanette from the drug policy alliance, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. guest: thank you for having me. liz: next, a uc davis researcher will join us to discuss the important work, the link between wildfire smoke and reproductive i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54 and was a smoker, but quit.

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use this valuable guide to record your important information and give helpful direction to your loved ones with your final wishes. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. liz: welcome back. in california, we are seeing wildfires grow to levels never experienced before, destroying millions of acres every year, and creating so much bad air quality that sometimes people are forced to stay indoors for weeks. how bad is that air for pregnant women? researchers from uc davis are shedding light on that, with a study looking at how wildfire smoke is affecting pregnant women and their babies.

joining us to talk about this study is the lead scientist, and assistant professor at uc davis. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for joining us. liz: thank you for ha being here. guest: so when we began this research several years ago, there was little known about what kind of impacts wildfires exposure in particular could have on pregnant women and their developing with add. so we started with the thought that we knew about a lot -- we knew about traffic related air pollution and how that seems to be associated with various nancy and birth outcomes for children. we thought it was important to see what these more short-term wildfire exposures could be impacting pregnant women and their developing babies as well. so we started these studies with that in mind. now there have been studies

published, showing there is an association between wildfire exposure and lower birth weight in babies and also sometimes a shorter gestational age, especially if there is exposure in the third trimester. so now we are trying to understand the impacts and what are the major drivers of those associations, what types of exposure in the wildfire smoke, or is it wildfire events themselves impacting some of these associations? liz: how many women have you enrolled so far in this, and how many wildfires have they been impacted by? guest: we started originally in the 2017 napa and sonoma fires and we have spent time with some of the largest fires that hit california. here there was the 2018 campfire which then took on the role of the largest wildfire in california and wiped out whole cities, paradise, and then

became the deadliest and largest fire. then in 2019 there was that kincade fire which wasn't quite as large. then the 2020 wildfire season, there was the lightning complex fire. so every year we have an edge of continuing our study and enrolling brothers from each of these fires -- enrolling mothers from each of these fires. putting together the data so that we have a little over 500 moms enrolled and who had babies during these times. we are getting to where we are looking at some of that data now. liz: what heavy legged so far from these women? guest: so we are kind of early in our research, but we have seen some things, not only in our cities, but other cities. we have seen -- we also collect a lot of value specimens from these mothers and their babies, and we have looked at things like metals in the mothers hair

and we use that as a timeline. we can see levels before, during, and after the wildfires, and we see some peaks in the metals. whether that is associated with later outcomes, we have not gotten that far yet. we also need to replicate which metals, because it has been -- so far it could be different for each of these fires. we have only looked at the 2017 fires so far. we also looked at blood markers. we have seen that there are inflammatory cytokines and other things in mothers' blood when they are exposed to these fires. liz: should women be concerned? what should pregnant women to doing wildfire season? guest: we really don't know yet how this relates to their child in particular, and it is different for every woman,

depending on timing and lots of things and overall exposure. but mothers can minimize their exposure. that seems to be a good idea in general her health, but also in terms of her baby's health, and she can do that by staying indoors, running an air conditioner if possible with an air filter in it. and if you don't have access to that, you can mix a box-fan air filter. so we will be going out in the community and teaching people how to create these filters. anyway, or purchase air purifiers, anything to keep clean air indoors. and also stay indoors as much as possible. if you need to go outside, ware and n95 mask -- ware an n95 mask to protect yourself. liz: and you are working on a study for women ages 18 to 40, of childbearing age.

how can women be a part of that study? guest: basically anyone, it is open to anybody, not pregnant people, where we are collecting information and samples to figure out over all, what are the impacts of wildfire events on people? because there really is very little-known. liz: what is it so important to study that, specifically when it comes to lumen and reproductive health just people in general? guest: one of the things is we don't know the long-term impacts. there is very little to show because these are more recent events, at least at the sites they have been and the concentrations of pollutants we have had in the more recent fires. so we don't know how those might relate to respiratory and cardiovascular and other outcomes down the road. and for pregnant women, the effects on their children developing, even just younger children too.

there is a lot we have learned from nonhuman primate studies, in mmacaques, because a lot of them are outdoors in these wildfire events. we have seen fertility impacts, some birth outcome impacts, and behavioral impacts for the developing child as well as respiratory impacts. these are a signal to us that this is something that we need to learn more about. liz: absolutely. a lot to learn. we are thankful that you are doing this research. we hope to check in with you and your research again. thank you for joining us. "getting answers" continues in government. but first, a reminder that you can get our newscast on our abc7 area streaming app, available

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tonight, america's battle over abortion rights now at the center of the midterm elections. voters in kansas soundly rejecting a measure that would have eliminate d abortio ition. the first indication of where voters stand following the supreme court decision overturns roe versus wade. president biden is calling the vote a decisive victory. how one state's vote could reshape the midterms. rachel scott standing by. also tonight, 100 million americans under heat alerts tonight. extreme temperatures from texas to maine. in flood ravaged kentucky, where thousands are without water or power, the heat index hit triple digits today. rob marciano tracking it all. the courtroom showdown between conspiracy theorist alex jones and the parents of a sandy hook victim. for years, he's called the maac