09/23/20 09/23/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, ththis is dedemocracy y now! >> senator, i see no conflict between having a sincerely heldd fafaith and d duties a as audge. in facact, we hahave manyy j jus acroross the country who sincery have held rereligious s views ad still impartially and honestly discharged their obligations as a judge. amy: president trump is reportededly leanining towarards tatapping riright-wingng federae amy coney barrett to fill ruth bader ginsbuburg's seat on the

supreme court -- a move opposed reproducuctive rights,s, lgbtq,d cicivil righghts groupups. we will l speak toto the ediditf ththe nationonal cathoholic repr about t barrett's involvemenenta secrcretive ultra-conservativeve catholic group where femalee leaders were once referred to as handmaids. some have likened the e group to the one that inspired rgaret atwood's dystopian novel "the handmamaid's tatale." we will also speak to a former memberf the grouwho likens it to a cult. then "no mas bebies" or "no more babies." >> the doctor walkedn n and said, we cut your tubes. i said, why? he said, well, you snened for it. i said, me? i don't mememberothing. i did not tell my family. i did not llll anydy.. >> me othem sigd in the midst of labor. someon'eveven remember signin

this lawyer r r the rstt time is telngng the do you know you haveeen n stilizeded amy: aimmigratn authories ve stopp sendingomen to georgia necologi who is acsed of srilizingemale isoners thout thr consen we contie our lo at the natio's diurbing htory wit forc sterilition. will spk to hisrian rginia eino abou10 chano women w sued afr beg steriled at a s angeles hospital in late 1960's and 1970's. all that and more, coming up. welcome to demracy now!, democrcracynow.o.org, the e quae report. i'm amy goodman. the official united states death toll from covid-19 has passed 200,000 -- by far the highest in the world as university of washington researchers warned the u.s. is on track to double

that death toll by year's end. in the past 24 hours alone, the u.s. reported nearly 1000 new deaths and over 37,000 new cases -- with minnesota, montana, utah, wisconsin, and wyoming rereporting recocord levelels of infefections the past week. on tuesday, the covid-19 memorial project placed 20,000 flags across the national mall, each one symbolizing 10 u.s. residents who've died of the disease since the first recorded u.s. death in february. house speaker nancy pelosi spoke at a mememorial for the dead. >> this was preventable. not all of it, butut much of it. and what could be lost in the future is preventable, too, if we embrace science. science instead of politics. amy: "the new york times" reports the food and drug admiministration i is planningo issue stricter guidelines on any emergency use authorization of a

coronavirus vaccine, even as presesident trump promises a vaccine will be available as early as next month. the fda's emerging guidelines would affirm the warnings of researchers who say they can't guarantee the safety or efficacy of any of the vaccines currently in clininical trialsls in such a short period of time. "the washington post" reports pentagon officials spent most of a $1 billion coronavirus relief fund on jet engine parts, spy satellites, dronon, body armrmo, and dress uniforms for troops. the money was allocated by congress under the cares act and was meant to combat the pandemic. this comes as hospitals around the united states continue to repoport severe shortages of n95 masks and other medical supplilies. meanwhile, president trump continues to hold campaign rallies with his supporters packed shoulder-to-shoulder with

few wearing masks. on monday, as the death toll approached 200,000 with nearly 7 million u.s. infections, trump told a crowd in ohio that covid-19 only impacts elderly people with heart problems and other prproblems. pres. trump: but it affects virtually nobody. it is in amazing thing. everybody open your schools. amy: at least six tetehers havee died sincece the start o of fall classes alone, wit the independndent covid moninitor gp recording more than 21,000 coronavirus cases linked to u.s. schohools this schchool year. on tuesday, , the miami-dade county school district said students will be able to choose next month whether to return to their classrooms for i in-person instruction. here in new york, the united nations general assembly got underway tuesday with world leaders and most u.n. ambassadors participating remotely due to the pandemic.

secretary-general warned of a new cold war between the u.s. and china. >> our world cannot afford the future were the two largest economies have fracture, each with its own trade and financial rules. technological and economic divide risk inevitably turning into a military divide, and we must avoid thesese at alall cos. amy:y: president trurump also addressed the u.n. general assembly tuesday, criticizing china during a pre-teded sev minute addre, , the ortestst ever given ba u.s.s. president. pres. trump: we must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague under the world -- china. amy: chinese president xi jinping of china also spoke and vowed to make china carbon neutral by 2060 with carbon emissions peaking within 10 years. xi called on nations to "achieve a green recovery of the world economy in the post-covid era."

utah r republican senatotor mitt romney s said tuesdaday he wilil support t a floor r vote foror president trump's nominee toto replace supreme cocourt justice ruruth bader ginsburg whwho died last week at the age of 87.. >> my liberal friends havee over many decades gototten very usedo the ideaea of having a leral court. that is not written in the stars. amy: romney's announcement means majority leader mitch mcconnell has the support of 51 republican senators -- enough to rapidly push forward with a vote on justice ginsburg's replacement. there are just 41 days remaining before the november election. in 2016, mcconnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for president obama's nominee to replace justice antonin scalia, who died nearly nine months before the election. at the time, mcconnell said -- "the american people should have a voice in the selection of their next supreme court justice." louisville, kentucky, remains in a ststate of e emergency as they

prepares for a grand jury decision in the police killing of breonna tayaylor. police fatalally shot the 26-year-old black emergency room technician in her own home on march 13. ahead of the announcement, the louisville police department announced it is conducting an internal review of six officers involved in the shooting and raid. one of the officers being investigated, sergeant jon mattingly, has defended his actions. in an email to 1000 other officers, mattingly wrote -- "regardless of the outcome today or wednesday, i know we did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night." inin the email, he also called protesters "thugs" saying, "this is not an us against society, but it is good versus evil." "the nation" magazine is reporting federal officials with the justice e department a and homeland security have intercepted the phone communications of protesters in portland, oregon.

"the nation" reports surveillance involved cell phone cloning where the government steals a phone's unique identifiers and copies them to another device in order to intercept the communications received by the original device. oregon senator jeff merkley has called for a full investigation. he wrote on twitter -- "the trump administration has treated the people of portland like enemy combatants. these tactics -- like cell phone cloning to spy on protesters -- are unacceptable in america." russian opposition politician alexey navalny has been released from a german hospital whehere e was treated for suspspected popoisoning after he becamame violently ill aboard a flilight from siberia to moscow in august. ahead of his release, navalny published a photo of himself looking gaunt but walking without assistance. doctors say it's too early to tell if the long-time critic of vladimir putin will make a complete recovery. german scientists say they discovered traces of the banned nerve agent novichok on a water

bottle used by navalny shortly before he fell ill. in w washington, a reporter askd president trump p tuesday y abot navalny's poisoning. >> who do o u think poisonedd alexey navalny in russia? abouttrump:p: we will talkk thatat at another timeme. amy: in n belarus, preresident alexander lukashenko was abruptly sworn in at a secret ceremony today amid ongoing anti-government protests demanding the long-time authoritarian leader resign. the opposition denounced the ceremony as illegitimate following lukashenko's landslide win in last month's election which critics say was rigged. in cleleveland, ohio, , a 28-year-old transgender woman who died in her cell at cuyahoga county jail last month left aa hidden letter denonouncing the jail's horrid conditions, found by her m mother after picking up her daughter's s belonginings. in the letter, lea daye wrote prisoners were served food that

was cold, smelled bad, tasted like cleaning chemicals. daye said the jail also failed to provide cleaning supplies and that the conditions had only gotten worse during the covid-19 pandemic. the cleveland plain dealer reports her mother says daye was being held in an area of the jail reserved for men. questions remain on what causedd her deatath. in i immigration news, women imprisisoned at irwin county detention center in georgia are no longer being sent to the physician accused of administering hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures without consent. an attorney working on the investigation said tuesday dr. mahendra amin saw at least 60 women imprisoned at irwin, which is privately run. whistleblower dawn wooten, a former nurse at irwin, labeled amin the "uterus collector." meanwhile, mexico's government is demanding u.s. authorities address allegations of forced sterilizations at irwin, where at least six mexexan women m may have had unwanted hysterectomies. this is mexico's foreign ministster marcelo ebrard speakg tuesday.

>> it is something that is unacceptable and we reject it beforehand, even in the united states there is a reaction from importanant groups which we have been in contact with. this has to be cleared up. if it is confifirmed, it w willa major issue and not only punishshed, but also other measures will bebe taken. amy: in n california, immigratin rights advdvocates continue toto dedenounce governor gavin news's orders to transfer p people from state prisons to the custody of immigration and customs enforcement. this comes as "the guardian" reports 41-year-old kao saelee, who fought wildfires as an incarcerated firefighter in 2018 and 2019, was transferred to ice custody last month, the day of his prison release. after 22 years behind bars for a robbery he committed as a teen, saelee was sent to an immigration prison in louisiana and is now facing deportation to laos, the country his family fled when he was just two years

old. the census bureau cut short its -- new questions are being raised over why the census bureau cut short its data collection for the census by a month. a new report by the commerce department's internal watchdog reveals the decision did not come from the director of the census. in report, the watchdog stated -- "the schedule change was not the bureau's decision senior officials at the bureau, including the director, did not know who ultimately made the decision to accelerate the census schedule." the watchdog report also reveals there is a consensus within the bureau that shortening the length of the data collection will "negatively impact the accuracy" of the census. in camampaign news, , democratic vice presidential candidate kamala harris traveled to the battleground state of michigan tuesday, where she appealed to black voters to help defeat donald trump in november. this is senator harris speaking at an event in detroit. >> why do you think they are trying to suppress and to make it difficult or to confuse black people around voting?

and the answer is simple. because they know when we vote, things change. amy: meanwhile, joe biden beat back a reporter's suggestion he would pursue a socialist agenda if elected president, taking a swipe at vermont independent senator bernie sanders and his supporters. biden was speaking to a local tv reporter in northeastetern, wiscononsin. mr. biden: i beat the socialists. that is how i got elected,d, how got that nomination. look at my career, my whole career. i am not a s socialist. amy: on tuesday, cindy mccann, mccain,w off johohn announced she will endorse joe biden fofor president. in terre hauaute, indianana, fel prisonon officials strappedd condemned prisoner william lecroy to a gurney tuesday evening and injected him with a single dose of the drug pentobarbital. witnesses to the execution report lecroy's eyelids grew heavy and his midsection heaved

uncontrollably for several minutes before his lips turned blue and he fell still. lecroy was pronounced dead just after 9:00 p.m. local time. it was the sixth federal execution since the trump administration ended a 17-year hiatus on federal death sentences. on thursday, christopher vialva is scheduled to become the seventh federal prisoner to die by lethal injection this year. and a a new audit revealals the universityty of californiaia admitted at least 64 wealthy, mostly white students asas "favs to donorors, family and friends" over the past six academic yeyears. the audit looked into admissions policies starting in 2013 at four university of california campuses, including uc berkeley, 42 applicants who were children of staff and major donors were admitted to the university over other students who were more qualified. at other campuses, applicants were falsely designated as student-athlete recruits even as

they have little or no athletic skill. the california state auditor says the admission of at least 400 other students was also questionable. and those arare some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i am amy goodman in new york, joined by my cohost juan gonzalez from his home in n new jersey.. juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show looking at the future of the supreme court. on tuesday, utah republican senator mitt romney said he will susupport a floor vovote for president trump's nominee to replace justice ruth bader ginsburg, who died last week at the age of 8 87. >> i liberal friends h have gotn very used to the idea of h havig a liberal court. that is not written in the stars. amy: the announcement means majority leader mitch mcconnell has the 51 republican senators he needs to rapidly push forward with a vote on justice ginsburg's replacement, just 41 days before the november

election. in 2016, mcconnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for merrick garland, president obama's nominee to replace justice antonin scalia, who died nearly nine months before the election. at the time, mcconnell said -- "the american people should have a voice in the selection of their next supreme court justice." president trump has said he will name his nominee by saturday and that it will be a woman. the front runner appears to be u.s. court of f appeals s judgey coney barrett, who met with trump on monday. barrett is a devout catholic who has taken conservative stances on abobortion, g gun righthts, d immimigration.n. ththe human n rights c campaigns cacalled herer an "absbsolute tt to lgbgbtq righthts." one issue that is likely to be raised i if judge barrett is nomiminated to the supreme court is her membership in a secretive catholic group called people of prpraise.. members of the group pledge a lilifelong loyalty oath to the

group, which assigns each member a personal advisor known as "heads" for men and, until recently, "handmaids" for women. the secretive group has a strictly patriarchal structure in which men are the heads of household with powerver theieir wives anand families.. the grououp has been d describey some as s cult-like. the sesenate did not question barrett about people o of praise directly during her 2017 confirmation hearing for the u.s. court o of appealals for te seventh circuit. but california democratic senator dianne feieinstein wadeuestion her on roe v.v. and her religigious viewews. onwhy i is it so o many off us this s site have this very , youuortatable feelingng that know, dogma and law arere two didifferentt things and i i thik whateverer a religigion is, it s

its own dogma. the law w is totally differeren. professor,your case, when you read your speeceches, e conclusion one d draws i is thae you. l lives loudly withthin when youu is of concern come t to big i issues that lare nunumbers ofof peoplple have fot for for years in this country. >> i am bebeing consnsidered o a position where the ravena opportunity to be a no votote on roe. i said to the committee, i would faithfully apply all supreme court precededents. amy: this all comes as president trump is scheduled to speak at the national catholic prayer breaeakfast this morning. well, for more, we are joined by heidi schlumumpf, executive edir

ofof the national catholic reporter. in 2018, s she wrote the pieiece "prospective supreme c court nominee puputs spotlight on peoe of praise." she's joining us from chicago. welcome to democracy now! why don't you start off by telling us a brief biography of amy coney barretttt and whahat people o of praise i is. >> thank y you, amy, for having me. i am happy to talk to you t this morning. is, lilike yourtt inintroduction said,d, a cathoc judge. she has also been a profofessort the e law hool at ththe universy of notre d dame. she is a conservative j judge, d originalist as we wouldld probay expect to be at the topp of the list of this president and leader in this party. i've seen some reporting that sasays she has been groomed for this moment since as early ass her r first year in lalaw schooy a group of faculty a at e univiversity of notre dame's law school w who were strorongly opd

toto roe v. wade. she is on the list from the federalist society, and we have a conneconon there to that national catholic prayer breakfast that is a about to stt later ththis morning. the founder of the national cacatholic prayer breakfastst, leonard leo, was also the longti leader r of the federalist society, which has for decades been tryiying to reshape the judiciaiary -- especially around some of the culture while issues like abortionon and l lgbt rights. one of the reasons t that amy barrett wawas not questioioned t her membership in thi group within catholilicism called the people of praise is that she did not discsclose it on her questionnaire backck in 201017. but when her namame was floatedo ththe top of the list when jusue kennedy retired back in 2018,8, thatat is when n many people std asking questions about the

people of praise. the people of praise is a a covenanted community, which means its members sign a covenant or ma a a covenanant to one ananother. i justst want to say the beginng here that i don't think there is any thing wrong with practicing your faith. i am a catholic.c. i i think many people join grous of other l like-minded people. the level of commitment you see in t these covenanted communitis is admirable.. however, becauause of some of te secret mess and some of the beliefs o of the number of these communities, as well as some alallegations by members whoho e leleft of authoritarianism, thee is real l concern about whethe her involvevement will involve r ability toto be impartial and fr as a judge. could youi schlumpf, talk a about some ofof those ald authoritariaian practctices?

some of the descriptionsns i hae heard of this complete submbmission t to the will of yr ofbsbd a and the invololvement leaders of the group in the most intimatete parts of a families functitiing. could youu talk about some o of those practices? also, what is the response off the catholic hierararchy to gros within thehe catholic c church t by all appppearances appear to e cults? >> i would say just to take your second question first thatt t te charismatic movement in the catholic chuhurch, which goes bk to the 1970's and d is acceptedy the e catholic church but t not everyoyone who is a chararismatc catholic -- charismatic refeferring to someonene who haa personal experieience of g god,d of directly through ththe holy spirit and often results in different gifts of the holy spirit likike speaking intends r -- in tongues or prophecy.

this whole idea is somemething e church is ok with. a number of thesese covenanted communities are kind of a subgroup of chcharismatics. there is a number of these other communities that we have several times, word of g god, sort of the spirit, lords range, t moer of godd community. lookedd specificalallyt the people of prpraise, whicis meant to be quite honest, has fear criticisms than some of these other organizazations. but whahat we have is a set up n which these members of the community -- and t there are a little under 2 2000 of them in e people o praise spreadad out ovr various numumber of cities -- mt of them are cathoholic, but it s ---- ty belong to regular parishes and worship at t regular church. usually on sunday afternoons,s, ththey get t together for theirn pray serervice and thenhey also may meeeet in smallerer grs

througughout the week, single genderroupups. bubut then you're askining about this idea that they have a head or someone who ikind of f like a spirituaual advisor. and for a manan, their spiritual advisor would be another man n n the community. for a single woman, or spiritual advisor would be another woman. the wife'sn marriage, spiritual advisosor is herer husband. this whole language of handmaiden, which is scripturarl and obviously has a very negative c connotation nowow bee of the margaret atwood book and series, is sometething that sort of reinforces the patriarchy that not only this group, but a number of evangelical christian paths that see husbands as the head of the familily and the decision-m-makers, and consequently, women in a more submissive or subordinate role. there are alalso founders of soe of thehese groups, not s so muca

problem with people of praise, that have some history of being very authoritarian. the decisions that a had might mights with -- a head discuss with their advisee could be anything around where you should l live, who should marry, where your children to go to school. but a member i interview that is a current member said it is everything from those kinds of important decisions t to redecoratiting theheir house. there's s nothing wrong with sosomebody having spiriritual advisor, but the secrecy involved in this organization does raise some red flags, asaso some of the reports from people who have left. juan: who is the leadership p of the people of praise, given the fact that membebers pledgee loyy to the group a and obviously, te decisions of the leadaders would have an influence, let's say, in the case of amy barrett? >> leader i i spoke to in 2018 o

i isieve is still the head craig lynch. he is a prprofessor at notre da. i know a number of folks in south bend -- i'm a notree dame grad myself, who know people who belong to the people of praise or i know people who send d ther chchildren t to the people of praiaise's school. they have a number of private schools. what i hear from them as they peperfectly nice peoeople. very normal. that said, because thehere is a level of secrecy -- for r examp, i tried vevery hard to get a coy of the covenant, which i understand is a few sentetences that the covenenanted membeberse to o one another. they were very reluctant to have that be public in any way. so those kinds of secrecy things i think are what bring people to use language abobout -- like cults.

i'm not sure i would call it a cult, but some of those concerns about authoritatarianism, sececy -- i it is true, i heard from a number of members i spoke with or chat r rooms where i read wht they were saying is that when they were trying to leave the organization, there was a level of shunning them as well. amy: i want to ask you about this pledging of lifelong loyalty to the group, which assigns each member personal advisor known as heads for men and until recently, handmaids for women. the secretive group has a strictly patriarchal structure in which men of the has of the household with power over their wiveves and families. the group has been described by -like.s cold-like -- cult margaret atwood has talked about various catholic charismatic groups. the group she based "handmaid's

tale" on was people of hope in new jersey, not the south end people of praise. but of course, that term is so significant that they used "the handmaid''ss tale until recentl. at work -- atwood told "the new york times" -- "i delayed writing it for about three years after i got the idea because i felt it was too crazy. then, i started noticing that a lot of the things i thought i was more or less making up were now happening, and indeed more of them have happened since the publication of the book. there is a sect now, a catholic charismatic spinoff sect, which calls the women handmaids. they don't go in for polygamy of this kind but they do threaten the handmaids according to the biblical verse i use in the book -- sit down and shut up." again, that is a different charismatic catholic group, a kind of spinoff of people of hope. explaiain the difference. anand also, if you could respond -- i mean, the unfortunate questioning of f feinstein when , theaid to any barrett

dogma lives loudly withthin you, within --- people took great umbrage at that. she said, i can separate our religious views from my legal opinions. the dogma lives loudly within you was feinstein's comment. and if you can talk about that and whether that will prevent people from questioning amy coney b barrett aboutut her v vs and how theyy affect her legal decisions. theell, just to go back to people of hope. the people of hope, i i'm less familiar withh t them but i woud say that i have e followed a number of f folks who grew up in some of these covenanted communities and there is a history of allegations, especially by y folks who haveve chososen to leave it, problematc authoritariaianism. i think -- it is interesting to note historically, there is nothing inherently conservative

about the charismatic movement. so if you'rere having this personal relationship with thehe holy spirit and god could also trade t to be a progressive catholic i suppose, too, but many charismatic movement have aligned themselves were similar to pentetecostalism and protestantism, so we have this combining of conservative could -- catholicism with its teaching around gender roles, anand takea marriage, and ththe sorts of things, that then get sort of connececd with thehese charismac groups. people'shat many coconcern isn't that s she's a member of a religious c communiy -- obviously, this is not simple anti-catholicism. if being a catholic was a problem for being on t the supre court, why do we have some in catholic justices already? it iss t this particular group,e secretiveness, and it does have -- and she has specifically

spoken about her own views on abortion, on the d death penalty in terms of church teaching on that come on gay marriage. i do think it is somewhat ironic -- amy: opposing g it all. >> posted the death penalty, opposed to abortion and gay marriage. juan: i wanted to ask you, given the fact that one of the apparent principles of people of b bee is that a w wife must submissisive to the will of her husband and that in this case amy barrett's husband is a memember of the grgroup as well. whwhat does this say about her ability to make independent decisions aparart from what her husbanand might ththink when shs on the court? >> so i can't speak to that specifically. it is possible there could be somebody nominated to the court who has that belief and it is

not known i in a public wayay because of her membership in this group is known. i think that is a fair question for her if she were to be nominated and at a confirmatioin hearing. obviously, when the senate is looking to c confirm somomne to such an important position, a lifelolong position, i think all kind of questions aboutt someone'ss belilis, includiding their religious beliefs and their membership in cerinin organizations, is fair game. i thinink the democrats are goig to be inin a toughgh position at is increasingly looking like this hearingng could be happenig before the election. so they have to be careful not to be appearingng to ask her questions ththat are perceived y religion.sultlting her obviously, joe biden and the dedemocrats haveve done a lot to reach out to religious voters, moderate religious voters during thee campaign, and would not wat to undo all of that. i know there are conservative

cathololics who proudly say ther dodogma lives in me, to what dianne feinstein said. the only thing i can say is it must be that amy barrett's husband wawants her to be on the supreme cocourt bececause it is that in a group that b believes s in the submisn of women, we have a woman from that group who is potentially going to be on the highest c cot in the land. amy: before we go to a former member of people of praise, i dishd to go to an could any cunning use views. in a 2017 law review, she criticized chief justice john roberts for voting to uphold the affordable care act in 2013. she wrote -- "chief justice roberts pushed the affordable care act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute. he construed the penalty imposed

on those without health insurance as a tax, which permitted him to sustain the statute as a valid exercise of the taxing power. had he treated the payment as the statute did -- as a penalty -- he would have had to invalidate the statute as lying beyond congress's commerce power." it is a little hard to understand,, but it is extremely amy coneyt because if barrett was nominated, confirmed, and sat on the court before novembeber 10, those are the dates of t the oral argumens on the aca, which could strike the whole thing down. yoyour final comments on this? that she is ak conservative judge and s she isa conservative catholili the catholicic chuhurch in the united states has long supported the affordable care act, especially after the accommodations were made for catholic employers that did not

want to providide contraceptptie coverage. it will l be interesting to seef she sides with chchurch leadersn that one or r not. she has said she would not have her faith affecect her r decisis asas a judge. she had written a law review article once saying judges would have to recuse themselves, for punisishmenttcapital cases. confirmed, itt would be very interesting to see what she does. she may y surprise us. sosometimes judges do very different things than wexpect from them. amy: heidi schlumpf, thank you for being with us, executive editor of the national catholic reporter. in 2018, she wrote the piece "prospective supreme court nominee puts spotlight on people of praise." when we come back, we will be joined by former member of the group who likens peoplele apprae to a cult.t. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "cloud cornerer" by marisa

anderson. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we contntinue to o look at te background of judge e amy cocony barretett, the apparent front runner to replace justice ruth bader ginsburg on the supreme court. president trump said he will announce a nominee by saturday, and mitch mcconnell appears to have the 51 votes he needs in the senate to force a confirmation vote through b befe the election. --are looking at anany bon formergo to a member of peopople of praise who is now spepeaking out against te group. coral anika theill was a people of praise memberer for fivive ys from 1979-1984 after being forced to join the organization by her then-husband. she documented her experience in her memoir titled d "bonshea: making light of the dark." thank you so much for joining us from corvallis, oregon. appraiseescribe people

and what happened to you while you lived in the community? >> thank you for having me on your show and i am a fan of yoyu and your show. i was a member of the e people appraise. many call community, but i describe it asas a cult. i experienced abuse anand tortue by my husbandnd and the cult leaders, a as well as shaming ad a smear cacampaign against me wn i escaped and lefef for safety, legally chchange my years.r the past 20 even thohough i love the p peope appraisese cult, i didid not hae any rights to to o being married to my husbandnd who was a cult member. i was under the authorority of y husband and his a authoritarian head ed brbrown. under their authority, was forced to attend meetings but bebecause i hahad defied leaderp

in t their authority, i was ford to sit on the f floor outside their meetings in the hallway at the st. mary's catholic church. there are e dozens of witnessess that have seen how i was treaeated. what i would ask listeners to consnsider, even though they say this is a healthy group, to consider how i was treated and if this would be correct for amy barrett to be treated. one time i had a miscarriage in 191984 andnd i had to have a d&c surgery. after our return from the hospital, i was forcrced to attd the people appppraise women's meeting, or handmade meeteting. that was also woman besides my husband. they wananted to go shopping bui couldn't due to returning fromom surgrgery. i left the meeting to go home and rest as my doctor had

ordered. i was met by my husbsband and forceded into the car, kidnapapd against my will where i was driven to the cult leaders home hourstererrogated until wee of the m morning and psychologically ababused most of the next morning, ththe communiy was i informed to shun n me. i would d never allow w anyone o treat me this today and it traumatizes me to admit this was my life at that time. the trauma experience -- yes? juan: in terms of some of t the hair-raisingng descriptionons in your memoioir of what happened o you, i wanted to ask you u if yu could talk about some of those. you tatalk about the s situation assigned head d that was to you and y yourr husband wantd to see the family y budget, they wanted --- told you how many hoururs per day you could s spen chores, including two to four loads of laundryry a day.

thisiseddling didirectly in the daday-to-dayay -- in your day-ty life with you and your family. and yoyou also mentioned once yu decided you wanted to leave, they threaten to try to have you committed to a mental institution? >> thehey would call me e mentay ill. there was a time they had me under special counseling undnder father harris, whoho was the hed leader of the corvallis people appraise branch. he was from south h bend. basically,y, there was just crueuelty and bulling, not much difference than the jim jones cult. i shared with heidi my stories very much like the handmaid's tale serieies. the nenetflix series and part documentary "the keepers." there was always a list on my wall, schedule, and men from the community would come unannounced to check o on me to make sure i was on schchule and hahad done y chores.

.here is basicallyly no p privay all of your personal -- anything personal wasas given to work husband's head also. i was not allowed contraceptives and we were supposed to have all the children god intended for me in matter what my health was.. i had had eight children and three mimiscarriages and d d&c n when my health was faililing. amy: can you talk about your decision to leave the group? you're in corvallis. judge amy coney barrett is in the original place of people appraise, which is south bend.d. and the reports are there or something like 70 -- 1700 members of thehe group across te country. talk about youour choice t to le and the response of the group. clubs i never wanted to join in the first place, but due to our marriage, i was forced d to obey in all things through the

duration of our r 20 year mamarriage. during the five e years especiay in the people appraiaise cult,ti was just worst to obey. we had sunday meetings, , we had tuesday y night meetings.. men had thursday nightht meetin. there were community meeeetingso help peoeople within the community. there's notot a lot of outsidide contact.t. our leaders would t tell us how often wewe could s ourur family and our friends. even the night my fathther diedn 1984, he did not allow me to go see my father before he died. those werere just decisions mad. as i will say, the bottom line was cruelty. members arere in spiritutual bobondage.e. some are afraid to leave. i believe i was an example. perpetrators will show people what happens to others when you say nono. it is veryry similarar to o domc violenence and how frightening n experience it is t to leave.

i was shunneded in the communit. becacause the people off praised a widespread respect within the community, many y of their membs are leaders in the local st. mary's catholic c church, i was shununned evenen in storores. there were people who knewew th, so it was a very traumatic experience. amy: what happened to your children when you left? >> when i left, eventually, the community forced my husband to leave. it was kind of a long-term wait and see but i would notot go bak in a and he was enraged i would not obey and he was looked upon as a hususband that had aa disobedientt wifefe and that was shamefeful to him. he was forced to leave. it was not long a after i also left the catholic church. i honor everyone's right to believe as they want, but when there is abuse, i believe you need to leave.

environment.c abusers to know you're not going to allow them to abuse you. i went to the priest andndhey were friends with charles harars my father charles hararris, so there was no help. amy: coral anika theill, thank you for being with us, former member of the people of praise catholic community for five years from 1979-1984. forced to join the organization by her husband at the time. she documents her experience in her memoir. next up, we go to the latest news that immigration authorities say they have stopped sending women detaiaines to a georgia gynecologist accused of sterilizing the female prisoners without their consent. and we go back and look atat the disturbibing history of forced sterilization of chicano women in los angeles.

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amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. in georgia, immigration authorities have stopped sending immigrant women detainees held in the irwin county detention center to a gynecologist accused of sterilization procedures without consent. on tuesday, we interviewed the whistleblower nurse dawn wooten who worked at irwin and said that women held their called dr. amin the "uterus collector." well, for our next guest, the news that a doctor had given immigrant women n unwanted sterilizations sounded eerily familiar. virginia espino is the producer of the documentary "no mas bebes." this is the film's trailer. > in east los angeles riring the late 1960's and early

1970's,omomen we going thehe county hpital to get birth. someone home a sterilize-- some went home sterized. >> there are still beds rere. look. inside i feepapain remembering >> what makes you sad being here? >> who knows, but i do feel sad. became born aoy minute ago his mother does notavave immimigrion papars.

>> they werextremely fearful being told you need an emergency cesareanecectionnd y youould feel like pouring down yrr gs.. at thahatime signing consent for tubal ligation. >> this is the emergcycy partrtme of los angeles county. >> some sign inheidst of labor. some of them don'even rembeber -- assigninp >> this young lawye f for t firstimeme, llingg them, do you knknow y have be steterized? looks we are soon for non-monitongng of the sterilizatn n regution. >> it s just the beginning of the emerncnce of the civil rights movement in theatatino cocommity. we were talking out abortionon ritsts, feminism. the idea that someby could b forcibly sterilized seemed like something out of a mental

institutioouout of the 10's. >> t claim tt we areart of a greater goal o srilizing the xixican population that immiantsts tlos angeles. i mean, i'm ofndnded b that. that is t t whate didid. >> the way i felt when i was young, doesn't chgege theay i i feel i imy heart now that i'm older. but i is the all the time. it's ke when you by somebody, e e alwa going t carrthemem. amy: that's the trleler fr "nono mas bebebes." independent lens in 20, tells t the story of hohw some 46 years ago, it whistleblower doctor spoke out about a large nuerer of ball ligatis s perfmed d onostlyy chico pients at e los angeles county spital. dr. beard roseeld obseed th many won who ca to the hospital for ergrgency-sececti deliries l lt the hoital sterilized. 10 women oththe won fifilea

class-action lawitit in deraral coururt a casasknown as madrigal v. quilligan. in this clip from the film, we hear from plaintiff maria hurtado. >> that is what i hed d them saying, no more. the mexin n wome a are hing g to ma kids. and they were viving tfigugure out a way slow it down. you speak english, th t treat yoyou e w way yoyodon't speaking list, they trtt you another. atat is w i i seit. >> the only thing e e doct said was, mama. he would n say you are here. we cant s anything. the only snanaled mama stub a a: one ofof the women who sterilizd without her consent in the 1970's at the los angeles county usc medical center. for more, we are joined by virginia espino, the film's producer and lead historian.

she's also a lecturer with the ucla department of chicana, chicano,o, and cenentral amemern studies. she mamade the film with h her friend, the academy-award-nominatedd filmmaker renee tajima-peña. before then, thehe women in thee lawsuit had not had much opportunity to describe their experiences. welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us, professor. if you can lay out what happened and what this lawsuit was about and what came of it? was -- the events occurred in the earlyly 1970's when limid -- women w would go o to the l.. county hospital for emergency cesareans. the l.a. county hospital wasn't a place where people would go and plan to deliver their child. in some cases, you did have as a safepting g for that place, but you had other people

going there because they were in painin and trauma, they were bleedingng, having complication. that was the case e of the madrigal 10 would eventually follow lawsuit against t the hospital. they would go to thehe hospital for an emergency cesarean on fo labor and at t that time, they were apppproached by hospitatal staff, sometimes doctors, sometimes nurses, somometimes socicial workers, about signing consent forms for tubal ligations stop quite often, they did not understand the terminology. they did not, in some cases, understand the language. many of them spoke primarilyy spanish. in some cases,s, they were in te duress frorom pain n from labord so they y did not quitete know t was happppening to thehem. , aone case, for examplele woman went for three yeaears afr her tubal ligation wearing an

iud because she did nott know se had thatat surgery pererform o n her. could you talk, somewhat a about the dififficuly you had in actually documenting what h had happened? the problems you hadad any accessing records of what had occurred? asas i mentioned in yesterdada's show, this kind of stuff hasas been h happening in puerto ricon the late 1 1940's and early 1950's, the mass sterilizationn of puerto o rican women of childbdbearing age on n the isl. but t again, finding the dodocumentatation was difficul >> in this case, i think it is unique because you have the /chicanonoof the chicana movement at the time the sterilizizations were beining me publblic. you u had people conscioususly saving these records. his expertor donated witness tesestimony to ucla

chicano/chicana research was to pay made available some of the audio you here in the film was what he recorded when he was an expert witness. he actually interviewewed the womemen in the 1970's and saved all of that material and donated it to the library. it was harder to get the court because they have been lost, had been misplaced. i iterms of w what you hear whatat has been going on at t te irwin detention center in georgia now, , puttingg what is happening currently in context frfrom the history that you have mind herere, could you make some connection? >> absolutely. it feels that definitely the geororgia case is mirroring whwt

is takining place or what has taken place in los angeles. yet people notot fully understanding g the procedures that are being performed on them. you haveve m miscommunicatationa code of silence. thankfully, you have a whistleblower who is breaking that code of silence. but at the l.a. county hospital in the 1970's, you had a code of silence where people did not speak ouout against this abusus. pepeople normalized approaching women while they were in labor and asking them toto sign over their fertility. that was a normal practice that was taking place on a day-to-day praise this. -- basis. amy: while they lost a lawsuit -- this was not before a jury, but before one judge, a white male judge. talk about t the changnges thatt resulted from the bravery of these women coming forward.

close it really rallied the community. you had protests. you had the newspaper covering this issue at a time that it did not really cover the ethnic mexican community. he had a waiting period implemented -- you had a waiting period implemented so it became illelegal to approach a womann while she was in labor regarding tuball ligation. so 72 waitining period was implement it. recommendations or legislation put into place that required consentnt forms be in e language of the patient. so some of those were monumental changes that occurred because of this lawsuit. , wewe haveia espino to l leave it there but we encourage people to sesee this incredible documentaryry "no mas bebes" and lecturer with the ucla department of chicana, chicano, and central american

studies. the filmfare on pbs independent lens in 2016, and is available on demand on vimeo in both english and spanish. we will link to it. that does it for our show. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

learn how to stay in shape and maintain your health deliciously. ready when you are. nhk world-japan. ♪ thank you for joining us. from our studio in tokyo, this is nhk "newsline." new figures from johns hopkins university show worldwide have contracted coronavirus. the global death toll is approaching 1 million. it's a cririsis that has also