09/20/21 09/20/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> they put us under a bridge where we slept. we were taken to a jail in texas. i spent five does -- days in jail. amy: the u.s. has begun deporting haitian asylum seekers from a makeshift camp of 15,000

people in texas despite protests from haiti, which is facing a mounting humanitarian and political crisis following a devastating earthquake and the assassination of its prime -- president. we will go to del rio, texas, for the latest. then we will speak to an abortion provider in texas over the state's near total ban on abortions. over the weekend, one texas doctor revealed he was openly defiant of the law. then we look at the deadly consequences of vaccine inequality. >> more than five point 7 billion doses have been administered globally but only 2% of those have been administered in africa. this leaves people at high risk risk -- many people around the world enjoy protection. amy: we go to india where groups are calling on johnson & johnson

to stop exporting indian made vaccines to wealthy nations, including the united states, at a time when hundreds of millions of people remain unvaccinated in india, as well as in africa. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.orgthe war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the pentagon acknowledged friday the u.s. drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in afghanistan in the final days of the u.s. withdrawal, was a "tragic mistake." the pentagon previously asserted thstrike arted an imnent thre by isis-kighters, b investigatns quicklyevealed thvictim wasnstead aid worker zemari ahmadi and his family members. his family is demanding a probe into the killing. this is his brother romal ahdi.

>> they should accept and pay their damages. they should come to me and apologize and offer condolences. they should evacuate us. amy: in washington, d.c., lawmakers said they would investigate the deadly strike, while activists renewed calls for an end to u.s. drone warfare. in other news om afghanistan, most secondary classes resumed without female students as their fate remains unclear under the new taliban leadership, who only explicitly ordered male students to return to the classroom. some boys refused to attend class until all students were allowed to return. meanwhile, the new taliban mayor of kabul told female municipal employees not to come into work. on sunday, women activists rallied in front of the building which used to house the ministry of women's affairs in kabul -- an agency the taliban has done away with. >> you cannot suppress the voice

of afghan women by keeping girls at home and restricting them come as well as by not allowing them to go to school. you cannot suppress the voice of afghanistan's women by turning the military of women into the ministry of the promotion of virtue and prevention. you cannot suppress afghanistan's women. amy: meanwhile, al jazeera reports at least seven people were killed after a series of blasts in kabul and in the eastern city of jalalabad saturday. isis-k claimed responsibility for the attacks. the biden administration sent three deportation flights to haiti sunday as part of its efforts to speed up the mass expulsion of over 14,000 haitian asylum seekers, who have been staying in a makeshift camp under a bridge in del rio, texas, for days. the flights each carried at least 145 asylum seekers. more flights are expected to depart in coming days. haitian officials have urged the

u.s. to stop the deportations, warning they don't have the resources to assist the incoming asylum seekers as haiti is still reeling from last month's catastrophic earthquake. immigrant justice advocates blasted the biden administration for launching what could be one of the most abrupt and largest mass deportations of asylum seekers in decades. this is a haitian asylum seeker in del rio. >> i don't want to be deported. if i am deported now, i will die in haiti. why? cause there is no security. they are bandits. there is a civil war every day with the police, with bandits, police civil war. very complicated because there is no leadership in haiti. there is nothing. amy: rights groups are also denouncing the u.s. government's ongoing attempts to block haitian asylum seekers from applying for refuge, which is a

violation of international law. we will go to del rio, texas, after headlines. in another blow for immigrant rights, the senate parliamentarian ruled sunday democrats cannot create a pathway to citizenship for millions of people as part of their $3.5 trillion spending bill. democrats were hoping to pass the measure, which could give -- grant citizenship to tps holders, essential workers, farm workers, and those brought to the u.s. as children by passing the package through reconciliation, without republican support. democrats say they will keep fighting for comprehensive immigration reform. advisers to the food and drug administration recommended booster shots of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine for people 65 and older or those who are at high risk of developing severe infections. the recommendation is more limited than president biden's previously announced plan to

offer boosters to anyone who had already received two shots. meanwhile, pfizer announced their covid vaccine is safe for children aged 5 to 11 and generates a strong immune response. pfizer hopes to receive emergency use authorization soon. in california, fire crews are battling a massive wildfire in the sierra nevada mountains that's threatening sequoia national park, home to the world's biggest trees. over the weekend, firefighters wrapped protective aluminum foil blankets around old-growth sequoias, including one nicknamed "general sherman," the world's largest tree by volume. the knp complex fire has grown to over 21,000 acres and is just 3% contained. the united nations warns the planet is on course for a catastrophic global temperature rise of 2.7 degrees celsius, even if arly 200 u. member

states meet their stated emissions cuts. that's far beyond the 1.5 degree goal of the paris climate accord and would mean a massive loss of lives and livelihoods, with whole ecosystems collapsing amid deadly heat waves, powerful storms, and rising sea levels. on friday, president biden unveiled a plan by the u.s. and europe to cut global methane emissions by 30% by the end of the decade. pres. biden: i am working to pass the stork investment to modernize our climate resilient infrastructure, to build a clean energy future that creates millions of jobs and ushers in new industries of the future. as part of this work, the u.s. is committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 50% to 52% low 2005 levels by the year 2030. amy: but it's unclear if biden's pledges will be possible given

the ongoing obstruction of democrats' infrastructure and climate plans by republicans and conservative democrats like joe manchin, chair of the energy panel and the largest senate recipient of campaign donations from the oil, coal, and gas industries. dozens of climate activists were arrested in new york city friday as they staged several peaceful actions demanding big banks to stop investing in the fossil fuel industry. activists held protests in front of the headquarters of jpmorgan chase, citibank, and bank of america. the actions come as world leaders gather for the u.n. general assembly and ahead of november's u.n. climate summit in scotland. this is presleigh hayashida of extinction rebellion. >> i would look to see people who are actually talking about the climate crisis realistically and not making 20 year plans, 30-year plans. we cannot talk about 2030 anymore. we have to immediately stop

fossil fuel investment. amy: france has recalled its ambassadors to the united states and australia after the biden administration said it would provide nuclear-powered submarine technology to australia. subverting a french australian deal. it's the first time since 1778 that france has ordered its top diplomat in the u.s. back to paris for consultations. the white house is reportedly pushing a president biden call the french president in the coming days to so the strained ties. the diplomatic route follows last week's announcement that australia, the 90 kingdom, and u.s. were forming a new military the alliance known as aukus. just ahead of the announcement, australia canceled a $65 billion deal to purchase french-built submarines.

in russia, preliminary results show predent vladimir putin's ruling party on track to retain its majority in the lower house of parliament after an election that saw near record-low turnout of just 45 opposition groups blasted the results, alleging large-scale vote rigging. ahead of the election, police arrested thousands of activists , including supporters of jailed opposition leader alexy navalny. in canada, voters are casting ballots today in a parliamentary election that prime minister justin trudeau is hoping will deliver a clear mandate to his liberal party. but the new democratic party polling in third place. the leaders of the two main challenging parties accused trudeau of calling the snap election amid a delta-fueled fourth wave of covid infections. in algeria, former president abdelaziz bouteflika died friday at the age of 84. his burial sunday was a muted affair, even though he held power than any other algerian longer than any other algerian president. mass protests led to his

resignation in and resumed 2019 earlier this year calling for an end to the entrenched political elite and military rulers. in tunisia, protesters took to the streets in the first major demonstration since president kais saied ousted the prime minister and suspended parliament in july, assuming executive authority. protesters are demanding democratic rule in tunisia, which was the birthplace of the arab spring one decade ago. >> we followed a revolutionary patrick tenures in which there were negatives and positives but what happened july 25 took us back years to kleptocracy. amy: back in the u.s., in washington, d.c., police in riot gear ringed the u.s. capitol grounds saturday, outnumbering an estimated 200 protesters who rallied in support of the pro-trump mob that attacked congress on january 6. the so-called "justice for j6" rally failed to draw the large crowds organizers had been hoping for. ahead of the event, crews reinstalled a high metal fence

around the capitol. in labor news, nabisco workers in five states have ended a weeks-long strike after union members overwhelmingly approved a new contract that includes a 60 send in our -- 60-cent-an-hour annual wage increase for the next four years, a $5000 bonus for all employees, and blocks proposed cuts to workers' healthcare. nabisco workers say they had been forced to work grueling 12- to 16-hour shifts during the pandemic, often including on weekends. and in nework, governor kathy hochul signed the "less is more act" friday, which ends jail time for most nonviolent parole violations, including technical violations and marijuana use. hochul said nearly 200 people will be released from city jails under the new policy, which comes amid mounting outrage over the crisis at rikers. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan

gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show in texas at the del rio border crossing with mexico, where thousands of haitian migrants have set up a makeshift camp under the del rio international bridge, including families with children who hope to seek asylum in the united states. del rio is about halfway between el paso in the west, and the rio grande valley to the southeast, and a three-hour drive from laredo. at one point saturday, there were reportedly more than 15,000 asylum seekers the bridge. this is a 38-year-old haitian migrant named richerson, describing the need to bring food and other supplies from the mexican side of the border back to the camp.

>> we are having a hard time. our family sends this money but we cannot be. now i have to trust to the mexican side to be able to buy things for the child and we have nothing. we are unable to eat. i need help with everything that is happening to us on the website. there are a lot of children and their only moving the single parents and the children are left alone. the children and pregnant women are the only ones allowed with the possibilities and their separating their pregnant women on one side but the children are being left. just imagine. i have to go and buy food for the children. amy: this comes as the u.s. department of homeland security has vowed to accelerate deportations to haiti. on sunday alone, the u.s. sent three deportation flights to

haiti, each carrying 145 asylum seekers, and several more are expected in coming days. last week, the biden administration appealed a court order to stop using the covid-19 pandemic as justification for expelling asylum-seeking families. this is u.s. border patrol chief raul ortiz speaking sunday in del rio after hundreds of agents shut down the border crossing. >> our expectation is to have up to 3000 migrants transferred out from underneath a bridge to processing facilities or a flightline within the next 24 hours. amy: immigrant justice advocates are blasting what could be one of the largest mass deportations of asylum seekers in decades. rights groups are also denouncing the u.s. government's ongoing attempts to block haitian asylum seekers from applying for refugee status, which is a violation of international law. a haitian asylum seeker in del rio.

>> i don't want to be deported. if i am deported now, i will die in haiti. why? because there no security. there are bandits. there's a civil war every day. civil war with the police, with the bandits, police civil war. very complicated because there is no leadership in haiti. there is nothing. amy: haiti is still recovering from a devastating earthquake and a presidential assassination. we begin with jacqueline charles , haiti and caribbean correspondent at "the miami herald." you are in del rio right now come usually what is happening just on the island but you are right here because so many thousands of haitian asylum seekers are in del rio. can you talk about what you have learned? what is the journey they are

taking? how are they being dealt with in del rio? the head of boreal -- border patrol is from that area, the joe rio area. >> one of the problems is that the media, we are not being given any access whatsoever to this encampment. the bridge has been closed even on the mexico side. i with a few days ago and you cannot access this bridge. so we don't know what is happening. what i have been told by some advocates here in the way the process works, when they move throug the grass, there is an area they have not yet submitted themselves to border patrol. once they present to borr patrol, they have this number they are given. yesterday i spoke to migrant who was there for six days. where you hear about them being

detained or not getting access to food, these are reports we are hearing. there are mixed reports that some migrant said they did have access another say they don't. i saw migrants on the mexican side leaving in order too get food and bring food back into camp. even when we went on the mexican side, i went to a crossing and the rio grande and walked through it and walked over to the u.s. side, but we were not allowed to advance even though we were journalists. this is a huge issue that lacks transparency not just the processing and how there is fighting who they may let in, but what we have been told and i've been told by the haitian government is they have been told to brace themselves. they are to receive at least 14,000. that are huge numbers. yesterday there were three flights. you'll start to see three flights a day, maybe more. there are families that show back up yesterday. this is difficult.

when you talk to these migrants, fortunately, there are a lot of rumors that are motivating them so the journey begins -- you can say it began in haiti after 2010 to have a large number of patients that you did up in chile. one year the country received 1% of haiti's population haitian haitian, 100,000 migrated into your. they would like to remain in these countries but they can't. it is very difficult. so they take this journey. for some it is a couple of weeks or some it is months. it is very dangerous. some people don't even survive it. they spend thousands of dollars -- they spend whatever they have been the end up in mexico. what they're telling us is life in mexico is even more difficult

chile or brazil. there are no jobs. it is a hard time to give and find housing. there one area in mexico where it has been completely shut off to these migrants. rumors have started to fly that, hey, del rio was open, that border is open most of tijuana and laredo were closed but del rio is open so people started flocking. in this community, every thing moves by word-of-mouth. i have talked to migrants. everyone tells me the same story, word-of-mouth. they tell you what to do, how to pass, what to do. now 15,000 people under this haitian bridge, most of them haitian. now word is being spread that patients are starting to be deported. there were a number of patients who weren't there and they were contemplating their fate, contemplating their next move.

should they cross or stay? there was one gentleman come his wife and child were both inside. he came out in order to get food. when he came out the mexico side, that is when he started to hear the united states was starting to do poor people. when i met him, he was sitting on the concrete slope of the dam and he was contemplating, deciding he probably will not go back in. i said come you're going to let your wife and child to go ahead of you without you? he says, if i go back to haiti, as they are going to kill me. i wife and my child have a better chance if there deported back to haiti than for me. this is the tragedy. you have families that are divided, people trying to figure out what to do. they are desperate. they have gone through all of these countries, 11 countries to reach with their thinking is el dorado only to find out, no, the border is not open. there is no tps. they have been misled by

misinformation. people when they arrived in haiti, i'm hearing people saying they signed deportation papers. no, were not even allowed to present asylum so there were no deportation papers. as far as the u.s. is concerned, you broke the law because you entered illegally. there is problems on the haitian and the u.s. side, there has to be an education campaign so people truly understand the process. juan: i want to ask about the role of some of the south american governments chile. for example. chile is not a densely populated country. how did the government deal with the migrants over the last decade or so, the haitian migrants when they arrived and also what is been the role of the mexican government in dealing with the migrants who obviously had to pass a long distance through mexico from the south to the north to get to the

border? >> let's first start with brazil. after 2010, there were thousands of haitians who came through brazil and they were dying in the amazon. with the brazilian government it provide humanitarian be assisted haitians who are coming. they were very proactive. brazil was preparing for the world cup at the same time and for the olympics and they needed the labor. we saw a lot of haitians -- i remember hundreds of thousands of haitians who went to brazil. life was good in brazil. it is a black country. they were struggling but they were surviving and they were able to send money back home. to the economy in brazil turn with the whole corruption scandal. haitian said, let's go to chile where we can work and get money. chile is not as receptive to black immigrants. less than 1% of the population,

if that. haitians had a hard time from the weather to the fact they were staying in these apartments that were the size of closets, working 16 hours a day, six ys a week. chile i went tochile and it was a difficult existence. then we started to see haitians moving out. they were going by foot and bus. basically a foot journey they were doing. people were dying. what you started to see in countries in south central america, they started to close the border. even venezuela. before haiti -- venezuela is a very frilly country to haiti, right? they were not allowing patients to css through. we have seen panama, thousands of haitians who have been stuck in panama and costa rica. then they ended up in mexico. so we are talking around 2015

when you ended up in mexico and at this point we did not have deportations to the u.s. when they got to mexico, ultimately ghetto place like tijuana that does not have blacks, have all these haitian migrants love the place. central americans are having a hard time trying to access. the obama administration shut down the border and the resume deportations in haiti after six years of having no deportations because of the 2010 deadly earth. people decide, should i risk it or stay? they basically decided -- developing community. the mexican government created some sort of residency program for haitians to allow them to remain in mexico legally. but over the years, that has been rolled back. what you have today is haitians in mexico either who have been here 2016 people newly arriving from south american countries and they cannot get work permits, cannot get jobs.

it is a very difficult situation. their families are in the u.s. or elsewhere, having to send money to them. they are staying in hotels where it is $15 a day in u.s. they don't want to go back to haiti. for them, this is the country that has changed in the two years, six years, 10 years, 14 years they have been away. so they take the chance based on these false rumors in an attempt to come to the united states. this is the difficulties you're finding. one of the questions that has now come up is whether or not or how much of an effort the department of homeland security is really making to do poor people not to haiti, but back to brazil or chile or even mexico were some of these migrants have legal status. some do, especially brazil. if given a choice, they would choose to go back there rather

than haiti -- not because they don't love their country, because as difficult as the place was they left, brazil or chile, it is still a better existence than haiti. at least they can work and help their families. we are not getting any access to -- we don't get any answers. that is been the difficult part of being a journalist on the story is immigration in the u.s. is already not very transparent, happens behind closed doors. given the magnitude of this, we're not getting access, not getting the questions. we don't know how -- who goes or stays. we we do know is thousands and thousands of people will find themselves back in haiti in the coming days. juan: i want to bring guerline jozef guerline jozef in. your response to what has been happening, the dramatic footage

over the weekend of u.s. border patrol agents on horseback attempting to corral the haitian migrants with wimps back to the mexican side of the rio grande. -- lips back to the mexican side of the rio grande. what is your assessment? >> my apologies. that is the reality on the ground. thank you for having me. the picture you see, the horrific reality that we are living right now. before we even going into more detail, the narrative that people are using -- remember seeing one of the elected officials in the area, ted cruz, the first video he had sank haitians are invading our country and they need to be deported. the pictures you are seeing with

him on his horse literally whipping the haitian migrants come the black bodies, that is not getting pictured in america. that is the picture of the system of the antiracism the system is based upon. as a black woman, as an american woman, as an haitian woman, i am horrified by that picture. i am horrified that in 2021, we as the united states of america, are behaving in such a way where we do not consider the humidity of a person. the world is watching and that is the picture they are saying. the picture they are seeing is meant in horseback whipping black bodies -- men on horseback whipping black bodies. for them to be deporting young children into haiti right now,

as jacqueline charles just described for you, it is unacceptable. we are in utter disbelief of what we are seeing right now. also want to make clear so people understand, thus helping haitians another migrants who are under the bridge right now did not just come and storm the border. they have been here waiting for a chance to ask for asylum -- which, by the way, is the legal thing for them to do. a lot of people into entering without inspection, but it is not illegal for people to come and ask for asylum. but due to misinformation, as you heard from jacqueline charles, people are desperate. if you tell them "if you go here, might have a chance to get protection come so people are leaving their respective cities suchs tijuana and other places, coming here becau they

ought they might get protection, they might finally get to a place to call home, find a place to sleep better at night. that is what we are seein we're not having innovation of haitians at the u.s.-mexico border, we are saying that consequence of the private administration completely destroying the asylum system, destroying the immigration system with the metering, with -- this administration continues to use as a uck toage bodies as we are seeing right now, black bodies and deport them to the very danger they have fled. amy: title 42 is the pandemic title that trump invoked by president biden is enforcing to say you can deport people for pandemic for "public health reasons" but a judge just wrote

that is illegal but the vita administration is appealing that. your response to that? >> everything you're saying right now within the community, within the movement are baffled. as to why the judge told the administration it is illegal for them to continue the use of title 42 yet instead of doing the right thing, actually fighting against providing protection for the people. that is why we must push back. we are tired we are exhausted, but we are here. we are here to let the asylum seekers, that migrants know they are not alone. their lives matter.

black bodies being whipped by this officer. his life matters. we are asking and urging that biden administration immediately stop all deportations to haiti in view of what is happening. the world is watching america. amy: i want to ask jacqueline charles about the latest news of the assassination of the jovenel moïse. recent miami herald article yourrecent miami herald article titled "grenade-dropping drones, a paranoid president, guards who ran: latest on haiti assassination." you write -- night moïse was "the night moïse was shot was actually the second time in a span of weeks that his life was in danger, according to testimony from one of the colombians in custody, and one of the haitian americans. two weeks earlier, a plan to arrest moïse, using a bogus arrest warrant, upon his return

from a trip to turkey was thwarted when a signal to act was never given, jheyner alberto carmona florez, an ex-colombian solider now in custody, told police. another plan to employ disgruntled, masked haitian police officers known as fantôm 509 to grab the president was also aborted, according to solages. according to the report, what is fantô509, who is joseph felix badio, and what role may badio have played in the assassination of president moise? is there a warrant for his arrest? >> fantôm 509 to seven are active and some are former, number of them have been arrested was the earlier this year, some of your viewers may recall we saw the police in haiti protesting, taking on the streets, blowing up cars, letting out prisoners. what you had inside the police is this low morale, people just feeling they are working is police officers and cannot survive.

we have been watching this explosion of a police force in haiti that the united states government actually supports financially, the u.n. has trained and rebuilt, but we have seen it crumble in front of us. one of the things i found, investigation looking at these reports and talking to people, it appears low morale, disgruntd is inside the haitian national police found its way also into the presidential security apparatus. according to his wife, there should have been 30 to 50 police officers assigned to president jovenel moïse but that night in july there were 7, 1 of whom disappeared at 4:00 p.m. and did not come back until after the assassination. this according to testimony. this gentleman is actually a leader, team leader, so you get six officers that were there on the ground. all of these officers were interviewed, whether they have

been taken intcustody for lack of action or alleged involvement or have not been arrested that gave infortion, they told police investigators that under no circumstances jovenel moïse's they were allowed in president's house. can you imagine they are not allowed in the private residence of president biden? this is what is happening. the night in question, none of these guys and girls attempted to go inside the presidents house where there was an evacuation plan, a back door. 30 moïse to 45 minutes, president moïse's hearing automatic gunfire, drugs dropping grenades, calling frantically, "come save me." nobody showed up. by the time a high-ranking officer actually came, the president was dead. his wife was seriously injured.

the soldiers who insisted they were not there to kill the president, had nothing to do with this, they were there to arrest him and to help to install the new president is the story they are telling, along with two haitian americans who say they were translators. but there was a sort of -- going on. famtom has been in the innermost -- industry until may when he was fid for "ethil brches." this is a guy who is well-known. in terms of people in power. president moïse knew him. i heard at one point he was on the shortlist for a job in the government of moïse's

administration. he is described by police as one of the "brains" of the operation. juan: in terms of the leaked report, there been over 40 people taken into custody but no indication of -- in this report of who actually was the mastermind of this assassination. >> exactly. police are still saying it wa haitia american doctor is one of their brains. but the report still does not tell us who financed it. we have found in our independent investigation at "the miami herald" the people did not have the financial means to finance this that were in custody. this is the job of the investigative jud who has to continue the probe. that is the question, whether or not members of the fbi, whether or not we will be able to find out who truly financed this very

expensive and expansive operation to kill a president. amy: but now as a prosecutor is going to charge the prime minister ariel henry so he fired the prosecutor and the judge. no, no, the prosecutor was fired when he did this. legal experts -- the prosecutor was out of his jurisdiction. once the case has gone to an investigative judge, the prosecutor cannot -- this is an example of how this case the starting to become politicized. you have judges who are in hiding. this is the concern in terms of whether or not they will allow this process to work the way it is supposed to work and a country that already has issues with the judiciary. the prosecutor, based on the letter we got from the prime minister's office, he was already fired. legal exurbs say even if he was not fired, had no legal jurisdiction to try to map a

separate investigation against the prime minister based on the fact police said there were two phone calls from badio three hours after the president was killed. he was in contact with a number of politicians. one police where he was in constant communication with somebody over 200 times. even constant cversatn with his girlfriend the night of an's apartment is in the's's same neighborhood as the president. what you did here is fire prosecutor trying to go after the prime minister on this. amy: so much to unpack. jacqueline charlesjacqueline charles we, to us from del rio, texas. and guerline jozef executive director of haitian bridge alliance. also in del rio where hundreds have been deported and thousands are at the border. coming up, we go to texas or we

stay there to speak with an abortion provider about texas' near-total ban on abortion. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "don't give up now" by cynthia erivo and oliver tompsett. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to look at texas' near-total ban on abortions. last week, the department of justice sued texas over a new law which bars abortions around six weeks into a pregnancy, without an exception for rape or incest, and allows anyone in texas to sue patients, medical workers, or even a patient's family or friends who "aid and abet" an abortion. like took someone to a women's health clinic. over the weekend, a longtime physician in texas revealed he has defied the law in order to care for one of his patients. dr. alan braid made the admission in an article for "the washington post." he writes -- "i acted because i had a duty of care to this patient, as i do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care. i fully understood that there could be legal consequences -- but i wanted to make sure that texas didn't get away with its bid to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested."

dr. braid went on to recall how he was in medical school in 1972, a year before the supreme court's roe v. wade ruling guaranteeing the right to a safe and legal abortion. dr. braid wrote -- "at the hospital that year, i saw three teenagers die from illegal abortions. i can't just sit back and watch us return to 1972." for more on the attack on reproductive rights in texas, we are joined by dr. bhavik kumar. he is staff physician at planned parenthood center for choice in houston, texas. dr. kumar, welcome to democracy now! i have been reading so much about you. one article "growing up brown, gay, marginalized in a small texas town bhavik kumar inspired houstonian bhavik kumar to become the activist and position yesterday. how does your background relate to why you have taken such a strong stand against this almost total abortion been in texas?

>> i think my experience of oppression growing up in texas and feeling it on so many friends as a same thing that is happening whether it comes to folks trying to bank access to trans care or abortion, it is relentless and not helpful and it is just hurting people. juan: could you talk about some of the impact of this law on your patients already? >> what was the time again is when we ban abortion, it does not stop the need for people to access abortion. some of what dr. braid talked about seeing people in the hospital with abortion is illegal is what we are worried about. whate're seeing on the ground right now, it has been about three weeks since this law has been in effect -- again, the need for abortion is not changed, it now means we are helping people go out of state for the care they need. there are number of restriction and place.

there are number of -- there is a limit on the number of clinics. the need is there but unfortunately, people are being forced to go out of state and some people cannot make it out of state. the logistics and things required, the cost of going out of state is insurmountable for some people. it will always be the folks that are most low income, peoe of cor, young folks and people that are already dealing with players of oppression. juan: you traveled in early september to washington to the white house to meet with vice president harris on a roundtable of abortion providers. what is your sense of how the administration is dealing with these efforts at the local, state level to turn bk roe v. wade? >> abortion has become a state-by-state issue. depending on the stateive determines the access to abortion, which is really unfair

. i was pleased air from the biden-harris administration they have our backs, that they're supportive of the work we do. what we nee is the federal government to step in and pass the women's health protection act and make sure our right are protected under the law and that way we don't have a state-by-state access and inxs mosaic that has taken place. amy: do you have numbers? you talked about clinics shutting down in texas and this key point you raise, have to go out of state. impossible for so many women, particularly low-income women, particularly hurting the black and brown communities. so essentially, has abortion ended in texasthe home state of roe v. wade? >> it essentially has. what we know is roughly 10% of

folks who may qualify for an abortion in texas based on not having cardiac motion. this is the first time and law alike this has been passed. it has only been a couple of weeks but we are seeing roughly that, maybe 10% of people that we typically see are stil able to get an abortion in texas, but the rest of the folks, the vast majority we are trying to help them out of state. some are able to make it and some we know when they leave our clinic sing "i am not going to be able to take the time off, i have no one to watch my kids," it is not possible for them to do that for whatever reason. amy: final words from the state of texas, there was a cartoon going around that said "why didn't anyone predict the taliban takeover of texas ?" sooner ?" but where you see this going

with the department of justice lawsuit, how you see this man being lifted -- or do you? >> i think the response to what some folks are saying, have seen the hashtag #texastaliban. the partially the people in power are pushing their agenda forward. i think what we know from centuries of humidity is that people wilalways need access to abortion. and hopeful that one of these lawsuits willrevail and people will have access again but it will take time and it is unfortunate that people's fundamental rights are being debated in court and in public while people are suffering. amy: thank you dr. bhavik kumar, dr. bhavik kumar, staff , physician at planned parenthood center for choicen houston, texas. when we come back, the deadly

consequences of vaccine inequality. follow-up on rights groups who say that the johnson & johnson vaccines that are being made for the world in india should not go to the united states and other european countries stop stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we end today's show looking at the pandemic and vaccine inequality. in india, coalition of groups are calling on johnson & johnson to stop exporting indian made vaccines to wealthy nations like the united states at a time when hundreds of millions of people remain unvaccinated in india, as well as in africa. groups are also urging president biden to force johnson & johnson to license its vcine to drug manufacturers in india and other nations to help produce more vaccines. achal prabhala, we go now to india where we are joined by of the accessibsa project, which campaigns for access to medicines in india, brazil, and south africa. if you can start off i laying

out your demand? >> it is lovely to be here. a group, over thousand organizations need yeah, drafted a letter recently to johnson & johnson and the biden administration with a very simple demand, which is the 600 billion doses that johnson & johnson is a new fracturing currently at a comny in india should go where the vaccines are most needed, which is the indian subcontinent, the african continent, and the covax facility rather than where johnson & johnson most wants to send them to, which on the basis of recent history and the company's experience in south africa, is europe and united states -- where it has large, unfulfilled orders which are quite lucrative, which it seems eager to supply.

juan: as it stands now, j&j has only one partnership with an indian company but while pfizer and moderna have not in india, south africa. explain why pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to establish such partnerships. >> there is a curious difference in the way johnson & johnson applies vaccine around the world. what they're doing is provide what is called contract manufacturing. they are farming out the production of their vaccine other companies but they retain control of where the vaccine doses go. so this is of little unlike astrazeneca contracts with the serum institute in india which was supposed to be the engine for the covax facility, the

global philanthropy that was going to distribute vaccines to the poorest countries in the world. the johnson & johnson contracts with biologicale are really under the control of johnson & joson. they decide who they should go to. these fencing contracts were signed in 2020 when the pandemic was in aifferent state, when these vacces were merely hypothetical. the problem with the way johnson & johnson is now enforcing these contracts is in september 2021, which is a very different world where a majority of the adult in the ited states and europe have been vaccinated, by no means the majority or even close to that have been vaccinated in the african continent or india. johnson & johnson believes it still had the right to send vaccines where it wants to rather than where it has to moderna moderna and where they are mo needed. of course, pfizer and don't have

facilities here but the truth is, johnson & johnson, pfizer, and moderna -- what they're doing is just say we're not going to provide access contracts, not going to provide licensed manufacturer of our vaccine to anyone in order for them to be able to supply the regions they are in, you're just going to make the largest number of vaccines that we can under our control and then send them where we want. the irony of this is unlike pfizer and moderna whose vaccines remain robustly desirable in the united states and europe, the johnson & johnson vaccine is not. it is not like their surging demand either. there's a bit of conundrum. with the johnson & johnson

vaccine, no one seems to want it in the united states, it does not seem to be able to make its own vaccine, supply less than 10% of what was supposed to to the u.s., under 25% to europe. there are studies from south africa that show the vaccine adequately does its job. there are a lot of people in majority of the world who would love to have the j&j vaccine, except they can't. i think it is a particularly -- situation that johnson & johnson would choose to make vaccines and a part of the world that desperately needs them and then send them to another part of the world that not only does not need them, but doesn't seem to want them. amy: put this in terms, who has access to the vaccine, the percentages were talking about in africa, and asia compared to

thunited stas and britain where they have already started the booster on a mass scale, the thd shot? >> now we are nearing 10 months in a world in which vaccine exists and are available. and yet the death toll remains 10,000 people a day, and that is largely because less than 3% of the population othe african continent has been vaccinated. less than 15% of the indian population has been vaccinated while between 50% to 70% of the adult in the united states and europe have been vaccinated. so what we're looking at is a world in which the pandemic is under control with occasional flareups and problems around mass vaccinations, but nevertheless, relatively under control in the u.s. and europe and absolutely not under any

kind of control in a majority of the world, where the majority of the worlds population lives. in such a situation, what johnson & johnson did in south africa, which it had to backtrack on, it was to send 300 million doses which cld have vaccinated 300 million people because the johnson & johnson vaccine is a goal to, to send those to europe in majority was a mistake. they were called out. people were outraged. they backtracked. but not exactly the same action with vaccines to 600 million people in india. -- but now exactly the same action with vaccines to 600 million people in india. what is worse is we have now thanks to the russians and the swetnick -- sputnikv boxing, parsley, has run into production problems.

what they should do is expand their manufacturing to include these manufacturers. then we can make the vaccine work in the world. amy: we want to thank you so much for joining us. [captioning made possible by 8

[shouting] ♪♪♪ [firecracker popping] [shouting] [woman shouting] [shouting] [gun fire] [shouting] [woman shouting] [shouting] adam harvey: it's february on the battle-scarred streets of downtown beirut.