07/12/22 07/12/22 democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the people will not leave the presidents house. the president's office. the prime ministers official residence until leaders announced the resignation. if they do not leave, what will happen? people will cide to storm wherever they are hiding now. amy: thousands of protesters

stormed the sri lankan president and prime minister's homes, refusing to leave until they officially resign. we will go to colombo to speak with one of the protesters. then the pentagon authorizes another $400 million for the fight in ukraine, bringing total u.s. security spending on ukraine under president biden to some $8 million. we will speak with joe lauria of consortium news about the pressure on independent media to follow a single approved narrative on the ukraine war. >> the mainstreamedia has been whitewng the causes of the historical context which no weight justifieshat has happened and ukraine however, because we have reported that, we becomsubject to reviews and attacks i government lied organizations, including news guard and paypal have shut us down and whave also had british government officials

looking into is. this is a very chilling moment for the free press. amy: as calls grover president biden to declare a public health emergency to ensure access to abortion after the supreme court overturned roe, an update from two lding russian providers. >> alabama's was one of the first states to close all of its stores in the supreme court decisioname down in overturn roe v. wade. now we are expecng it toe the first state where people will test what it means to aid and abet someone when getting an abortion. amy: we will speak with robin marty cooperation structure of the west alabama women's center which just reopened monday, and with diane derzis, ceo of jackson women's health organization, the clinic at the center of the supreme court case that overturned roe, dobbs

versus jackson's women health organization. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in ukraine, the death toll on an apartment block in the d onetsk town has risen. nine survivors were pulled from the wreckage. let see if there's more right now on what is happening. rescuerews pulled nine survivors. elsewhere in ukraine, ukraine says five people were killed, including two children and dozens more injured after russian shells fell on kharkiv. in washington, d.c., the biden administration accused russia turning to iran for drones. inyiv, the communist party and other parties report they have been banned and had assets he's under decree by president volodymyr zelenskyy prohibiting

political parties deemed to be pro-russian. in moscow, president putin said he would expedite the position to obtain russian citizenship wasn't ukrainian officials condemned the move, calling it an encroachment on ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. on monday, top officials said some 7200 military pernnel are missing and unaccounted for, that moser believed to be in russian captivity. we will get more later the broadcast. the biden administration said monday u.s. physicians must provide abortions if the pregnant person is experiencing a medical emergency and their life is at risk. in a letter to federal health agencies health and human , services secretary xavier becerra said doctors who offer the procedure in states with abortion bans would be protected under the emergency medical treatment and active labor act, which is federal law. becerra warned hospitals and physicians who refuse to provide abortions under these circumstances would face the loss of medicare funding and financial support from other

state health programs. in michigan, reproductive justice advocates formally submitted over 700,000 signatures in support of a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution. the measure would be up for a vote in november. we will have the latest on the fight of a reproductive rights later in the broadcast. in texas, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of uvalde on sunday, braving triple-digit temperatures to demand answers over the may 24 massacre at robb elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead. joining the protests was alysandra garcia, whose mother irma was one of the teachers killed in the attack. >> she was kind and loving. she had a way with words. she was the backbone to our family. we will never be the same. as sad as it is, a part of me knew my mother would give her life to save her students. amy: alysandra garcia's father

joe died of a heart attack two days after irma was killed by the uvalde shooter. at the white house, the parent of a student killed in a 2018 mass shooting interrupted president biden monday to demand more federal action on gun control. biden was holding a ceremony in the rose garden with survivors and family members affected by gun violence, celebrating his signature of a bipartisan gun safety bill when manuel oliver rose to challenge biden's record on guns. oliver lost his 17-year-old son joaquin to a mass shooter at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, on valentine's day 2018. pres. biden: today is many things. it is proof despite the naysayers, we can make meaningful progress on dealing with gun violence. because make no mistake -- sit down. you'll hear what i have to say. >> [inaudible]

pres. biden: let me finish my comments. let him talk. let him talk. amy: manuel oliver was then escorted away by secret service agents. after the confrontation, he told reporters he's demanding biden create an office in the executive branch focused solely on gun violence. >> what am i supposed to do today? here? listen to a package of bills that don't solve 100% a problem that is killing people every single day in america? clap and be happy and be part of the celebration? not me. got a fancy invitation from the white house, like going to a wedding. but i am here and thought i needed to be here, but i also needed to say what i said. amy: he was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of his son on it. public health officials are warning of a fast-spreading new coronavirus variant that's been linked to a growing number of cases across india. the ba.2.75 variant evolved from the highly contagious omicron

lineage and appears to be out-competing rival forms of the virus. this comes as the ba.5 omicron sub-variant now accounts for a majority of cases in the united states, where covid hospitalizations continue to rise and test positivity rates have climbed to their third-worst levels of the pandemic. meanwhile, democratic leaders are delaying action in the senate, where two senators, majority leader chuck schumer of new york and richard blumenthal of connecticut, are absent after testing positive for coronavirus. blumenthal announced his diagnosis monday after returning from a trip to ukraine, where he met with president volodymyr zelenskyy and other top officials. in sri lanka, the president rajapaksa reportedly has made a failed attempt to flee ahead of his resignation for wednesday. the press reports the president may now use a navy patrol boat to flee the island nation which is facing a major economic crisis and saw thousands of protesters stormed their president's home saturday and set fire to the prime minister's

residence. rajapaksa is immune from arrest while still president and maybe try to leave in order to be avoiding be detained. this management has left millions of people with shortages of food, fuel, and electricity. restaurants used firewood to prepare meals monday. >> we cook using wood. there is no cooking gas here. it is been 15 days in authority said cooking gas would be made available but has not arrived yet. amy: after headlines, we will go to sri lanka for the latest. president biden departs for jerusalem this evening, the first stop on his four-day trip to the middle east. after meeting with israeli leaders, biden is scheduled to meet with palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas in the west bank before heading to jeddah, saudi arabia, to meet with crown prince mohammed bin salman. as a presidential candidate, biden vowed to make saudi arabia a pariah over its human rights violations and the assassination of "washington post" columnist

jamal khashogg this week reuters reported the biden administration is discussing the possible lifting of its ban on u.s. sales of so-called offensive weapons to saudi arabia, including lockheed martin f-35 jets. biden put the ban in place early last year citing the saudi-led coalition's disastrous war on yemen, which has killed more than 100,000 people since 2015. in immigration news, the biden administration has extended temporary protected status, tps, for venezuelans for another 18 months. this designation only protects venezuelans who've been in the united states since march 2021. venezuelan asylum seekers who've come to the u.s. after march 8, 2021 are not eligible for the temporary humanitarian relief and face deportation. tens of thousands of venezuelans have fled due to rising shortages of food and medicine, and other conditions that have been largely exacerbated by harsh u.s. sanctions on venezuela. this comes as the biden administration also continues to mass expel thousands of asylum

seekers from haiti, central america, and other regions arriving at the u.s.-mexico border under the trump-era pandemic policy title 42. and first lady jill biden is facing massive backlash after saying latinx people are "as unique as breakfast tacos." biden made her remarks during an event hosted by the group unidosus. >> the diversity of this community, as distinct as the vulgate does of the bronx, as beautiful of the blossoms of miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in san antonio. amy: the national association of hispanic journalists, nahj, responded to biden's remarks writing in a statement -- "we are not tacos. our heritage as latinos is shaped by a variety of diasporas, cultures and food traditions, and should not be reduced to a stereotype." 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 democracy now! 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: and people should read your book "the harvest of empire: the history of latinos in america" to understand the diversity and the enormous rich history of the latinx population in this country, juan. we begin today's show in sri lanka, where president gotabaya rajapaksa has reportedly made a failed attempt to flee the country ahead of his resignation set for agence france-presse wednesday. reports the president may now use a navy patrol craft to flee the island nation which is facing a major economic crisis and saw thousands of protesters storm the president's home saturday and set fire to the prime minister's residence.

protesters are still occupying the president's home until he formally resigns. rajapaksa is immune from arrest while he is still president and may be trying to leave in order to avoid being detained. he is accused of bankrupting sri lanka with massive corruption and economic mismanagement and also of war crimes during his time as defense minister. after his resignation, an interim all-party unity government is expected to lead the country. sri lanka's parliament will meet friday and a new president is set to be elected by the mp's next week. for more, we go to the capital colombo to speak with bhavani fonseka, a human rights lawyer and a senior researcher at the centre for policy alternatives in colombo. she has been participating in the protests. her recent article is headlined "sri lanka's crisis and the power of citizen mobilization." welcome to democracy now! thank you so much for being with us. if you can start off by talking about how these protests began, and the protesters occupying the

prime minister's and the president's home, demanding both resign. talk about the citizen protest power. >> thank you for having me. sri lanka is facing quite the remarkable period. at one level, we have been on resident it political and economic -- i president it political and economic crisis but as another, peacefully protesting for months asking for change, a change in political culture, a change in the political leadership and basically, political accountability. so there is real inventing of the city and it is quite remarkable to see the numbers that have come out in the streets. equally protesting all demands. but what is even more remarkable when the number set came out on saturday, on the ninth of july, in this -- many do not have fuel

to travel. many walked for hours to get to the protestite. in the occupied the protest site, and unlike the other days of protests, they were able to into the presidential palace and official residence of the prime minister. and they are now occupying these spaces until the president and prime minister resign. it is quite dynamic in sri lanka but all centered in the citizens mobilization. the power of the people to bring change. juan: bhavani fonseka, if you can talk a little bit about the roots of the crisis. there's a lot of international press coverage of what is happening now, but there's been little attention to how the crisis evolved and especially in terms of whatever financial debt

the country owes to outsiders. there w international monetary fund group that visited the country at the end of june? >> yes. sri lanka is in heavy debt. and that goes back -- it predates the government of rajapaksa going back to different governments. the debt has gotten to a point where now sri lanka is facing bankruptcy. they announced a default a couple of months ago. so really, massive debt but also it is related to the mismanagement of this government . in 2019 onwards, after rajapaks took office, there's been several policy decisions that led to the present crisis. one was the tax cuts in 2019

that significantly impacted the revenue of the government. in 2021, there wasn overnight ban chemical fertilizer that impacted the aicultural sector and food security. and of course we had challenges with covid, the pandemic, but also more recently, with the ukraine-russia war so those have also impacted. largely, domestic policies and mismanagement of this governmt thatas led to an economic crisis. and now we are facing also a political crisis and political instability. so all this has resulted in situation where many sri lankans are facing serious hardship. long power cuts. long queues to get foil. -- to get fuel. people have to stay for days, three or four days just to get

some petrol and diesel. that is the hardship that has impacted most in sri lanka and has resulted in extreme anger and frustration among the people. so public mobilization demanding for accountability, demanding for change stems from this economic crisis and the mismanagement. but now it has become a political crisis as well, so it is a combined situation in sri lanka. nether is a situation where we are seeing it unfolding in a humanitarian crisis. juan: but the president and prime minister have said they will reside but they have not yet done so. how do you see events unfolding the next few days and who is most likely to run the government? >> this is a very worrying

dynamic. you would think with all of the people peacefully protestingnd all the development over the last two days -- the last few months, really, that the message would be clear, that they're asking for the resignation of the president and they're asking for the resignation of the prime minister. now i would have thought any government would have heard this in resign immediately, but we are in a situation where the president said he will resign tomorrow -- amy: bhavani fonseka, i'm looking at an article by reuters, "how a band of activists help bring down sri lanka's government." it says in june, who doesn't activist already meeting regularly at a seaside tinted camp in colombo for hours long sessions to think of ways to revive sri lanka's flagging protest movement. the group, which included a catholic priest, a digital

strategist, and a popular playwright, succeeded beyond their wildest hopes. within weeks, hundreds of thousands of people descended on colombo after initially clashing with police protesters occupied key government buildings and residences, forcing president rajapaa and his prime minister to promise to step down. what is your assessment? would you agree this, the catholic priest, public playwright, digital strategist, gathering and soon hundreds of thousands of people are now occupying the prime minister and president's residence and demanding they resign? >> well, it is quite remarkable what we are seeing. different sectors, communities coming together. i mean, this we have not seen in sri lanka's past entry log has a rich history of protest but this kinda of mobilization is quite unique. the fact the protests have been

for several months, not something that just happened in the last couple of days, but over the months people have persistently come out and largely peacefully coming out and demanding for change. that is quite something. the result is in may we had then prime minister resigning. an april, we had the cabinet resigning. so we sell results but we also have seen the president avoiding -- despite all the protests, despite the acid for him to go home. -- despite the clear message for him to go home. so now hit a president is going to leave on the 13th and we hope he keeps to his word because if he doesn't leave, there will be further instability. but his resignation alone is not going to satisfy the protesters and the people of sri lanka. they're asking for the resignation of the prime minister as well and a new

caretaker government that happens. we need to also think that next steps. a caretaker government can serve a particular period, but considering the crisis and considering the demands of the people that there has to be a change, we need to look to general elections as soon as the environment is conducive to have elections. a lot of things are on the table. a lot of things i hope can move forward in terms of addressing the present crisis and ensuring stability. amera i want to ank you, bhavani fonseka, for being with us human rights lawyer and a , senior researcher at the centre for policy alternatives in colombo participating in the , protests. we will link to your article "sri lanka's crisis and the power of citizen mobilization." we will continue to follow what is happening in sri lanka as the pentagon authorizes another $480 fight in ukraine,

after break, we will go to joe lauria of consortium news about the pressure on independent leader to follow single approved narrative on the ukraine war. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "one hundred thousand flowers" shan vincent de paul. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as u.s. president joe biden is set to visit with leaders in israel and saudi arabia this week, the kremlin says russian president vladimir putin will travel to tehran next week to meet with the presidents of iran and turkey for peace talks on syria and also to hold separate talks with the turkish president erdogan, who has offered to mediate between russia and ukraine. this comes as white house

national security adviser jake sullivan claimed monday iran plans to supply russia with potentially hundreds of drones for its war in ukraine. >> our information indicates the iranian government is preparing to provide russia with up to several hundred uavs, including weapons capable. information indicates iran is to train russian forces to you these with initial treading sessions to begin as early as july. it is unclear whether iran is deliver these to russia already. amy: sullivan vowed united states will continue to sustain the defense of ukraine. his comments come after the pentagon authorized another $400 million for the fight in ukraine on friday. this brings the total u.s. security assistance to ukraine in the last three weeks alone to $2.2 billion. enter president biden, the u.s. has committed at least $8

billion overall ukraine. for more, we are joined by joe lauria, editor-in-chief of the independent news outlet consortium news. also a former u.n. correspondent and investigative reporter for "the wall street journal," "boston globe," and "the sunday times of london." welcome back to democracy now! if you can start off by talking of the latest situation in ukraine and what you think is missing from the mainstrm news coverage. >> there's plenty missing. first of all, thank you for having me on to talk about this. plenty missing from the mainstream media coverage from the initial part of this invasion until today. mostly we have seen reporting in the corporate media based solely on u.s. officials or ukrainian officials. so we're only getting one side of the story. obviously, that is pretty much journalism 101 that there is more than one side of the story. so the american and european audience of said the idea that russia has been failing in this war and ukraine still has a

chance to win, but i think we're starting to see the reality seep into the reporting -- when you have someone like henry kissinger saying ukraine is going to have to make territorial concessions and the pope says nato was barking at russia's door, we start to see the fact it was not the simpl story we're being told every day and the reporting on the ground is very difficult. we shy away from it because both sides light and war. when both sides admit invent happened, then you can pretty much assured it happened. now there's pretty much consensus emerging that russia is close to taking all of donbas which was their initial aim in this war so we are starting somewhat to see that kind of reporting but still we cannot trust what the western media is reporting, what the russian defense ministry says necessarily either. we have to hope the mainstream

media will begin to take a more balanced view, but i won't hold my breath about it. juan: joe, i wanted to ask you in terms of the roots of the conflict -- i have been really impressed by a lot of the coverage that consortium news has been producing from people who used to be covered a lot by folks on the left like scott ritter a john. rocco and caitlin johnson, now sort of ignored because they're not going along with the main narrative. but there was an interesting piece that came out of "the new york times" in july, which says "commando network coordinates flow on weapons in ukraine." deep in the story, there's this aming fact drone in, and i want to quote to early this year, american special forces and national guard instructors trained more than 27,000

ukrainian soldiers in the combat training center in western ukraine in the city of l'viv." this is the first time i've heard of this training operation going on inside ukraine by u.s. soldiers for the last seven years. if you could talk about this issue of ukraine not be in nato but effectively being the u.s. ally now for years? >> it is a defacto member of nato. there other nato nations that were training ukrainian troops and arming ukraine before this massive inflow of weapons since february. this is not lost on russia. since the coup in 2014, russia has seen a buildup of what they see as anti-russian government backed by the united states with this nato tining.

and weaponizing of the country. and i think this is just the latest development. the cia has been involved in ukraine since the late 1940's when they worked with the right hand man of the world war ii-era fascist leader to undermine the soviet union, and that never really stopped. the u.s. has been deeply involved in ukraine and this comes as no surprise with "the new york times" reporter. i think we do pretty much this was going on that in fact nato, while ukraine is not a member of nato, it has been and is a defacto member of nato today. juan: you mention the coup in 2014. the founder of consortium news bob perry did a lot of coverage on that. could you talk about how that has informed the way consortium news looks at the current crisis? >> very much so.

bob was way ahead of the game on ukraine, even wrote a piece in 2015 in which he warned about nuclear war -- i thought it was a bit over at the time but now we see what the situation, we're probably closer to a possible nuclear exchange then certainly since the cuban missile crisis. bob understood and got a lot of flack from this. it is much worse now against consortium news. he pointed out the u.s. was working with extreme right groups, neo-nazi groups in ukraine to help overthrow a democratically elected albeit corrupt to overthrow yana covid who is certified in 2010. united states helped install leaders that were absolutely anti-russian and accommodated these extreme right groups and then launched a war against the donbas because the russian

ethnic speakers on the russian border objected to this coup most of their president they voted for was overthrown and they declared independence of ukraine and the response back by the u.s. was to begin a civil war, which thousands of people are killed over the last eight years. that is something excised from the reporting today. it was that war rush injured in february of this year to try to put down that rebellion and do a lot more, no questions, russia's aims are still not clear but they are beyond donbas, but that is what they have concentrated on the last few months. bob. was way ahead of threporting on ukraine and he kind of paved the way and informed me. i started working in consortium news 2011 -- for consortium news in 2011. reporting what was going on despite the attacks he came under and as i said, have only increased dramatically since february of this year.

amy: in may, paypal canceled the account and froze the funds of consortium. what happened and what effect has it hadn consortium news? >> we thank paypal for doing that because the effect has been enormous influx of money. we had our best drive in our history and people have shown enormous support for what paypal did. we don't really know exactly why because they refused to tell us the reason -- they did release the funds after matt taibi would appease. so we got our money back but the issue is banned from paypal and we don't know why. the reason we assume is because we trade on information and not drug per phone know you or arms -- drug paraphernalia or arms. clearly, i think this has to do th our coverag of the ukraine

war and what has been our coverage and talk about the causes of the war in the historic context which is completely missing from the mainstream reporting. historians will talk about the causes of world war ii and the rise of naziism and nobody accuses those historia are being hitl apologister -- hitler appologists but we are smeared and all this complete nonsense. we saw in leaked emails government officials, looking into us. the head of the short-lived governance -- disinformation governance board, a board that the biden administration set up. she said we were idiots.

we are saying, if you recall during the vietnam war, americans who just the protested the murderous policies, smeared as puppets of beijing or moscow -- oldest to smear [inaudible] we are insulted because it takes our agency away from us. as if we cannot think on our own. they're trying to crush the smallest spark of dissent because we have about 10,000 readers a day that went up to 40,000 at the beginning of the war. why? we were providing historical context, nato expansion, rejection of the russian treaties back in december to nato and the u.s., nesecuri architecture in u.s., the minsk accords -- sorry, donbas. when you remove all of those, looks like russia is just a madman. while it is true putin has

talked about -- basically an integral part of russia, if you remove these other causes, he looks like some imperial madman in the invasion of ukraine compels [indiscernible] none of which has security council authorization, including russia. it is technically an illegal invasion so we are in a situation now where because we report these causes, we are being smeared and attacked and deplatformed and paypal won't let us raise money to them but as i said, we're doing quite well without them, thank you very much. juan: can you talk about this organization news guard and how they are targeting you? who exactly is news guard? >> news guard started two or three years ago, a private compy based in new york. its board is a former cia

director, former cato secretary-general rasmussen, homeland security director. they have partnerships with the pentagon and the state department. they have taken it upon themselves -- steven brill was one of the founders who back in the 1990's had a magazine. they take it upon themselves to review news organizations, large and small. they havennounced or wrote to us they reviewing is but in the first email we were accused of publishing false information. we responded and said they need to make the corrections. it is chilling because they will give a redline to websites they considered to be untrustworthy. this pops up in libraries across

europe and the united states. there is an extension built and they can turn on. when our website shows up on social media, twitter or google, they will have a red mark against us. there's a warning to proceed with caution. this is outrageous. we have a right even to be wrong. we have a right to say what we want to. this is supposed to be the freedom of press the u.s. and european governments protest they support. in fact, they're trying to protect your own interest and cover up any criticism -- legitimate criticism of the failings of their policies. this is no different than any kind of solitary -- they want total control. i have to bring up julian assange because he is the symbol that started very much with him in -- when they arrested him and indicted him. [indiscernible]

there is no proof he stole the documents. the main witnesses have recanted saying assange had hacked. there is no evidence against him. they are going against him as any dictator would do, throwing a journalist in the dungeon because he reveals war crimes, corruption. we are at a crisis in journalism when the united states government can get away with what they're doing against assange. and it is not just us. they only want one narrative on this in line with [indiscernible] this is part of extorting a klimt on information. by the way, u.s. in my view needed russia to intervene in ukraine in order to unleash their economic war, to unleash their information war, and the

proxy war which they want to go on for a long time. joe biden said eight years overthrow putin. he said forever 24th in his press conference the day of the invasion the purpose of sanctions was not to stop the invasion but to bring down putin in the russian people to rise up so they needed this invasion -- we are a small part of the attacks being targeted. they could never shut down rt america, europe has been rt -- banned rt. [indiscernible] all the products that are no longer available including food and minerals and fuel. this was not possible without the invasion. a trap. strip and offensive and a

donbas. this has a long history in the u.s.. this is nothing new. this goes back to john adams throwing people in jail for what they wrote. woodrow wilson failed by one vote in the senate forgetting official censorship. the espionage act -- hundreds of people in jail for speeches and articles they wrote. mccarthyism. this is a recurring theme in u.s. history. we are seeing a strong example of it right now. amy: joe lauria,, thank you for being with us editor-in-chief of , the independent news outlet consortium news, founded in 1995. a former u.n. correspondent for "the wall street journal," "boston globe," and others. investigative reporter for "the sunday times of london." now with consortium news. thank you so much for being with us. as calls grover biden to declare public health emergency to ensure access to abortion after

the super court overturned roe, we will get an update from two leading abortion providers in southern states, including diane derzis, ceo of jackson women's health organization, yes, the clinic at the center of this supreme court case that led to the overturning of roe. stay with us.

amy: "up in flames" by grace cummings. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show with an update on abortion rights as president biden considers a public of to expand abortion access after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. >> one of the things they're asking for is a public health emergency. is that is something are considering? pres. biden: that is something i've asked the medical people in the administration to look at, whether that -- whether i have the authority to do that and what impact that would have. amy: biden's comments came on the same day as some 10,000 reproductive rights activists

rallied in washington to urge the administration and lawmakers to do more to protect abortion. >> we are demanding the federal government do something to legalize abortion now, that waiting until november is not enough. amy: president biden signed an executive order to ensure access friday to abortion medication and emergency contraception and urging congress to pass legislation to codify abortion rights. on monday, the biden administration said federal law preempts state abortion bands when emergency care is needed and that the government can penalize institutions or providers that failed to provide abortions as needed to treat medical emergencies. the white house has defended biden's response to the supreme court so far. but one of our next guests tweeted in response -- "i don't know who needs to hear this but "here's a free lawyer for after you are arrested isn't really the win for us it is being touted as"

that was robin marty, reproductive justice advocate and the operations director of the west alabama women's center, which used to provide abortion services before the ban and just reopened on monday. she's also the author of "the new handbook for a post-roe america." she is in tuscaloosa, alabama. and joining us in gulf shores, alabama, is diane derzis, the ceo and owner of jackson women's health organization, mississippi's only abortion clinic, which was at the center of the supreme court case that led to the overturning of roe dobbs v. jackson women's health , organization. the clinic closed soon after roe was overturned last month and plans to reopen in las cruces, new mexico. we welcome you both back to democracy now! diane derzis, let's begin with you, you're in charge of the organization that named the supreme court case that overturned roe. your response right now about to the supreme court and if you think president biden is doing enough?

>> let me address president biden. i think he is limited in his powers to do anything. he has made it clear unless we turn out for the vote and a the next election, we are lost. in the meantime, we are telling women flee the hostile states and we're still threating doctors, even with what biden, threatening doctors in neighboring states if they give a pill that is taken out of that state and completed at home in a hostile state. so this is far beyond anything that people are talking about at this point. it is dreadful. amy: can i ask, why did the jackson women's health organization close? it is not only an abortion clinic, it provides all kinds of services. we saw the antiabortion activists out there. talk about that decision. >> the way the clinic survive is by doing abortion, not family care and those other,

unfortunately, services that we did. most of those don't pay the rent. there other agencies that do those. our only choice was to go where we could make a difference, and the closest place we found was las cruces. we're still opening in baltimore, virginia -- bristol, virginia, and we still have clinics in georgia. we do have other places and we do have inroads into making referrals to women that are closer and it may not be las cruces but it will be a clinic closer to them. juan: your decision to pick new mexico as the best place to operate, could you talk about why? is there any way alabama law can reach out to the work you do there? >> i don't see that. it is not a neighboring state.

unfortunately, it only affects the women in alabama. but the reason we picked that was because i is, for the timing -- i say for the time being -- a safe state. we havbeen welcomed by the governor. it helps when yohave someone politically pro-choice who understands women's needs and women must have the services at any cost. sohat is the primary reason we chose new mexico. juan: i wanted to ask you about the native nations. there is a choctaw -- the choctaw in mississippi, the indian reservations have an ability to not follow state law as such? >> that is a good question and one that someone smarter than i would have to answer. we often thought over the years the native americans, that is their land. whether or not they want to

involve themselves in this, it was certainly be wonderful if that were the case, but i think we have talked about that for years. i've not seen anyone that is gotten close to doing anything. amy: both native american reservations and also federal enclaves, federal land in these states like military bases or other federal land. let's put that question to robin marty come operations director of the west alabama women's center which has just reopened. explain that decision, the the women's health clinic will not be offering abortions, and then talk about this issue of federal enclaves. >> thank you for having me on. in alabama, we are -- we do not have a other states we have operations in, we're specifically in alabama. we are nonprofit health center. in preparation for roe being

overturned, because we did know it was coming, we t aside a pool of money we know will allow us to stay open for at least three months. in that time, we are using that to build of our other programs. family planning programs, hiv care, prenatal care, prep services -- alsorts of different programs that we kw are desperately necessary in alabama because there is no place people can go to to have that. with that pool of money, we are also making re we are around so if a person tries to manage their own abortion or if a person is havi a miscarriage and is afraid to go into a hospital, they are allowed to comment csa begin to basic agnostic, ultrasound, and help them uerstand whether they need morcare or not or if they do have a miscarriage d that needs to be managed. we believe this is the most important thing that can happen in alabama because when you

criminalize abortion, that means any person can become pregnant and does have bleeding issues can be suspected of trying to end their own pregnancy. the state says they're not put a charge the person who tries to do their own abortion, but we do know they will try to charge anyone around that person in order to try and basically make people to afraid to end their own pregnancies. we are going to be a safe place. that is why we are staying open. we are hoping in the next three months, we can raise enough money to keep ourselves open on these new projects. as for all of the questions about federal land or native land, people need to remember when it comes to native land, this entire country was native land. this is land stolen from native americans and it is not ours to try and come and say, hey, can we use this in order to

circumvent laws we as white people have passed righteously or not in our own states. also when you look at military bases, federal lands, we already know federally we have the height of emmett which prohibits anyone from doing any sort of taxpayer funding for abortion. we also know states that have had their own hide amendments they have used it to say anything funded by a taxpayer which would be federal land kansas federal funding of abortions. there simply not an option for us to use federal land. as far as i can tell, in order to set up abortion care centers in these really hostile states. juan: robin marty come even before the roe ruling, talk about how it was already difficult to access abortion reproductive health care in alabama, south, gulf coas >> airy much so. even prior to the ruling itself,

there were only a handful of clinics in the gulf coast area. there were three in louisiana, three in alabama, and one in mississippi. that is for the entirety of the region. we saw exactly how limited that was when texas ban abortions in september. as time has passed, we have seen more patients coming from texas, mississippi, louisiana over to our abortion clinic because it was one of two abortion clinics in the area was operating five days week. it is impossible even for people to cross states. in alabama, had to wait 48 hours between your first in person and second in peon appointme. that was diffilt foreople wh had jobs, children at home. it was already a must impossible to get anbortion and now it will be virtually impossible. that is what we're focusing on people we knowre not going to

leave the state because it is simply too hard. there is not enough mey you can get to some of the population in alabama to low them to go all the way to illinois, north carolina in order to access care. we know they'reoing to y to access it at home and it is vitally important to make sure if they do that, they're able to go somewhere safer they do not have to worry about surveillance or someone trying to put them in jail. amy: let me go to diane derzis and ask you about mississippi, the poorest state in united states. also has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and infant internal mortality. -- internal mortality. talk about the effect this ruling is having on mississippi. we already know black maternal mortality is several times what it is for white people who have children, the desperate situation there. then i want to ask you about

medication abortions, which is more than happy abortions in the united states and -- half the abortions in the united states and all the vans set up. that is a lot but if you could take on that? >> we are seeing women travel from mississippi to a clinic in georgia right now and to atlanta . i happen to disagree with marty, women will do whatever it takes for abortion whether it be legal, safe, or as she points out, self managed. neither one of those are the best situation. we are seeing women travel. there are tons of many people are putting money into, the process of making sure people have access for travel and for other reasons. i am not one that supports self managed abortions. are we going to have that? absolutely.

but medication abortions certainly changed and put a different face on abortion. it is not 100%, so you still have the problems that robin was speaking of earlier. the whole situation should never have happened. i think it has to send a message that right now we are trying to plug the bleeding. and the only way to stop this is to absolutely pass federal law that protects a woman's access to the most privatization of her life. i think that is what we are going to need to do in the long run and to start working on right now, but in the meantime, we're doing everything we can -- and you have different ways of doing that. as just pointed out from both of us. amy: let me ask robin marty, if you want to comment on that. also, this division that is growing in the democratic party between the progressives and the

democratic establishment was took yesterday the outgoing white house committee patients director kate bedingfield said in a statement -- "joe biden's goal in responding to dobbs is not to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the democratic party." your response? >> first to what diane has said. i do believe, i was the come abortion clinic state to exist and they're always ing to be ople who need education abortion. also those who lead follow-up abtion care. medication abortion is not 100% effective. it is very safe. it is the same medication in our clinic. but when you have a field abortion, so once that the abortion does not work or you have a situation where all the products have not come out or bleeding, the reality is, we still need to have places where people can come to because people are going to do

medication abortion out-of-state by they're going to come home to finish it. once they are at home taking the second dose of their medication, they are now in place where there is no legal abortion clinics. people are going to need a place to go that will provide that care regardless of whether abor. as for the biden administration's lack of finesse on the pulling together a coalition, we know abortion is extraordinarily popular. we know especially now the outplaying of protests happening -- outpouring of protests across the country was in alabama, multiple protests since the decision came down which has only been a couple of weeks. people want everyone to have access to their own bodily autonomy. that is a fundamental rig and one that hast to be addressed. it belongs to everyone.

amy: robin marty, thank you for being with us, ration director of west alabama women's center which has just reopened. and diane derzis, ceo and owner of jackson women's health organization, mississippi's only abortion clinic, which was at the center of the supreme court case that led to the overturning