University of California, Davis
Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis and author of Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Cost of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients and the Rest of Us and Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe V. Wade
Roe v. Wade: Still Fighting after All These Years When the Supreme Court legalized abortion 40 years ago today, it may have settled the law, but it started the most bitter of all the battles in America's ongoing culture war. Roe v. Wade pitted a woman's right to choose against the right of a fetus to live, an issue that divides America. Although controversy continues, that's still the law of the land, so much so that a new generation takes it for granted. Polls show a majority still supports legal abortion, but in some states it's harder and harder to get one. We look at that paradox and update the current strategies of both sides.
The Slaying of a Doctor and the Anti-Abortion Movement George Tiller was a doctor who provided late-term abortions. Known as “St. George” by supporters and “Dr. Killer by the anti-abortion movement, he was a frequent target for anti-abortion protests. Yesterday, he was murdered at the church he attends in Wichita, Kansas. Carole Joffe, professor of sociology at the University of California-Davis, studies the politics and sociology of reproductive health.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.