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Trump says Arizona’s 160-year-old abortion law goes too far
Washington — Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he believes an Arizona law from 1864 that outlaws nearly all abortions goes too far, but continued to laud the Supreme Court decision in 2022 that reversed Roe v. Wade and overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at the airport in Atlanta, the former president said he believes state lawmakers in Arizona will take action to change the Civil War-era ban. On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled the law may be enforced. The statute allows abortions only to save the life of the mother, and does not include exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
“It’s all about state’s rights, and that’ll be straightened out,” Trump said. “I’m sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason and that’ll be taken care of, I think very quickly.”
Abortion continues to play a significant role in the 2024 election. Democrats hope that the June 2022 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court — composed of three justices appointed by Trump — that dismantled the right to abortion will be a motivator for voters who favor protections for abortion access.
Trump on Monday released a video statement that declined to endorse a federal abortion ban, which many anti-abortion rights groups support and have called for him to endorse. Instead, he said abortion access will be determined by the states “by vote or legislation, or perhaps both.”
“It’s the will of the people,” Trump reiterated Wednesday.
He went on to call the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe an “incredible achievement.”
“We did that,” Trump said. “And now the states have it and the states are putting out what they want.”
The three justices the former president appointed to the nation’s highest court, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, voted to end the constitutional right to abortion.
In Arizona, the 160-year-old law upheld by the state supreme court supersedes a law enacted in 2022 that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks. Abortion rights advocates, though, are working to place an initiative on the November ballot that would amend the state constitution to establish a fundamental right to abortion until viability, considered between 22 and 24 weeks into pregnancy.
Arizona for Abortion Access, the group behind the initiative, said last week it had collected enough signatures to qualify the measure for ballot in November.
CBS News
Former New York Gov. David Paterson, stepson attacked while walking in New York City
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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Teen critically wounded in shooting on Philadelphia bus; one person in custody
A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.