Abortion in Mexico/Central America

I. Abortion in Mexico/Central America
Amy Littlefield and Laura Gotteodiener, "A Second Assault," The Nation, September 30, 2019.
"On average, from 2007 trough 2016 across Mexico, one person was reported to authorities every day on suspicion of abortion." "According to a 2006 Human Rights Watch report, 'actual access to safe abortion procedures is made virtually impossible by a maze of administrative hurdles as well as -- most pointedly -- by official negligence and obstruction.' " "From 2009 to 2016, there were 111,413  rapes reported to federal and local attorney generals." "Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal death in Mexico."

"Today, though the national law says survivors in any Mexican state can go to a public hospital and get an abortion without reporting the crime to authorities first, 11 states impose some form of time limit on the books that require victims to file a report." "Twelve states impose some form of time limit in abortions for rape survivors, mostly confining it to the first trimester of pregnancy." "Across the country, activists say that one of the biggest remaining hurdles is not the law itself but rather the doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, and other public officials who fail to understand it or carry it out."

"Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws, with several banning abortion outright." "In 2014, at least 10 percent of maternal deaths in the region resulted from unsafe abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive heath research organization."

II. Iran Meeting Is Absurd
Brian Bennett and John Walcott, "Iran Gets Tough," TIME, September 30, 2019.
" 'Trump's desire for a meeting with Iran is absurd at this point,' says the director for the hawkish Foundation for Defense for Democracies. 'Trump finds himself backed into a corner because for a year now he has marched down an escalating path while insisting he doesn't want a conflict,' says Jeffrey Prescott, former senior adviser under President Obama. But Secretary of State Pompeo has argued that easing pressure on Iran before it makes concessions on its nuclear program or reduce its use of proxy forces in the region, would be dangerous, as it would reward that behavior."

III. Extreme Poverty in the Black Hills
Brooke Jarvis, "American Sphinx," The New Yorker, September 23, 2019.
Larry Smalley, an advocate for abused children, told Brooke Jarvis that kids in Pine Ridge are experiencing 'a state of emergency,' and that it's not uncommon for three or four or even five families to have to share a trailer -- feeling squeezed into the vast contradiction that is the modern Back Hills. "Here, sites of theft and genocide have become monuments to patriotism, a symbol of resistance has become a source of revenue, and old stories of broken promises and appropriation recur."

IV. Contradictory Words From Trump and Biden
A statement from the Justice Department contradicts President Trump's words about Attorney General William Barr's involvement in pressuring the Ukrainian government in digging up dirt on Joe Biden. "The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son." "The President has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine -- on this or any other matters."

In his call to Ukrainian President Zelensky, Trump said: "There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great."