We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
Graphic Truth: Abortion meds in SCOTUS case are crucial
The US Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday on whether access to mifepristone, an oral drug used to terminate a pregnancy, should be restricted. The drug works by blocking progesterone, a hormone that’s necessary for a pregnancy to continue. The case centers on whether changes the FDA made in 2016 and 2021, which broadened access to the drug, should be rolled back.
Women take part in a protest in support of safe and legal abortion access in Mexico City.
Mexico decriminalizes abortion
In a landmark decision, Mexico’s Supreme Court has decriminalized abortion nationwide. It’s a big deal for the predominantly Catholic country, where federal healthcare workers in many places were penalized for performing the procedure.
Quick recap: This ruling builds on an earlier decision by Mexico’s Supreme Court that said decisions about abortion should be made at the state level. Still, abortion has remained illegal in 20 of the country’s 32 states, and in some rural areas where it was legalized, women didn’t even know they had access, women's rights groups argue.
The regional picture. Latin America has traditionally been home to some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world due to the influence of the Catholic Church. But mass mobilization efforts – dubbed the Marea Verde (Green Wave) – have indeed swept Latin America in recent years, spurred by renewed calls for enhancement of sexual and reproductive freedoms. (Ironically, much of this was inspired by the now-defunct Roe v. Wade ruling in the US.) In Argentina, abortion was legalized in December 2020, marking the first time that women in that country could legally terminate their pregnancies in over a century. Similar shifts have taken place in Colombia, Guyana and Uruguay.
In Mexico, where roughly 20% of births occur among adolescents and contraception needs remain unmet, this decision will drastically alter the social landscape.
Ohio vote reflects abortion’s mobilizing power
Voters in the Buckeye State on Tuesday, with 57% of the vote, struck down Issue 1, a Republican-backed proposal aimed at making it harder to change the state’s constitution. If it had passed, a constitutional amendment on abortion rights planned for this November would’ve required a 60% supermajority to pass.
Proponents advertised it as a safeguard against mob rule and wealthy out-of-state interests, but opponents saw it as a thinly veiled attack on abortion rights. Blatant admissions from Republicans and a flood of money from pro-life groups backing Issue 1 reinforced those concerns.
The result reflects how powerful abortion is as a mobilizing force for Democrats. Ohio’s voter turnout more than doubled from recent state elections, driven largely by Democratic and Independent voters who wouldn’t have normally tuned into a summer election but got involved because abortion rights were on the line.
The big turnout echoed the 2022 Midterms, where abortion-protecting initiatives won in every state where they were on the ballot. The issue boosted Democratic turnout overall, enabling them to maintain control of the Senate and gain governorships in a year when election trends predicted GOP gains.
It also showed that Republicans pushing for abortion restrictions are out of step with the wider electorate. According to a New York Times/Siena College poll last month, a majority of voters across every region of the country believe that abortion should be all or mostly legal. Most 2024 Republican presidential hopefuls have sidestepped the issue – even Donald Trump, who appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, has avoided endorsing any kind of restrictions.
Protecting abortion has become a priority for a large portion of voters, especially in swing states like Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona, where Republican legislatures quickly moved to restrict abortion access after the Dobbs decision. Ahead of the 2024 election, where polling shows lukewarm Democratic support for Biden, abortion could become an invaluable tactic to boost turnout in key battleground states.
India is not a US ally ... or is it?
If the United States and India were ever to make it Facebook official, their status would be: "It's Complicated." These two global behemoths may seem like close allies, especially judging by the warm welcome President Biden gave Prime Minister Modi during his White House visit in June, but in reality, they are anything but best friends.
During the Cold War era, India maintained a "strategically non-aligned" global status and it has tried to stay on the geopolitical fence since fall of the Soviet Union. But when Russia invaded Ukraine and Delhi refused to explicitly condemn Moscow, India's self-proclaimed "multilateral" approach was severely tested.
On the show this week, a deep dive into the nation that recently surpassed China to become the most populous country on earth. Ian is joined by award-winning broadcast journalist and Washington Post contributor Barkha Dutt to talk US-India relations, the state of democracy within India, and how the trauma of COVID has reshaped the country.
Tune in to “GZERO World with Ian Bremmer” on US public television starting this Friday, July 7, to watch the full interview. Check local listings.
One year since Roe v. Wade reversal, biggest surprises in state law
Surprises and non-surprises surrounded the Supreme Court's landmark Dobbs ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade last year. It started with the infamous leak to POLITICO about the ruling to come, and then the decision itself came down nearly a year ago today. But according to GZERO World guest Yale Law legal expert Emily Bazelon, one of the biggest surprises happened after the ruling.
"What has been surprising has been the ballot initiatives that have uniformly so far protected abortion rights in the six states where they have been up for a vote, including in Kansas." The fact that, at least at the state level, abortion has fared much better than expected this past year, Bazelon says, has to do with the voters themselves.
"When abortion is put to voters directly, one issue they can concentrate on, they are more interested in protecting abortion rights than I think a lot of people on the right and the left expected."
Tune into GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television stations nationwide. Check local listings.
For more on the Supreme Court and what to expect from anticipated rulings this year, watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: "Who polices the Supreme Court?"
- 3 key Supreme Court decisions expected in June 2023 ›
- The Graphic Truth: Where can American women now get abortions? ›
- Why do Americans get so worked up about abortion? ›
- Podcast: An active US Supreme Court overturns "settled law" on abortion. What's next? ›
- Roe v. Wade overturned: Abortion restricted in half of US states ›
Who polices the Supreme Court?
Who watches the watchmen? And who oversees the US Supreme Court? As SCOTUS, the highest court in the US, gears up to issue some blockbuster rulings this summer, ethical concerns swirl around its members, and its public support is at an all-time low.
It’s been one year since SCOTUS struck down Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after 50 years of precedent. In the months following the decision, the conservative supermajority quickly moved US law away from the political center. Multiple controversies erupted surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas, and public opinion balked at a blanket refusal to address questions about the justices’ ethical standard.
Has the Supreme Court become overly politicized? Can public faith be restored in a deeply partisan America? And what major rulings are still to come this session? Ian Bremmer talks with Yale Law School legal expert, New York Times Magazine columnist and co-host of the Slate’s Political Gabfest podcast, Emily Bazelon.
Tune into GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on public television stations nationwide. Check local listings.
- 3 key Supreme Court decisions expected in June 2023 ›
- Senators want ethics rules for SCOTUS ›
- What We’re Watching: SCOTUS mulling student debt relief, Blinken visiting Central Asia, Biden's partial TikTok ban, Petro’s post-honeymoon phase ›
- Podcast: An active US Supreme Court overturns "settled law" on abortion. What's next? ›
- Ian Explains: The US Supreme Court's history of political influence - GZERO Media ›
A family tries to flee Khartoum.
What We’re Watching: US preps Sudan embassy evacuation, Kosovo election boycott, US abortion pill decision, Ukrainian grain curbs, Schumacher’s “interview"
US seeks to evacuate embassy as Sudan crisis deepens
One American has been killed amid the fighting in Sudan this week, the State Department said Thursday. With the security situation worsening, the US is preparing for a possible evacuation of roughly 70 embassy staffers by deploying troops to nearby Djibouti who could help with the operation.
But amid ongoing bombardments in Khartoum, the capital, Washington acknowledges that any evacuations will be hard to pull off – whether they involve embassy workers or the 19,000 US citizens living in Sudan.
This comes as two warring military factions, both linked to the country's former autocrat Omar al-Bashir, have been locked in a battle for almost a week that’s caused Khartoum’s 5 million residents to hide in their homes. Fighting has also prompted tens of thousands to flee into neighboring Chad. (For more on the causes of the conflict and regional implications, see here.)
Other states – including Japan and Germany – have already tried to evacuate their citizens but have been forced to stand down as Khartoum’s airfields remain closed due to heavy shelling.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation is deteriorating. After a tenuous ceasefire broke down Wednesday, the World Health Organization said that the death toll had surpassed 300. What’s more, Khartoum residents say they are quickly running out of food as the UN has suspended aid deliveries and many stores have run out of supplies.
Kosovo’s ghost elections
This Sunday, Kosovo holds municipal elections in northern regions of the country where tensions have flared between the local Serb majority and the Kosovan national government. There’s one big problem: The Serbs are boycotting the vote.
Local Serb leaders say they won’t recognize the national government until they’re permitted to form a long-promised, quasi-autonomous association of Serb municipalities. Kosovan authorities are setting up polling locations anyway.
The background? Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia never recognized the move, and northern Kosovo – where many ethnic Serbs still consider Belgrade their capital – has been a tinderbox ever since. Last year, clashes even erupted over the introduction of Kosovan license plates, and violence has already caused this Sunday’s elections to be postponed once, from last December.
Kosovo and Serbia recently agreed to an EU-backed peace plan, but progress will be halting at best. Serbia’s president recently said Kosovo will “remain in Serbia” during his term. We’re watching the polls this Sunday, especially if no one goes to them.
See our Kosovo explainer here.
US’s abortion pill litigation battle
Abortion pill access in the US is still in legal limbo after the Supreme Court extended until midnight Friday a deadline on whether to uphold a lower court’s ban on the use of mifepristone, an abortion pill.
Justice Samuel Alito issued a terse statement Wednesday saying that the deadline had been extended by 48 hours. Some analysts took this as a sign that the court, which gutted the landmark Roe v. Wade decision last summer, is struggling to reach a decision, though that remains speculation.
This development comes after a federal judge in Texas recently banned the use of the drug, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2000, before a federal appeals court then ruled that mifepristone can remain on the market until the Supreme Court decides. Still, the appellate judges stripped back some provisions introduced in 2016 to enhance access to abortion pills, including allowing them to be sent by mail.
Whatever happens Friday, the litigation will continue as the Justice Department, representing the FDA, and drug makers, continue to pursue legal cases to keep abortion medication – accounting for 50% of abortions nationwide – on the market.
EU steps in to rescue Eastern Europe from Ukrainian grain
The EU is implementing emergency restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports to five member states neighboring the war-torn country. The move comes after Poland and Hungary took unilateral actions to rescue their farmers from the influx of Ukraine’s cheap grain.
With Black Sea ports caught up in the fighting, neighboring countries have been the sole transit routes for Ukrainian exports. But the high costs of transporting grain this way (and the relative cheapness of importing it from Latin America) trapped millions of tons of grain in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. As local prices plummeted, countries implemented individual bans on Ukrainian imports despite warnings from Brussels.
The upcoming “preventative measures” seek to be a universal solution substituting for piecemeal bans that risk destabilizing the entire market. Brussels is also organizing convoys to transport the grain from the bloc to where it can be sent to countries in need.
The measures come along with €100 million ($109 million) worth of compensation for farmers who have been enraged by plummeting prices. But as Brussels pays to disperse the grain across the continent, farmers in Western Europe need to brace themselves for local prices to take a hit.
Fake Schumacher, real lawsuit
Ten years after suffering a severe head injury that left him incapacitated, legendary Formula One driver Michael Schumacher miraculously gave his first interview this week.
Or so it seemed. The exchange with German tabloid Die Aktuelle was actually generated by an AI program. Schumacher’s family is now planning legal action.
Frankly, we’re a little disappointed in Die Aktuelle. This isn’t like the AI-generated Drake/Weeknd song that blew up earlier this week. In that case, a computer actually mimicked the voices of those artists so well that millions of people thought they were listening to the real thing.
But with Die Aktuelle, it’s just … printed words, and flat ones like, “My wife and my children were a blessing to me and without them I would not have managed it.”
We’re not sure why the ‘zine went to the trouble of using an AI program rather than just making up fake quotes themselves. Can’t humans do anything anymore?
Health data privacy is the next post-Roe fight
Now that the US Supreme Court has ruled that states can do their own thing on abortion rights, women are worried about who can check their online personal health data.
Apps have been a game-changer for American women tracking their menstrual cycles, ovulation, or pregnancy status. But that information could be used against them where abortion is illegal.
Some companies say they'll do better to protect the data or not sell it to third parties, but many have a track record of doing the opposite. Euki, an app created by two non-profit groups, takes several steps more to help women seeking an abortion in the post-Roe era.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has yet to include health data apps in digital privacy protections, as the legal battle rages. GZERO's Sarah Kneezle explains on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer.