Jason Kenney, Scott Moe face similar COVID-19 crises but different political pressure

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Alberta premier faces threats from within party, decidedly

 lower approval ratings

Adam Hunter · CBC News · Posted: Sep 25, 2021 

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, left, and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney have both seen their provincial health-care systems pushed to the brink by the pandemic's fourth wave. But only Kenney is facing a leadership review. (Bryan Eneas/CBC; Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Longtime political allies Jason Kenney and Scott Moe, the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan, respectively, are facing nearly identical health-care crises, but only one is facing a leadership review.

Kenney's handling of the fourth wave of COVID-19, which has hit Alberta harder than other provinces, has led to questions about his future as premier.

He met on Wednesday with his United Conservative Party caucus, with his political future said to be in the balance. Kenney emerged from the meeting without seeing a non-confidence motion, but a party leadership review will take place this spring. 

Saskatchewan is experiencing a similar crisis — averaging 279 new cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, to Alberta's 253, as of Friday. (For comparison, Ontario is averaging 32 cases per 100,000.)

Saskatchewan also has the lowest vaccination rates among all provinces, with 72 per cent, and on Friday reported a record 276 people in hospital and 61 in intensive care units. Alberta also set a record for COVID-19 patients in ICU on Friday with 243.

The difference between the situations for Kenney and Moe, according to political analysts, is that Alberta's premier faces threats within his party and decidedly lower approval ratings.

Health-care workers attend to a COVID-19 patient in the ICU of Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary on Nov. 14, 2020. Alberta set a record for COVID-19 patients in intensive care on Friday, with 243. (Leah Hennel/AHS)

Polling disparity

Moe led his party to a convincing re-election last October, garnering more than 60 per cent of the vote, while Kenney faces a viable threat in former premier Rachel Notley and the NDP in Alberta's next planned election in 2023.

An Angus Reid Institute survey from June showed the Alberta NDP 11 points higher than the UCP, while the Wildrose Independence Party trailed the UCP by 10 per cent among decided voters.

Donation figures show the Alberta NDP was raising more than double the UCP in the early part of 2021.

The same survey placed Kenney's approval at 31 per cent, the lowest among all premiers and 30 points lower than Moe.

Moe is "not facing re-election for quite a while [but] Kenney is facing a moved-up leadership review," said University of Regina political studies professor Tom McIntosh.

"For all the similarities in how they've responded to things, their political situations are quite different."

One nurse injects another with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Regina General Hospital in Regina on Dec. 15, 2020. Saskatchewan has the lowest vaccination rate in the country. (Michael Bell/The Canadian Press)

Political pressure

There are two factions within Kenney's caucus, says Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary — one that believes the premier broke promises by last week not keeping the province open without health restrictions and another that thinks the government waited too long to act.

"What they do agree on is Premier Kenney needs to go," Bratt said.

University of Calgary political science professor Lisa Young says she can't see a scenario where Kenney is still premier by the next planned election.

"I think the damage is too great," Young said. "I think that his personal brand is ruined. The current situation is really quite disastrous, and it's going to get worse before it gets better."

But while Kenney faces pressure from within the UCP, McIntosh notes Moe's party does not leak its squabbles publicly.  

"We get a lot of inside information about Alberta caucus meetings in the press," said McIntosh. "We are not hearing about what's going on in Saskatchewan Party caucus meetings. There is a discipline in the Sask Party caucus that any premier or prime minister would love."

Kenney celebrates the lifting of public health restrictions by taking part in Canada Day celebrations in Calgary on July 1. (Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press)

That said, Moe's insulation may be hurting his pandemic response, according to Murray Mandryk, political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post. Moe has, on several occasions, ignored doctors and other health workers who have formally asked him to impose health measures.

"He's certainly not listening to the doctors who have written him up to five times to do something," Mandryk said. 

"Caucus has kept him isolated from that and that's hugely problematic."

As for the public pressure on Kenney, that might have to do with personality, says Melanee Thomas, a political studies associate professor at the University of Calgary.

"Scott Moe is not nearly as bellicose as Jason Kenney," said Thomas.

WATCH | Saskatchewan's hospitals pushed to limits by COVID-19:

Each day, Saskatchewan's hospitals facing rising pressure from COVID-19. As frustration rises among officials and doctors, patients are suffering. 1:54

Thomas says that before the fourth wave, the Alberta government was discussing a wage rollback for nurses, which further antagonized health-care workers. Saskatchewan was the first to remove isolation requirements for positive cases, but kept it fairly quiet.

"Scott Moe is not wearing this the way that Jason Kenney is. Kenney's a lightning rod for negative attention," said Thomas.

The UCP government, she says, "thinks that all attention is good attention, even if it's totally negative. I'm not persuaded that it's working out."

Open for summer

Perhaps the biggest similarity in the provinces' COVID-19 policies was their "open for summer" plans.

On July 1, Alberta removed nearly all health restrictions. Kenney and chief medical health officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province was moving from "pandemic to endemic."

On July 11, Saskatchewan removed its public health restrictions. Moe and chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab spoke of people learning to "live with COVID."

But on Sept. 16, days after eclipsing 500 new cases and one day after Alberta announced new health measures, the Saskatchewan government implemented mandatory masking and announced an upcoming proof-of-vaccination policy — moves that doctors, nurses and medical health officers had been calling for since late August.

When Kenney announced the new measures, he apologized for the province's messaging when it removed restrictions in July.

But that apology has not relieved the pressure.

• Jason Kenney survives caucus meeting with leadership review to come

• Alberta sees record number of ICU admissions as COVID-19 hospitalizations soar

• COVID-19 in Sask.: 528 new cases, 5 new deaths, new hospitalization and ICU records

When asked if he took any responsibility for Saskatchewan's fourth wave, Moe said decisions throughout the pandemic were made to "protect health-care capacity."

Mandryk says it's "patently ridiculous" Moe didn't apologize. 

But, he says, Moe's handling of the fourth wave may not be threatening his job security because he maintains the caucus support that Kenney seems to lack.

That said, Mandryk added: "I do wonder if voter support will start to move for Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party because of their handling of the pandemic." 

A LITTLE LATE FOR THAT

Corbella: ER doctors hear tearful regrets from unvaccinated patients

Author of the article:Licia Corbella
Publishing date:Sep 24, 2021 

Calgary ICU staff speak with a COVID-19 patient to determine if there is anyone they would like staff to call. 

PHOTO BY SUPPLIED BY ALBERTA HEALTH SERVICES

“If only people could see what I see and hear what I hear, every eligible Albertan would be vaccinated.”

If only.

Those are the words of an Edmonton emergency room and transport physician who gets to hear the regrets of Albertans who live in remote communities where the low COVID-19 vaccination rates are contributing so heavily to Alberta’s state of medical emergency.

This physician, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says every day — usually several times, but as much as 10 times a day — they transport people who might not have outwardly denied the existence of COVID-19 but admit they never believed reports about the severity of it.

“The most common response I’m hearing from people is: ‘I had no idea that I would be this sick. I wish I had gotten vaccinated or taken COVID more seriously and taken more precautions.'”

HALLWAY MEDICINE IS BACK

 ANOTHER THING KENNEY RIPPED OFF RALPH KLEIN

IN THIS CASE THE UNVACCINATED SHOULD NOT GET PRIORITY BUT SUFFER HALLWAY MEDICINE


This doctor says recently a man in his 60s from a remote northern Alberta community was weeping with regret. He was missing a wedding anniversary that coincided with a family member’s birthday that was being marked by a special joint event.

“He was a very, very lovely gentleman, and he was crying and scared. He said to me: ‘I wish I had known better. I wish I had listened to my grandchild who asked me to get vaccinated and I just hope that I can survive this to make it to this event next year. If only I had listened.’ ”

If only.

The doctor tracked this patient’s progress and he did, in fact, survive, but many people don’t. Those who survive often suffer with long COVID — many months of intense fatigue and other symptoms.

On Thursday in Alberta, 17 new deaths from COVID were reported in the previous 24 hours. There are 1,058 people in hospital, 226 of them in intensive care.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said “100 per cent of new ICU admissions were in Albertans who did not have any vaccine protection.”

If only they had listened.

Hinshaw said Albertans who have not been vaccinated are “about 15 times more likely than those with vaccine protection to end up in the hospital from COVID-19. They are about 40 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU.”

During her COVID update on Thursday, Hinshaw referred to a story first reported by City TV in Edmonton that several residents of Edson are fighting for their lives in an Edmonton ICU after they attended a “COVID party.”

The point of the party, apparently held just outside the town about 190 kilometres west of Edmonton, was to have healthy people mingle with those who had tested positive for COVID-19 in an effort to develop natural immunity to the virus. This is the same virus that has flooded Alberta hospitals with sick patients and overwhelmed intensive-care units, which are now running at 179 per cent of normal capacity. The system is only coping because 177 surge beds have been added, sacrificing scheduled surgeries, including cancer operations.

“I cannot confirm that these (party) reports are accurate,” said Hinshaw, “but whether or not this specific report is verified, what is important to know is that anyone contemplating this kind of activity should know that this consequence — severe illness, and transmitting to others who may become severely ill or even die — is an absolutely likely outcome.

“Hosting or attending an event like this in the current time of crisis is irresponsible and dangerous. It doesn’t just put you at risk, but those around you, including people who may need health care for other reasons than COVID, but have no critical care capacity available for them when they need it.”

If only people weren’t so ill informed, if only they weren’t so selfish and ignorant.

If only they’d listen to the experts instead of some crackpot with no credentials on social media.

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious-disease specialist in Edmonton, called the story about the COVID party “tragic” because people are “literally falling prey to misinformation.”

“I guess what people are kind of losing track of is the risk-benefit part of the equation,” said Saxinger, reached via telephone on Thursday.

“And a lot of that risk has been shifted by the Delta variant, which is so much more transmissible and aggressive at spreading.”

Saxinger says Delta is affecting all age groups and greater than five per cent of all cases end up in hospital. “That’s like one-in-20 people hospitalized and a quarter of those go to ICU. Those are terrible odds,” said Saxinger.

“No one would take those odds, like, here, have a one-in-20 chance of going to hospital. So I think there’s some really serious misconceptions about the risk of COVID right now and we have to tackle that better.”

Hinshaw also addressed the rampant misinformation.

“We have heard persistent questions and rumours on social media that vaccines are not working against the Delta variant, but this is categorically untrue,” said Hinshaw.

“In Alberta, COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be 85 per cent effective against infection with the Delta variant after two doses. COVID-19 vaccines are even more highly effective at preventing severe disease and death, including against the highly contagious Delta variant.

“The bottom line is that two doses of vaccine will protect most people from getting sick, having to go to the hospital, or dying if they catch the virus.”

She points out that no vaccine is 100 per cent effective and there are some “breakthrough” infections in people who are double vaccinated, but that’s because some people have conditions that mean their body cannot fully respond to doses of vaccine.

The transport physician says before they intubate severely sick COVID patients either on a helicopter, plane or in an ambulance, they give the patient the opportunity to FaceTime their loved ones before they will no longer be able to talk — and because it may be the last thing they ever say to their loved ones.

One young mother who was having troubles breathing because of COVID was giving instructions to her parents who were caring for her small child, who was too young to understand what was going on.

“With tears streaming down her face she was telling her parents what her child typically likes to have for a bedtime snack.”

If only she’d had her vaccine, she could have tucked her own baby into bed and told her she loves her herself.

If only.

Licia Corbella is a Postmedia columnist in Calgary.

IF ONLY CORBELLA HAD WRITTEN THIS A YEAR AGO OR IN JULY DURING BEST SUMMER EVER

Canada 

Anti-vaxxers 'don’t have a right to accommodations', Ontario human rights watchdog says

•  News Reporter
•  5 hours ago
• 
  

People who choose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine "due to personal preferences or singular beliefs," do not have a "right to accommodations" under Ontario’s human rights law, the province’s rights watchdog says. The decision to get vaccinated is voluntary, and a person chooses not to be vaccinated based on personal preference - they do not have the right to accommodation under the (Human Rights Code), the Ontario Human Rights Commission said this week in a policy paper discussing the limits of vaccine mandates and proof-of-vaccination requirements.

While human rights law prohibits discrimination based on creed - someone’s religion, or a non-religious belief system that shapes their identity, world view and way of life - personal preferences or singular beliefs do not amount to a creed, the commission said.

Adding that it "is not aware of any tribunal or court decision that found a singular belief against vaccinations or masks amounted to a creed within the meaning of the Code."

Furthermore, even if someone can show they have been denied service or employment over their creed, "the duty to accommodate does not necessarily require they be exempted from vaccine mandates, certification or COVID testing requirements," the commission said.

"The duty to accommodate can be limited - if it would significantly compromise health and safety amounting to undue hardship, such as during a pandemic."

Ontario - rolled out its long-awaited vaccine certificate requirement on Wednesday, limiting access to indoor dining, meeting spaces, gyms, concert venues and more. Anyone seeking to enter these settings now must show ID and proof they have been fully vaccinated.

Those who have been vaccinated, they can download their proof documents online.

The province’s plan has exceptions for those under age 12 (who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated), and anyone with a doctor’s note saying they have a valid medical reason they cannot be vaccinated.

The commission is responsible for administering and enforcing Ontario’s human rights laws, and is being led by newly-appointed chief commissioner Patricia DeGuire, who began a two-year term in August.

In its policy paper, the commission explained that vaccine mandates and proof requirements are "generally permissible," but must offer reasonable accommodations for people who are "unable to be vaccinated for Code-related" reasons, such as a disability or a medical reason. The commission added that this standard would apply to any organizations seeking to impose vaccine restrictions.

Exempting people with medically documented reasons is a "reasonable accommodation," said the commission.

Testing those who are unable to be vaccinated for the virus is an option for organizations, and the costs should be covered as "part of the duty to accommodate," it said.

The commission also emphasized that restrictions that deny people access to employment or services... on grounds protected under human rights law may be acceptable, but should only be used for the "shortest possible length of time."

"Such policies might only be justifiable during a pandemic. They should regularly be reviewed and updated to match the most current pandemic conditions, and to reflect up-to-date evidence and public health guidance.", they added.

The commission also urged the provincial and municipal governments to take proactive steps to make sure any enforcement of vaccine mandates or proof of vaccination policies does not disproportionately target or criminalize Indigenous peoples, Black and other racialized communities, people who are experiencing homelessness, or with mental health disabilities and/or addictions.

Human rights complaints are handled provincially by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Complaints about federally overseen organizations, such as banks, airlines and federal government, can be made to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

News Link: Read Original Source

WHY MAKE VACCINES FOR POOR COUNTRIES
COVID-19 vaccine boosters could mean billions for drugmakers
By TOM MURPHYan hour ago



FILE - In this March 2021 photo provided by Pfizer, a technician works on a line for packaging preparation for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the company's facility in Puurs, Belgium. Billions more in profits are at stake for some vaccine makers as the U.S. moves toward dispensing COVID-19 booster shots to shore up Americans' protection against the virus. (Pfizer via AP)


Billions more in profits are at stake for some vaccine makers as the U.S. moves toward dispensing COVID-19 booster shots to shore up Americans’ protection against the virus.

How much the manufacturers stand to gain depends on how big the rollout proves to be.

The Biden administration last month announced plans to give boosters to nearly everybody. But U.S. regulators have rejected the across-the-board approach and instead said third shots of Pfizer’s vaccine should go to people who are 65 and older and certain others at high risk from COVID-19.

Still, the crisis is constantly evolving, and some top U.S. health officials expect boosters will be more broadly authorized in the coming weeks or months. And that, plus continued growth in initial vaccinations, could mean a huge gain in sales and profits for Pfizer and Moderna in particular.

“The opportunity quite frankly is reflective of the billions of people around the world who would need a vaccination and a boost,” Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said.

Wall Street is taking notice. The average forecast among analysts for Moderna’s 2022 revenue has jumped 35% since President Joe Biden laid out his booster plan in mid-August.

Most of the vaccinations so far in the U.S. have come from Pfizer, which developed its shot with Germany’s BioNTech, and Moderna. They have inoculated about 99 million and 68 million people, respectively. Johnson & Johnson is third with about 14 million people.

No one knows yet how many people will get the extra shots. But Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen expects boosters alone to bring in about $26 billion in global sales next year for Pfizer and BioNTech and around $14 billion for Moderna if they are endorsed for nearly all Americans.

Those companies also may gain business from people who got other vaccines initially. In Britain, which plans to offer boosters to everyone over 50 and other vulnerable people, an expert panel has recommended that Pfizer’s shot be the primary choice, with Moderna as the alternative.

Andersen expects Moderna, which has no other products on the market, to generate a roughly $13 billion profit next year from all COVID-19 vaccine sales if boosters are broadly authorized.

Potential vaccine profits are harder to estimate for Pfizer, but company executives have said they expect their pre-tax adjusted profit margin from the vaccine to be in the “high 20s” as a percentage of revenue. That would translate to a profit of around $7 billion next year just from boosters, based on Andersen’s sales prediction.

J&J and Europe’s AstraZeneca have said they don’t intend to profit from their COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

For Pfizer and Moderna, the boosters could be more profitable than the original doses because they won’t come with the research and development costs the companies incurred to get the vaccines on the market in the first place.

WBB Securities CEO Steve Brozak said the booster shots will represent “almost pure profit” compared with the initial doses.

Drugmakers aren’t the only businesses that could see a windfall from delivering boosters. Drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens could bring in more than $800 million each in revenue, according to Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager with Gabelli Funds.

Jonas noted that the drugstores may not face competition from mass vaccination clinics this time around, and the chains are diligent about collecting customer contact information. That makes it easy to invite people back for boosters.

Drugmakers are also developing COVID-19 shots that target certain variants of the virus, and say people might need annual shots like the ones they receive for the flu. All of that could make the vaccines a major recurring source of revenue.

The COVID-19 vaccines have already done much better than their predecessors.

Pfizer said in July it expects revenue from its COVID-19 vaccine to reach $33.5 billion this year, an estimate that could change depending on the impact of boosters or the possible expansion of shots to elementary school children.

That would be more than five times the $5.8 billion racked up last year by the world’s most lucrative vaccine — Pfizer’s Prevnar13, which protects against pneumococcal disease.

It also would dwarf the $19.8 billion brought in last year by AbbVie’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, widely regarded as the world’s top-selling drug.

This bodes well for future vaccine development, noted Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.

Vaccines normally are nowhere near as profitable as treatments, Gordon said. But the success of the COVID-19 shots could draw more drugmakers and venture capitalists into the field.

“The vaccine business is more attractive, which, for those of us who are going to need vaccines, is good,” Gordon said.

___

Follow Tom Murphy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thpmurphy

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Greta Thunberg, activists in 70 nations call for urgent action against climate change



Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Fridays for Future, an environmental movement for action to fight climate change, organized rallies in dozens of countries on Friday in the first mass event for the cause since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Activists rallied for awareness and action to mitigate global warming in 70 countries, including Germany, Japan, India and New Zealand.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who inspired Fridays for Future, was part of the event in Germany, where federal elections will elect new leaders and a new chancellor this weekend.

"We are frustrated and angry," one protester said outside German Parliament, the Bundestag, according to NBC News. "We need structural change, a social plan and actions that are based on scientific evidence."

The global strike has become an annual event and usually takes place in September at the same time as the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Thunberg spoke about the urgency of climate change in 2019.

Large rallies were held in several German cities. German Green Party candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerbock attended a strike in Cologne.

RELATED Climate change in North Atlantic fuels summertime warming in Northeast U.S.

"The election Sunday is a climate election," she tweeted. "Just like in Cologne, tens of thousands of children, young people and people of all ages across Germany take to the streets in the climate strike and make it clear: They want a new departure because they know that our future is at stake."

The global strike Friday came just weeks before the United Nations' COP26 climate summit in Scotland next month. where world leaders will work to limit emissions worldwide through new limits.

"Nothing has been done," another activist told NBC News in Berlin. "We want leading politicians to publicly declare that Germany is in a climate emergency." 

RELATED Arctic sea ice hits lowest point of the year as planet warms

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the first woman to hold the office, is leaving the post after 16 years.

Imran Khan paints Pakistan as victim of US ungratefulness

In this image taken from video provided by UN Web TV, Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, remotely addresses the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in a pre-recorded message, Friday Sept. 24, 2021 at UN headquarters.

 (UN Web TV via AP)
By MALLIKA SEN

NEW YORK (AP) — Prime Minister Imran Khan sought to cast Pakistan as the victim of American ungratefulness and an international double standard in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.

In a prerecorded speech aired during the evening, the Pakistani prime minister touched on a range of topics that included climate change, global Islamophobia and “the plunder of the developing world by their corrupt elites” — the latter of which he likened to what the East India Company did to India.

It was for India’s government that Khan reserved his harshest words, once again labeling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government “fascist.” But the cricketer turned posh international celebrity turned politician was in turn indignant and plaintive as he painted the United States as an abandoner of both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

“For the current situation in Afghanistan, for some reason, Pakistan has been blamed for the turn of events, by politicians in the United States and some politicians in Europe,” Khan said. “From this platform, I want them all to know, the country that suffered the most, apart from Afghanistan, was Pakistan when we joined the U.S. war on terror after 9/11.”

He launched into a narrative that began with the United States and Pakistan training mujahedeen — regarded as heroes by the likes of then-President Ronald Reagan, he said — during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. But Pakistan was left to pick up the pieces — millions of refugees and new sectarian militant groups — when the Soviets and the Americans left in 1989.

Khan said the U.S. sanctioned its former partner a year later, but then came calling again after the 9/11 attacks. Khan said Pakistan’s aid to the U.S. cost 80,000 Pakistani lives and caused internal strife and dissent directed at the state, all while the U.S. conducted drone attacks.

“So, when we hear this at the end. There is a lot of worry in the U.S. about taking care of the interpreters and everyone who helped the U.S.,” he said, referring to Afghanistan. “What about us?”

Instead of a mere “word of appreciation,” Pakistan has received blame, Khan said.

Despite Khan’s rhetoric espousing a desire for peace, many Afghans have blamed Pakistan for the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan because of close links. The United Nations in August also rejected Pakistan’s request to give its side at a special meeting on Afghanistan, indicating the international community’s shared skepticism.

In his speech, Khan echoed what his foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told The Associated Press earlier this week on the sidelines at the U.N.: the international community should not isolate the Taliban, but instead strengthen the current Afghan government for the sake of the people.

He struck an optimistic tone about Taliban rule, saying their leaders had committed to human rights, an inclusive government and not allowing terrorists on Afghan soil. But messages from the Taliban have been mixed.

A Taliban founder told the AP earlier this week that the hard-liners would once again carry out executions and amputated hands — though this time after adjudication by judges, including women, and potentially not in public.

“If the world community incentivizes them, and encourages them to walk this talk, it will be a win-win situation for everyone,” he said.

Khan also turned his ire on that same community for what he perceives as a free pass given to India.

“It is unfortunate, very unfortunate, that the world’s approach to violations of human rights lacks even-handedness, and even is selective. Geopolitical considerations, or corporate interests, commercial interests often compel major powers to overlook the transgressions of their affiliated countries,” Khan said.

He went through a litany of actions that have “unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India’s 200 million strong Muslim community,” he said, including lynchings, pogroms and discriminatory citizenship laws.

As in years past, Khan — who favors delivering his speeches in his British-inflected English, in contrast to Modi’s Hindi addresses — devoted substantial time to Kashmir.

“New Delhi has also embarked on what it ominously calls the ‘final solution’ for the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” Khan said, rattling off a list of what he termed “gross and systematic violations of human rights” committed by Indian forces. He specifically decried the “forcible snatching of the mortal remains of the great Kashmiri leader, ” Syed Ali Geelani , who died earlier this month at 91.

Geelani’s family has said authorities took his body and buried him discreetly and without their consent, denying the separatist leader revered in Kashmir a proper Islamic burial. Khan called upon the General Assembly to demand Geelani’s proper burial and rites.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and has been claimed by both since they won independence from the British empire and began fighting over their rival claims.

He said Pakistan desires peace, but it is India’s responsibility to meaningfully engage.

India exercised its right of reply after the last leader spoke Friday, saying it was upon Pakistan, not India, to demonstrate good faith in engagement. An Indian diplomat said Pakistan needed to look inward before making accusations, and stressed that Kashmir was inalienably India’s. Pakistan then exercised its own right of reply, excoriating India once more.

Modi is set to address the U.N. General Assembly in person on Saturday, a day after a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.

___

Follow Sen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mallikavsen

l

US, Pakistan face each other again on Afghanistan threats

 In this Sept. 23, 2021, file photo Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, left, meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, on the sidelines of the 76th UN General Assembly in New York. The Taliban’s takeover of Kabul has deepened the mutual distrust between the U.S. and Pakistan, two putative allies who have tangled over Afghanistan. The Biden administration looking for new ways to stop terrorist threats in Afghanistan, will likely look again to Pakistan, which remains critical to U.S. intelligence and national security because of its proximity to Afghanistan and connections to the Taliban leaders now in charge. 

( (Kena Betancur/Pool Photo via AP, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban’s takeover of Kabul has deepened the mutual distrust between the U.S. and Pakistan, two putative allies who have tangled over Afghanistan. But both sides still need each other.

With the Biden administration looking for new ways to stop terrorist threats in Afghanistan, it will likely look again to Pakistan, which remains critical to U.S. intelligence and national security because of its proximity to Afghanistan and connections to the Taliban leaders now in charge.

Over two decades of war, American officials accused Pakistan of playing a double game by promising to fight terrorism and cooperate with Washington while cultivating the Taliban and other extremist groups that attacked U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Islamabad, meanwhile, pointed to what it saw as failed promises of a supportive government in Kabul after the U.S. drove the Taliban from power following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as extremist groups took refuge in eastern Afghanistan and launched deadly attacks throughout Pakistan.

But the U.S. wants Pakistani cooperation in counterterrorism efforts and could seek permission to fly surveillance flights into Afghanistan or other intelligence cooperation. And Pakistan wants U.S. military aid and good relations with Washington, even as its leaders openly celebrate the Taliban’s rise to power.

“Over the last 20 years, Pakistan has been vital for various logistics purposes for the U.S. military. What’s really been troubling is that, unfortunately, there hasn’t been a lot of trust,” said U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. “I think the question is whether we can get over that history to arrive at a new understanding.”

Former diplomats and intelligence officers from both countries say the possibilities for cooperation are severely limited by the events of the last two decades and Pakistan’s enduring competition with India. The previous Afghan government, which was strongly backed by New Delhi, routinely accused Pakistan of harboring the Taliban. The new Taliban government includes officials that American officials have long believed are linked to Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., said he understood “the temptation of officials in both countries to try and take advantage of the situation” and find common ground. But Haqqani said he expected Pakistan to give “all possible cooperation to the Taliban.”

“This has been a moment Pakistan has been waiting for 20 years,” said Haqqani, now at the Hudson Institute think tank. “They now feel that they have a satellite state.”

U.S. officials are trying to quickly build what President Joe Biden calls an “over the horizon” capacity to monitor and stop terrorist threats.

Without a partner country bordering Afghanistan, the U.S. has to fly surveillance drones long distances, limiting the time they can be used to watch over targets. The U.S. also lost most of its network of informants and intelligence partners in the now-deposed Afghan government, making it critical to find common ground with other governments that have more resources in the country.

Pakistan could be helpful in that effort by allowing “overflight” rights for American spy planes from the Persian Gulf or permitting the U.S. to base surveillance or counterterrorism teams along its border with Afghanistan. There are few other options among Afghanistan’s neighbors. Iran is a U.S. adversary. And Central Asian countries north of Afghanistan all face varying degrees of Russian influence.

There are no known agreements so far. CIA Director William Burns visited Islamabad earlier this month to meet with Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan’s army chief, and Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, who leads the ISI, according to a Pakistani government statement. Burns and Hameed have also separately visited Kabul in recent weeks to meet with Taliban leaders. The CIA declined to comment on the visits.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi noted this week that Islamabad had cooperated with U.S. requests to facilitate peace talks before the Taliban takeover and that it had agreed to U.S. military requests throughout the war.

“We have often been criticized for not doing enough,” Qureshi told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “But we’ve not been appreciated enough for having done what was done.”

Qureshi would not directly answer whether Pakistan would allow the basing of surveillance equipment or overflight of drones.

“They don’t have to be physically there to share intelligence,” he said of the U.S. “There are smarter ways of doing it.”

The CIA and ISI have a long history in Afghanistan, dating back to their shared goal of arming bands of mujahedeen — “freedom fighters” — against the Soviet Union’s occupation in the 1980s. The CIA sent weapons and money into Afghanistan through Pakistan.

Those fighters included Osama bin Laden. Others would become leaders of the Taliban, which emerged victorious from a civil war in 1996 and gained control of most of the country. The Taliban gave refuge to bin Laden and other leaders of al-Qaida, which launched deadly attacks on Americans abroad in 1998 and then struck the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

After 9/11, the U.S. immediately sought Pakistan’s cooperation in its fight against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. Declassified cables published by George Washington University’s National Security Archive show officials in President George W. Bush’s administration made several demands of Pakistan, from intercepting arms shipments heading to al-Qaida to providing the U.S. with intelligence and permission to fly military and intelligence planes over its territory.

The CIA would carry out hundreds of drone strikes launched from Pakistan targeting al-Qaida leaders and others alleged to have ties to terrorist groups. Hundreds of civilians died in the strikes, according to figures kept by outside observers, leading to widespread protests and public anger in Pakistan.

Pakistan, meanwhile, continued to be accused of harboring the Taliban after the U.S.-backed coalition drove the group from power in Kabul. And bin Laden was killed in 2011 by U.S. special forces in a secret raid on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, home to the country’s military academy. The bin Laden operation led many in the U.S. to question whether Pakistan had harbored bin Laden and angered Pakistanis who felt the raid violated their sovereignty.

For years, CIA officials tried to confront their Pakistani counterparts after collecting more proof of Pakistani intelligence officers helping the Taliban move money and fighters into a then-growing insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan, said Douglas London, who oversaw the CIA’s counterterrorism operations in South Asia until 2018.

“They would say, ‘You just come to my office, tell me where the location is,’” he said. “They would just usually pay lip service to us and say they couldn’t confirm the intel.”

London, author of the forthcoming book “The Recruiter,” said he expected American intelligence would consider limited partnerships with Pakistan on mutual enemies such as al-Qaeda or Islamic State-Khorasan, which took responsibility for the deadly suicide attack outside the Kabul airport last month during the final days of the U.S. evacuation.

The risk, London said, is at times “your partner is as much of a threat to you as the enemy who you’re pursuing.”

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations.

Neo-Nazis are still on Facebook. And they’re making money

By ERIKA KINETZ

This image captured from the Battle of the Nibelungs Facebook page on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021 shows items for sale featuring the right-wing extremist group’s name and logo. The Battle of the Nibelungs, or Kampf der Nibelungen, is the premiere martial arts brand in Europe for right-wing extremists. German authorities have twice banned their signature tournament. But the group still maintains multiple pages on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, which they use to spread their ideology, draw in recruits and make money. (AP Photo)


BRUSSELS (AP) — It’s the premier martial arts group in Europe for right-wing extremists. German authorities have twice banned their signature tournament. But Kampf der Nibelungen, or Battle of the Nibelungs, still thrives on Facebook, where organizers maintain multiple pages, as well as on Instagram and YouTube, which they use to spread their ideology, draw in recruits and make money through ticket sales and branded merchandise.

The Battle of the Nibelungs — a reference to a classic heroic epic much loved by the Nazis — is one of dozens of far-right groups that continue to leverage mainstream social media for profit, despite Facebook’s and other platforms’ repeated pledges to purge themselves of extremism.

All told, there are at least 54 Facebook profiles belonging to 39 entities that the German government and civil society groups have flagged as extremist, according to research shared with The Associated Press by the Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit policy and advocacy group formed to combat extremism. The groups have nearly 268,000 subscribers and friends on Facebook alone.

CEP also found 39 related Instagram profiles, 16 Twitter profiles and 34 YouTube channels, which have gotten over 9.5 million views. Nearly 60% of the profiles were explicitly aimed at making money, displaying prominent links to online shops or photos promoting merchandise.

Click on the big blue “view shop” button on the Erik & Sons Facebook page and you can buy a T-shirt that says, “My favorite color is white,” for 20 euros ($23). Deutsches Warenhaus offers “Refugees not welcome” stickers for just 2.50 euros ($3) and Aryan Brotherhood tube scarves with skull faces for 5.88 euros ($7). The Facebook feed of OPOS Records promotes new music and merchandise, including “True Aggression,” “Pride & Dignity,” and “One Family” T-shirts. The brand, which stands for “One People One Struggle,” also links to its online shop from Twitter and Instagram.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of a collaboration between The Associated Press and the PBS series FRONTLINE that examines challenges to the ideas and institutions of traditional U.S. and European democracy.

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The people and organizations in CEP’s dataset are a who’s who of Germany’s far-right music and combat sports scenes. “They are the ones who build the infrastructure where people meet, make money, enjoy music and recruit,” said Alexander Ritzmann, the lead researcher on the project. “It’s most likely not the guys I’ve highlighted who will commit violent crimes. They’re too smart. They build the narratives and foster the activities of this milieu where violence then appears.”

CEP said it focused on groups that want to overthrow liberal democratic institutions and norms such as freedom of the press, protection of minorities and universal human dignity, and believe that the white race is under siege and needs to be preserved, with violence if necessary. None has been banned, but almost all have been described in German intelligence reports as extremist, CEP said.

On Facebook the groups seem harmless. They avoid blatant violations of platform rules, such as using hate speech or posting swastikas, which is generally illegal in Germany.

By carefully toeing the line of propriety, these key architects of Germany’s far-right use the power of mainstream social media to promote festivals, fashion brands, music labels and mixed martial arts tournaments that can generate millions in sales and connect like-minded thinkers from around the world.

But simply cutting off such groups could have unintended, damaging consequences.

“We don’t want to head down a path where we are telling sites they should remove people based on who they are but not what they do on the site,” said David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.

Giving platforms wide latitude to sanction organizations deemed undesirable could give repressive governments leverage to eliminate their critics. “That can have really serious human rights concerns,” he said. “The history of content moderation has shown us that it’s almost always to the disadvantage of marginalized and powerless people.”

German authorities banned the Battle of the Nibelungs event in 2019, on the grounds that it was not actually about sports, but instead was grooming fighters with combat skills for political struggle.

 In this Monday, Aug. 27, 2018 file photo, demonstrators shout during a far-right protest in Chemnitz, Germany, after a man died and two others were injured in an altercation between several people of "various nationalities" in the eastern German city of Chemnitz the previous day. In September 2021, there were at least 54 Facebook profiles belonging to 39 entities that the German government and civil society groups have flagged as extremist, according to research shared with The Associated Press by the Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit policy and advocacy group formed to combat extremism. The groups have nearly 268,000 subscribers and friends on Facebook alone. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)

In 2020, as the coronavirus raged, organizers planned to stream the event online — using Instagram, among other places, to promote the webcast. A few weeks before the planned event, however, over a hundred black-clad police in balaclavas broke up a gathering at a motorcycle club in Magdeburg, where fights were being filmed for the broadcast, and hauled off the boxing ring, according to local media reports.

The Battle of the Nibelungs is a “central point of contact” for right-wing extremists, according to German government intelligence reports. The organization has been explicit about its political goals — namely to fight against the “rotting” liberal democratic order — and has drawn adherents from across Europe as well as the United States.

Members of a California white supremacist street fighting club called the Rise Above Movement, and its founder, Robert Rundo, have attended the Nibelungs tournament. In 2018 at least four Rise Above members were arrested on rioting charges for taking their combat training to the streets at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A number of Battle of Nibelungs alums have landed in prison, including for manslaughter, assault and attacks on migrants.

National Socialism Today, which describes itself as a “magazine by nationalists for nationalists” has praised Battle of the Nibelungs and other groups for fostering a will to fight and motivating “activists to improve their readiness for combat.”

But there are no references to professionalized, anti-government violence on the group’s social media feeds. Instead, it’s positioned as a health-conscious lifestyle brand, which sells branded tea mugs and shoulder bags.

“Exploring nature. Enjoying home!” gushes one Facebook post above a photo of a musclebound guy on a mountaintop wearing Resistend-branded sportswear, one of the Nibelung tournament’s sponsors. All the men in the photos are pumped and white, and they are portrayed enjoying wholesome activities such as long runs and alpine treks.

Elsewhere on Facebook, Thorsten Heise – who has been convicted of incitement to hatred and called “one of the most prominent German neo-Nazis” by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the German state of Thuringia — also maintains multiple pages.

Frank Kraemer, who the German government has described as a “right-wing extremist musician,” uses his Facebook page to direct people to his blog and his Sonnenkreuz online store, which sells white nationalist and coronavirus conspiracy books as well as sports nutrition products and “vaccine rebel” T-shirts for girls.

Battle of the Nibelungs declined to comment. Resistend, Heise and Kraemer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Facebook told AP it employs 350 people whose primary job is to counter terrorism and organized hate, and that it is investigating the pages and accounts flagged in this reporting.

“We ban organizations and individuals that proclaim a violent mission, or are engaged in violence,” said a company spokesperson, who added that Facebook had banned more than 250 white supremacist organizations, including groups and individuals in Germany. The spokesperson said the company had removed over 6 million pieces of content tied to organized hate globally between April and June and is working to move even faster.

Google said it has no interest in giving visibility to hateful content on YouTube and was looking into the accounts identified in this reporting. The company said it worked with dozens of experts to update its policies on supremacist content in 2019, resulting in a five-fold spike in the number of channels and videos removed.

Twitter says it’s committed to ensuring that public conversation is “safe and healthy” on its platform and that it doesn’t tolerate violent extremist groups. “Threatening or promoting violent extremism is against our rules,” a spokesperson told AP, but did not comment on the specific accounts flagged in this reporting.

Robert Claus, who wrote a book on the extreme right martial arts scene, said that the sports brands in CEP’s data set are “all rooted in the militant far-right neo-Nazi scene in Germany and Europe.” One of the founders of the Battle of the Nibelungs, for example, is part of the violent Hammerskin network and another early supporter, the Russian neo-Nazi Denis Kapustin, also known as Denis Nikitin, has been barred from entering the European Union for ten years, he said.

Banning such groups from Facebook and other major platforms would potentially limit their access to new audiences, but it could also drive them deeper underground, making it more difficult to monitor their activities, he said.

“It’s dangerous because they can recruit people,” he said. “Prohibiting those accounts would interrupt their contact with their audience, but the key figures and their ideology won’t be gone.”

Thorsten Hindrichs, an expert in Germany’s far-right music scene who teaches at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, said there’s a danger that the apparently harmless appearance of Germany’s right-wing music heavyweights on Facebook and Twitter, which they mostly use to promote their brands, could help normalize the image of extremists.

Extreme right concerts in Germany were drawing around 2 million euros ($2.3 million) a year in revenue before the coronavirus pandemic, he estimated, not counting sales of CDs and branded merchandise. He said kicking extremist music groups off Facebook is unlikely to hit sales too hard, as there are other platforms they can turn to, like Telegram and Gab, to reach their followers. “Right-wing extremists aren’t stupid. They will always find ways to promote their stuff,” he said.

None of these groups’ activity on mainstream platforms is obviously illegal, though it may violate Facebook guidelines that bar “dangerous individuals and organizations” that advocate or engage in violence online or offline. Facebook says it doesn’t allow praise or support of Nazism, white supremacy, white nationalism or white separatism and bars people and groups that adhere to such “hate ideologies.”

Last week, Facebook  removed almost 150 accounts and pages linked to the German anti-lockdown Querdenken movement, under a new “social harm” policy, which targets groups that spread misinformation or incite violence but didn’t fit into the platform’s existing categories of bad actors.

But how these evolving rules will be applied remains murky and contested.

“If you do something wrong on the platform, it’s easier for a platform to justify an account suspension than to just throw someone out because of their ideology. That would be more difficult with respect to human rights,” said Daniel Holznagel, a Berlin judge who used to work for the German federal government on hate speech issues and also  contributed to CEP’s report. “It’s a foundation of our Western society and human rights that our legal regimes do not sanction an idea, an ideology, a thought.”

In the meantime, there’s news from the folks at the Battle of the Nibelungs. “Starting today you can also dress your smallest ones with us,” reads a June post on their Facebook feed. The new line of kids wear includes a shell-pink T-shirt for girls, priced at 13.90 euros ($16). A child pictured wearing the boy version, in black, already has boxing gloves on.

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Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/

EXPLAINER: Medication abortion becomes latest GOP target

By IRIS SAMUELS

FILE - Misoprostol drug, the most common abortion pill, sits on a gynecological table at Casa Fusa, a health center that advises women on reproductive issues and performs legal abortions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. Misoprostol empties the uterus by causing cramping and bleeding. The drugs are approved for use by the FDA up to 10 weeks of gestation. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)


Medication abortion accounts for about 40% of all abortions in the U.S. The increasingly common method relies on pills rather than surgery, opening the possibility for abortions to be done in a woman’s home rather than a clinic. It’s an option that has become important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Republican states move to restrict access to abortion generally, many of them also are limiting access to medication-induced abortions.

Providers say medication abortion is safe and essential, especially as access to clinics in Republican-controlled states becomes more difficult.

HOW DOES MEDICATION ABORTION WORK?

Medication abortion has been available in the U.S. since 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of mifepristone.

A medication abortion consists of taking mifepristone, waiting 24 to 48 hours, and then taking misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which is essential to sustain a pregnancy. Misoprostol empties the uterus by causing cramping and bleeding.

The drugs are approved for use by the FDA up to 10 weeks of gestation.

The method is considered by health professionals to be highly effective and safe, with pregnancies terminated in more than 95% of cases and serious complications in 0.4% of cases.

According to the FDA, 3.7 million women used medication abortion between 2000 and 2018. In that period, 24 women died after taking mifepristone.

The method’s popularity has grown steadily. The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, estimates that it accounts for about 40% of all abortions in the U.S. and 60% of those taking place up to 10 weeks’ gestation.

 A group gathers to protest abortion restrictions at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Abortion rights advocates say the pandemic has demonstrated the value of medical care provided virtually, including the privacy and convenience of abortion taking place in a woman’s home, instead of a clinic.(AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Abortion rights advocates say the pandemic has demonstrated the value of medical care provided virtually, including the privacy and convenience of abortion taking place in a woman’s home, instead of a clinic.

Adding to its appeal: Clinics are few and far between in several states where Republicans have passed strict laws limiting access. Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia are states that have just a single abortion clinic.

Abortion providers say as access to clinics becomes more difficult, medication abortion can allow women to get abortions without facing the burden of traveling, which can be especially difficult and expensive for lower-income women.

WHAT ARE STATES DOING TO RESTRICT IT?

Abortion opponents, worried medication abortion is becoming increasingly prevalent, are pushing legislation in Republican-led states to limit access to the drugs.

States have passed several measures to limit its availability. These include outlawing the delivery of abortion pills by mail, shortening the 10-week window in which the method is allowed and requiring women take the pills in a clinic rather than at home.

Some states also require doctors to tell women undergoing drug-induced abortions that the process can be reversed midway through, a claim critics say is not supported by science.

In 33 states, only physicians are allowed to provide abortion pills. In 17 states and the District of Columbia, they can be provided by advanced-practice clinicians.

Clinicians providing the medication must be physically present when it is administered in 19 states, meaning abortion patients cannot take the drugs at home.

Republican governors in Arkansas, Arizona, Montana, Oklahoma and Texas signed laws this year prohibiting abortion drugs from being delivered by mail. Such laws were largely seen as a response to the rise in popularity of telemedicine during the pandemic.

The laws face legal challenges in Montana and Oklahoma. In Ohio, a judge temporarily blocked a law that would have banned the use of telemedicine for abortion pills while a legal challenge is underway.

Some Republican legislatures also put limits on the point during a pregnancy when medication abortion can be provided. In Indiana and Montana, laws passed this year ban the medication after 10 weeks’ gestation, and in Texas a newly signed law bans the medication after seven weeks.

The Texas law is set to take effect in December. It passed just as Texas began banning nearly all abortions under a more far-reaching law, known as Senate Bill 8, which has become the nation’s biggest curb to abortion in a half-century.

CAN MEDICATION ABORTION BE REVERSED?

Eight states require counseling to promote the idea that medication abortion can be reversed through a high dose of progesterone after taking mifepristone. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not support prescribing progesterone for that use and says the reversal claim is not based on scientific evidence.

Such laws are in effect in Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia. Court cases in Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee have blocked enforcement of these counseling requirements. In Montana, the law is set to take effect Oct. 1 but is being challenged in court.

WHAT ARE THE FEDERAL RULES?

In July 2020, the Food and Drug Administration -- under federal court order -- eased restrictions on abortion pills so they could be sent by mail. That came after the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups sued to overturn a rule that required patients to pick up the single tablet of mifepristone at a hospital, clinic or medical office and sign a form that includes information about the medication’s potential risks.

The FDA and its parent health agency, under the Trump administration, argued the rules were necessary to ensure the pills were used safely.

But last April, the FDA affirmed that women seeking an abortion pill would not be required to visit a doctor’s office during the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy change applies only in states where there are no laws banning the use of telemedicine or requiring a physician to be present when the drugs are taken.

The FDA policy also applies only as long as the COVID-19 health emergency lasts. Several medical organizations are pushing to make medication abortion permanently available through online prescribing and mail-order pharmacies.

WHAT ARE WOMEN’S OPTIONS?

Aid Access is one of several online initiatives that is offering to send women abortion pills by mail. It is led by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, a Dutch physician.

The FDA, then under the Trump administration, sent a letter to Aid Access more than two years ago asking it to cease its activity, but the online drug provider has continued to send abortion pills to patients the U.S.

The legality of the practice is ambiguous, but groups such as Plan C, which aims to raise awareness about self-managed abortions, provide information about where and how the drugs can be obtained online.

Those groups say such access is especially important for women in places where abortion clinics face an ongoing assault by anti-abortion advocates and where lawmakers and governors are making it progressively harder for the clinics to remain open.

If/When/How, a reproductive rights legal aid group, has tracked 24 cases since 2000 when women were prosecuted for self managed abortions.

“It is possible that someone could be targeted for investigation or arrest or prosecution, even in the absence of a law that actually makes it illegal,” said Sara Ainsworth, policy director for the group.

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Samuels is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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This version of the story clarifies that the FDA eased restrictions on abortion pills in July 2020, rather than at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.