The Week The Week
flag of US
US
flag of UK
UK
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Less than $3 per week

Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • The Explainer
  • Talking Points
  • The Week Recommends
  • Newsletters
  • Cartoons
  • From the Magazine
  • The Week Junior
  • More
    • Politics
    • World News
    • Business
    • Health
    • Science
    • Food & Drink
    • Travel
    • Culture
    • History
    • Personal Finance
    • Puzzles
    • Photos
    • The Blend
    • All Categories
  • Newsletter sign up Newsletter
  • The Week Evening Review
    Bankrupting Planned Parenthood, a fizzling landmine treaty, and cytomegalovirus' birth defects

     
    TALKING POINTS

    SCOTUS and Congress target Planned Parenthood

    Planned Parenthood is fighting for its life. The organization provides health care to women across the country. But President Donald Trump's budget bill targets its funding — the latest front in the GOP's efforts to kill one of the country's leading abortion providers.

    Trump's domestic policy bill cuts Medicaid funding to any organization "primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care," said CBS News. It was signed in the days after the Supreme Court ruled that state governments can defund Planned Parenthood, said USA Today. Planned Parenthood is trying not to turn patients away, but "we may not be able to do that for long," said Dr. Katherine Farris of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

    'De facto ban' on health care
    Planned Parenthood "may not survive the Trump administration," said Moira Donegan at The Guardian. Federal funding does not pay for abortions, so the issue is whether Planned Parenthood will be paid for services such as "pap smears, prenatal care and STD testing" that the nonprofit provides to a "disproportionately low-income clientele." But cuts approved by Congress and the courts may result in a "de facto ban" on both abortion and "any health care provision by pro-choice providers." 

    "Social conservatives have dreamed for decades about bankrupting Planned Parenthood," said Matthew Hennessey at The Wall Street Journal. The claims that the organization provides "vital health care" are "hogwash." The nonprofit's mission is "killing babies," not providing care. 

    Trump's attack on Planned Parenthood "punishes rural women," said Carmen James Randolph, the CEO of the Women's Foundation of the South, at MSNBC. It will particularly hurt women in rural areas where "health systems are already under-resourced, rural clinics are vanishing," and maternal mortality rates are already too high. The result is a "death sentence for them and their babies."

    Singled out for 'unfavorable treatment'
    More than 1 million people rely on Planned Parenthood for "basic and preventative health care," said The Washington Post. The new law will force clinics to decide between abortion services or continuing to furnish other "crucial reproductive and sexual health services for low-income patients." 

    Planned Parenthood is fighting back. On Monday, it won a temporary injunction against the new law, said ABC News. The defunding provision "impermissibly" singles out the organization for "unfavorable treatment," said the nonprofit. But the reprieve may be short-lived, as the injunction ends in 14 days. 

     
     
    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    'We move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which with 34 million able-bodied on Medicaid we should be able to do fairly quickly.'

    Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, during a White House press conference, on the mass deportation of farm laborers. The farming sector has warned that deporting significant numbers of its workers could disrupt the American food supply, even as the Trump administration doubles down on deportations. 

     
     
    TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

    Why is a landmine treaty losing key members?

    "The war ends. The landmine goes on killing," said Jody Williams, who led the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, in her 1997 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. The Ottawa Treaty, signed that year, banned the use of anti-personnel landmines as well as the ability to "develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer" them, directly or indirectly. It has since been ratified by 160 countries but not by the U.S., China or Russia. And Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced his intention to withdraw from the pact, following similar decisions by Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. 

    What did the commentators say? 
    These final five countries together guard 2,150 miles of NATO's frontier with Russia and its client state of Belarus. And in the three years since the invasion of Ukraine, they have all made "significant investments to better secure these borders" with fences and surveillance, said DW. "Now, a new plan is in the works: landmines." 

    "Banning them might have been a luxury cause for a dominant West in the years of safety after the Cold War," said David Blair at The Telegraph. "Yet no longer." As Europe rearms to "deter" Vladimir Putin, "what was once unconscionable has become unavoidable": a "new Iron Curtain" of millions of landmines. 

    Zelenskyy argues the treaty has created an unequal situation that limits Ukraine's right to self-defense. The Kremlin has by far the world's largest stockpile of anti-personnel mines, with an estimated 26 million, and has deployed them with "utmost cynicism in Ukrainian territory," he said. Yet Kyiv is barred from using such mines, which are "often the instrument for which nothing can be substituted for defense purposes." 

    What next? 
    "Liberal-democratic" states across northern Europe are "in agreement," defense expert Francis Tusa said at The Independent. If Kyiv loses, Russia may be "emboldened to take military action against the Baltic states, Finland or even Poland." Many defense specialists believe the timeline for such action would be "within three to five years." 

    But anti-landmine campaigners "worry this is part of a larger trend, with the rules of war and international humanitarian norms being eroded more broadly," said The Irish Times. As conflicts escalate around the world, said Josephine Dresner, the director of policy with the Mines Advisory Group, it's "impossible not to feel that we are going backward." 

     
     

    Statistic of the day

    5%: The percentage of adults who experience at least one nightmare every week, according to The Lancet. People who have bad dreams each week are nearly three times more likely to die before age 75 than people who rarely have them, according to a study from the European Medical Journal.

     
     
    the explainer

    How a common virus can cause permanent birth defects

    Cytomegalovirus recently caused a 2-month-old girl in Pennsylvania to suffer severe hearing loss after it was passed to her in the womb. While CMV can exist in a person for life without showing any symptoms, it can cause permanent disability in infants. So researchers are looking to create a vaccine for the disease. But finding success has proven tricky.

    What's cytomegalovirus?
    CMV is a common herpes virus. More than half of adults have been infected with it by age 40, most with no signs or symptoms, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, it could be deadly for immunosuppressed people. 

    In rare cases, some who acquire CMV infection "may experience a mononucleosis-like condition." It can spread in adults through contact with infectious body fluids, sexual contact, organ transplants and blood transfusions. 

    In babies, who can contract it in the uterus or during birth, the virus is the "leading infectious cause of birth defects" in the U.S. and can have lifelong complications, said CBS News. It is symptomatic in 10% of cases and can lead to "jaundice, fever, and enlargement of the spleen and liver," said Britannica. Cytomegalovirus infections are a "major cause of congenital deafness and have other long-range neurological consequences, including intellectual disability and blindness." 

    If it's "very early in pregnancy, sometimes the result can be very serious," said Jennifer Vodzak, a pediatric infectious disease doctor, to CBS News. It can lead to a "miscarriage and sometimes can lead to very serious birth defects for an infant." New evidence also suggests that CMV in adults may burden the immune system in fighting diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

    What's the outlook for a vaccine?
    Scientists are looking to develop a vaccine for cytomegalovirus, though efforts have been unsuccessful. "If we don't know what weapons the enemy is using, it's hard to protect against it," said Jeremy Kamil, a senior author of a study about how CMV infects the body, in a statement. Luckily, researchers have made a breakthrough in discovering how the virus uses a specific protein in the body to circumvent the immune system. This discovery could move vaccine efforts along. 

    For now, newborn screening for CMV could allow for early intervention. Also, washing hands regularly and not sharing utensils, food or straws, especially when pregnant, can prevent the spread.

     
     

    Good day 🇵🇪

    … for discovering a city. Archaeologists have announced the discovery of Peñico, an ancient Peruvian city about 3,500 years old. Located north of Peru's capital, Lima, Peñico likely served as a strategic hub for civilizations in ancient South America. At least 18 separate structures have been identified among the ruins.

     
     

    Bad day 🎲

    … for crypto gamblers. Betters on the cryptocurrency gambling platform Polymarket have accused the site of denying them portions of $210 million. The funds were bet on whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would wear a suit before July. The disagreement is over Zelenskyy's outfit at a NATO dinner.

     
     
    Picture of the day

    A walk to remember

    Nearly 7,000 people walk down a winding trail in Nezuk, Bosnia, during a three-day peace march honoring the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The march retraces the route taken by Bosniak men and boys — mostly Muslims — who were killed while fleeing Srebrenica in the final months of the Bosnian War.
    Armin Durgut / AP

     
     
    Puzzles

    Daily crossword

    Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

    Play here

     
     
    The Week recommends

    Comedy and relationship horror in this month's movies

    Summer movies are off to an explosive start. July's new releases include a pandemic excavation from one of Hollywood's hottest horror directors, a sequel to a beloved Adam Sandler golf comedy, and a sick romance about a forced intertwining of flesh.

    'Eddington'
    The latest film from Ari Aster contends with a horror that hits closer to home: the coronavirus pandemic. "Eddington" takes place in a fictional New Mexico town in May 2020, where Sheriff Joe Cross, played by Joaquin Phoenix (pictured above, at left), goes up against Mayor Ted Garcia, played by Pedro Pascal (pictured above, at right), after the two disagree on masking. Five years on, Aster paints the early days of Covid as a "massive trauma that fundamentally broke something inside us as a nation," said Alison Willmore at Vulture. (July 18, in theaters)

    'Happy Gilmore 2'
    Nearly 30 years after the release of cult classic "Happy Gilmore," Adam Sandler is reprising his golfer role in a sequel for Netflix. Despite the enduring popularity of Sandler's comedies like "Billy Madison," this is his first to get a sequel. (July 25, Netflix)

    'Together'
    If you are squeamish, look away. If you delight in the body horror mastery of David Cronenberg or found "The Substance" a pleasantly alarming watch, you might enjoy the stylings of Michael Shanks' "Together," starring real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie. "Together" is both a "squishy, fleshy, scream-worthy body horror movie" and a "love story," said Owen Gleiberman at Variety. (July 30, in theaters)

    Read more

     
     

    Poll watch

    Over four-fifths of Americans (83%) subscribe to streaming services, according to a Pew Research Center survey, with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video being the most popular. The poll of 9,397 adults found that far fewer, only 36%, currently subscribe to a cable provider or use satellite television. 

     
     
    INSTANT OPINION

    Today's best commentary

    'How public media cuts hurt kids'
    Naomi Bethune at The American Prospect
    Ending public broadcast funding would "fulfill a yearslong promise" by President Donald Trump, but PBS and "thousands of local radio and television stations have also been swept up in this tirade, putting at risk essential educational programming for rural America," says Naomi Bethune. Public media "can fill in the gaps when it comes to ensuring that all children have access to educational opportunities." This is "beyond valuable to families in areas where state funding for education is not prioritized."

    'From dependence to dominance — how to secure a permanent American magnet future'
    Wade Senti at Newsweek
    America's "reliance on China for sourcing permanent magnets creates a vulnerability so significant that it threatens our national security and economy," says Wade Senti. We "must initiate an America First critical technologies and manufacturing strategy that catapults knowledge, technologies and capabilities to build an industrial base that's unlike and not found anywhere else." Every "citizen, patriot and elective official can positively impact the revitalization of a permanent magnet industry and supply chain" in the U.S.

    'Russia is losing its grip on the Caucasus — an opportunity for the US'
    Joseph Epstein at The Hill
    Armenia and Azerbaijan are "setting clear boundaries, and America has a historic opening to help them," says Joseph Epstein. "Open defiance from both countries would have been unimaginable just five years ago." By using "such a 'divide and conquer' strategy to keep Azerbaijan and Armenia within its sphere of influence, Russia caused resentment in both." The U.S. "should carefully seek to support both partners without aggravating tensions." The "key would be to contrast itself with Russia."

     
     
    WORD OF THE DAY

    combinatorics

    A field of mathematics that calculates the number of possible combinations of objects. It's a "completely foolproof, 100%-guaranteed method for winning any lottery," said New Scientist. But there are just over 292 million possible prize-winning combinations for the U.S. Powerball lottery, so you would need to already be a multimillionaire to buy enough tickets to guarantee a win.

     
     

    Evening Review was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao and Anahi Valenzuela, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

    Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Shutterstock / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images; Rasi Bhadramani / Getty Images; BFA / A24 / Alamy
     

    Recent editions

    • Morning Report

      Mass federal layoffs loom

    • Evening Review

      Should Texas have predicted deadly flash floods?

    • Morning Report

      Trump’s Ukraine U-turn

    VIEW ALL
    TheWeek
    • About Us
    • Contact Future's experts
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Advertise With Us

    The Week is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

    © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.