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Abortion unban, Mexican justice and Apple hearing aids

 
Today's NATIONAL story

Judge axes North Dakota's near-total abortion ban

What happened
A North Dakota judge overturned the state's near-total ban on abortion yesterday, ruling that the 2023 law violated several guarantees in the state constitution, including a "fundamental right to choose abortion" up to fetal viability, or about 24 weeks into pregnancy.

Who said what
The abortion ban "infringes on a woman's fundamental right to procreative autonomy" and is "unconstitutionally void for vagueness," state District Judge Bruce Romanick said. It also "takes away a woman's liberty and her right to pursue and obtain safety and happiness."

The ruling was a "victory for abortion rights supporters," albeit a "bittersweet one," The Washington Post said. The state "no longer has any abortion clinic" since North Dakota's sole provider moved across the border to Minnesota after a prior ban — which Romanick also struck down — was enacted in 2022. Some women will now be able to get abortions in hospitals, but the Red River Women's Clinic said it had no plans to return to North Dakota.

What next?
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley (R) said he would appeal the ruling. And the state's "Republican-controlled legislature can, and very likely will, try to enact another ban when it convenes again in January," The New York Times said. 

Nationally, an "unprecedented number of abortion initiatives are on state ballots this November," and abortion opponents are "trying to defeat them even before the start of voting through legal challenges," administrative maneuvering and "outright intimidation," The Washington Post said. But if "courts in Nebraska and South Dakota" don't strike the measures from the ballot, "voters in 10 states from Nevada to New York will have the opportunity to enshrine a right to abortion" in their state constitutions.

 
 
Today's international story

Mexico ratifies contentious judicial overhaul

What happened
Mexico has amended its constitution to make all judgeships elected positions, a controversial judicial overhaul pushed by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Senate approved the amendment early Wednesday, after an opposition lawmaker defected and protesters stormed the Senate chamber, and a majority of Mexico's 32 states then ratified it over the next 36 hours. "With now 18 approving it, well, now it’s legal," Lopéz Obrador said yesterday morning.

Who said what
The constitutional amendment is the "most far-reaching judicial overhaul ever attempted by a large democracy," The New York Times said, and it puts Mexico on an "untested course whose consequences for the courts and the country are nearly impossible to predict."

Supporters of the amendment — including López Obrador, a "populist long averse to independent regulatory bodies who has ignored courts and attacked judges" — argue it will make judges accountable to the people and "crack down on corruption" and nepotism in a judicial system "most Mexicans agree is broken," The Associated Press said. Critics say it will "deal a blow to checks and balances and make it easier for cartels and criminals to influence the courts."

What next?
López Obrador said he will sign and publish the constitutional amendment on Sunday, the eve of Mexico's Independence Day. His successor and protégé, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, takes office Oct. 1. The plan is for Mexicans to elect all nine Supreme Court justices and about half of the country's 7,000 judges next June.

 
 
Today's HEALTH Story

FDA OKs Apple AirPods as OTC hearing aids

What happened
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved software for Apple's AirPods Pro 2 headphones that turns the earbuds into over-the-counter hearing aids. Apple said Monday that its new AirPods Pro would have the hearing aid feature, allowing users to test their hearing and calibrate their sound levels through the Apple Health app.

Who said what
The FDA approved its first OTC hearing aids in 2022 for people with mild to moderate hearing impairment, but this is the agency's first approval of hearing aid software under its new authority, Reuters said. Even mild hearing loss can cause people to "lose some quality of life by isolating themselves from their community," Jackie Clark, an audiology professor at University of Texas at Dallas, told The Washington Post. The $249 AirPods Pro earbuds could offer a "bridge for hard-of-hearing consumers" to reclaim their "world of sound."

"Many brands have tried to push their way into the OTC hearing aid market," IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani told the Post, but with 19.2% of the global headphone market share, "Apple could potentially have a lasting impact," especially in the "40-plus" age group.

What next?
Apple said it will push out the hearing aid software update in coming weeks to eligible devices in more than 100 countries and regions.

 
 

It's not all bad

Finnish scientists discovered promising antibiotic candidates from microbes found beneath the Arctic Ocean seafloor. The compounds, derived from actinobacteria, show potential in reducing bacterial virulence without fostering resistance, a growing concern in antibiotic development. One strain, T091-5, not only inhibited the growth of E. coli, but also decreased its severity. The University of Helsinki team has "high hopes for the future of the research," Live Science said. Study co-author Päivi Tammela said it's "absolutely" possible many more of these compounds are waiting to be discovered.

 
 
Under the radar

A study published this month showed that more women elected to have tubal ligations, colloquially known as getting your tubes tied, during the six months following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The research published in September in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examined private insurance claims from 2021 and 2022 for around 4.8 million women across 36 states and Washington, D.C., who received the sterilization procedure. 

The researchers categorized the states as "banned," "limited" or "protected," based on their abortion policies. In the 18 months before the Dobbs decision, the rate of tubal ligations remained steady in all three groups. However, in the six months after June 2022, the number of sterilization procedures for women increased in all three groups. The rise was "most pronounced in states that effectively banned abortion, where sterilizations rose 39% by December 2022," said The New York Times. 

Jacqueline Ellison, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health and the lead author of a study published in April in JAMA Health Forum, said the findings illuminate essential questions about how people have responded to the Dobbs ruling. While the scope of the latest research letter is small, it is important to continue to study tubal ligations "because it is an irreversible method of contraception," Xiao Xu, the September study lead author, said to Gizmodo. And while it is considered a "very safe procedure," it is still a surgery and "has potential risks for surgical complications."

 
 
On this day

September 13, 1990

The police procedural "Law and Order" debuted on NBC. The show has helped redefine the police television genre and was renewed for a 24th season this year. "Law and Order" is the second-longest-running live-action scripted prime-time series in American history, behind only its spinoff show, "Law and Order: SVU."

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"In a first, spacewalking goes commercial," as billionaire Jared Isaacman's "Polaris Dawn mission takes giant leap in exploration," USA Today says on Friday's front page. Isaacman is the "first private citizen" to take a spacewalk, The Wall Street Journal says. As his "SpaceX civilian crew celebrates a 'massive effort'" and humankind's "new journey," The Washington Post says, Kamala Harris "renews Democrats' hope of turning North Carolina blue" with two large rallies, while Donald Trump "dials up shooting rhetoric." In coastal, landslide-prone California, the Los Angeles Times says, "Trump's golf course flirts with disaster."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

A light snack

A TikToker named Froginahatgirl was shocked to discover that a croissant-shaped lamp she ordered from online retailer Temu was actually a real pastry. After spotting ants swarming around it, Froginahatgirl poked a hole in the "lamp" only to discover it was a real croissant covered in resin. The incident feeds growing concerns over Temu, a Chinese budget retailer that frequently faces criticism for selling unsafe or poorly made products.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images; Julio Cesar Aguilar / AFP via Getty Images; Nic Coury / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Henadzi Pechan / Getty Images