Democracy Now! Wednesday, March 11, 2026

0:00From New York, this is Democracy Now. Stand up and the Marines stand up and go for America. No one wants to fight for Israel! As the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran enters its 12th day, we'll speak to a former Marine who was arrested and had his arm broken while protesting the war during a Senate hearing. We'll also look at how the Pentagon, under Pete Hegset, has slashed teams meant to limit civilian casualties. Iran now says the U.S. and Israel have hit 10,000 civilian sites

1:00killing over 1,300 civilians, then to the killers of Rome. The history of abortion rights in this country is a 50-year history of women dying preventable deaths at the behest of men who in many cases believe they had a direct line to God. It's a pretty tough history to stomach, and so the murder mystery theme started out as a way for me to entice myself to tell a really difficult and serious story with some moments of levity and escapism. We'll speak to Amy Littlefield, author of the new book Killers of Rome, my investigation into the mysterious death of abortion rights. All that and more coming up. Welcome to DemocracyNow. DemocracyNow.org, the war in peace report, I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. Israeli war in Iran has entered its 12th day.

2:00Defense Secretary Pete Hegset announced that Tuesday was the most intense day of U.S. strikes on Iran. Iranian authorities say U.S. and Israeli forces have bound nearly 10,000 civilian sites in the country and killed more than 1,300 civilians since the war began. This morning, Iran says it targeted Israel's military intelligence agency, a naval base in Haifa and an Israeli radar system. Meanwhile, the Pentagon says Iranian strikes across the region has so far injured 140 U.S. service members killing seven U.S. troops. Another one has also died. This is White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levit. What is your current timeline for how long the war will last? So look, as you know, Steve, the president and the U.S. military's initial timeline was about four to six weeks to achieve the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury. Again, to destroy their missiles and their ability to make them, destroy their navy,

3:03permanently deny them nuclear weapons forever and to, of course, weaken their evil terrorist proxies in the region. The Pentagon reportedly spent $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of striking Iran, according to a cost estimate shared with Congress. The Trump administration's expected to send Congress a supplemental military budget request this week. It comes as the Trump administration's reportedly considering deploying special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched Iranian. This is Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. I guess I am most concerned about the threat to American lives of potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran. We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here.

4:10Meanwhile, a New York Times analysis of missile fragments from the site of the bombing of the girl's school in Manab in southern Iran on February 28. In 2008, resemble the markings of a U.S. made cruise missile. It adds to the mounting evidence that U.S. forces struck the girl's primary school. It comes as Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Arakchi, dismissed the Trump administration's claims Iran was planning a preemptive strike against the U.S. as a sheer and utter lie. Arakchi wrote, quote, the sole purpose of that lie is to justify Operation Epic Mistake, a misadventure engineered by Israel and paid for by ordinary Americans, he wrote. This is Iran's ambassador to the UN, Amir Sayed, Aravani. The intention is clear to terrorize civilians, massacre innocent people and cause maximum destruction and suffering.

5:12The world is witnessing how a rogue and irresponsible state together with an legitimate regime is targeting the Iranian schools, hospitals, residential buildings, infrastructure, sports hall and relief facilities. These attacks have already claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians including women and children. Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon with the war expanding to central Beirut. An Israeli strike on a Ramada hotel killed at least four people. Israel claimed it was targeting commanders with Iran's revolutionary guard corps. According to the Lebanese government, Israeli strikes have killed 570 people in Lebanon, including over 80 children, while 750,000 people have been forced to flee their homes there. This is Basemar Ramadan, who witnessed an Israeli strike on a building near her.

6:13We were sleeping at around 5.30 am. I was asleep with my husband. My son was still awake after coming back from work. The sound was indescribable. The fear is indescribable. Enough is enough. Enough. This is a nightmare. When will it end? We can't. We really can't endure it anymore. Iran continued to fire retaliatory missiles and drones at targets across the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia says it destroyed five Iranian drones heading toward the Kingdom's Shaba oil field. Kuwait set it down to eight drones off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and the Strait of Hormuz. A projectile hit a container ship. The Dubai government says that air defenses intercepted two drones nearby airport, injuring four people. In Iraq, a drone hit a major U.S. diplomatic facility next to the Baghdad airport. CNN's reporting Iran has laid a few dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz and has the capability to place hundreds more.

7:20The U.S. military said it attacked and destroyed 16 Iranian mine laying vessels near the Strait since the beginning of the war. International tankers have largely avoided the Strait of Hormuz and shipping traffic has considerably slowed. The U.S. Israeli war in Iran has caused oil prices to surge from less than $70 a barrel on February 27th a day before the war to a peak of nearly $120 a barrel by Monday. Prices have now settled to about $90 a barrel. According to AAA, the average price of U.S. gasoline has shot up to $3.48 a gallon from just under $3 a week ago. The Iran war is also driving up the cost of fertilizers such as urea, ammonia, and other nitrogen products that are critical for food production. The American Farm Bureau Federation sent the letter to the White House saying, quote, We are deeply concerned that failure to act could lead to disruptions to the food supply chain not seen since 2022 when food price inflation reached 40 year highs, unquote.

8:34Reuters reports U.S. oil company Chevron and Shell are close to finalizing a deal that would become the first major oil production agreement with Venezuela since U.S. abducted the former president Nicholas Maduro. And his wife, Sylia Flores, just weeks after Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, signed a law that opened Venezuela's oil industry to privatization reversing a key principle of the Chavista movement persevered in Venezuela for more than two decades. The artificial intelligence company Anthropic is suing the Trump administration after the Pentagon designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk, unquote. That's after Anthropic refused to lift restrictions on its AI tool Claude prohibiting the military from using it for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance. It comes amidst reports that the Pentagon relied on Anthropic's Claude tool to strike a thousand targets in the first 24 hours of its attack on Iran.

9:40The Pentagon had also reportedly used Claude in the abduction of Venezuela's former president Nicholas Maduro and his wife. Meanwhile, a senior member of OpenAI's robotics team has resigned over the company's new partnership with the Pentagon. Caitlin Kalinowski said she was stepping down on principle after OpenAI agreed to make its AI systems available inside the Pentagon. A whistleblower complaint alleges a former worker with a so-called Department of Government Efficiency or Doge access to restricted databases and plan to share the highly sensitive information with a private employer. That's according to the Washington Post, which reported the Social Security Administration's internal watchdog is now investigating the complaint. If the allegations are confirmed, it would constitute an unprecedented breach of security protocols at the agency.

10:42The two databases included the records of over 500 million people in the United States living and dead. The former Doge employee reportedly copied the data onto a personal thumb drive. This adds to the mounting reported violations of Elon Musk's Doge as its slash funding for federal agencies. Alabama's governor is commuted to death sentence of Charles Sonny Burton, a 75-year-old African-American man who spent three decades on death row for a killing he did not commit. Burton was convicted for the 1991 fatal shooting of Doug Battle during a store robbery. Burton participated in the robbery, but it already left when the person he was with shot and killed battle. Republican governor KIV's decision came two days before Burton was scheduled to be executed using nitrogen gas.

11:42The daughter of the victim, Tory Battle, had joined calls to commute Burton's death sentence, writing in an op-ed for the Montgomery advisor, quote, my love for my father does not require another death, especially one that defies reason, unquote. Burton uses a wheelchair due to his painful arthritis. He will now serve a life sentence without parole. Governor Ivy has presided over at least 25 executions in Alabama. Staff members at Columbia University in New York Presbyterian Hospital were discouraged from reporting abuse by committed by convicted gynecologist Dr. Robert Haddon, who sexually assaulted hundreds of women over the span of more than 20 years while employed at both institutions. According to a new independent report, which blames the systemic abuses on Columbia's culture of silence as the university protected Dr. Haddon, even after he was accused of assaulting a patient in 2012 and arrested.

12:47The external investigation says Haddon used his prestigious position to prey on women, Haddon was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2023. A statement from the survivors of Haddon's abuse said, quote, survivors in the public at large have spent more than a decade rightfully demanding the truth about what happened to Columbia. We are still waiting, they said. To see our extensive coverage of this case and interviews with many survivors, go to our website at democracynow.org. The Justice Department has reached a major settlement with Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, avoiding a breakup of the world's largest live entertainment company. The Justice Department had accused Live Nation of operating in a legal monopoly on the concert business. According to the terms of the settlement, Live Nation agreed to change how it makes ticketing deals with venues and would also pay up to $288 million in damages.

13:53Dozens of states have vowed to continue legal action against Live Nation. New York Attorney General Leticia James said, quote, we will keep fighting this case without the federal government so that we can secure justice for all those harm by Live Nation's monopoly. In Oregon, a federal judge is continuing to restrict federal agents from using tear gas on protests outside an ice building in Portland. The preliminary injunction comes as part of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and testimony by several protesters, including a married couple in their 80s and freelance journalists who describe having chemical or projectile munitions used against them. Video footage cited in court reportedly showed masked the H.S. officers discharging tear gas and firing pepper ball munitions into crowds of peaceful protesters. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon described the aggressive tactics on nonviolent demonstrators as objectively chilling.

14:57Chilean LGBTQ and women's rights activists are gearing up for the inauguration of Jose Antonio Caste today, the most right-wing president elected in Chile since the U.S.-backed Pineshae military dictatorship. Caste advocates for a total abortion ban in Chile and as a congressman voted against the right to a divorce in 2004. Caste is an unapologetic supporter of Pineshae whose father was a member of the Nazi party. Caste party has announced plans to repeal Chile's current abortion law which allows the procedure in cases of rape. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Iran's accused the U.S. and Israel of killing more than 1,300 civilians and striking over 10,000 civilian sites during the first 12 days of the war. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth described Tuesday as the most intense day of U.S. attacks in Iran today.

15:57Israel's also escalating its attacks on Lebanon killing at least 19 people today, bringing the total to at least 570 since the war began. Nearly 800,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon. Earlier today, Israel struck a high rise apartment building in central Beirut. Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched overnight its most intense and heaviest operation targeting Israel as well as U.S. allies in the Gulf. The New York Times reports Iranian strikes over the past 12 days have damaged at least 17 U.S. sites so far, including military bases and key air defense struck infrastructure. On Tuesday, a drone attack hit a major U.S. diplomatic compound in Baghdad, Iraq, the Pentagon's also revealed 140 U.S. troops have been injured in addition to the seven U.S. service members killed. Another service member has also died.

16:57On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke to reporters after receiving classified briefing on the war. I emerge from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate. I am left with more questions than answers, especially about the cost of the war. My questions have been unanswered, and I will demand answers because the American people deserve to know. And I guess I am most concerned about the threat to American lives of potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran. We seem to be on a path towards deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here.

18:08We begin today's show with Akbar Shahed Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for HuffPost. His recent pieces had lined Israel's applying Gaza logic to Lebanon with Trump's blessing. He's also reported on how the Pentagon, under Pete Hegseth, has slashed teams meant to limit civilian casualties. His upcoming book titled Crossing the Red Line, Biden, His Advisors, and Israel's War in Gaza. Akbar, thanks so much for being with us again. I want to start off with this piece you wrote before Trump bombed Iran, Pentagon's slashed teams meant to limit civilian casualties. Explain. Absolutely Amy, there's been a real effort in the US government through the kind of post-911 moment, through the catastrophes in Iraq of Afghanistan. Libya, Syria, to try to learn some lessons from that experience, to think why does the US end up in these situations where it has these huge strategic goals.

19:11It says it's going to remake the Middle East, promote democracy, promote stability, and instead you see continued chaos and often backlash. And a big focus of that has been how do we make the US less damaging towards civilians, how do we try to uphold international law, and also reduce the impression that the US is cavalier about the lives of those abroad. That's been a bipartisan effort. It actually continued even through Trump won into the Biden administration, which made several steps. It set up teams within the Pentagon, within combat and clans, at low levels that were doing things like red teaming, which is assessing whether a strike is proportionate, or having investigations of US military operations and actually publishing reports about how these civilians were killed. Beathexat comes into office January 2025, and you see the Trump administration systematically start to destroy that. So what my sources have told me within the military and sort of close to those discussions is that they are deeply worried where now in the biggest war since that entire machinery has been taken away.

20:18What I mean by that is people who were tracking civilian casualties have been reassigned to other jobs. People, conversations that might have happened about should we do this, or what could this result in for us in terms of international law, or war crimes under US law, those aren't happening. And that puts civilians abroad at much greater risk. It also puts US service members at risk of being implicated in possible war crimes. And the narrative from the Trump administration combined with this is really alarming for people because you have Secretary Hexat out there saying things like we have quote no stupid rules of engagement. Let's go to defense secretary Pete Hexat speaking last week. B2's B52's B1's predator drones fighters controlling the skies picking targets death and destruction from the sky all day long. We're playing for keeps our war fighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly our rules of engagement are bold precise and designed to unleash American power not shackle it.

21:28This was never meant to be a fair fight. And it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be. Talk more about what he is saying. Pete Hexat defense secretary who president Trump calls war secretary. This kind of language aiming of maximum authorities of it's not a fair fight. This is language that's pointing to concerns about proportionality. Is this a fight that's being taken into account of what the collateral damage might be? All those attacks actually in line with international law. And it's important to remember that we've actually seen within the last couple of years the international criminal court issue its first arrest warrant for leaders aligned with the US for Benjamin at Nyahu and you have glant often citing the statements of those leaders themselves. So the worry for a lot of experts and even some people within and close to government is if you're out here saying we're not playing fair we're not following any rules.

22:32What does that both send internally as a message to the people launching these strikes and what does that mean for your legal liability. It's the international criminal court. There's also many countries that pursue what's called universal jurisdiction. If you violate international law it to a serious degree we will prosecute you. So this raises the specter of US officials of service members down the line facing prosecutions and investigations and it's not a defense under international law to say I was following orders from the president or from petex that petex that is actually saying by the authorities vested in me that doesn't provide a defense for someone who's been involved in an unlawful strike. And I just add two more important data points here one is of course the both strikes the Trump administration has also been pursuing in the Pacific in the waters around Venezuela as well. Those have been also apparently violating international law right those have been attacking shipwreck survivors those have killed more than 100 people on really vague charges.

23:32And so there's a pattern that's been set of these potentially illegal strikes by service members and then any coming back to my reporting. I actually reported at the end of last year that a lot of the experts on international law the laws of war international humanitarian law have quietly been leaving the Trump administration. These are people who necessarily have been fired but they've gotten the sense that they're either no longer wanted or if they give their frank legal advice they will be retaliated against. So those guardrails inside the government for how the US operates those have crumbled really rapidly. And you have also pointed out that let's see if I can find the sent com quote of the chief saying that it's going to lead to more casualties. The sent com chief Brad Cooper saying harm to civilians by US forces risks our credibility and trust and puts our troops at risk.

24:37It puts you know the US in a position and it's it's striking to see this off to the Gaza war and the huge accusations of war crimes potentially implicating the US. It puts the US in this position that many military and intelligence professionals have not wanted to be. They don't want to be associated with attacks like the school strike in Minabiran. They don't want to be associated with bombing of the capital of Beirut. But what there's such a concern especially in this administration of kind of is there anything that's wanted be on the culture of yes men. And so while while Admiral Cooper is the head of sent com you have chairman of joint chiefs tanking who's also made similar comments previously about we need to restrict civilian casualties. It hurts us strategically. Are they either getting through to President Trump or do they feel that they want to do that? Does that risk their own jobs which has its own concerns? There are more evidence has emerged linking the United States to that missile attack last week on a girl's primary school in southern along around the killed about 175 people, mainly girls.

25:46A New York Times analysis of missile fragments from the site resembles the markings of a US made Tomahawk cruise missile video also shows a Tomahawk hitting the area at the time of the attack. Tuesday, a majority of Senate Democrats sent a letter to headsets calling for a swift investigation during a news conference Monday. President Trump repeatedly claimed Iran had carried out the attack. Missile likely destroyed that Iranian girl school so will the Americans the US accept any responsibility well I will say that the Tomahawk which is one of the most powerful weapons around is used by you know sold and used by other countries you know that. And whether it's Iran who also has some Tomahawk say wish they had more but whether it's Iran or somebody else the fact that a Tomahawk a Tomahawk is very generic it sold to other countries but that's being investigated right now.

26:47Mr. President you just suggested that Iran somehow got his hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war but you're the only person in your government saying this even your defense secretary would say that when he was asked standing over your shoulder on your plane on Saturday. Why are you the only person saying this because I just don't know enough about it I think it's something that I was told is under investigation but Tomahawks are are used by others as you know numerous other nations have Tomahawks they buy him from us but I will certainly whatever the report shows I'm willing to live with that report. I'm willing to live with that report. Unfortunately 175 people at least died most of them girls when the primary school the girls primary school was struck. Can you explain what Trump is saying he even said I wish Iran had more Tomahawk missiles and then just outright said and he said it on the on Air Force one.

27:47That Iran did it even hexet standing next to him said there has to be an investigation. It's absolutely surreal Amy and of course the president has made this claim even before this he's made it repeatedly and to extend it to suggesting that Iran has some of the most advanced US weaponry having been as the administration likes to remind us. The US enemy for 47 years at this point it just beg his belief and it also of course undermines trust that this investigation will be carried out in a kind of serious and credible way or if it is whether it's results will ever be released will it be buried will it be dragged on. This is an administration again that in in this sort of rule and also in the prior administration has pushed out independent inspectors general they have pushed out government officials. We have disagreed with their political preferences or suggested wrongdoing so there is a pattern there of are we actually having an honest discussion about the facts.

28:48I think for this is an interesting one that gets to honest with him Trump's own circle because how far will someone like hexet go to kind of defend Trump here. And I think the president's willingness to kind of spin conspiracy theories about an attack that clearly killed people whether obvious bodies are obvious American missile fragments at some point just saying things doesn't make a true given clear evidence. And before we go the piece you wrote Israel's applying Gaza logic to Lebanon with Trump's blessing if you can talk more about this war on both fronts that Israel is conducting right now. It's a deeply worrying any for folks underground in Lebanon who I'm talking to regularly and just looking at the strategic picture of it Israel was in Lebanon 15 months ago right it said that it carried out bombing it weakened his blood to a huge degree it reached an agreement it was happy with so why are we at war again. Why are you know up now towards a million Lebanese being forced out of their homes many of them sleeping on the streets many of them without access to medical care or even aid that they got in the previous war.

29:59So it's it's raising a lot of fear and I wrote about the Gaza playbook because what a lot of people are seeing this in the kind of pattern of Israeli attacks and orders to leave areas is concerned about ethnic cleansing. There's a fear and some far right is really officials and people close to the government are already saying that Israel would want to seize territory. Yeah so that's raising a lot of concern of will Lebanon as a state even survive after this war and you know even as President Trump is out here saying perhaps he'd want to reign in the Iran war given its broader consequences for energy infrastructure. The Trump administration from my sources on the inside is basically paying zero attention to this broadening war in Lebanon which is so worrying for a country that's already been so beleaguered. Thank you so much for being with us senior diplomatic correspondent for half post will link to your recent articles at democracy now dot org coming up we speak to a former marine arrested his arm broken while protesting the war during a Senate hearing and then we'll talk about a new book killers of row my investigation into the mysterious death of abortion rights will speak with the nation's abortion access.

31:13Reporter Amy Littlefield stay with us. And I wanted to tell you all your tears were not in vain but I guess we both know we'd never be the same. Peaceable kingdom by patty Smith performed in democracy now is 20th anniversary on our 30th anniversary which has been rescheduled for March 23rd Monday at Riverside Church patty Smith will be singing again will also be interviewing her.

32:29She'll be there along with Michael stipe hooray for the riff rap and other special gifts guests will also be interviewing Angela Davis and others coming up on democracy now March 23rd will have a live stream at democracy now dot org and if you had tickets for the February 23rd event which was put off because of the bomb cyclone the blizzard that was happening that day. They will be honored on March 23rd go to democracy now dot org for details this is democracy now I'm Amy Goodman on Capitol Hill last week a Marine Corps veteran and candidate for Senate and North Carolina suffered a broken arm after he disrupted a Senate hearing to voices opposition to the U.S. Israeli war on Iran the veteran Brian McGuinness was forcefully pulled through a door by capital police his arm became stuck in the door. And broke Brian McGuinness interrupted the meeting while senator Dan Sullivan was speaking Sullivan's chair of the armed services subcommittee.

33:34Our next witness is the assistant comment on the Marine Corps General Gehring. Just a reminder to all our witnesses the Capitol police will escort any protesters out of the hearing room. Brian McGuinness remained detained by Capitol police as he was treated in the hospital for a broken arm. Brian McGuinness remained detained by Capitol police as he was treated in the hospital for a broken arm.

34:38He's now facing charges including assault on a police officer resisting arrest and unlawful demonstration. Brian McGuinness served in Iraq in 2003 a member of veterans for peace running for U.S. Senate from North Carolina on the green party ticket. And this is to replace the outgoing senator Tom Tellus. Brian McGuinness joins us now from North Carolina. We're also joined by his attorney, Salano Simmons. We welcome you both to democracy now. Brian describe what happened. First of all, why did you go to that Senate hearing? Good morning Amy. I'm smiling because I'm excited to be here and meet you. And I'm sad from the headlines that have been sadly going across our screens for the last two and a half years inside. I'm sad. I went to the hearing to hear what our leaders had to say in regards to war preparedness. And there was not any different from what I would expect from military leaders. They are so separate from the people so in line with big governments and its plans and which we've been privy to with the last 25 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

35:51The people's voice are not being heard with any type of empathy. It's just full speed ahead with military force. And I think the people are tired of that. And that's what I was the voice I was trying to present at that briefing. So walk us through that protest on March 4th. What exactly happened? How is your arm broken? Well, all that I can't speak about too much because of legal reasons. But everybody has seen the video or a lot of people have seen the video. So it's pretty self explanatory. Those briefing rooms are customizable. They have removable walls. And so I think my arm got wedged between one of those walls in the door. And with the force being applied, my arm got broke. My hand was completely stuck. And that's how that happens.

36:51Selena Simmons, your Brian's attorney. Can you explain what the charges are against him? Yeah, first of all, Amy, thanks for having us. Brian is facing four counts. Three counts of assault on police officers. They are three individual names that are law enforcement. The fourth and final count is resisting arrest. He's being charged by the United States government in Washington, DC, Superior Court. And we're looking forward to having our day in court regarding these matters. I want to ask you, Brian, as you were being led away, you also said free Palestine. Your wife and kids are Palestinian. You participated in demonstration in the West Bank in 2024. What is your message to senators on the issue of Israel and Palestine right now? Their lack of research in the history of Palestine is a warrant. There's so much knowledge of the occupying military occupation of the Palestinians and the torturous reality they face every day that invades their humanity and their rights.

38:03And being under such oppression, it would only be natural for someone to resist or fight back. And this seemingly easy dynamic of life to understand. And I am trying to present to Americans in a way. But sadly, the villainization of Islam or Islamophobia or the difference in American and Arab cultures have created such a gap in understanding that it's a challenging thing to do. But I'm not going to stop. Like you said, my wife and children are Palestinian. And so that brings us very close to home. I myself am Iraq veteran. I have come a long way from who I was when I was in the service and then having children and just growing up and watching news and learning. I have a complete different realm of reality and knowledge to contextualize what I've done.

39:08And I have a lot of resentment and sadness about what America is doing with our brave sons and daughters in the military. Republican Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana helped officers remove you Brian McGuinness from the hearing afterwards he posted an X quote. Capitol police were attempting to remove an unhinged protester from the armed services hearing. He was fighting back. I decided to help out and deescalate the situation. The Montana Senator Tim Sheehy said is we wrap up. How do you respond to what she he said and explain why you've decided to run for Senate to take Tom tell us a seat who's retiring. We have much larger problems at hand. Millions of thousands of children are dying. That's that's the focus. So I'm not no ill will towards Mr. Sheehy things happen people have intentions to deescalate or help situations I get that we all step in and we were imperfect and we're good at sometimes bad sometimes that's neither here nor there.

40:21I'm running for Senate to be a voice for the people representing the green party the green party is an established party that's only people run. We do not take corporate sponsors that's very important because our government has shown to be highly influenced by big money and the green party is not about that. And I was overwhelmed with looking at my email from the support and the genuine support I got from people from all over the world and here in America. And I really want to convince North Carolinians that I'm a genuine person and a good choice to represent the people in our government. And my experience at Senate this last weekend or last week was just it showed in the wall between the people in the government. And I want to break through that wall for people. Brian McGuinness I want to thank you for being with us Marine veteran arrested had his arm broken at a Senate hearing last week while protesting the war against Iran running for Senate and North Carolina on the green party ticket.

41:28And I want to thank Saleno Simmons of Brian McGuinness's attorney coming up Amy Littlefield author of Killers of Row my investigation into the mysterious death of abortion rights back in 20 seconds. We believe in freedom cannot rest. We believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. We believe in freedom. We believe cannot rest until it comes. We believe. We believe cannot rest. No, no, no, no. We believe.

42:31We believe. Hello song we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes by sweet honey in the rock performing at the 2025 Peace Ball. This is democracy now democracy now dot org. I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show looking at the killers of row. That's the title of a new book by reproductive rights journalist Amy Littlefield. And what she describes is the death of abortion rights in America. The book examines the movement to criminalize abortion in the years and decades before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment which banned federal funding for abortion which has disproportionately impacted the poor and women of color. Amy Littlefield is the nation magazines abortion access correspondent also a former democracy now producer. Amy welcome back to democracy now congratulations on the publication of your book.

43:35Why don't we start off by you talking about the state of reproductive rights in the United States right now. Thank you Amy. It's great to be back on the opposite side usually I was in the control room. So abortion access today is a landscape that is defined by contradiction. Half of states have some form of restriction on abortion before 24 weeks more than a dozen states ban abortion outright. And yet in the every year since the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion the number of abortions in this country has gone up which is remarkable. And that's because eight states allow providers anywhere in those states to ship abortion pills anywhere in the country including into states where abortion is banned and they're doing so for free or for very cheap. And so in a way abortion which was always the most abortions are done by these pills correct today most abortions are by medication and that's the ones that we can count there's more community activist circulating these pills completely under the radar.

44:39But that means that today a woman in rural Mississippi can get an abortion sent to her through the mail by pills from a clinician operating in a blue state like New York or Massachusetts for free. Right to her door someone who would have had to drive hours and under waiting periods and all kinds of hurdles in the time before the Supreme Court overturned Ruby Wade and so in a sense access has expanded. And yet choice has contracted right because the options have narrowed often clinics are off limits because many of them have closed and are not operating in states where abortion is banned. And so you know we used to have a landscape where there was choice there was a right to abortion legally but access was curtailed because you needed the money to afford it. And now we see the situation where access has expanded but people's choices really have narrowed especially when you factor in the legal risk that and the fear that can define seeking an abortion in a state where it's banned talk about the attempts to stop pills being sent to right so the most recent one that we've seen is the you know the Trump administration has not acted as quickly as abortion opponents would like to restrict medication abortion and these pills are circulating freely through the mail and so what do you think that is.

45:53Because abortion rights are super popular you mean they are more popular than maybe the New York mayor is one exception but just about every politician abortion rights are more popular and that is a losing issue for Republicans especially after the dogs decision and so that's why many people think Trump is not touching this issue until after the midterm elections which tells you everything you need to know about why abortion rights and democracy go hand in hand. And talk about what states and what courts the issue of restricting pills are in right now that's a big decision. So we should get a ruling any day from a federal judge who's looking at Louisiana's request to stop the mailing of abortion pills and that obviously could disrupt this network that I'm telling you about that's reaching people in corners of the country in Texas and Alabama where abortion wasn't accessible before. I want to talk about your book why do you call it killers of row. So Amy I was a new mom when it became clear we were going to lose the national right to abortion and about the only thing I could tolerate this was COVID times right was murder mysteries that was all I was reading.

47:04And I knew that I was going to have to you know my years of an abortion as an abortion reporter told me that people were going to die as a result of Roe v. Wade being overturned. I knew this was going to be a hard story to tell and it started as a murder mystery because it was a way to entice myself to tell a really difficult story about women dying preventable deaths as a result of anti abortion policy. And I knew I was going to have to sit with the killers of row with the men who had brought these policy changes about and I knew that was going to be a hard task to do. And so the murder mystery was a way for me to look at the hidden figures it's always the person who least suspect in a murder mystery and I was talking to those people as I dug into the 50 years of how we lost abortion rights in America. And what does I got the Christie have to do with this? I think Christie is my comfort she's my escape she got me through adolescence and she got me through new motherhood and then it just so happened she got me through the task of you know two years of reporting on this book to figure out.

48:05Who killed Roe and why? Your first quote of Agatha Christie is Miss Marple the great thing in these cases is to keep an absolutely open mind most crimes you see are so absurdly simple right. The crime was simple they took away women's right to bodily autonomy and yet the people as I would learn were so complicated right. A twisted alliance of believers and opportunists is what I found as I dug into this history. Let's talk about one of those complicated characters in your book former Oregon Senator Bob Pakwood. Let's go to a clip from 1985. This is the National Women's Political Caucus presenting Pakwood with the Good Guys Award. Senator Pakwood's Pakwood is women's number one ally in the Senate. Senator Pakwood you have touched millions of American lives by your example by your hard work your legendary independence and courage for all of that we are grateful.

49:08So it's my honor to present a good guys award to you a leader of fighter our ally and our friend Senator Bob Pakwood. That's Republican Senator Bob Pakwood of Oregon who would leave the Senate in disgrace having detailed his crimes in his diaries right 48 women came forward to accuse Pakwood women's greatest ally in the Senate of sexual misconduct right. He wrote some really disgusting things in his diaries which later came to light the line that was seared into my mind was if she didn't want me to feather her nest why did she come into the Xerox Room. She was about a woman who had come into the Xerox Room to photocopy some papers presumably right. So that was his attitude towards women and yet he was such a staunch feminist and worked really hard to promote abortion rights and was an ally of Gloria Steinem. And so it attacked many Republican rights activists who come into his office right. I cost it every seemingly almost every woman who walked into his office he would have cost pro choice Republican super complicated person and my chapter on Pakwood I flew out to Oregon to interview him he's in his 90s now and I interviewed him with his wife.

50:21And my chapter starts out with my five year old now five year old Tully asking me is he a good guy or bad guy Tully had found my book with Pakwood's face on the covers. He a good guy or bad guy and me trying to answer that question because it's complicated you know in cartoons there's good guys and bad guys and it's pretty straightforward in murder mysteries and also in real life it's a lot more complicated than that. So here's a clip of another major character in your book former Maryland congress member Bob Bowman speaking on the McNeil error report 1977 when the height amendment was being renewed in Congress. He was asked about projections that renewing the ban could result in dozens of maternal deaths. To mourn the death of five or 90 is one thing when 300,000 deaths on the average are being financed by federal funding seems to me somewhat disproportionate a death is just as tragic whether it's a mother or a child in my view. That's former Maryland congress member Bob Bowman talk about him so he was one of the hidden figures that I was able to track down an interview behind one of the most defining anti abortion policies in our history.

51:29The height amendment cut off abortion access for poor women almost 50 years ago and shaped the abortion access landscape in ways that we take for granted today forced activists to raise millions of dollars each year to pay for people's abortions Bob Bowman was a super unpopular guy he was a really conservative member of Congress. He's the one who tapped his more popular colleague Henry Hyde on the shoulder and said why don't you introduce the height amendment. It didn't work when Bob Bowman didn't did it but he thought maybe Henry Hyde was this charming popular guy and he could get it through instead. Now in 1980 the NFBI investigation found that Bowman had been cruising the streets of Washington DC in a car with congressional plates picking up men and paying them for sex one of whom was allegedly a boy of 16. And so Bowman's political career ended at that point he's been spending the years since writing treatises about offshore tax avoidance and so that felt very consistent with sort of the wider conservative project right the person who helped withhold federal taxpayer funding for abortion went on to try to work against you know the ultra wealthy paying any taxes whatsoever.

52:36I saw your book launch with Feywattleton the first black leader of the first black president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America youngest ever she was something like 33 years old when she took office her obsession she said was the height amendment because it targeted poorer women and women of color. That's absolutely right Feywattleton came in with a promise to try to repeal the height amendment and she faced a huge backlash including from within her own organization. And so part of the story of who killed row is also about democratic and pro choice complicity in the fact that the policy that we knew was deadly almost from day one the policy that cut off abortion access for poor women indoors to this day. I want to talk about some of the victims one of the deaths from abortion restrictions that you chronicle in your book is Becky Bell. Let's go to a clip of Becky's mother Karen testifying in the Indiana State legislature in 2017 trying to stop Indiana for making it even harder for a minor to get an abortion in Indiana.

53:43September 16 1988 my little girl just 17 died of an illegal bot abortion right here in Indiana. They never found who did whatever they did to her with 30 instruments spent all over the news for years. My husband and I haven't talked for years because it got so dangerous when we were out that people tried to kill it for speaking against this law. I would have voted for the parental consent law like that being the mom I was back in 1988. I wasn't educated but it meant I thought if my daughter who I love more than anything the world doesn't mean that law will make her come and I'll take care of her. Well it's a law that the daughters that love you more than life they'll die for you.

54:52Karen Bell mother of Becky Bell I remember covering her death boy the bell tolls for you if you'll tell us about Becky Bell. Becky Bell was a 17 year old who died because of a parental consent law in Indiana she got pregnant and told a friend she loved her parents too much to tell them that she needed an abortion she didn't want to disappoint them. So she saw an unsafe abortion died a horrible death from pneumonia resulting from a massive infection. And her parents who were this you know Midwestern couple unlikely activists instead of keeping the secret their daughter had taken to their grave they spoke out against parental consent laws. But Amy what I want people to really understand about these laws all but 14 states had some form of a parental involvement for abortion law on the books when Roe v Wade was overturned that includes blue states. And so this was one of these policies that was popular including in blue states including among Democrats and that the pro choice movement didn't fight as vociferously from day one.

55:52And so you know looking at the death of Becky Bell her death was preventable you know and that's the word that echoes from the pro public of stories about the more recent deaths. Teara Walker right her son Jay Jay finds her slumped over her bed dead on his birthday of preeclampsia because she couldn't get an abortion in Texas. Candy Miller her husband finds her dead in bed next to her three year old daughter because she was too afraid to seek follow up care when she had a rare complication from a medication abortion in Georgia. Right Portia Gamese whose youngest child chases after women with braids on the street yelling that's mommy because his mom is gone after she couldn't get miscarried treatment in Texas. These deaths that are happening now could have been prevented if we had looked if there hadn't been you know decades of Republicans using abortion as a political opportunity. Democrats surrendering too early and you know true believers many of whom I talked to for this book building alliances with the politicians that they needed to accomplish these deadly policies. As we begin to wrap up who was Rosie him and is she was a 27 year old Mexican American mom of a four year old living in McCall in Texas.

56:59She had two Medicaid abortions in Texas before that were paid for. But after the high amendment passed she could no longer get her abortion covered and so she sought an unsafe abortion and died. Another horrible painful death in Texas she was the first victim of the high amendment and I wrote about her first death and also her second death which was the death that happened when the high amendment the policy that killed her was allowed to become such a mainstream accepted part of our politics renewed by every single Congress ever since. Finally Amy as you research this book what surprised you most you've been covering abortion access for decades. There were two motives that I found that many of the figures had that really surprised me one of them was this guy Paul Herring I talked to her wrote a first draft of the high amendment this former IRS attorney he kept trying to convert me to Catholicism by telling me the most important thing is we go to heaven. I heard that time and again so many of these men were telling me that they worked against abortion because they believed it was going to help them get through the door of heaven I thought oh my gosh they have put women through hell so that they can go to heaven.

58:10And they have put the rest of us in hell too if you look at the news stories today right and the other thing that surprised me is just how much the anti abortion movement was a reaction to the civil rights movement. Jennifer Holland the historian writes about how they created a civil rights movement for white people a way that they could use social justice rhetoric and the right to life to avoid thinking about whiteness avoid confronting white supremacy and instead save the fetus who they always imagined as white. Well it is a remarkable book killers of row it's a revelation and also funny at times killers of row my investigation into the mysterious death of abortion rights the book has just come out Amy's abortion access correspondent for the nation magazine that does it for our show happy birthday to Georgia truck.