May 20, 2022

Happy Friday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,050 words ... 4 mins. Edited by Justin Green.

1 big thing: Post-Roe baby boom

Share of counties that are maternity care deserts, by state
Data: March of Dimes. Map: Jacque Schrag/Axios

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, an increase in births could strain safety nets, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes.

  • Why it matters: The red states poised to ban or severely limit abortion already tend to have limited access to health care — and fewer programs in place for mothers and children. Abortion bans would also likely put more pressure on U.S. foster and adoption systems.

"What we’re facing as a country is hundreds of thousands of births, probably disproportionately located in the states that have been most limited in what they do for pregnant women, infants and children," said Sara Rosenbaum, a health law and policy professor at George Washington University.

  • "We have not ever designed these programs for a world without Roe," she added. "You need a child welfare system, the likes of which we’ve never seen."

Zoom out: Experts say there's already a growing shortage of obstetricians.

  • In 2020, more than 2 million women of childbearing age lived in counties that had no hospital offering obstetric care, no birth center and no obstetric provider, according to a report by March of Dimes.

Red states in the middle of the country — many of which will automatically ban abortion if Roe is overturned — are particularly likely to have a high number of maternity care deserts.

2. Oklahoma passes abortion ban

Oklahoma State Rep. Justin Humphrey (R) Lane urges lawmakers to vote yes yesterday. Photo: Nathan J. Fish/The Oklahoman via AP

Oklahoma lawmakers gave final approval to a Texas-style bill banning all abortions beginning at fertilization, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez reports.

  • The law would take effect as soon as it's signed into law. Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has said he'll sign any anti-abortion bill that comes to his desk.

Why it matters: It would be the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S.

  • This is part of a state-by-state push by the GOP.

Oklahoma's near-total ban encourages private citizens to sue anyone suspected of helping a person get an abortion.

  • The measure, H.B. 4327, incentivizes citizens to sue anyone who "performs or induces" or "aids of abets the performance" of an abortion. People can also be sued if they "[intend] to engage" in those actions, but haven't yet done so.
  • Citizens would be awarded at least $10,000 for successfully suing an abortion provider.

The law could affect embryos created through the IVF process and some forms of birth control. The bill doesn't apply to contraception.

  • The bill bars those who are sued from arguing the law is unconstitutional as a defense in court.

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3. 🇷🇺 "Russifying" eastern Ukraine

Russia is laying groundwork for annexing swaths of southeast Ukraine, — including taking full control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and other vital infrastructure, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription).

  • Why it matters: Moscow plans Russification of the region, like in Crimea after it was seized from Ukraine in 2014.

"Russian officials have already moved to introduce the ruble currency, install proxy politicians in local governments, impose new school curriculums, reroute internet servers through Russia and cut the population off from Ukrainian broadcasts," per The Times.

4. 📷 1,000 words

Photo: Andrew Medichini/AP

Pope Francis watches Argentine midfielder Maxi Rodríguez at yesterday's launch of the international Scholas Occurrentes (Latin for "schools of meeting") at the pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

  • His Holiness is using a wheelchair because of knee pain.

5. ☕ Coffee shop vibe for future offices

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson imagines that rather than have offices in each city where his cloud platform employs a cluster of workers, he could just open a coffee shop where employees could work and gather.

  • Why it matters: The S.F.-based company has enough people for some sort of office in many cities— if it's a place workers want to go, Axios' Ina Fried writes in her weekly Signal Boost column.

With the coffee-shop idea, workers could come in and work when they are looking for community, a change of scenery or a double latte.

  • Lawson says he wants to run an experiment to see if it would work. "My CFO tells me not to tell anyone," he said to a room full of reporters.

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6. Boeing launches SpaceX competitor

Photo: John Raoux/AP

Boeing yesterday launched an uncrewed Starliner capsule from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a mission to the International Space Station, Axios Space author Miriam Kramer reports.

  • Why it matters: The launch — after a few years of delay — is a crucial moment for Boeing, which plans to use its Starliner to take NASA astronauts to the space station and compete with SpaceX.

What's next: If everything works, NASA test pilots could strap in by early next year for Boeing's first crew flight.

The capsule is now flying through space, with docking to the space station expected today.

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7. 💰 $30 sitters

Teenage babysitters are charging as much as $30 an hour — because they can, The Wall Street Journal reports in an A-hed (subscription).

  • The power dynamics have changed so much that sitters are now treated as VIPs.
  • An 18-year-old in Scarsdale, N.Y., is raking in $25 to $30 an hour.

Bree Steiger, an 18-year-old high-school senior from Longmeadow, Mass., charges $15 or $16 an hour, up from $9 to $10 pre-pandemic.

  • "One family was like, 'We’ll order anything you want for dinner,'" she told The Journal.

8. 🎁 1 fun thing: Gift from Psaki

Courtesy Jen Psaki

Jen Psaki is starting a new tradition for the "flak jacket" — a decades-old bipartisan gift from White House press secretaries to their successors, the N.Y. Times' Michael Grynbaum scoops (subscription).

  • The legacy jacket was missing after the Trump transition.
  • Before leaving, Psaki bought a replacement online from Macy's for Karine Jean-Pierre, who started Monday. She's the fifth woman in a row to be White House press secretary — a streak that began with Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2017.

The replacement: a Tommy Hilfiger blazer, size 16, in Hi-Liter yellow.

  • "The ritual dates to the 1970s, when Gerald Ford’s press secretary, Ron Nessen, received a blue men’s brocade vest from reporters that featured a bulletproof lining," Grynbaum notes. "He left it for his successor with a note: 'You’ll need this at some of your briefings.'"

🎤 P.S. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby will move to the White House in a senior communications role, the WashPost's Tyler Pager reports.

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