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For Immediate Release
April, 08 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Thanu Yakupitiyage
Tel: 413-687-5160
Email: thanu@350action.org
350 Action Responds to Sanders Suspension of His Campaign, Urges Vice President Biden to Move Forward as a Climate Champion
Today, Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his Presidential campaign, stating that his team does not see a feasible path to victory and he could not in good conscience continue a campaign in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
May Boeve, 350 Action executive director, made the following statement:
WASHINGTON
Today, Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his Presidential campaign, stating that his team does not see a feasible path to victory and he could not in good conscience continue a campaign in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
May Boeve, 350 Action executive director, made the following statement:
"Bernie Sanders has consistently championed a bold vision of climate justice informed by those on the frontlines of this crisis. Now more than ever, we need Joe Biden to advocate for a similarly ambitious climate plan if we're going to curb disastrous impacts and build a livable world for all. Voters concerned about people and the planet want a president who is willing to stand up to polluting fossil fuel companies, invest in green jobs and community resilience, and fight for a just transition to a renewable energy economy.
"We can't afford four more years of inaction and rollbacks that benefits the wealthiest companies in the world and leads us further down the path toward climate chaos. It's time for Biden to heed the science, listen to impacted communities, and develop a plan on par with the scale of the climate crisis."
Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, 350 Action North America Director, said:
"We thank Senator Sanders for his game-changing contributions to political discourse. Over a lifetime the Senator has fought for what is possible and challenged what the country should strive for. As a strong advocate for climate and a partner on environmental justice, Sanders' forward-thinking plans matched the scale of the climate crisis and pushed the status quo for urgent transformation. We urge Vice President Biden to take up the blueprint that proven climate champions, Sanders and Warren, provided.
"To Vice President Biden, we say: Now is the time to be a gutsy climate champion! We call for Presidential leadership that prioritizes ambitious plans to drastically reduce carbon emissions by more than half to meet critical climate goals. We demand leadership and vision that rapidly transitions our energy sources by 2030, and in the process create millions of new jobs for workers in a renewable energy economy. We are calling for a political power shift that uplifts people and sets the most ambitious path to climate justice for all.
"A livable future requires a total transformation of our economy and culture. It's up to Vice President Biden to take up this mantle to remain relevant. We will work to hold him to these standards. Our demand for the end of fossil fuels will not change as the race continues. In the contest for the highest office, we must ensure that our leadership commits to making a meaningful impact in the climate decade."
350 Action is the independent political action arm of the non-profit, non-partisan climate justice group 350.org.
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Friends and family of Porsha Ngumezi, a 35-year-old mother of two in Houston, were stunned last year to learn that she had died in a hospital after suffering a miscarriage when she was 11 weeks pregnant—and medical experts who spoke to the investigative outlet ProPublicaon Monday had the same reaction.
"All she needed was a [dilation and curettage]," one friend told Ngumezi's grieving husband, Hope Ngumezi, referring to a standard procedure which is often given to pregnant patients who have first-trimester miscarriages. Commonly called a D&C, it is also diagnose or treat other health conditions and provide abortion care.
Dr. Daniel Grossman, an obstetrics and gynecology professor at University of California, San Francisco, toldProPublica that "at every point" of Ngumezi's visit to Houston Methodist Sugar Land, a hospital outside Houston, medical providers' response to her case was "kind of shocking."
"She is having significant blood loss and the physician didn't move toward aspiration," Grossman told ProPublica.
Like at least two other Texas women—Nevaeh Crain and Josseli Barnica—Ngumezi's death in June 2023 was the result of the abortion ban that went into effect in Texas in 2022, according to medical experts who reviewed her case.
Ngumezi arrived at the hospital on June 11, 2023 after experiencing heavy bleeding 11 weeks into her pregnancy with her third child. Doctors noted that Ngumezi had a blood-clotting disorder and that she was experiencing "significant bleeding" with large clots.
"Doctors assume that a D&C is not standard in Texas anymore, even in cases where it should be recommended. People are afraid: They see D&C as abortion and abortion as illegal."
An ultrasound showed a "sac-like structure," but no fetus or cardiac activity were detected, indicating that she was having a miscarriage.
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Dr. Gabrielle Taper, who has worked as an OB-GYN in Austin, told ProPublica that since Texas' abortion ban went into effect in 2022—two months after the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—there has been "much more hesitation [among doctors] about: When can we intervene, do we have enough evidence to say this is a miscarriage, how long are we going to wait, what will we use to feel definitive?"
For Ngumezi, that hesitation meant that Dr. Andrew Ryan Davis, the obstetrician on duty, prescribed misoprostol to help Ngumezi pass the fetal tissue without a D&C.
Dr. Alison Goulding, another OB-GYN in Houston, told ProPublica that because misoprostol can also be used for women in labor or to treat postpartum bleeding, under Texas' abortion ban, "stigma and fear are there for D&Cs in a way that they are not for misoprostol."
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"Misoprostol," reported ProPublica, "is an effective method to complete low-risk miscarriages but is not recommended when a patient is unstable."
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But ProPublica noted that Ngumezi had a similar case to one described on social media by podcast host Ryan Hamilton earlier this year. Hamilton's wife experienced bleeding while miscarrying at 13 weeks, and was prescribed misoprostol and sent home after an ultrasound at Surepoint Emergency Center Stephenville showed no fetal cardiac activity. The bleeding got worse, but an emergency doctor told the couple they couldn't provide a D&C because of "the current stance" in Texas.
Greer Donley, a law professor at University of Pittsburgh, said that "the antiabortion movement wants us to blame the doctors and sometimes that is warranted. But abortion bans are the ultimate cause of this harm."
"When life in prison is the penalty for violating a ban, doctors will understandably be risk averse. And that chill in care will cause death," said Donley.
ProPublica reported that "performing a D&C attracts more attention from colleagues, creating a higher barrier in a state where abortion is illegal."
Doctors, added Goulding, "have to convince everyone that it is legal and won't put them at risk [of prosecution]."
In Ngumezi's case, the bleeding continued after she took misoprostol, and her heart stopped three hours later—a "preventable" death, according to the experts.
"The only reason" Ngumezi died, said Reproductive Justice for All, is that Republican politicians including President-elect Donald Trump helped put Texas' abortion ban in place.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has indicated openness to a cease-fire deal with Hezbollah, according to New York Timesreporting from Monday.
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Heavy airstrikes have also been reported in southern Lebanon, including in the town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL, is based.
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Yesterday, the Financial Timesreported that the deal on the table would call for an initial two-month cease-fire—citing two Lebanese officials—"during which the Israeli military would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would move its weapons north of the Litani river, which runs 30km from the U.N.-drawn border."
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In separate analyses published this week, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and Accountable.US offered overviews of the president-elect's key nominations and their potential conflicts of interest as Trump prepares to retake power in January.
So far, Trump has announced plans to nominate billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to head the Treasury Department, WWE billionaire Linda McMahon to head the Education Department, billionaire crypto banker Howard Lutnick to head the Commerce Department, and billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the Department of Government Efficiency—an outside advisory commission tasked with slashing federal spending and regulations.
"These appointments clearly show the incoming administration will be run by and for the ultra-wealthy," said David Kass, ATF's executive director. "They've already announced plans to spend trillions of dollars to renew the Trump tax bill, to further enrich large corporations and wealthy elites like themselves while advocating for cuts to vital programs that working and middle-class Americans depend on."
ATF's analysis, released Monday, shows that the combined wealth of Trump's richest nominees and transition team members—including the president-elect and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the vice president-elect—is over $313 billion. By comparison, the combined net worth of President Joe Biden's Cabinet is an estimated $118 million.
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