Wednesday morning news - April 14, 2021

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden sets new 9/11 target date to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan » President Biden has decided to leave American troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1st deadline. That was the timeline that the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban.

But the president still intends to withdraw American troops this year. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki …

PSAKI: The president has been consistent in his view that there’s not a military solution in Afghanistan, that we’ve been there for far too long. That has been his view for some time.

President Biden’s new goal is to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

And according to multiple reports, the pullout will not be conditions based. U.S. troops will depart regardless of the situation on the ground.

Those reports drew sharp criticism from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

MCCONNELL: A reckless pullback like this would abandon our Afghan regional and our NATO partners in a shared fight against terrorists that we have not yet won.

McConnell and some other top Republicans were also critical of former President Trump’s plans to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan this year.

Biden urges de-escalation on Russia-Ukraine border in call with Putin » President Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “de-escalate tensions” with Ukraine in a Tuesday phone call. That followed Russia’s military buildup on it’s border with Eastern Ukraine.

Jen Psaki told reporters …

PSAKI: President Biden also made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of America’s interests in response to Russia’s actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference.

Biden also proposed a summit in a third country “in the coming months” to discuss the full range of U.S.-Russia issues.

There is growing concern in the West about a surge of cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine. Russian-baсked separatists have been locked in a conflict with Ukrainian forces since Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday also warned Russia about it’s troop buildup and pledged strong support for Ukraine. He said NATO allies are stepping up their naval presence in the Black Sea …

STOLTENBERG: And we are constantly looking into how we can continue to step up and provide more practical support to Ukraine to help them defend themselves.

Stoltenberg called Moscow’s troop buildup “unjustified, unexplained and deeply concerning.”

CDC, FDA investigating reports of blood clots tied to Johnson & Johnson vaccine » The CDC and Food and Drug Administration are investigating potentially dangerous blood clots in six women who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In the meantime, they have recommended pausing use of the coronavirus vaccine.

President Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci noted on Tuesday that instances of clotting have been very rare.

FAUCI: They have been six out of the 6.85 million doses, which is less than one in a million. So remember, this is really out of an abundance of caution.

The reported complications appeared in women within two weeks of vaccination, and they also had low platelets in veins that drain blood from the brain.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zeints said any pause of the J&J vaccine will not significantly slow the U.S. vaccine rollout.

ZEINTS: The J&J vaccine makes up less than 5 percent of the more than 190 million recorded shots in arms in the United States to date.

The blood clots linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are similar to rare occurrences that sparked concerns over AstraZeneca’s shots in Europe. Both vaccines use a similar technology which is different from the mRNA technology in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

US agency says women can get abortion pill via telemedicine » Women seeking an abortion pill will not be required to visit a doctor’s office or clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s the word from the FDA, which announced the policy change on Tuesday.

The change clears the way for women to get abortion pill prescriptions via telemedicine and receive them through the mail.

The FDA’s acting head, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said an agency review of recent studies—quoting here—“do not appear to show increases in serious safety concerns,” when women take the pill without first visiting a health facility.

But the reports the FDA relied on are unlikely to give the full picture of how many women experienced complications. Many women were hospitalized in the UK after a similar policy took effect there. They reported severe pain and bleeding during at-home abortions—sometimes because they waited past the recommended 10 weeks of pregnancy to take the pills.

US court lifts hold on Ohio’s Down syndrome abortion law » But also on Tuesday, a federal court lifted the hold on a pro-life law in Ohio that prohibits abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed two earlier decisions blocking enforcement of the 2017 law.

Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses based their challenge to the law on a woman’s “absolute right” to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb.

The majority of the court said that in this particular case, Ohio’s “interests in passing the law” were not to protect all unborn life. Instead, it said the state’s purpose was to protect the Down syndrome community from “the stigma it suffers from the practice of Down-syndrome-selective abortions,” to protect women who suspect Down syndrome from coerced abortions and to protect the medical community from unethical doctors.

The 2017 law had been put on hold amid the legal challenge. It was one of several Ohio pro-life laws tied up in court.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

(Photo/iStock)

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