Today’s Big Story

Abortions on the Rise

Three years after Roe v. Wade was overturned, more women are ending pregnancies with telehealth prescriptions

It’s been three years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, erasing the national right to abortion and paving the way for more than a dozen states to ban the procedure. But this hasn’t reduced the number of abortions performed in the U.S. In fact, more women are ending pregnancies—including in some states that ban the procedure.

American abortion providers performed 1.14 million abortions in 2024, according to new data released on Monday by #WeCount, a Society of Family Planning project that has tracked abortion provision since 2022. That’s the highest number on record in recent years.

According to the Associated Press, 12 states currently are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy—often before women realize they are pregnant. While the total number of abortions has risen gradually over those three years, the number has dropped to near zero in some states, while abortions using pills obtained through telehealth appointments have become more common in nearly all states.

But Bloomberg says “make no mistake: abortion access under the Trump administration is increasingly fragile.” They point out that abortion providers and funders are competing for dwindling donations. Republicans are trying to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funding. States with bans are introducing disturbing laws intended to criminalize women seeking care. And anti-choice activists are pushing for new restrictions on prescribing and dispensing mifepristone, one of two pills that comprise medication abortion.

While in-person abortion care declined slightly, the majority of abortions still occurred in person. By the end of 2024, 25% of abortions were provided via telehealth, a sizable increase from 5% in the second quarter of 2022. But the study found that about half of the telehealth abortions last year were facilitated by the shield laws (which provide legal protections to clinicians who offer telehealth abortion care to patients in states with restrictions). The number also grew immensely in states without bans.

Iran Nuclear Damage Report

Trump rejects leaked intelligence that says strikes damaged, but did not destroy Iran’s nuclear program

A fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding in the 24 hours following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a truce, as media reported that U.S. intelligence found that the strikes in Iran have set back Tehran’s nuclear program by a few months, but not entirely destroyed it.

The classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency is based on the Pentagon’s early bomb damage assessment of the strikes on nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan using earth-penetrating munitions carried by B-2 bombers and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles. According to the Washington Post, U.S. intelligence reports also indicate that Iran moved multiple batches of its highly enriched uranium out of the nuclear sites before the strikes occurred and that the uranium stockpiles were unaffected, said the person, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on the report’s conclusions, while not denying its existence. “This alleged ‘assessment’ is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community,” Leavitt told CNN. The Trump administration scheduled and then postponed Iran briefings for House members on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Iranian parliament has voted to suspend co-operation with the UN's nuclear watchdog, according to reports in state media.

Will the Heat Peak?

Relief is finally ahead for some as a dangerous heat wave begins to relinquish its grip

That extreme East Coast heat wave reached its dangerous crescendo Tuesday, bringing the hottest day in a decade to some major cities and putting millions of already fatigued Americans at risk. The brutal conditions, spurred by a potent heat dome, peaked Tuesday after building over the weekend in the central U.S. while reaching levels rivaling summer’s hottest weather in the East on Monday. It’s already taken a serious toll.

However, nearly 160 million people remain under heat alerts from eastern Texas to Maine, as temperatures are forecast to be as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit above seasonal averages. According to NBC News, heat index values—a measure of what conditions “feel like” when humidity and air temperatures are combined—are expected to be well into the triple digits throughout the region, with some places possibly reaching as high as 115 degrees.

The Weather Channel reports that the highest level heat alerts are now called “extreme heat” warnings. These alerts indicate that heat illnesses are expected to spike when they are in effect and include Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Teens Aren’t Dating Like Before

What broke teenage romance?

Headlines have been bubbling up recently about young Americans’ lack of interest in dating. Compared to the teens of decades past, today’s adolescents just aren’t into going on traditional dates. The Atlantic said that teens are “forgoing a classic rite of passage.” And that’s one of the less alarmist headlines about Gen Z’s aversion—and even hostility—to sex and romance: They’ve been branded “puriteens” who have regressive attitudes about sex; they’re more interested in their phones than dating; they can’t even stomach sex scenes in the movies.

But is this true? Indeed, rates of sexual activity among teenagers have dropped in the last three decades: In 1991, about 54% of high school students in a government survey said they’d had sex; in 2021, it was 30%. But Vox says Gen Z may be getting unfairly maligned. Teenage romance has actually been on the decline for far longer, decreasing generation by generation for 75 years: According to a 2023 survey from the American Enterprise Institute, 56% of Gen Z adults report that they had a boyfriend or girlfriend as a teenager, compared to 69% of millennials, 76% of Generation X-ers, and 78% of baby boomers.

“This generation is characterized by less in all of these areas: less dating, less sex, less togetherness,” says Lisa A. Phillips, a professor who literally wrote the book on teen relationships. She told Vox there are many possible causes, everything from over-reliance on technology, fears of assault, unrealistic expectations from social media, to a rise in depression and a decrease in leisure time. But what’s certain is that while romantic connection has lessened, yearning for it certainly hasn’t. A Hinge survey of Gen Z daters published in 2024 found that 90% of them hope to find love.

Think You Can’t Learn a Language? Think Again.

Go ahead and ponder.