NATION/WORLD
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Transgender law tangles lawsuits
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)
— The dueling lawsuits
over North Carolina’s law
on bathroom use by trans-
gender people have landed
in the hands of three federal
judges appointed by Repub-
lican presidents, with both
sides trying to maneuver
into the most favorable
courtroom possible.
Legal experts expect
some or all of the ive cases
to be combined. But it
remains to be seen whether
they will be decided in the
court picked by the law’s
opponents for its moderate
reputation, or in the more
conservative court chosen
by the measure’s GOP
supporters.
“This is deinitely a stra-
tegic decision by the plain-
tiffs to ile in the district
they like best,” said Tom
Metzloff, a Duke University
law professor and expert on
civil procedure.
Either way, the dispute
could ultimately be headed
for the U.S. Supreme Court
for a ruling once and for
all on whether federal
laws including the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 protect
transgender people from
discrimination.
At issue is a state law
that says transgender
people must use public
bathrooms, showers and
changing rooms that corre-
spond to the sex on their
birth certiicate. Supporters
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a
news conference at the Justice Department in
Washington, Monday.
say the law is needed to
safeguard people’s privacy
and protect women and
children from molesters.
Opponents, including the
Obama administration, say
the danger is imaginary and
the law discriminatory.
With economic pressure
on the state mounting, the
U.S. Justice Department
and
North
Carolina’s
governor sued each other
over the measure Monday.
Lawsuits for and against the
law have also been iled by
the American Civil Liber-
ties Union, leaders of the
Republican-controlled state
Legislature, and a conserva-
tive legal organization.
As for possible clues
to how the judges might
rule, one of them has
already decided in favor of
a transgender plaintiff in a
separate case.
Still, whatever the
judges’ backgrounds, oppo-
nents have a strong hand
because of a recent federal
appeals court ruling in favor
of a transgender teen who
was seeking to use the boys’
bathroom at his Virginia
high school. The ruling by
the 4th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals, which oversees
North Carolina, interpreted
the federal discrimination
law Title IX in a way that
directly affects a key aspect
of the North Carolina case.
“It’s going to be hard for
the judge not to follow the
4th Circuit precedent. And
if he does that, the language
of Title VII — the ‘64 Civil
Rights Act — is basically
the same as the Title IX
language. It prohibits
discrimination on the
basis of sex,” said William
Yeomans, a legal scholar
who spent 26 years at the
Justice Department during
Democratic and Repub-
lican administrations.
The ive cases are split
between two districts —
one in the eastern part of
the state that is considered
more conservative, the
other in the middle section.
Legal scholars agree that
opponents of the law chose
the middle district because
of the more moderate
overall reputation of its
six judges. That strategy
only goes so far, however,
because cases are initially
assigned
at
random,
Metzloff said.
To the east, the case iled
by the governor in defense
of the law wound up
before U.S. District Judge
Terrence Boyle, a former
aide to archconservative
Sen. Jesse Helms who was
denied a seat on the 4th
Circuit by the Democrats
after a 16-year standoff. He
was irst appointed to the
federal bench by President
Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Still, observers say his
conservative
reputation
may be overstated. In
2015, he gave a favorable
ruling to a transgender job
applicant.
It’s dificult to predict
how the North Carolina
judges will unknot the
tangle of cases.
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Clinton on track despite
sound defeat by Sanders
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) —
Bernie Sanders won his 19th
state, only four short of Hillary
Clinton’s tally, but that’s not
the gap that counts.
Despite his decisive victory
in West Virginia on Tuesday,
winning 51 percent of the vote
to her 36 percent, Sanders
trails nearly hopelessly in the
contest for delegates needed to
secure the Democratic presi-
dential nomination.
Clinton is in the mop-up
phase now, 94 percent of the
way to the magic number
when the party insiders known
as superdelegates are included,
and on track to clinch the
nomination in early June.
Republican Donald Trump
is closing in on his prize, too,
92 percent of the way there
after wins in West Virginia and
Nebraska on Tuesday — in a
ield with no rivals left.
Sanders is vowing to ight
on. He campaigned in Oregon
and California on Tuesday and
his victory in West Virginia
highlighted anew Clinton’s
struggles to win over white
men and independents —
weaknesses Trump wants to
exploit in the fall campaign.
“Let me be as clear as I can
be, we are in the campaign
to win the Democratic nomi-
nation,” Sanders said at a
campaign event in Salem. “We
are going to ight for every last
vote.”
Among those voting in
the West Virginia Democratic
primary, about a third said they
would support Trump over
either Clinton or Sanders in
November. An additional 2 in
10 said they wouldn’t vote for
either candidate. But 4 in 10
also said they consider them-
selves to be independents or
Republicans, and not Demo-
crats, according to exit polls.
While Sanders is still
attracting thousands to rallies,
his campaign has grown more
dificult as Clinton closes
in on the nomination. His
fundraising has fallen off and
so, too, has his advertising,
with only about $525,000 in
ads planned for California and
$63,000 each in West Virginia
and Oregon, according to
advertising tracker Kantar
Media’s CMAG.
That’s a signiicant decline
from the wall-to-wall adver-
tising campaign he ran earlier
in the primary, during which
his $74 million in ads outspent
Clinton by $14 million.
Even as the primaries
continue, Clinton has largely
shifted her focus to the general
election.
“I don’t care about what
he says about me,” she said of
Trump in Louisville, Kentucky,
on Tuesday night. “But I do
resent what he says about
other people, other successful
women, women who have
worked hard, women who
have done their part.”
Abortion rate steady in poor nations, plunging in rich nations
By MARIA CHENG
AP Medical Writer
LONDON — The rate of
abortions in the developed
world has dropped to an
all-time low while remaining
steady in poorer regions,
where nearly 90 percent of
the abortions worldwide
occur, researchers say in
a new study published
Wednesday in the journal
Lancet.
In the irst analysis of
global abortion trends since
2008, scientists found that
56 million abortions are
performed globally every
year among women aged
15 to 44, and that about one
in four pregnancies ends in
abortion. Nearly three-quar-
ters of abortions are obtained
by married women.
The researchers used
government
data
and
modeling techniques to
calculate their estimates.
The rate in rich countries
fell to an all-time low
between 1990 and 2014,
from about 46 abortions per
1,000 women in 1990 to 27
abortions per 1,000 women
in 2014.
But in the developing
world, the rate remained
virtually unchanged, at
about 37 abortions per 1,000
BRIEFLY
ATF: Intentional
ire caused fatal
blast at Texas plant
WEST, Texas (AP) — An
intentionally set ire caused
the 2013 explosion at a
Texas fertilizer plant that
killed 15 people, federal
oficials said Wednesday,
saying the ire was “a
criminal act.”
Federal and state
investigators said no arrests
have been made, but that
they are investigating who
was responsible for causing
the ire at the West Fertilizer
Co. facility in the town of
West on April 17, 2013.
The ire caused ammonium
nitrate to ignite, triggering
a massive explosion that
also injured hundreds of
people and left part of the
small town in ruins, and
marked one of Texas’ worst
industrial accidents.
Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives
special agent Robert Elder
said investigators came
to the conclusion after
ruling out other reasonable
causes, but he didn’t release
speciics or a possible
motive. Inspectors have
previously said three
possible scenarios caused the
ire: faulty electrical wiring,
a short circuit in a golf cart
stored at the plant, or arson.
“We have eliminated all
reasonable accidental and
natural causes,” Elder said
during a news conference.
“This was a criminal act.”
The ATF also released
a statement saying the ire
had been ruled “incendiary,”
or intentionally set, after
investigators reviewed
more than 400 interviews,
a ire-scene examination,
witness photos and videos,
and “extensive scientiic
testing” at an ATF ire
research laboratory.
Federal regulators had
previously issued a report
that found inadequate
emergency response
coordination and training
and careless storage of
potentially explosive
materials contributed to the
blast, which left a crater
90 feet wide and 10 feet
deep. The U.S. Chemical
Safety Board adopted
recommendations earlier this
year that federal regulators
set higher standards for safe
handling and storage of
fertilizer-grade ammonium
nitrate.
Among those killed
in the explosion were 12
emergency personnel,
primarily ones with the West
Volunteer Fire Department
who responded to the initial
blaze.
Trump down to 5
or 6 choices for VP
NEW YORK (AP)
— Shifting swiftly to the
general election, Donald
Trump says he’s narrowed
his list of potential running
mates to “ive or six” people
and doesn’t want to accept
taxpayer money to inance a
fall campaign against likely
Democratic nominee Hillary
Clinton.
In a break from recent
major party nominees,
Trump does not plan to
invest heavily in a data-
driven effort to court voters
in the fall campaign.
Despite pressure, the
billionaire said he doesn’t
believe he has an obligation
to release his tax returns
and won’t release them
before November unless an
ongoing audit of his inances
is completed before Election
Day. He said he wouldn’t
overrule his lawyers and
instruct them to release his
returns if the audit hasn’t
concluded by then.
Trump’s comments came
as he begins to prepare for
a long, expensive general
election campaign. His two
remaining Republican rivals
suddenly dropped out of the
race last week, anointing
him the party’s presumptive
presidential nominee faster
than even the conident
candidate expected.
As part of his general
election planning, Trump
“Family planning services do not seem to be keeping
pace with the increasing desire for smaller families.”
— Gilda Sedgh, Guttmacher Institute
women.
“Family planning services
do not seem to be keeping
pace with the increasing
desire for smaller families,”
said Gilda Sedgh of the
Guttmacher Institute, a U.S.
research group that supports
abortion rights and the
paper’s lead author.
The world’s highest
rate of abortions was in
the Caribbean, at about 65
told AP at his ofice in
New York that he’s moving
aggressively to identify a
running mate with deep
political experience. While
he would not provide a full
list of names, he did not rule
out New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie, the former rival
whom he’s already tapped to
head his transition planning.
93 killed in Iraqi
capital’s bloodiest
day this year
BAGHDAD (AP) — In
the deadliest violence in
Baghdad this year, three
car bombs claimed by
the Islamic State group
killed 93 people across the
Iraqi capital Wednesday,
demonstrating the
extremists’ ability to mount
signiicant attacks despite
major battleield losses.
The separate bombings,
which also wounded 165
people, came at a time of
turmoil and deadlock in
Iraq’s government and
parliament. The Interior
Ministry blamed the attacks
on “political bickering” that
is increasingly threatening
the security of the civilian
population.
The largest car bomb
ripped through a crowded
outdoor market selling food,
clothing and household
goods in the predominantly
Shiite neighborhood of Sadr
City during the morning,
killing at least 63 people and
wounding 85.
Streets were stained with
blood, building facades
were heavily damaged and
smoke billowed from stores
gutted by the blast. Dozens
of people walked through
mangled wreckage of cars
and other debris..
The sprawling slum of
Sadr City is home to 2.5
million people — almost
half of Baghdad’s
population of about 6
million.
Two more car bombs
exploded elsewhere in the
afternoon, killing at least 30
and wounding 80.
abortions per 1,000 women.
The lowest rate was in North
America, at 17. The biggest
drop was in Eastern Europe,
where the abortion rate fell
to 42 abortions per 1,000
women from 88.
There was no difference
in the incidence of abortion
in countries where the proce-
dure is legal versus where
it is heavily restricted or
outlawed.
“The obvious interpre-
tation is that criminalizing
abortion does not prevent
it but rather drives women
to seek illegal services or
methods,” wrote Diana
Greene Foster of the Univer-
sity of California in San
Francisco, in an accompa-
nying commentary. She said
the new estimates could help
researchers predict the conse-
quences of policies including
expanding family planning
programs, liberalizing abor-
tion laws and developing
new birth control methods.
Researchers also said
about 225 million women in
the developing world aren’t
able to access birth control.
Women in other studies
have said that was because
they feared the side effects
of contraception methods
or were worried about the
stigma of not being married
when seeking birth control.
The study was paid for
by governments including
Britain, the Netherlands and
Norway, several U.N. agen-
cies and others.
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