‘The terrifying global reach of the American anti-abortion movement’
Jodi Enda in The New Republic
U.S. conservatives haven’t just restricted reproductive rights at home, says Jodi Enda. For decades, the United States “has used the power of the purse to force poorer nations to abide by the anti-abortion values of American conservatives” or lose aid for family planning and other health care. This has reduced birth-control availability, resulting in more unwanted pregnancies. It also has increased unsafe “backstreet abortions” that have sent some women “to emergency rooms and others to their graves.”
‘Biden’s budget arithmetic doesn’t add up’
Bloomberg editorial board
President Joe Biden’s budget proposal “isn’t going anywhere,” says the Bloomberg editorial board. But it’s helpful for voters wondering whether he’s serious about charting “a more prudent course.” Biden pitches “some good ideas on new spending and how to pay for it,” and “deserves credit for acknowledging that ever-rising public debt isn’t sustainable.” But he “optimistically” assumes strong economic growth and ignores “looming fiscal crunches” like Social Security’s impending insolvency, so “his numbers don’t add up.”
‘We’re not burdens on society. We’re engines of economic progress.’
Marie Arana in The New York Times
The sight of a migrant crossing the border “is now a Rorschach test,” says Marie Arana. “Some see a brown ‘invasion,'” others “a humanitarian crisis, a political failure.” The thing many can’t see is that Latinos are not rootless “burdens on the society.” Some have ancestors who were here before the Pilgrims. One in four U.S. Marines is Latino. “Even as we fill the classrooms, feed the nation and help keep the economy afloat, too often, we are overlooked.”
‘Giving up on Haiti isn’t a U.S. option’
Mary Anastasia O’Grady in The Wall Street Journal
“The temptation is great for Americans to turn away from Haiti’s perennial, seemingly insurmountable, hunger games,” says Mary Anastasia O’Grady. “But giving up isn’t an option.” Continuing “bedlam” in the Caribbean nation “could threaten U.S. national-security interests” and increase “refugee waves.” The U.S. has limited options. But “step one, already on the drawing board, is to assemble a multilateral security mission of Haitians, Caribbean neighbors and Kenya,” which has agreed to “send some forces” to contain powerful gangs.