Good morning. I’m Catesby Holmes, Rewire New Group’s new editorial director, and I co-authored today’s lead story. It is not, I regret to inform you, a good news story (though in a newsletter called Executive Dysfunction, you probably didn’t expect it to be). Hospitals in the United States are no longer obliged to perform emergency abortions to stabilize patients with life-threatening pregnancy complications like ectopic pregnancy or pre-eclampsia.

During Joe Biden’s presidency, the White House advised emergency rooms nationwide that federal law required them to prioritize the life and health of their pregnant patients. That was true even in states that banned abortion following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned federal abortion rights. Federal law trumps state law, wrote then-Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told ER doctors in a 2024 letter.

“No pregnant woman or her family should have to even begin to worry that she could be denied the treatment she needs … in the emergency room,” Becerra wrote.

It may be time to start worrying.

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services revoked Biden’s directive. Today, in places where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, critically ill pregnant patients who show up at the ER may be denied the best treatment to prevent organ loss or severe hemorrhaging: an abortion.

“The Trump administration is willing to let pregnant people die,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a June 3 statement, “and that is exactly what we can expect.”

Trump’s new guidance is already prompting legal action from both pro-abortion and anti-abortion groups. It all hinges on how courts interpret the conflict between state abortion bans and a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), as my colleagues Imani Gandy, Jessica Mason Pieklo, and I write in our updated explainer on EMTALA.

We also have a strong slate of more positive news to highlight below, as well as a moving personal essay about an American having a miscarriage abroad, so do keep reading.

Pro-democracy wins

• California Governor Gavin Newsom is demanding that President Donald Trump recall the National Guard from his state, calling their deployment in response to anti-ICE protests “a serious breach of state sovereignty,” the Los Angeles Times reported. On June 7, Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, where residents have been rallying against ICE raids for several days. The gatherings have generally been peaceful, though some demonstrators have blocked traffic or thrown objects at law enforcement. In response, NPR reported, LA Police have shot tear gas, pepper spray, and even rubber bullets into the crowd; at least one journalist covering the protests was shot in the leg by an officer. This is the first time in six decades a president has deployed the National Guard without a governor’s consent. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sent guardsmen to Alabama to control rising tensions between civil rights protesters and police, according to the New York Times.
• Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, was flown back to the U.S. on June 6 to face criminal charges of allegedly transporting undocumented immigrants within the country, ABC News reported. His March 15 deportation sparked national outrage, and his return follows a months-long court battle. The Trump administration has condemned more than 200 U.S. migrants—most of whom do not have criminal convictions or charges—to indefinite incarceration in CECOT, a Salvadoran mega-prison built as part of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gangs, according to CBS.
• Prisons must provide gender-affirming care like hormone therapy to inmates while litigation plays out in the courts, a federal judge ruled on June 3, contrary to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump early in his second term. Surgical gender-affirming care is not required under the ruling, Reuters reported.
• Several immigration rights groups and defense attorneys filed a lawsuit on June 5 seeking to invalidate an agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador that allows the Trump administration to deport people to an El Salvadoran prison, the New York Times reported.
• In the latest in the battle between the White House and Harvard University, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order last week blocking Trump’s attempt to bar international students from obtaining visas to study at Harvard, POLITICO reported.

Anti-democratic actions

• Trump asked Congress on June 3 to codify $9.4 billion in cuts to federal funding that was previously appropriated to PBS, NPR, and foreign aid. PBS reported that Congress has 45 days to act, and the administration legally must release the money if either the House or Senate ignores or denies the request. Last month, NPR and PBS each sued the administration over its attempt to cut their federal funding.

Reproductive rights

• The attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York filed a petition on June 5 asking the FDA to lift restrictions on mifepristone, one of two drugs typically used in medication abortions. As Rewire News Group explained last month when the Trump administration questioned the safety of the drug, Mifepristone is safer than many over-the-counter medications, including Tylenol.

LGBTQ+ rights

• The Department of Justice on June 2 threatened to sue California public schools if trans athletes continue competing on high school sports teams in the state, the New York Times reported.

Immigration

• Trump has announced an outright travel ban on nationals from 12 countries (Afghanistan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen). The June 4 proclamation also imposes restrictions on several visa programs for people traveling from seven additional countries (Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela), NBC News reported.
• The State Department redirected $250 million that was meant to help overseas refugees resettle in the U.S. to the Department of Homeland Security to fund free “self-deportation” flights. The money will also pay for exit bonuses of $1,000 per person to undocumented immigrants who leave the U.S. of their own volition, per Reuters.
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement has set a single-day detention record: On June 4, ICE arrested more than 2,200 immigrants, NBC News reported.

DOGE

• It’s the feud echoing around the world: President Trump and former DOGE head Elon Musk, who recently departed the federal government, are sparring on main. The two men are trading barbs on their respective social media platforms, X and Truth Social. The fight appears to have spawned from Musk’s ire over Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill, which would get rid of electric vehicle tax credits. Musk publicly called the bill a “disgusting abomination” on X.
• The president reportedly plans to sell his red Model S Tesla and has threatened government contracts and subsidies to Musk’s companies, as NBC News reported.
• Trump does not appear interested in speaking to his former billionaire buddy. “I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem,” Trump told CNN on June 6.

Health and science

• Republicans are eyeing cuts to Medicare and Medicaid to pass Trump’s omnibus spending bill. This could threaten access to prenatal care and childbirth services, and increase maternal mortality rates.

Recommended reading

“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m lucky I miscarried in Thailand,” writes Lola Méndez. The Uruguayan-American author wrote for Rewire News Group about having a miscarriage while living abroad in Thailand and feeling unexpectedly grateful to receive care there instead of at home in the U.S., where abortion bans can catch women who miscarry up in the police dragnet.

Unwind

Sabrina Carpenter is back to bless our summer soundtracks for the second year in a row. The pop star released her latest single “Manchild” on June 5, describing it as “the song embodiment of a loving eye roll … it feels like a never ending road trip in the summer.” Listen here.