Vox Sentences: Macron’s mea culpa

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The Kansas Supreme Court hands abortion rights activists a victory; French President Emmanuel Macron responds to the Yellow Vest protesters.

A win for abortion rights in Kansas

The Kansas Supreme Court in a 6-1 decision Friday ruled that the right to an abortion is enshrined in the state Constitution –– a significant move during a period where a number of states are trying to roll back reproductive rights. [Hutchinson News / Sherman Smith]
The Court’s decision would block a 2015 law that restricted second-trimester abortions. [NYT / Sabrina Tavernise and Campbell Robertson]
The justices pointed to a line in the state’s Bill of Rights that protects the “right of personal autonomy.” They interpreted this as allowing a woman to make her own decisions regarding her body. [NPR / Dan Margolies and Celia Llopis-Jepsen]
Because this decision is based on a state Constitution, abortion rights in Kansas will be protected even if the Supreme Court were to repeal Roe v. Wade — though abortion rights would still be under threat if Congress were to enact a federal ban. [Washington Post / Emily Wax-Thibodeaux]
10 other states in the Midwest and South have passed laws banning abortions after six weeks — which is often before many women even realize they are pregnant. The goal is to have the conservative-leaning Supreme Court make a ruling that benefits anti-abortion activists. [Vox/ Amanda Sakuma]
The Kansas ruling potentially paves the way for challenges to similar abortion restrictions in other states. [AP / John Hanna]

Macron finally responds to the Yellow Vests

French President Emmanuel Macron finally responded to the so-called Yellow Vest protesters in a televised speech on Thursday. The Yellow Vests have been demonstrating since November against income inequality in France; Macron promised tax cuts, higher pensions, and civil service reform. [BBC]
Macron made some surprising announcements during the speech, including promising to restructure the parliamentary election system to give smaller parties more opportunities to get into power, and to make it easier for citizens to launch national referendums. [Al Jazeera / Jabeen Bhatti and Rebecca Rosman]
The speech was the conclusion of a “great debate,” a two-month listening tour that took Macron to schools and community centers across the country. It was Macron’s way of calming down the protesters and for improving his ratings as a president — though not everyone was impressed by his promises. [Washington Post / James McAuley]
At the televised event, Macron took press questions for nearly two and a half hours, part of an effort to amend the spiky relationship he’s had with the media and boost his approval ratings. He faces a tough battle in the European parliamentary elections scheduled for next month. [Reuters / Michel Rose]

Miscellaneous

The now-ubiquitous open-concept office leaves precious little room for quiet or privacy. Many workers’ savior: wireless earbuds. [Atlantic / Amanda Mull]
You’ve heard of dog cafes and cat cafes. Now get ready for … piglet cafes. [CNN / Lilit Marcus]
Modern cars are all about flashy lights and high-tech gadgets. But these cutting-edge updates are also a threat to drive-in movie theaters. [WSJ / Chris Kornelis]
If Thanos actually wiped out half the world’s population, utter chaos would ensue. Here’s what the aftermath would be. [Smithsonian Magazine / Sadie Witkowski]
UCLA and California State University both had a measles-infected person on campus. Now they’ve quarantined more than 700 people who can’t prove they’ve been vaccinated in an effort to stop the virus from spreading. [BuzzFeed News / Brianna Sacks]

Verbatim

“Let this be a strong message to politicians everywhere who insist on passing unconstitutional and dangerous health care policies: We will never stop fighting to safeguard our patient’s access to health care and our rights to bodily autonomy.” [Planned Parenthood president Dr. Leana Wen’s statement following the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision to protect abortion rights]