These days, we are truly living in the United States of America. The Supreme Court, in returning the power to regulate abortion access to individual states, has set off a state-by-state confrontation the country hasn’t seen since the Civil War, legal experts told the Washington Post.

At the most fundamental level, states have differing laws on whether they allow abortions to take place. Since the ruling came down Friday morning, abortions are now completely banned or severely restricted in 11 states. And 11 other states have made plans to follow that path, according to NPR.

But even within states that have banned or greatly limited abortions, policies vary, CNBC notes. Texas and Oklahoma, for instance, have laws that empower private individuals to sue people accused of performing or helping out with abortions. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, said yesterday she has no plans to copy that enforcement strategy.

States that have restricted abortion also have differing exemption policies. Arkansas now only allows an abortion to save the life of the mother. It does not have an exception for incest.

That’s just scratching the surface of the complexities. Many of the legal battles to come will likely center around medical abortions (aka the “abortion pill”), which now account for more than 50% of all abortions.

States seeking to limit abortions could move to restrict the inflow of these medications—indeed, Texas, Arkansas, and Arizona are already trying to do this. One tactic would be to label abortion pills as contraband, which would make them illegal to possess. And out-of-state doctors who offer consultations or pills to residents in states where abortion is outlawed could potentially be vulnerable to prosecution.

The Biden administration and pro-choice states are intent on protecting the flow of abortion pills, as well as the medical professionals who provide abortion services to out-of-state patients.

• On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland asserted that states cannot ban the abortion pill mifepristone because it’s been approved by the FDA.
• Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, called for a special state Legislature session this summer to create laws that shield Illinois abortion providers from out-of-state lawsuits.
• Connecticut passed a law that installs protections for abortion providers, such as banning CT authorities from cooperating with out-of-state abortion investigations.

Bottom line: “Over the next few months it’s going to be total chaos,” University of Pittsburgh assistant law professor Greer Donley told the Washington Post.—NF

The G-7 meets. Ties are out and projecting unity is in as leaders from nine major economies arrived in the Bavarian Alps for a three-day summit. Their goal for this year’s meeting is not to succumb to “fatigue,” in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s words, in applying economic pressure to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, over the weekend, Russia sent long-range rockets to Kyiv in a rare strike on Ukraine’s capital.

Biden signed the gun safety law. The first major piece of gun reform legislation in almost 30 years is now law after President Biden slapped his signature on it Saturday. While many Democratic leaders said it doesn’t tighten gun restrictions enough for their liking, they praised the ability of Dems and Republicans to come together just over a month after 21 people were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, TX.

Meta says no abortion talk at work. On Friday, the tech giant reiterated its policy of barring employees from having “social, political, and sensitive conversations” in the company’s internal messaging platforms. It first sent a memo to employees on May 12 after the leaked draft opinion was published, arguing that discussing abortion openly raises the risk of a “hostile work environment.” (Patagonia and Live Nation, on the other hand, said they’d provide bail to employees who are arrested while protesting.)

After last week’s SCOTUS decision overturning Roe v. Wade, privacy experts have raised a number of concerns around period-tracking apps that, by design, collect fertility and menstrual cycle data. They warn that data from these apps could potentially be used by law enforcement in investigating illegal abortions.

Can that happen? Apps sell a smorgasbord of data for marketing purposes pretty unflinchingly. Just last year, the company behind the popular period app Flo settled with the FTC after being caught sharing data from its 43 million active users with Facebook without their knowledge. But even though period-tracking apps contain sensitive health information, HIPAA doesn’t typically protect it like traditional doctor–patient information.

This kind of easily accessible personal health data becomes a lot more dangerous in states that have criminalized abortion and aim to identify and charge people who have abortions.

Looking ahead…birth control apps such as Natural Cycles, the first approved by the FDA, said they’re working on features that anonymize user data in a post-Roe world.—MM

Airlines scramble ahead of July Fourth: With the upcoming weekend expected to be the busiest for airports since the Covid pandemic began, airlines are working to limit the flight delays and cancellations that have clogged their customer services lines so far this summer. Simply nixing flights has become a popular strategy: US airlines have slashed their June–August schedules by 15% compared to their OG plans, according to Airlines for America.

Economy: Several retailers (Nike, Bed Bath & Beyond) will report earnings, and an inflation measure closely watched by the Fed drops on Thursday.

Wimbledon starts, with geopolitical undertones: The fancy-pants tennis tournament kicks off today on the London grass. Serena Williams will return to singles competition after a yearlong absence, but no players from Russia or Belarus (including men’s No. 1 Daniil Medvedev) will be playing—they were barred from competition over the war in Ukraine.

Everything else:

• Ghislaine Maxwell is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow after being convicted of a sex-trafficking scheme with former BF Jeffrey Epstein.
• Canada Day is July 1 (Friday).
• The Tour de France also starts on Friday.

Stat: Tom Cruise + fighter jets + Gen X nostalgia = box-office gold. Top Gun: Maverick, passed $1 billion in global ticket sales at the box office this weekend. It’s Cruise’s first billion-dollar film, and the 50th Hollywood movie in total (not adjusted for inflation) to join the club. The only other film to pass $1 billion in sales during the pandemic was Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Quote: “Shall we play the game again?”

Q is back. The anonymous figure who leads the QAnon conspiracy theory posted on the 8kun message board for the first time in more than a year on Friday. Q had gone silent after former President Trump lost the 2020 election and their predictions of executions of Democrats following military tribunal trials didn’t end up happening.

Read: 18 ways the Supreme Court just changed America. (Politico)

Gold miners in northwest Canada discovered a mummified baby woolly mammoth frozen in the tundra that’s likely more than 30,000 years old. It’s the most complete mummified mammoth uncovered in North America, and only the second found globally.

The mammoth’s name: Nun cho ga, which means “big baby animal” in the Hän language used by Native Americans in the area.

We could see more of these creatures, alive, in the future: Read about the biotech startup that’s raised millions to resurrect woolly mammoths.

Dive back into the week:

• Shallow dive: A stadium that seats 1 million people
• Medium dive: 20 road trip ideas across the US
• Deep dive: Eight secrets to a fulfilled life
• Cannonball: How to make your resume stand out

Time is a flat circle. Sharks are older than trees and other weird facts that will mess with your sense of time.

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Turntable: There are 41 words up for grabs in today’s Turntable. How many can you get? Find out here.

Interstate trivia

Today’s trivia will separate the real geography nerds from everyone who just relies on Google Maps for everything. We’ll give you two US interstate highways, and you have to name the city in which they intersect.

1. 90 and 93
2. 80 and 15
3. 35 and 94
4. 25 and 40
5. 70 and 71

🏙 Calling all innovators! Join us at the first-ever Emerging Tech Brew Summit on September 29 in NYC. Secure your early bird ticket today and save.

‍ Shop the Excel Shortcut Guide mouse pads from Morning Brew Shop and Excel Dictionary.

US higher education is broken, and Guild wants to fix it. Listen to or watch this eye-opening Business Casual episode.