Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy has gone into effect, and some doctors are concerned that women in the state will no longer have access to needed health care. Fertility specialist Dr. Leah Roberts says the anti-abortion laws being enacted by Florida and other red states are being vaguely written by people who don’t understand medical science. Many women don’t even know they are pregnant by six weeks. The ban that went into effect Wednesday affects not just women who want to terminate viable pregnancies because of personal choice, but also nonviable pregnancies for women who want to have babies.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel for meetings with Israeli leaders and has told the country’s ceremonial president that “the time is now” for a cease-fire deal in the war in Gaza. This is Blinken’s seventh visit since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October. He is trying to advance a truce that would free hostages held by Gaza’s Hamas militants in exchange for a halt to the fighting. Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released as part of the deal. Israel’s war against Hamas has flattened huge swaths of Gaza’s north, and famine is imminent for the hundreds of thousands of civilians who remain there.

The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University has ended in dramatic fashion. Police carrying riot shields swarming the Ivy League campus late Tuesday, burst into an administration building protesters took over the previous night and made dozens of arrests. Meanwhile, clashes broke out overnight between dueling groups at the encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles. Some were armed with large sticks and beat others with them. A statement released by a Columbia spokesperson said New York City officers entered the campus after the university requested help. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds to protest the Israel-Hamas war was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall. Protesters seized the hall about 20 hours earlier.