Today on Velsche, there are just five women in the entire South Carolina State Senate,

and this week they banded together to block passage of a near total ban on abortion in their state.

I'll talk to two of those senators, both Republicans, about why they did it and where they think

their party should stand on reproductive rights. Plus, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump's role in the January 6th insurrection

has finally secured the testimony of former Vice President Mike Pence.

I'll talk to one of Pence's former top aides.

And the day after I last spoke with Vladimir Karamursa, the Russian opposition figure was arrested for speaking

out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He's now been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

His wife, Yevgenia Karamursa, joins me this morning.

And then today's meeting of the Velshi Ban Book Club features award-winning author Lauren

Groff, whose acclaimed story of marriage and

identity, fates and furies, was ordered removed from public library shelves in one community

in her home state of Florida. She'll talk to me about the book and the band. Velshi starts now.

And good morning to you. It's Saturday, April the 29th. I'm Ali Valshi. Back in 2021, most of the country had not heard of Zoe Zephyr. But as the Montana legislature was in session that year, she was paying close attention to the bills that were being introduced, and she was fervently tweeting about them. Zephyr, a trans woman, was particularly enraged about SB 280, which is a piece of legislation which would have made it difficult for transgender people to update their birth

certificates. She commented, quote, having my birth certificate updated and having it remove my

dead name, meaning

the name a transgender person was given at birth, but no longer goes by, is one of the greatest

joys I've experienced. Moments later, the bill passed the state senate by the slimmest of margins

with a vote of 26 to 24. Zephyr took note and wrote, quote, it would only take one person to have protected my community from discrimination.

If that doesn't make it clear that we need trans representation in government,

I don't know what will.

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