Abortion Laws in Texas are Disrupting Maternal Care

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2022

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

New abortion bans have made some doctors hesitant to provide care for pregnancy complications. That's led to life-threatening delays, and trapped families in a limbo of grief and helplessness.

Today, senior health editor Carrie Feibel shares the story of one woman in Texas, whose pregnancy became a medical crisis because of the state's abortion laws.

Read Carrie's full reporting: https://n.pr/3zpDXK0

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.7	The repeal of Roe v Wade does far more than ban our restricted portions in many states
0:10.6	in this country.
0:11.6	It's having serious consequences on pregnancy care.
0:14.7	And to talk about that with me today, I'm joined by Carrie Fible, senior health editor
0:18.5	on the science desk.
0:19.5	Hey, Carrie.
0:20.5	Hi, Emily.
0:21.5	So these abortion bans that have gone into effect in some states are so new and often so
0:26.8	ill-defined that doctors and hospitals don't really know how they apply in moments when
0:31.8	a pregnancy goes wrong.
0:33.4	That's right.
0:34.4	And in some states like Texas, this kind of impact has been going on since even before
0:39.2	Roe was overturned because of abortion restrictions they already had.
0:44.2	I was a health reporter in Texas for seven years before I came to NPR.
0:48.2	And there's always been this problem, this entanglement of the abortion laws that are
0:51.6	written by politicians and they'll lived realities of pregnant couples who need medical care.
0:57.2	And the couple that you profiled for this story, Elizabeth and James Weller, they had their
1:01.4	pregnancy seriously impacted by these laws.
1:04.3	Why did you want to tell their story?
1:06.1	Well, I really wanted to hear from a pregnant person who was going through this from beginning
1:10.2	to end.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.