Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Voters in Malawi will elect a new president today. Just like every election season in

the country, it's a dangerous time for people with albinism. There's a widespread belief

that the body parts of albinos bring wealth and luck and perhaps success at the polls.

And young people in America just aren't having as much sex as they once did. Are they still

in the shadow of the financial crisis? Are those pesky smartphones to blame? A preponderance

of porn? Our correspondent considers a curious conservatism.

Let's start up, though.

Today, a federal judge in Mississippi will rule on whether a new abortion law in the state

should be upheld. It almost certainly won't. It's one of several strict anti-abortion laws

being passed across the country that aren't really expected to survive court challenges,

so-called heartbeat bills. They prohibit abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected,

which can be as early as six weeks. At noon, local time across the country today, abortion

rights protesters, aligned with more than 50 organizations, will descend on state houses

and court steps to decry the laws. All this legislation directly challenges Roe vs. Wade.

That national legal standard says that abortion should be protected until the fetus is viable.

But KIV, the governor of Alabama, who signed the strictest of these recent bills into law,

appears ready to challenge it.

You certainly cannot deter your efforts to protect the unborn because of costs. Even if

it means going to state to the US Supreme Court.

So this year alone, there are 12 bills at least going through the state legislatures.

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