No-Touch Abortion
Radiolab
WNYC Studios
4.6 • 43.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2022
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When the Dobbs decision went down, ER doctor Avir Mitra started to prepare for the worst — botched, at-home abortions that would land pregnant people in the emergency room. To prepare himself and his colleagues for the patients they might see, and to think through how best to treat them, Avir asked Laura MacIsaac, one of New York City’s leading gynecologists and abortion experts, to come talk to his ER department. But what Dr. MacIsaac had to say in her lecture wasn’t what Avir expected: she didn’t talk about how we’re going back in time and the horrors of self-harm as a means to an abortion. Instead, she painted a picture of progress — how in the last 40 years, through private practice and clinical trials all around the world, the process and science of providing and having an abortion has changed dramatically, mostly because of two types of pills: misoprostol and mifepristone. On this episode, Avir and Senior Correspondent Molly Webster visit Dr. MacIsaac to hear more, and also learn about a new study that indicates the process of abortion is on the precipice of even further change.
Special thanks to Mariana Prandini Assis and Pam Belluck.
Episode Credits:Reported by Avir Mitra and Molly WebsterProduced by Sarah QariMixing help from Arianne WackFact-checking by Diane KellyEdited by Becca Bressler
Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!
Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.
Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].
Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Wait, you're listening to radio lab from WNYC. |
| 0:18.4 | Hi, I'm Lulu Miller. |
| 0:19.6 | I'm Lath Diffnasser. |
| 0:20.6 | This is radio lab. |
| 0:22.2 | And for the last five or so months in this country, I mean really the last 50 years |
| 0:28.5 | in this country, abortion has been in the news constantly in this one very specific way |
| 0:37.7 | that you are no doubt familiar with. |
| 0:39.4 | Two camps, one wants to restrict abortion access, one wants to open it up and they just |
| 0:44.5 | battle back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. |
| 0:47.8 | But it turns out that all the while there was another story unfolding, a scientific story |
| 0:53.7 | and it's one that a lot of people were not paying attention to us included. |
| 0:59.6 | It totally caught us off guard when we heard it. |
| 1:01.7 | And so that is the story we're going to tell today. |
| 1:03.7 | It comes to us from contributing editor, and ER doctor, a via METRA, alongside. |
| 1:12.0 | Hello. |
| 1:15.0 | Our very own senior correspondent, Molly Webster. |
| 1:18.2 | I don't know. |
| 1:19.2 | I was just going to say, a via you start. |
| 1:21.7 | Okay. |
| 1:22.7 | I'm going to tell you a story. |
| 1:23.7 | Yeah. |
| 1:24.7 | I love it. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.