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Hey there, Shana Roth here.

We've got something special for you in the feed today.

You're about to hear an episode of Slate's History podcast One Year in 1995.

It's a fascinating story about a fertility clinic scandal.

It comes from Christina Cotarucci, who you often hear on the waves.

Enjoy.

In the early 1980s,

Renee Ballou and her husband had all the trappings of a perfect California life.

You know, we bought a home and, you know, homes were very inexpensive then, and we both worked and had good jobs. Renee was a sales manager for a carpet mill.

Her husband owned his own business.

They had a son, a happy little boy who loved soccer,

and Renee's mother lived close by, just a mile away.

We'd have dinner together, and we were just a normal family.

But for Renee, something was missing.

I never wanted just to have one child, but I wanted to have at least two children.

And it was from the time I was very young that, you know, I had that in my mind and it was going to happen.

And that's just the way my life was going to be.

We tried at least a couple of years to get pregnant on her own because we had no problem

the first time. But eventually, it became clear that they'd need medical assistance to have

another baby. So Renee started infertility treatments, dozens of trips to the doctor, daily injections, even surgery.

She'd get her hopes up only to be let down every time when the procedures didn't work.

...