Year: 2022

Dozens of states could soon take steps to ban or restrict abortion. But there are a lot of unanswered questions about how those laws would be enforced if they vary from state to state, Kim Mutcherson tells NPR. That patchwork of laws is the most likely outcome if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade, leaving the U.S. without a federally-protected right to abortion.

That’s the reality in Poland, where abortion is almost entirely illegal. NPR’s Ari Shapiro reports on an underground network of reproductive rights activists who risk prison time to help abortion patients.

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It’s 2022, but the 2020 election is on the ballot in Georgia, where several Trump-backed candidates are running in Republican primary races.

WABE’s Rahul Bali explains how the former President looms over Tuesday’s elections, and WABE’s Sam Gringlas looks at a race between two Democratic incumbents, forced to face off after their districts were redrawn by Republicans.

For more political coverage from member station WABE, listen to Georgia Votes.

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Last year the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves on the site of a former residential school for Indigenous children in British Columbia. The news was shocking, but among Indigenous people of Canada and survivors of the country’s boarding school system, it was not a surprise. For generations there had been stories of children taken away from their parents never to be heard from again. Those who did return told of neglect, abuse, and forced assimilation.

It’s a brutal history that the United States and Canada share.

Shortly after the unmarked graves were found in Canada, US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland called for an investigation into US boarding schools. Her first report, released last week, identified more than 400 institutions operated or supported by the US government. At 53 of these schools, there are marked and unmarked burial sites with the remains of children who died there.

We hear stories from some of the survivors of the boarding schools and speak with Secretary Haaland about the ongoing investigation and a year-long listening tour to bear witness to survivors and facilitate healing.

This episode contains discussions of child abuse that some listeners may find disturbing.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has used possible NATO expansion to justify invading Ukraine. Now, that invasion might expand the alliance. Finland and Sweden, both formerly neutral Russian neighbors, are applying for membership.

NPR’s Steve Inskeep speaks with Finland’s ambassador to the U.S., Mikko Hautala, about the stakes of his country’s bid to join.

NPR’s Emily Feng also talks to historian Mary Elise Sarotte about how we reached this impasse between NATO and Russia.

You can also hear — and see — more on how war games and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are impacting life in Norway from NPR’s Quil Lawrence here.

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A Polish school in Warsaw has taken in Ukrainian refugee students and teachers. The school provides safety and a place of hope as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues.

Poland’s minister of education says the country has absorbed more than 75,000 Ukrainian students into Polish schools.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro visited schools in Poland and spoke to teachers and students about what their life is like right now.

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This week, the FDA announced new steps to ease a nationwide baby formula shortage prompted, in part, by a temporary shutdown of a facility that makes formula back in February.

As millions of families who rely on formula wait for supplies to become more available, many are also looking for answers on the circumstances that gave rise to the shortage.

NPR Chief Economics Correspondent Scott Horsley breaks down the tangle of supply chain issues and federal policies that are playing into the formula crisis.

And Dr. Alison Stuebe of UNC Health — who also shares this resource for those looking for guidance on how to find or offer help with breastmilk supplies during the formula shortage — explains the systemic inequities that hinder the ability of many parents to feed their babies.

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As the U.S. marks one million people dead from COVID-19, scientists suggest that nearly one third of those deaths could have been prevented if more people had chosen to be vaccinated. NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin reports.

And even though the unvaccinated continue to make up a majority of COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations, the number of Americans who say they won’t get a COVID shot hasn’t budged in a year. NPR’s John Burnett spoke to a few of them.

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A man accused of killing 10 people in Buffalo, New York was allegedly motivated by a racist doctrine known as ‘replacement theory.’ It’s just a new name for an old set of racial hatreds, Kathleen Belew told NPR. Belew is an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago and the author of Bring The War Home: The White Power Movement And Paramilitary America.

NPR’s Quil Lawrence reports from Buffalo on the aftermath of the shooting, and NPR’s Adrian Florido takes a closer look at the supermarket where it took place.

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The United States is experiencing an adolescent mental health crisis. Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Surgeon General are stressing the urgent need to address the mental health needs of children and teens.

The pandemic focused attention on this issue as young people dealt with isolation, the uncertainty of lockdown and grief over the death of loved ones. But while the pandemic exacerbated the problem, it has been building for years.

We speak with Judith Warner, a journalist and author, to find out how we got to this point, and what can be done to help kids now. Warner’s most recent piece, “We Have Essentially Turned a Blind Eye to Our Own Children for Decades,” appears in The Washington Post Magazine.

This episode deals with suicide. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741.

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Sasa Woodruff loves food—she’s been accused of having far too many cookbooks. But in 2019, a phone call from an unknown caller changed her relationship to eating.

A genetic counselor called to tell her that she had a rare genetic mutation which could lead to a lethal form of stomach cancer.

The only way to prevent that cancer was to get her stomach surgically removed.

While she’s now grateful for the information that genetic testing gave her, Woodruff’s story raises questions about what kind of information patients should have and how they can use it.

Professor of law and philosophy at Duke University, Nita Farahany and professor of law and biosciences at Stanford University, Hank Greely discuss the implications of growing access to genetic testing and how to weigh health decisions.

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