Published on June 22, 2025
A Three Part Documentary
Almost exactly three years ago, women in the United States lost the constitutional right to abortion. On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending nearly half a century of federal protection and leaving abortion policy up to individual states. Since that decision, nearly 40% of states have passed laws either banning or restricting abortion, leaving large swaths of the country without access to this care.
For the last few years, [NPR has] traveled across two continents to report on how women have been using these pills to safely self-manage their abortions - no doctors or clinics required. We share what we found in Embedded's most recent series, "The Network," a joint production with Futuro Media. This three-part documentary podcast traces the surprising history of a pill that millions have taken for abortion and follows a loose movement of activists and ordinary women across the Americas that developed ways to safely end pregnancies despite legal restrictions.