logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2022
31m 38s

Special episode: Abortion rights around ...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In June, the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v Wade and ended the constitutional right to abortion in America. In a special episode, we investigate the changing dynamic of abortion rights globally in countries like Colombia, China and Ireland. We'll also be examining the restrictions still faced by women in Africa and places like Malta and El Salvador.

Audio for this episode was updated on 4 July 2022, due to a factual error in an earlier version.

Up next
Today
US hails 'tremendous' progress at Ukraine talks
<p>The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has given an upbeat assessment of talks with Ukrainian officials about how to end the war with Russia. Mr Rubio said sticking points which remained were "not insurmountable". US, Ukrainian and European officials have been meeting in Gene ... Show More
29m 25s
Yesterday
The Global Story: The oil lobbyist who tried to sink the first big climate deal
<p>The American lawyer, oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman is said to have chain-smoked his way through almost every UN climate gathering from the early 1990s until his death in 2005. Some of those who saw Pearlman operate in Kyoto, where the first legally binding i ... Show More
27m 20s
Yesterday
COP30 deal fails to mention fossil fuels
<p>The UN climate summit in Brazil has closed with a commitment to triple adaptation funding for developing countries, but there was no explicit mention of the fossil fuels that drive climate change. A bitter row at COP30 saw oil-rich nations led by Saudi Arabia overcome more tha ... Show More
32m 27s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2022
Coming soon … Abortion: The Body Politic
Forty-nine years ago, the landmark Roe v Wade decision guaranteed women the right to a safe, legal abortion. This June, the Supreme Court is expected to gut that historic ruling, triggering restrictive abortion laws in at least 23 states. While the United States is on the precipi ... Show More
3m 1s
Jul 2022
What impact could Roe v Wade abortion ruling have on Africa?
In June 2022, the US Supreme court overturned “Roe v Wade”, a landmark case which legalised abortion in 1973. It came after a young woman challenged the criminal abortion laws in Texas. Her case was heard on appeal in the US Supreme Court. The court ruled that a woman's right to ... Show More
16m 43s
Jun 2024
Global Abortion Access After Roe
In the past thirty years, sixty countries have expanded access to abortion care as an underpinning of maternal health. The 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade made the United States the fourth country ever to decrease access to abortion—and the world took not ... Show More
24m 55s
Apr 2023
Abortion Goes to the Supreme Court (Again)
<p>In overturning Roe v. Wade last year, the Supreme Court’s message was that it was done with the issue of abortion. Now, dueling rulings on abortion pills will send the issue back to the highest court in the country.</p><p>Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times ... Show More
25m 6s
Dec 2021
The Future of America’s Abortion Fight
<p>Anti-abortion activists across the country are optimistic that they might be on the cusp of achieving a long-held goal of the movement: overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that extended federal protections for abortion.</p><p>But many abortion rights activ ... Show More
23m 19s
May 2022
The Mexican Model of Abortion Rights
<p>When the Supreme Court decriminalized abortion with Roe v. Wade, it established the United States as a global leader on abortion rights, decades ahead of many other countries. </p><p>Now, with Roe likely to be overturned, we look to Mexico, a country where the playbook for sec ... Show More
40m 31s
Aug 2022
Pregnant at 16
<p><i>This episode contains strong language and descriptions of an abortion.</i></p><p>With the end of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has become one of the most difficult places in the United States to get an abortion. The barriers are expected to disproportionately affect Black women, t ... Show More
53m 30s
Jul 2022
An Abortion Rights Champion of the 1970s on Life Before and After Roe
<p>A little over 50 years ago, Nancy Stearns, a young lawyer, was presenting a case in New York with a bold legal assertion: that the right to abortion was fundamental to equal rights for women.</p><p>She never got to conclude her argument — first New York changed the law, then c ... Show More
36m 6s