How a ‘network’ of women changed abortion access in Latin America

June 16, 2025
Podcast: 13 minutes, with transcript
By Jade Hindmon,  Andrew Bracken

A new limited podcast series "Embedded: The Network" tells the story of how a community of women and activists worked to make abortion access easier and safer in Latin America.

On Midday Edition Monday, podcast hosts Victoria Estrada and Marta Martínez give us a preview and share why they wanted to tell this particular story.

Continued: https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/how-a-network-of-women-changed-abortion-access-in-latin-america


The Network: Déjà vu

season 24, episode 3
June 12, 2025
43-Minute Listen, with Transcript
by Marta Martínez, Victoria Estrada, Abby Wendle

The network and its method took off in countries where women didn't have a legal option for abortion. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, many Americans have found themselves in that very situation.

We travel to the US to see how the network is responding to exploding demand and mounting abortion restrictions.

Podcast and transcript: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1263508255


The Network: Breaking Bread

season 24, episode 2
June 12, 2025
34-Minute Listen, with Transcript
by Marta Martínez, Victoria Estrada, Abby Wendle

The network had developed a method that had the potential to get women widespread access to safe abortions. But to make that happen, a whisper network wasn't enough.

Hosts Marta and Victoria take us across Latin America to trace how the network entered a new era. Women spoke up and teamed up. They challenged each other and sometimes even broke the law.

Podcast and transcript: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1263508253


New NPR podcast explores a global effort to provide safe access to abortion, outside of a clinic

By Kyle Kellams
June 6, 2025
Podcast: 9:12 minutes

The Network is a new documentary podcast from NPR's Embedded and Futuro Media's Latino USA that explores a global effort to provide access to safe abortions outside of a medical clinic. Hosts Victoria Estrada and Marta Martínez explain how women in Brazil first repurposed an over-the-counter medication to safely end pregnancies. The reporters joined Ozarks at Large host Kyle Kellams for a preview of the series that premiered this week.

Continued: https://www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-at-large/2025-06-06/new-npr-podcast-explores-a-global-effort-to-provide-safe-access-to-abortion-outside-of-a-clinic


The Network: Saint-o-tec

June 5, 2025
By Marta Martínez, Victoria Estrada
Podcast:  41-Minute Listen

In the mid-1980s, an OBGYN in Brazil noticed that far fewer pregnant women at his hospital were dying from abortion complications.

It wasn't a coincidence.

Brazilian women had made a discovery that allowed them to safely have abortions at home, despite the country's abortion restrictions. That discovery eventually spread across the globe.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2026/01/01/1263508251/the-network-saintotec


NPR and Latino USA’s new series ‘The Network’ traces a global movement transforming abortion access

Luke Medina for NPR
May 29, 2025

WASHINGTON – NPR's Embedded and Futuro Media's Latino USA are launching The Network, a limited-run series about the international movement that's allowed millions of women around the world to have safe abortions outside of a clinic — and the pill that's made it possible.

Premiering June 5, The Network tells the story of a loose collection of activists, supporters, and women across the Americas who discovered a method for safe, self-managed abortions and how they spread this knowledge around the world. The series begins in 1980s Brazil, where abortion was, and still is, severely restricted. Hosts Victoria Estrada and Marta Martínez chronicle how women there repurposed an over-the-counter medication to safely end pregnancies. The series follows the impact of this method across the Americas and how this approach is shaping abortion access in the U.S.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/29/g-s1-69421/embedded-npr-latino-usa-the-network-abortion-access