Early Birds

The overturning of Roe v. Wade has severely restricted how doctors can access training in abortion care and it's already having a devastating ripple effect on patients seeking all kinds of reproductive care. Two medical residents in abortion-restricted states fight for training and for the future health of their patients. Plus, the centuries-long battle over who gets access to abortion training in the first place. Transcript at kcrw.com/bodies. 

From This is Uncomfortable, we bring you the story of Ashleigh Griffin. She hoped the fertility industry could put her on the road to financial stability. But the decision to donate her eggs had some unexpected costs.

Jess was overjoyed when she got pregnant. But after giving birth, her reality spiraled out of control. She didn't know it, but she had postpartum psychosis, a mental health condition that occurs after about 1 in every 500 births. Read the full transcript here.

Puberty is starting younger and younger, especially estrogen-dominant puberty. We talk to three kids and one teen about extra early puberty and the funny, scary, embarrassing and joyful experiences that come with it. Transcript at kcrw.com/bodies. 

From the Embodied podcast, we bring you "Decided: Child-Free not Childless." Embodied host Anita Rao has interrogated many aspects of parenthood. But how about the decision to become a parent at all? She talks with three women about making their child-free decisions and meets a psychotherapist who's devoted her career to helping people find clarity in that choice.

Angelina Fanous has been living with ALS for nearly a decade. She is almost fully paralyzed and losing her ability to speak. As she prepares for death, she's thinking about the story she'll leave behind. Transcript at kcrw.com/bodies.

No matter how hard producer Hannah Harris Green tried, there were certain areas of life where she found herself to be deficient. Until she realized that a diagnosis could help relieve her shame instead of adding to it. Transcript at kcrw.com/bodies. 

A vending machine ritual, a life-changing massage, a spiffy velvet outfit and a belly full of caterpillars. Four stories of touch. Transcript at kcrw.com/bodies. 

Sneak peek: Bodies, new season 4 is full of medical mysteries and self-discovery. New episodes coming April 19.

Growing up and going through puberty, the only thing many of us learned about the menstrual cycle was the period part. But there's so much more to it. How charting the cycle's fertile signs can be the basis for an effective method of contraception. And, how it saved a woman's pregnancy.