The Network is a new limited series from NPR’s Embedded and Futuro Media’s Latina USA.
Luke Medina for NPR
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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.
Estrada and Martínez track down Brazilian women who tested this medication on their own bodies, and Argentinian and Mexican activists who developed a highly publicized system to support women with this method. Eventually, their efforts helped change public perception of abortion and, years later, the laws in several countries. The network and its methods have only recently taken off in the US. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, access to abortion that doesn’t require a clinic has become as relevant in the US as it was in Latin America.
Listen to the trailer here.
“This isn’t the abortion story that most people are expecting,” said Embedded showrunner, Katie Simon. “Marta and Victoria have documented how the rest of the world has been having abortions for the past half century – information that has, for the most part, been overlooked by the U.S. until now, post-Roe. This story traces how women have repeatedly evaded abortion restrictions and found a way to end their pregnancies regardless of the law.”
“For over a year, The Network’s team has interviewed people across the Americas who have done work and research on abortion access. This series brings a deep and nuanced understanding of the challenges and risks women face when they self-manage their abortion with pills, a decision that to them felt personal but which has become part of a political battle,” said Peniley Ramírez, Co-CEO and Executive Director of Futuro Media. “To understand the present and future of abortion access in the US, we need to go back in time and learn about how Latin American women and men—from doctors to activists—initiated a movement that has transformed the perception of abortion and, in some countries, even the law.”
The Network is the latest co-production for Embedded, NPR’s home for audio documentaries. Embedded recently earned two Peabody Award nominations for its limited-run series Tested, produced in partnership with the CBC and Bucket of Eels, and Supermajority, produced in partnership with Nashville Public Radio. Both limited-run series also won 2025 National Headliner Awards, and Tested received the 2025 Ambie for Best Documentary Podcast.
Embedded is available wherever you get your podcasts. Embedded+ subscribers will be able to binge listen to all 3 episodes on May 29. More details available at plus.npr.org/embedded, or on the Embedded channel in Apple Podcasts.
About Victoria Estrada
Victoria Estrada is a producer at the radio show and podcast Latino USA. She has produced long-form audio stories about women’s reproductive rights in Guatemala, undocumented migrants returning to Mexico, and was the lead producer for USA v. Garcia Luna, a podcast series about the infamous former head of security in Mexico. In 2022 she was awarded with the National Journalism Award in Mexico.
About Marta Martínez
Marta Martínez is a senior producer at Latino USA. Her work has appeared on All Things Considered, The Washington Post, CNN, VICE, and Foreign Policy, among other media. She specializes in long-form journalism, covering human rights, inequality, migration, and gender. She has reported on women migrants and reproductive rights in Colombia and Mexico, why straight women are marrying each other in Tanzania and how the pandemic affected Latina domestic workers in the US. She Migrates, an audio documentary she co-produced, was awarded with a One World Media award in 2022.
About Futuro Media
Futuro Media is an independent, non-profit news media organization and podcast studio founded in 2010 by Pulitzer Prize winner Maria Hinojosa. Based in Harlem, NYC, Futuro Media produces the Peabody Award-winning Latino USA, the longest-running public radio Latino news and cultural program, which celebrated 30 years on the air in 2023, Futuro Studios, focused on original podcasts and programming including Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast Suave, and acclaimed podcasts La Brega, Anything for Selena, and The Sum of Us, In The Thick, a podcast about politics, unfiltered, and our IRE and Murrow award-winning Futuro Investigates, our investigative journalism arm that produced the USA v. García Luna podcast, and the After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics documentary. Futuro Media’s 2024 collective audience reach was over 10 million.
About Latino USA
Anchored by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa since 1993, Latino USA is a weekly, nationally syndicated Peabody Award-winning public radio program and podcast distributed by PRX, produced by Futuro Media, airing on 386 public radio stations across the US and Canada and earning over 500,000 weekly listens. Latino USA explores the lived experiences of Latinos and Latinas in the U.S. The show blends investigative journalism, compelling personal narratives, and thought-provoking conversations, centering diverse voices and perspectives. Committed to elevating the voices of Latinos and Latinas through authentic storytelling and groundbreaking journalism, Latino USA continues to inform, engage, and inspire audiences nationwide.
About NPR
NPR’s rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connect with millions of Americans every day — on the air, online, and in person. NPR strives to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures. With a nationwide network of award-winning journalists and 16 international bureaus, NPR and its Member organizations are never far from where a story is unfolding. Listeners can find NPR by tuning in to their local Member stations (npr.org/stations), downloading the NPR App or asking Alexa to “Play NPR.” Additionally, listeners on Alexa will also be able to tune in to NPR’s live coverage. Just tell Alexa to “ask NPR to play special coverage.” The NPR mobile app brings together the best of the NPR Network from around the world and right in your community — live radio, podcasts, the latest local and national news and more — available wherever you are and whenever you want. Get more information at npr.org/about and by following NPR Extra on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.
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