She wanted to be a mother. She was forced to put her son up for adoption.
Maternity homes are resurging in the post-Roe era. These facilities are meant to provide temporary housing and other services to pregnant people in need. But many are rooted in restrictive Christian ideology — and some former residents say they were coerced into placing their babies for adoption. In the new Wondery podcast Liberty Lost, journalist T.J. Raphael investigates this system through the story of one teenager, Abbi Johnson. Raphael joins Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to share what she uncovered and what Johnson’s experience reveals about adoption and reproductive choice in America.
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“There’s no good way to kill somebody”: what the death penalty looks like in America
Public support for the death penalty has been slowly declining in America. But under President Trump, executions have spiked. In her recent piece, “Inside America’s Death Chambers,” Atlantic staff writer Elizabeth Bruenig describes witnessing five executions — including two failed attempts — and what those experiences taught her about justice, mercy, and redemption. Bruenig spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about her reporting and her own experience as the relative of a murder victim.
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How tech is transforming parenthood (for better or worse)
New York Times critic Amanda Hess has spent years writing about the internet, technology, and culture. But when she became pregnant, and then a new parent, she was surprised by how much tech infiltrated — and tried to optimize — every aspect of her life. In her book Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, Hess chronicles that experience. She sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about the promises and pitfalls of parenting technology, and the tools that actually helped her family.
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“We are living in a new Gilded Age”: how the billionaire class came to power
Americans have a long history of obsession with the ultrarich, from Carnegie and Rockefeller to Bezos and Musk. And today, the gap between the rich and the poor is bigger than ever as the billionaire class has ascended to new heights. In his new book, The Haves and Have-Yachts, New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos explores the extravagant lifestyles of the wealthy and their outsize influence on politics. He sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about this unique moment — when billionaires are both resented and envied by the public — and what it means for the rest of us.
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Rebroadcast: “There is a government cover-up around UFOs. It’s just not the one that you think.”
This is an episode from our archives. Since we published this episode, the Wall Street Journal released a report that the Pentagon purposely spread disinformation about UFOs, at times to protect secret military operations.
Have we been visited by extraterrestrial life? And how much does the government really know when it comes to UFOs? Garrett Graff’s latest book, UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There, investigates these questions and more. The national-security reporter recently sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to share his findings.
Apple News In Conversation with Shumita Basu brings you interviews with some of the world’s best journalists and experts about the stories that impact our lives. Join us every week as we go behind the headlines.
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