The Real ‘Only Murders’ Building, and More: The Week in Narrated Articles

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/podcasts/abortion-roe-janes-narrated-articles.html

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This weekend, listen to a collection of narrated articles from around The New York Times, read aloud by the reporters who wrote them.

Written and narrated by Penelope Green

Fans of the Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building,” which returned for its second season this week, know the building at the center of the drama as the Arconia. There, an unlikely trio of residents, played by Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, become amateur sleuths with a podcast.

But the Renaissance-style apartment building, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is actually called the Belnord, and it has been making headlines for more than a century.

Written and narrated by Amanda Hess

In 1969, when abortion was illegal in Illinois, an underground operation arose in Chicago. Officially called the Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s Liberation, it became known as the Jane Collective, because women seeking abortions were told to call a number and “ask for Jane.”

While the Times critic Amanda Hess watched “The Janes,” an HBO documentary about the network, she was struck by the buoyancy of the story. As the Janes evade the church, the Mafia and the police to facilitate around 11,000 clandestine abortions, they emerge from anonymity as the stars of a new genre: the abortion caper.

As Amanda waited for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision last week, she sought out such stories compulsively. She watched the French film “Happening,” which follows a student seeking an illegal abortion in France in 1963, and “Oh God, a Show About Abortion,” the comedian Alison Leiby’s one-woman show about terminating a pregnancy at Planned Parenthood at age 35.

What is the story of an abortion freed from justification?

Written and narrated by Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Reproductive health policies have been largely dictated by men in positions of power, which has created a perception that men are speaking out about abortion — and that men and women have diametrically opposed views on the issue. In reality, public opinion on abortion is more likely to be split along party lines rather than gender.

An estimated one in five men in the United States have had a partner whose pregnancy ended in abortion, according to a recent analysis of data between 2015 and 2017 from the National Survey of Family Growth.

On June 24, the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, and the procedure is already restricted or illegal in more than 20 states. In light of the shifting landscape, The Times asked men who have grappled with abortion in their own lives to share their stories. Hundreds of respondents revealed a range of emotional reactions, including fear and frustration, happiness and hopelessness.

Written and narrated by Michael Corkery

Assaults at stores have been on the rise in America. During the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, stores became tinderboxes in a society frazzled by lockdowns, protests and mask mandates.

According to a New York Times analysis of F.B.I. data, the number of assaults in many retail establishments has been increasing at a faster pace than the national average.

From 2018 to 2020, assaults reported to the F.B.I. by law enforcement agencies rose 42 percent overall; they increased 63 percent in grocery stores and 75 percent in convenience stores.

Many workers say that tension persists even as pandemic stresses recede, and that they need more protections.

Written and narrated by Jennifer Szalai

The upheaval of the last few years has been so relentless that it can be hard to recall just how weird the partnership was: Donald J. Trump and social conservatives, an odd couple for the ages.

As the legal historian Mary Ziegler writes in “Dollars for Life,” the start of the 2016 election cycle had evangelicals extremely worried. Hillary Clinton — whose possible presidency they deemed “catastrophic” — was running on what Ziegler calls “arguably the most pro-choice platform in history.” Could a “foul-mouthed real estate mogul” really turn out to be “the savior they were looking for”?

Sort of, writes Ziegler, who has written several books about the history of abortion in the United States. But her argument in “Dollars for Life” mostly runs the other way — that, over the course of decades, the anti-abortion movement laid the groundwork for a candidate like Trump.

The Times’s narrated articles are made by Tally Abecassis, Parin Behrooz, Anna Diamond, Sarah Diamond, Jack D’Isidoro, Aaron Esposito, Dan Farrell, Elena Hecht, Adrienne Hurst, Elisheba Ittoop, Emma Kehlbeck, Marion Lozano, Tanya Pérez, Krish Seenivasan, Margaret H. Willison, Kate Winslett, John Woo and Tiana Young. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Ryan Wegner, Julia Simon and Desiree Ibekwe.