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In Texas, a controversial murder charge over abortion · Apple News Today

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  [MUSIC FADES IN]
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  Duarte Geraldino, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, April 11th. I'm Duarte Geraldino.
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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: And I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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  Geraldino: There are new developments in a Texas case where a woman was thrown into jail and charged with murder over a self-induced abortion. This case got a lot national attention over the weekend.
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  Basu: Now the district attorney is dropping the murder charge. The prosecutor says a review of the case determined that the woman's situation was not a criminal matter. He says the Sheriff's Department was right to investigate the incident when it was reported by the hospital, but the "only correct outcome" was to dismiss the indictment.
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  Geraldino: "The Texas Tribune" explains that state law exempts a pregnant person from being charged with murder for an abortion. The "Tribune" speaks to an abortion-rights advocate who says this woman's arrest didn't surprise her. She says it's part of a trend in Texas of criminalizing abortion.
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  Basu: The Texas law banning most abortions does not have criminal penalties. Enforcement is left to private citizens, who can sue abortion providers or anyone who helps someone get an abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy, often before they even know they're pregnant. Advocates warned that this law could force pregnant people to take matters into their own hands, and in this case, it led to several days in jail and national headlines.
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  Geraldino: There are not enough doctors in America to meet our medical needs. By one estimate, we are short 20,000 doctors here in the U.S., and that problem is expected to get much worse.
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  Dr. Keren Landman: It means that there will be fewer places, and fewer people, to care for folks who need the care in especially rural healthcare environments.
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  Basu: Dr. Keren Landman is an epidemiologist and a senior reporter with "Vox." She explains that the doctor shortage isn't just about America's growing, aging population or pandemic burnout. There's also a pipeline problem.
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  Landman: There are not enough residency slots in the United States to fit all of the applicants from U.S. med schools that wanna attend.
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  Geraldino: Those residencies are what transform med school grads into fully-licensed doctors, and this process can take three to nine years of on-the-job training to complete. But last year, there were thousands of graduates who didn't get into residency programs. That means this system will produce fewer fully-trained doctors down the road.
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  Basu: Dr. Landman reports that a key problem is outdated federal rules around funding for residency programs. Medical residencies are mostly paid for by the government, through Medicare and Medicaid, and those funding models haven't been updated for decades. Dr. Landman also points out that domestic residency training requirements make it difficult for doctors from other countries to practice here, even people who have excellent qualifications from abroad.
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  Geraldino: She says fixing this problem is going to require major investment.
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  Landman: We need to double the number of new residents that we're training for three to four years in order to meet the current need for physicians, and then continue to train about 40,000 new residents a year in order to meet the sustained need in the future.
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  Otherwise, she says the medical school grads who could care for you in the future, they won't get the chance.
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  Basu: In international news, we're following big new political developments in two countries, with implications for the U.S.
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  Geraldino: In France, first-round election results are setting up a showdown between current president Emmanuel Macron and the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. American political observers are watching how voters react to her. They're looking for signs about where far-right sentiment may go in America and in other Western countries. Le Pen supported drastic restrictions on immigration and a ban on Muslim women wearing religious headscarves in public.
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  Basu: Macron beat Le Pen by a solid margin five years ago. CNN looks at how there are indications the race may be much tighter this time. Who controls France has major implications for American security, especially while Russia wages war on Ukraine.
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  Geraldino: The other political action is in Pakistan. Its parliament is selecting a new prime minister today. Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote. Days of unrest required the country's Supreme Court to intervene.
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  [START REUTERS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  [PROTESTERS CHANTING]
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  Basu: Crowds have taken to the streets, adding tension to a situation that's far from resolved. The U.S. has long followed political developments in Pakistan closely. It is a nuclear-armed nation. The BBC explains how, in this case, Khan worked to whip up anti-American sentiment. He claimed, without evidence, that his political rivals worked with the U.S. to push him out. Washington has denied this, but many of Khan's supporters believe him.
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  Geraldino: Are you forgetting things a little more these days? Maybe you've forgotten the names of friends or coworkers, or you can't quite remember the number of the bus you take every morning to work. If so, you're not alone. Memory experts say that a lot of us are having more instances of forgetfulness.
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  Basu: "The Wall Street Journal" spoke to experts who say there's probably a lot of factors contributing to this: a pandemic where all the days blur together, stress, and the amount of information that's constantly coming at us. All of this takes up cognitive energy, and a lot of us are just running out of steam.
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  Geraldino: One neuroscientist says it's kind of like when your browser has too many tabs open. All the stress on our brains slows down our processing power, and that can cause our memory to falter.
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  Basu: This article does offer some tips for boosting your memory. First, stop trying to force yourself to remember things. Getting frustrated can make things worse. Just take a break, a breath, maybe even a walk, and try again later.
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  Geraldino: Also, try to stop multitasking. Give your full attention to whatever you're doing, and your mind may not be over-extended. And the more you practice paying attention to the moments in your day, even small tasks, the more your memory can improve.
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  Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
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  Geraldino: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners.
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  Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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