Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
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State lawmakers passed dozens of bills to restrict abortion this session. One trend: making women wait ever longer, up to 72 hours in some states, before having the procedure. -
Sometimes the women aren't allowed to leave their homes. Some commit suicide. Many have little recourse, advocates say, because current laws are ill-equipped to address this hidden crisis. -
This week, we highlight an Internet confessional of a woman who decided to do like men: wear the same outfit to work every day. We also baseball and fancy food at schools.
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Wal-Mart has long been criticized for low pay and erratic work schedules. So when the retailer arrives in a community, it stirs controversy — but it also brings jobs and low prices. -
One in four abortions is induced with medications rather than a surgical procedure. But the process faces a growing number of legal restrictions, including a law in Ohio. -
A growing number of states are giving public money to crisis pregnancy centers. But the centers are unregulated, and abortion rights groups accuse them of coercing women with misinformation.
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In Ohio, abortion restrictions have helped shut down half the state's clinics that perform the procedure, forcing many women to travel farther away, even to neighboring states. -
A number of parents have made news in recent months for letting children walk or play outside on their own. But laws on when kids are allowed to be by themselves are vague. -
Although the Republican-led House decided not to vote to ban abortions after 20 weeks, 10 states already have such measures and more states are considering them. -
If upheld, the law — which mandates stricter building codes for clinics that perform the procedure — could leave only six clinics open in the entire state of Texas.
