Arizona state Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, listens during a special budget briefing at the state Capitol in October 2008. Barto sponsored a new law that prohibits wrongful birth lawsuits. She says the bill "sends the message that all life is worth protecting."
Several states, including Kansas and New Jersey, are debating so-called "wrongful birth" laws that would prevent parents from suing a doctor who fails to warn them about fetal problems.
Abortion rights activists say the laws give doctors the right to withhold information so women don't have abortions.
In Suffern, N.Y., Sharon and Steven Hoffman's son, Jake, was born with Tay-Sachs, a genetic disease that mainly affects Jewish families and is usually fatal by age 4 or 5.
"There's no treatment. There's no cure. There's nothing," Sharon says.
Maryland resident Nicholas McDonald, 24, has briefly abandoned his musical aspirations to enter the workforce and contribute to the family's finances. "I'd like to give my mom $100 every now and then," he says.
Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR
Nicholas visits Natasha at the office where she works as an industrial trainer. After witnessing the family struggle financially, Nicholas is looking for a good-paying job to help contribute.
Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR
Natasha moved her father, Franklin, 81, into the family home after he developed dementia. "The hardest part is the memory loss," says Nicholas of his grandfather's condition.
Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR
Natasha embraces her husband, Curtis, after Sunday worship at The Sanctuary Baptist church. "I love Curtis," Nicholas says. "He keeps a roof over our heads and keeps us laughing."
Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR
Nicholas has briefly abandoned his musical aspirations to enter the workforce and contribute to the family's finances. "I'd like to give my mom $100 every now and then," he says.
Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR
Nicholas McDonald, 24, lives in Capitol Heights, Md., with his mother, Natasha Shamone-Gilmore, stepfather, Curtis Gilmore, and grandfather Franklin Brunson.
Nicholas McDonald grew up tempted by drugs and under pressure to hit the streets. Lacking male role models, the Maryland resident says he always saw his mom as "the apple of my eye."
Natasha Shamone-Gilmore tried to protect her son growing up. Now, 24-year-old Nicholas is doing his best to return the favor.
Participants carry a rainbow flag during a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parade in Mumbai, India.
Credit Christoper Werth for NPR
Anandrag Davinder is an outreach worker in India. He works with Humsafar Trust, a group that provides free HIV tests and other health services to Mumbai's gay community.
It's just after nightfall as Anandrag Davinder, an outreach worker among Mumbai's mostly hidden community of gay men, wanders down a dark alley beside a busy railway station in Mumbai. His stop is a squalid row of urinal buildings where gay men go to meet, hidden from public view. The stench inside is overwhelming.
"This is a loo. This is a cruising center," Davinder says, stepping into the crowded, nearly pitch-black room. "All the gays are standing here only and saying, 'I like these guys. I want to do sex with this person.' "
For a third day in a row, the violence of Syria spilled into the northern city of Tripoli in Lebanon.
The AP reports that the Alawites, who support the regime of Bashar Assad, and the Sunnis, who support the Syrian uprising, traded fire in Lebanon using assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades. Five people were killed and 100 were wounded in Lebanon's second-largest city.
Spring crops like asparagus and sorrel are poking up all over the hemisphere. And in the autonomous region of Northern Spain known as Basque Country, people are taking that spring harvest to a txoko.
The U.S. military is trying to encourage service members and veterans to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. The military is also seeking to remove any sense of stigma for receiving treatment. Here, military personnel attend a presentation on PTSD at Fort Hamilton Army Garrison in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2009.
The military and the Department of Veterans Affairs say they want more veterans and service members to get appropriate treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
That's why they're tweaking the way they define and treat PTSD. But if this approach works, it could add to the backlog of PTSD cases.
For years, the standard definition for post-traumatic stress disorder had a key feature that didn't fit for the military. It said that the standard victim responds to the trauma he or she has experienced with "helplessness and fear."
Every week, as part of a new tech segment, we'll be digging into our digital sandbox for some fun. New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffeeis starting things off with a reviewof Draw Something, a popular app that works a lot like Pictionary: Players pick a word, draw clues and then watch as their opponents guess the answer. But, as Diffee explains, the app's name is a bit misleading.
India's Supreme Court is now weighing arguments by opponents and proponents of legal homosexuality. Same-sex relationships were decriminalized in 2009, but a number of political, social and religious groups are fighting to reinstate a colonial-era law that punished homosexual acts with prison time. Public health workers say legal recognition of India's gay community is critical in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
President Obama's pronouncement last week in favor of same-sex marriage has no legal effect on employers' decisions on whether to offer benefits to workers' domestic partners.
But some advocates say it could reinforce a decade-long trend toward coverage.
President Obama speaks during a campaign fundraiser Monday at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. The event, co-hosted by gay- and lesbian-rights leaders and a Latino nonprofit, featured singer Ricky Martin.
President Obama is attending a campaign fundraiser Monday night co-hosted by gay- and lesbian-rights leaders and a Latino nonprofit. The event is being headlined by singer Ricky Martin.
Obama maintains a commanding lead over likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney when it comes to support among Latino voters. But those same voters are generally regarded as socially conservative, leading some to wonder how the president's support for same-sex marriage might affect the Latino electorate.
This week, All Things Considered is hitting refresh on its All Tech Considered segment — taking you into the changing landscape of technology and how it intersects with everyday life. From Silicon Valley to China, we'll feature stories from around the world, stay on top of innovations that matter — and get you the news you need to know. Every Monday, we'll preview the week's big tech stories.
Garth Knox was born to play the viola. As a youngster, he already had two sisters who played violin and a brother who played cello. "So for the family string quartet," Knox says, "it was very clear from the start which instrument I would play."
Palestinians hold pictures of prisoners and Palestinian flags as they celebrate the end of a prisoners' hunger strike in Israeli jails, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners agreed to end a hunger strike, today. In exchange, Israel agreed to end solitary confinement for the detainees.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia Navarro filed this report for our Newscast unit:
"Some of the hunger strikers have not been eating for more than 70 days, making this the longest hunger strike ever by Palestinians and certainly the largest.
Spanish protesters gathered in Madrid on Saturday as the country's economic problems continued to worsen. The country's banking system is seen as particularly vulnerable.
Credit Alberto Di Lolli / AP
Spanish police officers carry off a demonstrator as he and others are evicted from a square in Madrid on Sunday.
A political crisis in Greece and economic woes in Spain are again raising concern about the future of the eurozone.
In Athens today, Greek politicians tried again and failed to form a coalition government, though talks are ongoing. There is growing fear that Greece will not be able to remain in the currency union and avoid defaulting on its debts.
Quid's algorithm mapping software shows where discussion of higher taxes is taking place. Yellow dots represent articles that focus on taxation, while the teal dots show articles that don't.
Credit Courtesy of Quid
Quid's algorithm mapping software allows users to visualize the proliferation of ideas on the Internet. This representation of articles written about the Occupy Wall Street movement uses colors to group ideas together and lines to show a connection between articles.
My favorite movie, Days of Heaven, is at the top of my recommendations list on Netflix. But I've never actually watched it on Netflix, so how did they know I like it?
"This is me and my grandma, May Lee, who is turning 105 in June. I live with her and my aunt so I can help take care of her. I also have a blog with a friend all about our grandmas!"
Credit Courtesy of Marisa LaSala
"Here's a picture of my awesome mom, my adorable niece and me. Three generations of funny, silly ladies with big hearts. Family is very important and we do our best to help each other out."
The emotional and financial costs of caregiving have been a central theme in Morning Edition's special series called "Family Matters: The Money Squeeze." It profiles three families struggling with the complexities of living in multigenerational households and facing difficult financial decisions: how to afford care for an elderly relative while paying for college and saving for retirement.
As close as the general election is expected to be, virtually everything the presidential candidates do from here until November is about maximizing the turnout of voters in their respective bases without repelling independents or moderates.
Gambling machines are extremely popular in Australia, and there are concerns about the level of gambling addiction. Opinion polls show that many Australians would like to see greater regulation of gambling.
Credit Andrew Taylor / AP
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said last year that poker machine players should set a daily limit on how much they were prepared to lose.
It's a weekday night at the Welcome Stranger pub in downtown Melbourne. Tom Cummings, who used to be a regular here, shows me around the gaming room.
"This machine here, which is called Shaman's Magic, has four different jackpots that you can win. If you'd like to give it a whirl, you can see how you go," says Cummings.
The machines here take Australian $50 bills (Australian dollars are currently worth almost exactly the same as U.S. dollars). You can lose $1,200 in an hour. And a win is not always what it appears to be.