Three stories about what happens when institutions meant to protect people become the threat.
First, two El Salvadoran journalists who published videos exposing President Bukele's secret gang pacts—then had to flee with carry-on bags when police waited at the airport. Then, a Tampa pastor who spent 17 years being told to "stay and pray" in an abusive marriage, now spending his ministry standing on porches with his Bible raised like Moses so women feel safe enough to leave.
And we're closing with ProPublica's data analysis showing that after Texas banned abortion, sepsis rates for miscarrying women shot up more than 50% as doctors refused to empty uteruses until fetal heartbeats stopped—even as the state's maternal mortality review committee decided to skip examining deaths from the first two years after the ban.
Grab your lunch. Let's go.
This Guardian piece by two El Faro reporters chronicles their forced exile after publishing video interviews with gang members describing eight years of secret pacts with El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele, including $250,000 paid to help get him elected. Within hours of the videos going viral (2 million YouTube views), the government threatened arrest warrants for gang membership, which under Bukele's "state of exception" means secret trials and unlimited detention in prisons where torture is systemic. The reporters left with carry-on bags for what they thought would be a week, even as months passed and a diplomat warned them police were waiting at the airport.
Pastor Michael Neely spent 17 years in an abusive marriage being told by church elders to "stay and pray"—even after being slashed with a kitchen knife, even after lighter fluid was poured on the Christmas tree. When he finally divorced, terrified it would end his ministry dreams, a woman at Bible study asked: What does God say about abuse and divorce? His answer—that "until death do us part" doesn't mean until your spouse kills you—opened the floodgates: 18 women called the next day, 14 had been sitting next to their abuser. For two decades since, he's counseled survivors told by faith leaders that divorce would make God take their blessings away, standing on porches holding his Bible to the sky like Moses parting the Red Sea so women can feel safe enough to load the U-Haul. A Tampa Bay Times profile about weaponized faith and one man's mission to rewrite the theology that keeps people trapped.
ProPublica purchased seven years of Texas hospital discharge data and found that after the state banned abortion in 2021, the rate of sepsis for women losing pregnancies in the second trimester shot up more than 50%. The surge was most pronounced for patients whose fetus still had a heartbeat when they arrived—exactly the scenario where doctors fear prosecution under a law threatening 99 years in prison. Standard medical care is to empty the uterus to prevent infection, but many Texas hospitals now refuse until the fetal heartbeat stops or they can document a life-threatening complication, forcing women to wait as their organs fail. Dozens more pregnant and postpartum women died in Texas hospitals than in pre-pandemic years even as the national maternal mortality rate dropped. The state's maternal mortality review committee has opted not to examine deaths from 2022 and 2023, the first full years after the ban, calling the decision to skip those years a bid for a more "contemporary" view.
From the Archives
2017: Pacific Standard: The Touch of Madness
2011: The New York Times: What Happened to Air France Flight 447?
Podcast Rec
From Serial and The New York Times: The Preventionist
When reporter Dyan Neary attended a Pennsylvania county meeting in 2023, dozens of people blamed a single pediatrician for misdiagnosing their children as abuse victims and destroying their families. At least 27 families are now suing. Neary's investigation uncovered similar complaints spanning three decades and multiple states, revealing how this doctor's career paralleled the rise of child abuse pediatrics—a subspecialty where "better safe than sorry" can mean tearing families apart on unclear evidence. This Atlantic podcast follows one mother's struggle to reunite her family after a doctor's diagnosis separated them, asking: what's the cost when medical certainty collides with ambiguous injuries?
That’s it for this today.
Really hope you enjoyed the selection of stories today. I am always interested in hearing from you. If you have thoughts on how I can make this email even better, do not hesitate to reach out.
Brett
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