5.26.26 Negotiating with Iran, Cuba’s breaking point, legal protection for embryos, and declining bird populations

Summary

The World and Everything in It

Episode: May 26, 2026 – Negotiating with Iran, Cuba’s breaking point, legal protection for embryos, and declining bird populations
Podcast by WORLD Radio

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into pressing global and national issues: the complexity of negotiations with Iran, Cuba’s ongoing crisis and U.S. pressure, the legal and ethical debate over in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos, and the alarming decline in North American bird populations. The episode concludes with a reflection on Memorial Day and the spirit of endurance in American history.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Iran Negotiations: Temporary Solutions or Turning Point?

Segment start: [06:39]

• Current State of Talks:

  • Recent U.S. strikes on Iranian missile sites and boats; both sides maintain some restraint to preserve the April ceasefire.
  • Framework for reopening the Strait of Hormuz is nearly agreed upon, but major issues like Iran’s nuclear program postponed to future negotiations.

• Expert Analysis (Clifford May, Foundation for Defense of Democracies):

  • Nature of the Deal:
    “What we're negotiating here is a possible cessation of hostilities temporarily... if there is an agreement, it could also disappear an hour afterwards.” ([07:40])
  • Regime’s Strategy:
    • Iran’s rulers see themselves as ideological “jihadis”—not seeking lasting peace but temporary relief, notably financial.
    • They view hardship as a tool; “If our people starve, that's fine with us. We'll just blame the US for that.” ([08:39])
  • Interests at Stake:
    • Both U.S. and Iran want to buy time; the Strait of Hormuz closure pressures both economies.
    • Iran’s leverage: strategic stranglehold on oil shipping; U.S. wishes to reopen the strait, Iran wants access to oil revenues.

• Negotiation Dynamics:

  • The immediate focus: reopening shipping lanes, halting direct conflict—not profound shifts in nuclear policy.
    “The basics is, okay, the regime will let ships sail through the Strait of Hormuz, and the US will stop the blockade of Iranian ports... and then everything else to be negotiated later.” ([10:29])

• Historical Context:

  • Iran often loses on the battlefield but avoids defeats at the negotiating table by dragging out talks and leveraging concessions.

• Looking Forward:

  • Clifford May invokes the Israeli expression “mowing the lawn”—addressing threats as maintenance, not resolution:
    “Put the lawnmower away in the garage, make sure it's got gas because you're gonna need it again… It won't be a turning point.” ([11:45])

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2. Cuba’s Breaking Point: Economic Crisis & U.S. Pressure

Segment start: [13:03]

• Situation Overview:

  • U.S. escalates pressure, indicts former leader Raul Castro, and sends an aircraft carrier to the Caribbean.
  • Widespread shortages, blackouts, and hardship afflict Cuba; private sector and independent institutions suppressed, with only the Catholic Church operating with some autonomy.

• Expert Analysis (Charles Shapiro, fmr. U.S. Ambassador):

  • “Cuba has had terrible governments. Since 1959, the Communist Party... outlawed the entire private sector... Only the Catholic Church is an independent institution.” ([13:44])
  • On rebuilding Cuba: “They need help building democratic institutions in a country where there are none.” ([13:44])

• Humanitarian Incident:

  • Brothers to the Rescue humanitarian flights shot down—still a raw point in U.S.-Cuba relations.
    • Shapiro: “They would fly out, identify, you know, there's people in the water... And pass the information to the United States Coast Guard so the Coast Guard could rescue them.” ([15:34])

• Current Mood among Cubans and Exiles:

  • Severe shortages and blackouts—a few hours of electricity a day.
  • “You’ve got to get up at one in the morning to charge your phone, charge your computer, and cook rice and beans for the day...” ([17:24])

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3. Legal Protections for Embryos and the IVF Debate

Segment start: [19:02]

• The Lawsuit:

  • Utah-based lawsuit challenges current IVF practices, arguing that embryos deserve stronger legal protection.
  • Plaintiffs (supported by Voice for the Voiceless) allege clinics don’t fully inform patients how many embryos are discarded or die.

• Key Arguments:

  • “I don't think that there is an understanding of a lot of the parents exactly how many they are discarding.” (Frank Miler, plaintiffs’ attorney, [20:31])
  • Only ~25% of embryos from a typical cycle are viable for implantation.
  • Traditional IVF often involves discarding or freezing surplus embryos.

• Ethical Alternatives:

  • Advocacy for “ethical IVF”—fertilize only as many eggs as will be immediately implanted.
  • “Very few, if any, labs are really choosing ethics over expediency and cost savings.” ([21:20])

• Patient Experiences:

  • Ashley Jensen: turned to “natural procreative technology” (NaPro), which diagnosed and treated her endometriosis, leading to pregnancy.
    • “Infertility is not a diagnosis, it's a symptom... I had really bad endo... then I got pregnant four months later after my surgery.” ([22:38])

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4. Declining Bird Populations and the Rise of Birding

Segment start: [25:56]

• Overview:

  • Birding is one of America’s fastest-growing hobbies, yet North American bird populations have plummeted (3 billion fewer since the 1970s).

• On the Ground:

  • Chris Kubiak (Audubon Society): “I'm better with bird language than human language...” ([26:55])
  • Birding by ear—appreciating nature even amid the decline.

• Conservation Insights:

  • Brandt Ryder (Bird Conservancy of the Rockies):
    “Bird conservation is at a bit of a crossroads... are the things that we're doing, are they working or do we need to do something different?” ([28:23], [28:31])
  • Major threats: habitat loss, pesticides, cat predation (up to 4 billion birds per year).

• New Approaches:

  • Surge in backyard education; encouraging native plantings.
  • Citizen science—apps like eBird help track population trends.

• Resilience & Adaptation:

  • Some species, like the Baltimore Oriole, have adapted to survive despite environmental changes.
  • Kubiak: “Humans need to remember that we are a part of nature... there's all sorts of great ways to connect to nature through birds.” ([30:34])

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5. Memorial Day Reflections: What Are Americans Willing to Endure?

Segment start: [31:31]

• Cal Thomas Commentary:

  • Reminds listeners that previous generations endured real sacrifice for a higher good.
  • “Neighbors helped neighbors. People accepted inconvenience because they believed something larger was at stake... Even those inconveniences were tiny compared to what others were being asked to give.” ([32:15])

• Contemporary Parallels:

  • Americans today sometimes measure crises by how inconvenient they are (e.g., gas prices), not by principle.
  • “Can we endure temporary inconvenience if the alternative is allowing a regime that sponsors terrorism to gain nuclear weapons? Previous generations endured far more.” ([33:56])

• Enduring Lesson:

  • “They (the Greatest Generation) became great because they believed some things mattered more than comfort.” ([33:56])
  • Challenge for America’s 250th birthday: rediscover that sense of endurance and shared sacrifice.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Iran Negotiations:

  • “These people are self-proclaimed jihadis... If we get killed and if this means our people get killed... that's fine with us.” — Clifford May ([08:39])
  • “They never win on the battlefield, but they almost never lose at the negotiating table.” — Clifford May ([11:13])

• On Cuba:

  • “The only independent institution in Cuba is the Catholic Church.” — Charles Shapiro ([13:44])
  • “Two hours a day of electricity in Havana... if your electricity comes on at one in the morning, you've got to get up... to cook rice and beans for the day.” — Charles Shapiro ([17:24])

• On IVF Ethics:

  • “Very few, if any, labs are really choosing ethics over expediency and cost savings.” — Frank Miler ([21:20])
  • “Infertility is not a diagnosis, it's a symptom.” — Ashley Jensen ([22:38])

• On Birding & Conservation:

  • “Bird conservation is at a bit of a crossroads.” — Brandt Ryder ([28:23])
  • “Humans need to remember that we are a part of nature...” — Chris Kubiak ([30:34])

• On Endurance and Sacrifice:

  • “The Greatest Generation... became great because they believed some things mattered more than comfort.” — Cal Thomas ([33:56])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [06:39] - Iran negotiations deep dive with Clifford May
• [13:03] - Cuba’s crisis and U.S. policy interview with Charles Shapiro
• [19:02] - IVF lawsuit and the debate over embryo protection
• [25:56] - Bird population decline and evolving conservation
• [31:31] - Memorial Day reflections on sacrifice and American endurance

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Tone & Style

The episode balances measured, objective reporting with personal anecdotes and reflective commentary. Interviews are insightful, often somber given the gravity of the topics, yet interspersed with moments of hope—particularly in the stories of personal resilience (as in the IVF segment) and environmental adaptation (in bird conservation).

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For listeners seeking a wide-ranging update on global affairs, social debates, and cultural reflection, this episode weaves together policy analysis, expert opinion, and deeply human stories to provide context not typically found in daily headlines.

Transcript

[Mary Reichert]

Good morning. Today, dealmaking with Iran, a country that cannot win a battle but rarely loses a negotiation.

[Nick Iger]

I'll talk with the president of the foundation for Defense of Democracies in a few minutes. Also today, how close is Cuba to the breaking point? We'll talk with a former U.S. diplomat and a legal challenge that could reshape how IVF clinics handle human embryos later. Birding is booming even as birds themselves are disappearing.

[Harrison Waters]

Bird conservation is at a bit of a crossroads.

[Nick Iger]

And world commentator Cal Thomas on what Americans are willing to endure today.

[Mary Reichert]

It's Tuesday, May 26th. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Mary Reinkert.

[Nick Iger]

And I'm Nick Iger. Good morning.

[Mary Reichert]

Time now for the news with Kent Covington.

[Kent Covington]

The US Military hit targets in southern Iran Monday. American forces hit missile launch sites and two Iranian boats spotted placing mines off the coast. U.S. central Command says the strikes were self defense. The Iranian boats had moved in on US Ships and a surface to air missile site nearby had locked onto two American warplanes. Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said the US Is still using restraint to keep the April cease fire in place hours before the strikes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio provided this update on peace talks.

[Clifford May]

We have what I think is a

[Kent Covington]

pretty solid thing on the table in

[Clifford May]

terms of their ability to open up

[Lauren Canterbury]

the straits, get the straits open, enter

[Clifford May]

into a very real significant time limited negotiation on the nuclear matters and hopefully

[Lauren Canterbury]

we can pull it off. It has a lot of support in the Gulf.

[Kent Covington]

There's a lot of support globally. Iran's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the two sides have settled large portions of the framework, but warned that an agreement still is not not close. President Trump on social media said negotiations are still proceeding nicely. The president is also pushing to expand the Abraham Accords. He's calling on Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan to normalize relations with Israel as part of any final deal. The Abraham Accords brought together Israel and four Arab and African nations during Trump's first term. Pakistan has already rejected the idea, pointing to its long standing position on Palestinian statehood. In Washington, Republican lawmakers are butting heads over a funding bill President Trump is calling on Congress to pass. World's Harrison Waters has more senators left

[Harrison Waters]

town last week for the holiday weekend without passing a funding bill for immigration enforcement agencies. And House Republicans aren't happy about it. Florida Congressman Byron Donalds we were more

[Nick Iger]

than prepared and ready to do so.

[Kent Covington]

And then senators, for whatever reason, they got distracted.

[Clifford May]

Doesn't make any sense to me.

[Harrison Waters]

A handful of Republican senators balked at passing the reconciliation bill. After the Justice Department announced a nearly $2 billion fund to compensate victims of alleged Biden era political targeting. Majority Leader John Thune decided to reschedule a vote to next week. Some House Republicans object to the idea of the government potentially compensating January 6th rioters, but many more are concerned about missing President Trump's request to sign ICE funding into law by June 1st. Once the Senate approves the budget bill, the House can vote to send it to the president's desk. Reporting for World I'm Harrison Waters.

[Kent Covington]

Officials in Southern California say the threat of a chemical tank exploding is over. The tank at an aerospace plant in Garden Grove near LA started overheating on Thursday, forcing some 50,000 people from their homes. The tank contains methylmethacrylate, a chemical used to make aircraft plastics. It is flammable and toxic if inhaled. Crews verified overnight that the chemical had cooled. Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey Our members went into that exclusion

[Cal Thomas]

zone again to validate what we were seeing and get those temperatures.

[Harrison Waters]

The crack is there. We have verified that it's there and the tank has released its pressure.

[Kent Covington]

But officials are not giving the all clear just yet. The tank has not leaked, but interim Orange County Fire Chief TJ McGovern says the public is still at risk.

[Chris Kubiak]

We want to be clear that the

[Kent Covington]

evacuation zones are still in play.

[Clifford May]

Please abide by those evacuation zones.

[Kent Covington]

There's no timeline yet for when residents can return. Health care workers in eastern Congo are at high risk, facing two very real dangers amid a rare Ebola outbreak. World's Kristin Flavin has that story.

[Lauren Canterbury]

The gravest threat is, of course, the virus itself. The disease has now killed more than 220 people, with suspected cases nearing a thousand. And some healthcare workers themselves have been infected. At least one Congolese doctor has died in neighboring Uganda. Three more health workers have tested positive and there is no vaccine for the particular strain that is spreading. But the other threat to healthcare workers is the people they're trying to help. In the city of Bunya, at the heart of the outbreak, residents are pelting aid workers with stones calling Ebola a hoax. And locals have torched at least two treatment centers in the past week alone. For World I'm Kristin Flavin.

[Kent Covington]

Rescue workers in the Philippines are racing to find 17 people still trapped under the rubble of a collapsed hotel. The unfinished nine story building came down before dawn Sunday in Angeles city north of Manila after a fierce thunderstorm. At least four people are confirmed dead Most of the missing are construction workers who are sleeping on the ground floor. Three were pulled out alive on Monday. Officials are still hoping to find more survivors, but rescue teams are moving very carefully through huge concrete slabs held up by twisted scaffolding. I'm Kent Covington. And coming up, deal making with Iran. And later, commentator Cal Thomas on what Americans are willing to endure today. This is the war World and everything in It.

[Mary Reichert]

It's Tuesday, the 26th of May. So glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything In It. Good morning, Mary. I'm Mary Reichert.

[Nick Iger]

And I'm Nick Eicher. First up, the Iran negotiations. Headlines over the holiday weekend suggested movement toward a possible agreement. Iranian negotiators in Qatar, oil prices reacting, and President Trump saying a deal could be great and meaningful. But the details seem fuzzy and some of the toughest issues appear to be pushed into later talks. Joining us now is Clifford May. He's founder and president of the foundation for Defense of Democracies. He's also a former journalist and foreign correspondent who has reported from Iran and across the Middle East. Cliff, good morning to you.

[Clifford May]

Nick, good to be with you.

[Nick Iger]

Well, when you strip away all the diplomatic nuance we've heard over the holiday weekend, what we heard in media reports, what do you think that we're actually looking at here? Is this beginning to resemble a genuine peace agreement or maybe more of a temporary off ramp? What do you you think about that?

[Cal Thomas]

I would say, Nick, neither of the above. I think it's very important to understand who we're dealing with here. These people are self proclaimed jihadis. They don't believe in peace with infidels. They may think, they may be convinced that a ceasefire is in their interest. They may want money because they don't have much right now. If they can get some money and make some concessions, they may be willing to do that. It's not entirely clear. Let me be honest with you. The off ramp is, I can't stand the phrase, there's no such thing as an off ramp from wars. Again, what we're negotiating here is a possible cessation of hostilities temporarily that might be in the interest of both parties. And if there is an agreement, it could also disappear an hour afterwards.

[Nick Iger]

I think I can stipulate to the idea of no off ramp. And as you were suggesting, I'd like to delve into this a bit. Who's buying time, do you think? Is this Washington or is this Tehran?

[Cal Thomas]

Well, both have an interest in it and it's a Matter of who is tougher on this. Why? Because, as you know, the Strait of Hormuz is not open for traffic, and that's having real impact on the global economy. Meanwhile, as I mentioned, the regime in Iran has been cut off from revenue. At a certain point, that becomes very difficult for the regime in that they can't pay salaries to, for example, the pilots of the fast boats that go out on essentially suicide missions during, when you're done with ceasefire, fire into the Strait of Hormuz to either drop mines or board ships or do other things. They need to be able to pay them. But what you have to understand here is that these are people who say the way we win wars is by we have to be willing to accept bloodshed, conflict, pain, possibly martyrdom. We should celebrate. If we get killed and if this means our people get killed, and any number, that's fine with us. If our people starve, that's fine with us. We'll just blame the US for that. So that's what's going on. The regime in Iran, who's ever ruling it, we can talk about that, too. They're saying, we can hold out. We're tougher than Trump is. He'll blink before we do. And Trump's thinking, okay, I'm not gonna blink so easily, but let's see if I can't work out a deal that helps me, even though I have to help them, but not too much.

[Nick Iger]

I don't wanna read too much into this, and this is why I wanna ask the question this way. Do you read much into the fact that the reporting that we're getting is that the first thing we're talking about is ending the fighting or keeping the fighting in that stopped mode and reopening the shipping routes, but not yet fully addressing the nuclear program of Iran. Is there some significance to that?

[Cal Thomas]

Well, the significance is that the regime doesn't want to address that at all. What they think is, okay, we got you over a barrel with a Strait of Hormuz. That's our trump card. We're going to play it. The basics is, okay, the regime will let ships sail through the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Will stop the blockade of Iranian ports. And so it's Hormuz for Hormuz, and then everything else to be negotiated later. In addition, they'll make more money if the strait is open and no longer blockaded. So they can do all the things they do, build missiles, build drones, build and rebuild enrichment facilities under mountains, support terrorist proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen, Shia militias in Iraq. All of that and more long negotiations benefits them as they see it because they just drag it out and wear you down. They never win on the battlefield, but they almost never lose at the negotiating table.

[Nick Iger]

If we look back six months from right at this point, when we look back here, what will tell us whether this was a genuine turning point or simply an intermission before a lot more hostilities?

[Cal Thomas]

Yeah. If this doesn't work out the way we would really like, it still can be seen as what the Israelis have long called mowing the lawn. Right. Mowing the lawn means you set your enemies to be back. But, you know, put the lawnmower away in the garage, make sure it's got gas because you're gonna need it again. That may be what this ends up as. It won't be useless by any means, but it won't be a turning point by any means if the regime is still in power and still has, as it will, what it calls its Islamic revolutionary ambitions. And that's the goal of the jihad. That's what the regime is all about. Very hard for a revolutionary regime like that to say, you know what, we changed our mind. What we want is to give our people the best darn healthcare plan in the Middle east and they should be able to retire at 65 with security. That's not what this regime is about.

[Nick Iger]

Clifford May is founder and president of the foundation for Defense of Democracies. We appreciate your work over there and thanks for making time for us.

[Cal Thomas]

My pleasure.

[Nick Iger]

Coming up next, pressuring Havana. Cuba's economy has been sliding for months. More blackouts, more shortages, more strain.

[Mary Reichert]

Now the US is turning up the pressure, moving an aircraft carrier strike group into the Caribbean and bringing new charges against Raul Castro. The 94 year old former president. World's Lindsay Mast, has more.

[Charles Shapiro]

I reached out to Charles Shapiro. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela. During his more than three decades at the State Department, he also served as the coordinator for Cuban Affairs. I noted the similarities between the Cuba indictment and military buildup and the days preceding the extraction of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. One key difference is that Raul Castro is not the current leader of Cuba, at least not officially. I asked Ambassador Shapiro what other differences he sees.

[Clifford May]

I mean, both of them had bad governments, but Cuba has had terrible governments. Since 1959, the Communist Party of Cuba and the Cuban government outlawed the entire private sector. The only independent institution in Cuba is the Catholic Church. There's a growing number of Protestant, mainly fundamentalist churches, but they are not organized and they're not recognized by the government. They're not building churches and opening schools and doing the sorts of things that you see churches, Protestant churches do around the world. You've heard the president when he's running, you know that we don't want to do nation building. And Cuba, if there's a change, will need nation building. They've got to reconstitute the court system, They've got to reconstitute the education system. They've got to find a way for churches to build church buildings. They've got to change the law. They've got to recreate the entire structure for having elections. They need all the sorts of stuff which the Trump administration says it doesn't want to do anywhere. They need help building democratic institutions in a country where there are none.

[Charles Shapiro]

Ambassador, let's talk about the incident detailed in the indictment. It describes the work of Brothers to the Rescue, a humanitarian organization which flew over the waters between Cuba and the US on missions to rescue Cuban migrants. They also spread pro democracy flyers and then two planes were shot down over international waters, killing four Americans. Now, you took over as director for Cuban affairs two years later and you told me it was still being talked about at that time.

[Clifford May]

Oh, absolutely. Look, I mean, your description, Brothers Rescue is pretty accurate. There's huge migration by sea from Cuba to the United States in the late 80s and early 90s, mostly in boats that were homemade, boats that were not seaworthy, that people, you know, lashing together inner tubes and putting, you know, something on top of the inner tubes and trying to cross 90 miles. And it is not easy. And lots of them lost their lives. So this group called Brothers to the Rescue, Hermano Sal Rescate, had Cessnas. They would fly out, identify, you know, there's people in the water. There's a boat here, there's people in the water there. And pass the information to the United States Coast Guard so the Coast Guard could rescue them. And we were issuing 50,000 visas a year to Cubans to come to the United States. The idea was to prevent people from trying to take that unsafe passage. So then there were fewer and fewer boats. And so they then moved to a more political mission and would drop pamphlets international airspace so that the wind would blow the pamphlets into Havana. And I have to tell you, that irritated the Cubans unbelievably. I mean, we, the United States, the faa, had actually warned them, you know,

[Pete Hegseth]

this is really dangerous.

[Clifford May]

And they said, you know, that's our freedom as Americans to do this. And so two of the three planes were Shot down over international waters.

[Charles Shapiro]

What do you hear from people you know in Cuba, people you know in Miami? What is their mentality at this point towards these incremental moves? It seems towards potentially some sort of change in Cuba.

[Clifford May]

Okay, listen, first of all, Cuban Americans want to see a change in Cuba, right? I mean, they, for, for them, the country's disaster, they've left. I mean, if you go to Miami, there's people who just arrived two years ago, you know, who are driving Ubers in Miami. I mean, people aren't happy. I mean, they're going hungry. Two hours a day of electricity in Havana, two hours a day with planned blackouts. So it means if your electricity at your apartment comes on at one in the morning, you've got to get up at one in the morning to charge your phone, charge your computer, and cook rice and beans for the day, right? Because you got to do it while the electricity is on. You know, government officials, they're living, okay, but it's ordinary people who are really paying the price.

[Charles Shapiro]

Ambassador Charles Shapiro, as always, thank you for your time.

[Clifford May]

It's always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

[Kent Covington]

Additional support comes from St. Dunstan's, inviting young men into the building arts and the adventure of holiness on a Blue Ridge Mountain Farm. St. Dunstansacademy.org From Water's Edge, today's investment, tomorrow's thriving churches, 3.25% APY on demand watersedge.com invest and from Pensacola Theological Seminary, preparing students to preach God's word. Go.pcci edustartseminary up next, taking on the

[Mary Reichert]

in vitro fertilization industry. A lawsuit in Utah argues embryos created through IVF deserve stronger legal protection and could reshape how clinics operate. World's Lauren Canterbury reports.

[Lauren Canterbury]

When Ashley Jensen and her husband began trying to get pregnant, they found themselves among the roughly one in eight couples who struggle. Jensen's obgyn ran some tests. When her blood work came back normal, the doctor made an unexpected suggestion. You can just go to the IVF clinic. And I was like, everything's normal. Go to ivf. Like, those just don't go together. And I really. Jensen worked as a nurse at her OB GYN's office and volunteered at a birth center. She knew enough about the complexities of reproduction to question why her doctor went straight to suggesting IVF medically didn't make sense to me. IVF providers perform hundreds of thousands of treatments every year in the United States. But some patients wish they had been given more information about the true odds of success. Many more say Providers failed to explain how many of their embryos will die or be discarded before they can be implanted. The Utah based organization Voice for the Voiceless hopes the new lawsuit will change that. Last month, the organization that ministers to women and couples considering abortion filed a wrongful death lawsuit against seven Utah IVF clinics. A woman who underwent IVF joined the suit. Frank Miler represents the plaintiffs in the case.

[Clifford May]

I don't think that there is an understanding of a lot of the parents exactly how many they are discarding.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Most doctors will only transfer embryos considered normal after genetic testing. The Reproductive Medicine Associates Network says only about 25% of embryos created in a typical IVF cycle fall in that category. The remaining embryos either died shortly after fertilization or are discarded if genetic testing shows potential chromosomal abnormalities. While some IVF clinics may implant more than one healthy embryo at a time, most only choose to implant the embryo the doctor has determined to be the strongest. From there, patients may freeze their remaining embryos or discard those that they do not plan to implant.

[Clifford May]

Very few, if any, labs are really choosing ethics over expediency and cost savings. There is, though, a way that you could do IVF that we say wouldn't violate Utah law.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Though Utah only protects unborn babies from abortion after 18 weeks of pregnancy, the state protects all people's rights, regardless of age, development, condition, or dependency. Meyler and the plaintiffs hope a court will uphold that law and affirm that it extends to embryos created through ivf. Chris Martinson is the founder and director of Voice for the Voiceless.

[Clifford May]

So that's what this lawsuit is. It's not to make new law. It's just to uphold that we already have on the books.

[Lauren Canterbury]

While Martinson is an abolitionist and wants to see abortion and IVF ended completely, he says this case has a different goal. He and the other plaintiff want IVF clinics to stop making more embryos than they plan to implant and to stop destroying them or allowing them to die.

[Cal Thomas]

Ultimately, what I want is for Utah

[Clifford May]

to have equal protection and for us to win. And other states would be able to look at the legislation and the wording in their legislation and be more specific for what human beings are and their equal rights.

[Lauren Canterbury]

Myler and Martinson pointed to what is called ethical IVF as a potential alternative. Doctors who use the method only fertilize the number of eggs that the couple plans to implant during the same cycle. While traditional IVF may have more immediate success, ethical IVF avoids intentionally destroying or freezing human life. Voice for the Voiceless also hopes that the case will bring more attention to alternative reproductive medicine. That's the route Ashley Jensen and her husband decided to pursue instead of ivf. As she sought out other doctors opinions, Jensen learned about natural procreative technology, or napro. It focuses on determining and treating the root causes of a woman's infertility. Wow, this sounds really great. You know, their kind of slogan is, you know, infertility is not a diagnosis, it's a symptom. And I was like, that is great. During her first call to a clinic, a nurse said she likely had endometriosis, a condition her doctors had never suggested. I did end up having surgery for endometriosis. I had really bad endo. My surgery was like six hours long. And then I got pregnant four months later after my surgery. The Jensens have three children now, and she practices restorative reproductive medicine. Treating the underlying causes can improve the chances of having a healthy baby regardless of if a couple chooses to pursue ivf. But she says she's learned her patients doctors often don't incorporate any methods besides ivf. If you can just muster up enough money to do IVF like it will be your ticket, you'll get pregnant. And that obviously is not the case for everyone. Back in Utah, the plaintiffs are waiting to see how the case will proceed. So far, the defendants have not filed a response and a court has yet to weigh in. Reporting for world I'm Lauren Canterbury.

[Nick Iger]

A diplomatic campaign celebrating America's 250th birthday has hit the streets of New Delhi. The US embassy there plastered about 100 auto rickshaws with giant ads featuring images of President Trump with the slogan Happy Birthday America. The idea was to spread goodwill. The reality though some drivers seemed to less interested in international friendship than in practical considerations. This driver saying his rickshaw hood was torn and the ad covered it up. Rickshaw driver Ganesh Kumar saying he held out on placing an ad until he was offered a packet of tea. How ironic for a republic born from disputes over tea, taxes and tyrants. Two and a half centuries later, we're still haggling over tea. It's the world and everything in it.

[Mary Reichert]

Today is Tuesday, May 26th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Mary Reichard.

[Nick Iger]

And I'm Nick Iker. Coming next on the World and everything in it, a bird decline. Birding is a popular pastime for many Americans, but there are far fewer birds these days to watch. Thousands of species across North America continue to decline and conservationists are rethinking how to bring them back.

[Mary Reichert]

World's Emma Eicher took a walk with an Audubon Society educator in western Pennsylvania and has the story.

[Emma Eicher]

Chris Kubiak is armed with binoculars in his jacket pocket.

[Chris Kubiak]

That's your northern parole. It's a really cool looking warbler, but

[Emma Eicher]

he doesn't use them. Instead, he bends his head and listens

[Chris Kubiak]

and there's a hooded warbler that's making a loud chip note back there.

[Emma Eicher]

Kubiak doesn't have to see a bird to believe it's there. He's encountered about 3 to 4,000 birds here species over his lifetime, and now he mainly birds by ear, identifying them through sound alone.

[Chris Kubiak]

I'm better with bird language than human language, so I don't know why that is, but that is the case. So there's a bird behind us that just sang called a Tennessee warbler.

[Emma Eicher]

Birding is the act of watching, or in Kubiak's case, more often listening and appreciating birds. It's one of the fastest growing hobbies in the world. It grew significantly during the pandemic and when bored, quarantiners set up feeders in their own backyard. Bird outings and related expenditures contribute about $279 billion to the economy each year. The recent surge in avian enthusiasm coincided with a Crisis event. In 2019, Science magazine published a study that revealed a devastating population decline in North America. Since the 70s, nearly 3 billion breeding adults have disappeared across more than 500 species, ranging from house sparrows to the red winged blackbird.

[Harrison Waters]

And I think it was eye opening for a lot of folks.

[Emma Eicher]

Brandt Ryder is a conservation scientist at the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. He says the decline was the result of several factors, like habitat loss and pesticide use. But the biggest culprit? Domestic and feral cats, which kill up to 4 billion birds every year in the US alone. Conservationists had known about bird population decline for decades, but this new study showed their efforts to reverse it just weren't working. And it brought the problem to the forefront of the public.

[Harrison Waters]

From my perspective, bird conservation is at a bit of a crossroads, ryder says.

[Emma Eicher]

The research forced a reckoning.

[Harrison Waters]

I think we have faced a bit of a paradigm shift in bird conservation and tried to have this inward look and ask this question, you know, are the things that we're doing, are they working or do we need to do something different?

[Emma Eicher]

So conservationists have been blazing new trails. One new strategy is an old one to keep encouraging people to care more about the birds and Maybe keep their cats indoors. A lot of people have responded to the call.

[Harrison Waters]

There is a general appetite out there in the, in the public for doing things that are beneficial to both, just them, not just themselves, but also the, you know, for the greater good of the planet.

[Emma Eicher]

And with birding on the rise, there's renewed interest in so called backyard education. In these programs, homeowners are encouraged to plant native wildflowers to attract birds and other native animals. Ryder says his conservancy programs rely on volunteers, hired help and birders. One activity is called ebird, where birders digitally log species they've encountered.

[Harrison Waters]

Normal bird watchers, anyone is out there. Bird watching can create an ebird checklist. And that data is now being compiled and can be again used to track what's happening for the status and trends of these populations through time.

[Emma Eicher]

Species often face unique problems from environmental destruction to pesticide poisoning, and they require specific solutions. For example, some grassland birds in the Rockies face habitat loss, so Ryder's conservancy is replanting native grasses. On the other hand, some birds are actually adapting to the changing environment, like the Baltimore Oriole. Here's Kubiak again.

[Chris Kubiak]

Historically, they've been very closely tied to elm trees that we've lost a lot of our mature elms through Dutch elm disease and there was a worry that they wouldn't adapt, but they've adapted just fine. Every year we're seeing that their numbers are increasing.

[Emma Eicher]

For Kubiak, his job at the Audubon Society doubles as an educational opportunity and a reminder that humans aren't separate from nature.

[Chris Kubiak]

I think humans need to re remember that we are a part of nature, we're part of the ecosystem and this is how I connect to the natural world. But I think there's just. Even if you don't want to be a bird nerd like myself, which I am, there's all sorts of great ways to connect to nature through birds.

[Emma Eicher]

Bird populations are still declining in North America. The 2025 U.S. state of the Birds report shows grassland birds have experienced the steepest losses. Science lays out practical rescue efforts for the future, challenging ordinary people to remember what stewardship of the Earth really means. Reporting for world I'm Emma Eicher in Western Pennsylvania.

[Nick Iger]

And finally today, Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery.

[Mary Reichert]

The ceremonies included a reminder of the cost paid by generations of Americans who served and died for the country. Giving remembrances yesterday were the President and Vice President as well as the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.

[Nick Iger]

World commentator Cal Thomas says remembering that cost also raises a question about what Americans are willing to endure today.

[Cal Thomas]

Before we hail the founding, we honor the fallen.

[Pete Hegseth]

Before we celebrate the triumph, we pay the tribute.

[Cal Thomas]

Before we crown the victory, we count the cost.

[Pete Hegseth]

Count the cost. That phrase stayed with me over Memorial Day weekend. As Americans gathered at cemeteries and memorials around the country, I found myself thinking not only about those who served and died, but about the generations that came home and built the country afterward. We call them the greatest Generation, but do we stop to think about what made them great? My mother used to tell me what life was like during World War II. I was too young to understand sacrifice at the time, because sacrifice was simply normal life to me. Gas was rationed. So were many other things. Long road trips were rare. If families ran short on ration stamps, neighbors shared. And when those neighbors needed help later, the favor was returned. Neighbors, new neighbors. Neighbors help neighbors. People accepted inconvenience because they believed something larger was at stake. But even those inconveniences were tiny compared to what others were being asked to give. Vice President J.D.

[Chris Kubiak]

vance Weddings that they never got to attend.

[Nick Iger]

Children that they never saw grow up.

[Chris Kubiak]

Daughters and sons that they never got

[Clifford May]

to hug and kiss again.

[Chris Kubiak]

Loved ones, husbands and wives, they traded every moment.

[Pete Hegseth]

The people back home gave up gasoline and comfort. The people on the battlefield gave up entire futures. That is the kind of cost Memorial Day calls us to remember. War Secretary Pete Hegseth these graves are

[Harrison Waters]

more than names and dates with a dash in between each grave marker is a story the young American on the battlefield, away from home, he stayed in combat.

[Pete Hegseth]

And that is what struck me as Americans debated the latest tensions involving Iran. Now I understand why many Americans are wary of foreign intervention. Many remember Iraq and Afghanistan and do not want another conflict in the Middle East. These are serious concerns. But I also heard something else. What about gas prices? And that question stopped me because I wondered, when we became so quick to measure national problems against our own convenience, can we endure temporary inconvenience if the alternative alternative as allowing a regime that sponsors terrorism to gain nuclear weapons? Previous generations endured far more. The Great Depression and World War II together consumed roughly 16 years of American life. Sixteen years. The generation we celebrate on Memorial Day did not become great because life was easy. They became great because they believed some things mattered more than comfortable. As we move toward America's 250th birthday, perhaps that is something worth remembering. For world I'm Cal Thomas.

[Nick Iger]

Tomorrow Washington Wednesday, with Hunter Baker and a tiny school that provides classical education for students with disabilities. That and more. Tomorrow I'M Nick.

[Mary Reichert]

And I'm Mary Reichard. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says, turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name. Keep steady my steps according to your promise. And let no iniquity get dominion over me. Redeem me from man's oppression that I may keep your precepts. Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes. Verses 132 through 135 of Psalm 119. Go now in grace and peace.