PBS News Hour

JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, the FDA approves the first pill to treat postpartum depression.

And 12 years after a tsunami sent Fukushima's nuclear power plant into meltdown, Japan plans to release more than a million tons of wastewater from the damaged facility.

MAN (through translator): When they release the wastewater, I think we won't be able to sell our fish at the main market again.

What happens to us then?

JOHN YANG: Then a look at the privacy issues around reproductive health data in post-Roe America.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

In a major victory for abortions rights supporters, a Texas judge has ruled that the state's law banning abortions is too restrictive and violates the state constitution.

The judge says that there must be a clearly stated exemption for women whose health or lives are in danger or whose fetuses have little likelihood of survival.

But the Texas Attorney General's office said the ruling is on hold while the Texas Supreme Court considers an appeal.

The case is believed to have been the first brought by women who had been denied abortions.

Past legal challenges to abortion laws have been brought by abortion rights groups or doctors or clinics who provide the procedure.

All abortion clinics in Texas closed last year after state law banned virtually all procedures after six weeks of pregnancy.

The Justice Department wants a federal judge to bar former President Donald Trump from publicly discussing the evidence against him or the witnesses expected to testify against him.

Prosecutors are required to give that information to the defense to allow them to prepare their case.

Today, the judge signaled she wanted to rule on the request next week, but defense lawyers quickly asked for a delay.

Special counsel Jack Smith said he wants the restrictions because of Trump's history of using social media to criticize witnesses, judges and lawyers in previous cases.

Smith specifically pointed to a Friday post in which Mr. Trump said, if you go after me, I'm coming after you.

A Trump spokesman said that the post was protected political Speech.

Pakistani police arrested former Prime Minister Imran Khan today after a court sentenced him to three years in prison on corruption charges.

Khan's party says he's done nothing wrong and vowed to appeal.

The conviction, likely disqualifies Khan from running in this year's elections.

It's the latest chapter in a year long conflict between Khan and Pakistan's military establishment.

And the PAC 12, one of college football's 11 Division One conferences, is facing extinction as more member schools leave for other conferences.

The Big 10 will expand to 18 teams next year with the addition of Oregon and Washington, and the Big 12 will add Utah, Arizona state and Colorado.

That leaves only Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford and Berkeley in the PAC 12.

For now, the driving factor is money.

The PAC 12 doesn't have a big TV contract, and the other conferences do.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, rising fears over Japan's upcoming release of wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant and growing concerns about private data being used in abortion related criminal cases.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Postpartum depression is among the most common complications of childbirth.

Every year, it afflicts about a half million American women and it's among the leading causes of pregnancy related death.

And yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than half of the women experience it are never treated for it.

Now, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first pill for postpartum depression.

Patricia Kinser is co-director of Perinatal Mental Health Research at Virginia Commonwealth University's Institute for Women's Health.

From your perspective, how significant is this development?

PATRICIA KINSER, VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING: So, as a clinician and researcher, I constantly work with pregnant and postpartum people who share feelings of stigma and shame around their depression and anxiety symptoms.

So, I think the most significant aspect of this development is that it may normalize the concept of postpartum depression.

It will make family members, friends, even healthcare providers just that much more aware of the significance of depression and anxiety symptoms and they might help support that new mom in seeking help when there are those symptoms.

So that is what is most exciting to me, in addition to, of course, the important groundbreaking work of this research, but that the field of maternal mental health is receiving the attention that is needed.

So, you know, as you mentioned, mental health conditions during and after pregnancy are among the leading causes of preventable maternal deaths in the United States at any given time.

Close to 4 million American women are in the perinatal period.

So whether they're pregnant or postpartum, up to one year after delivery.

And of these, at least one in five experience depression symptoms.

And certainly we saw these rates rise during the pandemic.

So notably, many of them have unrecognized or untreated symptoms that now with this increased recognition of the need for treatment, we're hoping that those women can receive the treatment that they need.

JOHN YANG: What distinguishes postpartum depression from other conditions that a new mother may be feeling?

And when is it time for them to seek help?

PATRICIA KINSER: This medication is one piece of a larger puzzle of tending to maternal mental health.

So because we know that symptoms are so common and with depression, they are the, quote unquote, typical symptoms we might hear about in terms of sadness, feeling extremely blue, suicidality, difficulty with sleeping, difficulty with eating.

But also in the maternal phase, we see these symptoms overlapping with extreme anxiety, concerns about inability to take care of the child, inability to take care of themselves.

So we have to create a standard of care whereby all people who are pregnant and in the postpartum period are screened for symptoms and screened in a way that there is responsive care provided when they do receive screening.

Some patients tell us that even though they are screened, they might not feel heard or that the resources might not be made available to them.

Or secondly, providers often don't feel like they have the time or resources or experience to help provide the support to women who are having those symptoms.

So, we encourage that while this medication development is so important, an important piece of this puzzle is thinking ahead early, looking at emotional wellness during pregnancy before these symptoms of overwhelm.

A lot of the moms we talk with when they start experiencing these symptoms, it's hard to recognize and act on them at first because they're so busy with everything else.

They're busy with taking care of the new baby, maybe other family members, children in their family.

So, sometimes the symptoms remain untreated for a while until they become debilitating.

And that's almost getting to be too late.

We want people to have their symptoms recognized, early resources provided to them early.

JOHN YANG: As I understand it, there has been an injectable form of treatment that's been around for a couple of years.

What's the difference between the pill and the injection?

Does it make it easier to use?

PATRICIA KINSER: So the IV medication, while being very effective, means that it requires that postpartum person to be away from their new baby or away from their family in order to receive that injected medication.

So a pill form, as we know, with other medications used for mental health, when it can be taken at home in the safety of one's home, definitely makes it more accessible and less stigmatizing.

But certainly we need to caution that this medication has not been tested in people who intend to breastfeed, which could still limit accessibility right now because many postpartum individuals are choosing to breastfeed.

So that's an area for future research.

JOHN YANG: Are there side effects that are common enough and severe enough that may discourage use?

PATRICIA KINSER: Sleepiness and dizziness seem to be the most common side effects.

Certainly with any kind of medication that's used for mental health, we also see a slight increased risk of suicidality.

So, family members do need to be aware to keep an eye out for increased suicidality.

And we also should point out that this medication might not be ideal for people who have preexisting or recurrent depression symptoms, because this medication has only been tested for use for 14 days.

So someone with recurrent depression likely needs to be on a medication continuously and not stop at that 14 days.

So, again, there's opportunities for future work.

But this is a great start, especially for people for whom depression might be a new experience or it might be a bridge to other long term medications.

JOHN YANG: Patricia Kinser of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing.

Thank you very much.

PATRICIA KINSER: You're welcome.

JOHN YANG: Later this month, Japan could start releasing treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

They're running out of space to store the radiation tatted water at the plant, which was damaged by the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

As special correspondent Rebecca Bundhun reports, both locals and neighboring countries are worried about the effect on their health and their livelihoods.

REBECCA BUNDHUN: As the day breaks over the land of the rising sun.

Fisherman Haruo Ono has already been working hard for hours.

It's been a way of life for Fukushima's fishing community for generations.

But the once thriving industry has struggled since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which destroyed the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant, nearly 40 miles south of where Ono lives and works.

The release of radioactive substances into the environment triggered international bans on the sale of fish from Fukushima.

And it's only in the past few years that some countries have lifted those restrictions.

But now Fukushima's fishermen are facing a fresh threat as Japan plans to release more than 1 million tons of wastewater from the damaged plant into the ocean.

HARUO ONO, Fisherman (through translator): When they release the wastewater, I think we won't be able to sell our fish at the main market again.

What happens to us then?

REBECCA BUNDHUN: He worries that the water could contaminate the ocean and fish, and even if it doesn't, people may avoid buying seafood from Fukushima because of the move.

The Japanese government insists that the plan to release the wastewater is completely safe.

The water will be heavily diluted and treated, and samples will be tested on a daily basis, the plant's operator, TEPCO, says.

The only radioactive element which will remain, it says, will be treatium, which cannot be removed.

But TEPCO says these will be at such minute levels that it won't harm people or the environment.

Officials argue the water has to be released because the tanks storing the water used to cool the damaged nuclear reactors are almost full.

The 1.3 million metric tons of liquid would be pumped out over a few decades.

TEPCO says it looked into alternative options, including burying the water underground, before deciding on the plan to discharge the water into the ocean.

Some experts say that there might not be a better option, but the problem is that public trust is lacking.

KYLE CLEVELAND, Temple University, Japan: I think among a group of really bad options, maybe the best bad option is to actually put it into the ocean.

The problem is they don't have a lot of trust and credibility on their messaging, which is that actually the levels of radiation are going to be quite small and will not have an appreciable impact on public health.

REBECCA BUNDHUN: Some nuclear analysts, however, highlight that such a move to release treated wastewater from a damaged plant is unprecedented, and therefore the long term risks in particular are unknown.

For residents of Fukushima, the decision has stirred up bad memories of the earthquake and tsunami that has had a lasting impact on so many people's lives.

Official figures show that 18,500 people were killed or are still unaccounted for due to the disaster.

Here in Soma, a coastal district in Fukushima, people are still scarred by the event.

This memorial displays the names of the 458 people who were killed in Soma alone by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

More than 1,000 homes were destroyed here, and the area year has never fully recovered from the disaster.

Kowata Hironabu's entire village was swept away by the tsunami.

He says the plan to discharge water from the plant leaves him worried for Fukushima's farming and fishing industries, but he accepts the authority's decision.

KOWATA HIRONOBU, Construction Business Owner (through translator): I understand other countries may blame us, but I don't see any other solutions.

I wish that it wouldn't have to happen, but I think we have no other options.

REBECCA BUNDHUN: Some countries, including China and South Korea, have voiced opposition to the water release plan.

Beijing, which still has bans in place on imports of food and agricultural products from Fukushima and nearby regions, is reported to be conducting radiation testing on seafood products coming in from Japan as it tries to pressure the country to reconsider its decision.

China is the biggest buyer of seafood exports from Japan, and in South Korea, people have been panic buying sea salt because of fears the product could be contaminated once the water starts being released.

But a two-year independent safety review gave the green light for the plan.

The biggest vindication for Japan's plan to release the wastewater may have come from the International Atomic Energy Agency's final report.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog says the plan meets international standards and would have a negligible impact on the environment.

Many still remain unconvinced.

These activists in Fukushima City have been staging protests against the use of nuclear power since the disaster.

Now they're holding regular demonstrations against the water release, raising concern about the effects of exposure to radiation on people's health and the environment.

KAORU WATANABE, Activist (through translator): The government is saying that they will release the water because the tanks are full, and this holds back the decommissioning process of the power plant.

But at the site of the plant, there is a lot of land and places where more tanks can be built for the water.

REBECCA BUNDHUN: Officials, however, argue that continuing to store the water is also a risk.

If, for example, another earthquake were to cause leakage.

Shoji Outa in Fukushima is setting up his beach restaurant for the peak summer season.

His business has struggled since the 2011 disaster hit, driving away tourists.

When things did start to pick up, the COVID-19 Pandemic came along.

He had been hopeful that this year might better as Japan's COVID restrictions have been eased and people are travelling again.

SHOJI AOTA, Restaurant Owner (through translator): After the Pandemic crisis has settled down and the beach has finally opened, customers will come back, the contaminated water will be released.

And I'm worried about the perception issue.

Families bring their children, so I'm worried about that.

REBECCA BUNDHUN: Many in Japan's fishing industry still live with nightmares of the disaster and its aftermath.

Haruo Ono's younger brother was out at sea when the tsunami struck and lost his life.

He's worked hard to rebuild his livelihood since, but he fears that Fukushima will be paying the price for years to come.

HAROU ONO (trough translator): It's a lifelong problem.

This is our children's problem.

This is our grandchildren's problem.

It will affect everyone who can say with certainty that this will be fine.

REBECCA BUNDHUN: For PBS News Weekend, I'm Rebecca Bundhun in Fukushima, Japan.

JOHN YANG: Earlier this summer, a Nebraska teenager and her mother were convicted after the teen used abortion pills to terminate her pregnancy.

Among the prosecution's key evidence was exchanges between the two on Facebook Messenger.

When the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, privacy and abortion rights advocates both mourned about this very thing.

Authorities prosecuting abortion related criminal cases relying on personal digital data, geolocation, web searches, text messages and the like.

Caitlin Seeley George is the Director of Campaigns and Operations at Fight for the Future, a nonprofit digital rights advocacy group.

Caitlin, in addition to that case in Nebraska, in Texas, there's a man who's suing his ex-girlfriend's friends for helping the ex-girlfriend get an abortion, and he's using text messages as his evidence.

From your perspective, what's the significance of these two cases?

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE, Fight for the Future: These are really critical cases that highlight a lot of the concerns that privacy advocates had in the wake of the reversal of Roe.

That there's so much information and data out there these days about people that is not being protected, that is accessible by law enforcement and companies, and that we absolutely believed would be used to target people for exercising their reproductive rights.

And both of these cases show that's exactly what's happening.

JOHN YANG: And we've heard of criminal cases where they use emails and text messages to prosecute other crimes.

But should health information be treated differently?

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: We actually think lots of information should be treated differently.

One of the problems is that there are so many sources or places that people might be sharing their health information that isn't being protected.

So a lot of people often think that HIPAA protects any health related information, but that's just not true.

People use online apps, share information about therapy or period tracking and things like that.

And in most cases, that information isn't protected.

JOHN YANG: And the tech companies are not fighting subpoenas much anymore.

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: Yeah, a lot of the tech companies, in the wake of the Roe reversal, came out and said that they would do what they can to protect people's right to abortion.

But when it comes down to it, in the Facebook case, they were given a subpoena that didn't have information about what the case that was being investigated was.

So Meta, Facebook's parent company couldn't argue the case or argue the subpoena based on the fact that it was related to an abortion.

Most of the company's privacy policies say that they will comply with law enforcement when they're requested to give up information.

And so we really can't trust that companies right now will work to defend our rights.

JOHN YANG: Is there anything the FTC or other regulatory agencies can do about this?

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: Yes, and the FTC has been investigating cases where companies are collecting information and sharing it in ways that were not clear to users when they shared that information.

So there have been a handful of cases recently where the FTC has been able to show that companies use data or shared data or collected data in ways that went against their policies, and they're able to penalize those companies.

But in a lot of cases, especially for big companies like Google or Facebook, those are slaps on the wrist.

And so we really need broader legislation to stop this from happening in the first place in order to protect people's rights.

JOHN YANG: Describe that legislation at the federal level.

And I also understand that some states have already acted, is that right?

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: Yeah, that's right.

So what we think we need is comprehensive federal data privacy legislation that will address the collection, retention, and sharing of our personal information.

A number of states have passed their own laws, which is great, and we support that, but that doesn't necessarily help people in other states.

And as you might expect, a lot of the states that don't have good data privacy legislation are also the states that are criminalizing abortions.

JOHN YANG: Earlier, you mentioned that your group wants to see other data information protected differently than what it is now.

Give us an idea of the range of what your group would like to see.

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: Sure.

I think one good example is something people might not realize, is how much location data is being tracked.

Since we all walk around with phones in our pockets, basically everywhere we go is being tracked either by the phone itself by our cell phone operating companies or by the companies that run apps like Google.

And so that's something that we think is highly problematic because people should be able to walk through society without their every move being tracked.

And obviously, when we think about sensitive locations like healthcare facilities, religious institutions, and also people attending protests or exercising their first amendment right, we think all of that location data should be protected and should not be collected by companies that could then share that information with law enforcement.

JOHN YANG: What more can these tech companies be doing to protect this information?

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: We think these companies need to take user safety and security a lot more seriously.

In the Nebraska case, the reason that Meta was able to hand over the messages between the teenager and her mom to law enforcement was because they could access them.

But if the company implemented default end to end encryption of all of the messages, that wouldn't have been possible because with end to end encryption, only the sender and intended recipient can access those messages.

So that's something that we think all platforms that have messaging tools need to do in order to ensure that people have safe places to communicate online.

JOHN YANG: Are there platforms that do that now?

The end to end encryption?

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: Yes.

So the one that we suggest people download is called signal, and it is default end to end encrypted, and they do everything they can to collect as little information on users as possible.

Meta is planning to roll out default end to end encryption for Messenger sometime this year.

But again, with this case in Nebraska, we see that every day that isn't in place, people are in danger.

JOHN YANG: Caitlin Seeley George from Fight for the Future.

Thank you very much.

CAITLIN SEELEY GEORGE: Thanks so much, John.

JOHN YANG: Now online, more on former President Trump's growing legal challenges, including the civil rights law the justice department is using in the 2020 election case.

All that and more is on our website pbs.org/newshour.

And that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday.

On Sunday, a look at New York City's growing migrant crisis as tens of thousands of asylum seekers have no place to sleep.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.