Predictions for a Post-<em>Roe</em> America
Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health sent a shockwave across the country. After nearly a half century, it appears that the five-vote conservative majority on the Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade.
If the draft emerges as the Court’s decision and abortion access is left up to the states, what could it mean in red and blue parts of the country? What was the path that brought the Court to this immense turning point? And where do Americans go from here?
To answer these questions, Claudine Ebeid, executive producer of Atlantic Podcasts, asked three Atlantic writers for their reactions and predictions:
- Molly Jong-Fast writes the newsletter Wait, What? She recently wrote “My Mother Was Wrong About Roe v. Wade.”
- Mary Ziegler is a law professor who specializes in the legal history of reproduction, the family, and sexuality. She recently wrote “The Conservatives Aren’t Just Ending Roe—They’re Delighting In It.”
- David French writes the newsletter The Third Rail. He recently wrote “What Alito’s Opinion Got Right.”
Listen to their conversation here:
The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Claudine Ebeid: As you probably heard, big Supreme Court news broke this week when a leaked draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito outlined a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, an outcome that is not certain but appears likely. Reversing this landmark abortion law has tremendous implications. You may still be processing this information and what it means for America. I know I am. I’m Claudine Ebeid. And for this episode of Radio Atlantic, I turned to three Atlantic writers to understand what it all means.
Ebeid: One sentiment all the writers agree on is that this is a shocking moment. The first person I talked with was Molly Jong-Fast. She writes a newsletter for The Atlantic called Wait What?, which pretty much sums up how many people are feeling. Molly is very outspoken in her belief that women should have the right to an abortion. Hello, Molly.
Molly Jong-Fast: Hi. Thanks for having me.
Ebeid: Thanks for coming to talk to us. Okay, Molly, I’m going to ask you to please go back in time all the way back to Monday. It feels less like days away and more like years away, like so much has felt like it’s transpired. Can you tell me where you were and how you first got the news?
Jong-Fast: It was such an interesting bit of news because, again, a lot of us thought since August 2021 that there was a really good chance that Roe was done. And we thought this because of SB-8. This Texas state abortion law, which was allowed to go into effect on September 1st, was the brainchild of Governor [Greg] Abbott. But even before that it was the brainchild of this organization that had brought these quote unquote, heartbeat bills—though, again, they’re not hearts; it’s cardiac activity. And again, these are, you know—it’s a cardiac the size of a grain of rice. But so this had been a movement that had started in Ohio as the very fringes of the, I want to say, anti-choice of the anti-choice movement. And so I think it was pretty clear then that this was going to happen. But this leaked draft opinion that was published in Politico... I was shocked and not shocked. I mean, I got going on it. And I, you know, immediately was like—oh, yeah. You know? And I mean, it’s so interesting because there’s such a high level of gaslighting with these conservative justices. And so, you know, there are things where I’m very believing because I come from, like, a crazy alcoholic family. So I’ll go along with almost anything. I have to read something a couple of times—like I’ll reason and I’ll say, like, maybe that’s right. And then I’ll go: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That’s not right. So I just was absolutely flummoxed.
Ebeid: As you said, you know, since the Texas law, it’s been months that we’ve sort of been hearing and talking about it, like: “This is coming.” Like we really think that they’re going to overturn Roe, like it’s going to happen. So to hear or to see something, I should say that if a draft is leaked—that sort of already tips in that direction that yeah, what we’ve been talking about looks like it’s going to happen. Still, it kind of hit everybody like a ton of bricks. Why?
So, you know the Supreme Court: Quite a little scam they got going there, right, where they release all the opinions and then they go on vacation. Like, you know, there’s no possibility for,
