Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.

I'm Tamer Keith.

I cover the White House.

This week, a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion suggested that court is poised to

overturn Roe v. Wade.

It's important to state how consequential this would be.

It would undo almost 50 years of legal precedent, and more than 20 states are poised to ban or

severely restrict abortion if row falls.

Last fall, Nina Tottenberg and I discussed the history of abortion rights in America.

We talked about what the country was like before Roe v. Wade and what it might look like

after.

You know, it has been nearly a half century since the Supreme Court legalized abortion.

That means there is an entire generation, more than a generation, who doesn't know what

life was like without legal abortion in the United States.

So Nina, can you take us back to those years leading up to Roe v. Wade?

You know, interestingly, abortion was not made illegal until the late 1800s.

But by the 1960s, abortion like childbirth was really a very safe procedure when performed

by a doctor and women were entering the workforce in large numbers.

And to have a child out of wedlock was to make working not only far more difficult,

but it was like putting a scarlet letter on your back.

It was scandalous.

As a result, illegal abortion was becoming a public health problem.

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