The antiabortion movement at a crossroads
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
The antiabortion movement spent nearly 50 years organizing around one goal: overturning Roe v. Wade. With that success, what’s next? We go inside the movement’s biggest annual event to examine its diverging paths and possible futures.
The annual March for Life is the antiabortion movement’s biggest event of the year, bringing tens of thousands of protesters to the National Mall in D.C. But this year’s march was different. With Roe v. Wade now overturned and the constitutional right to an abortion no longer guaranteed, the movement has achieved its most important singular goal – the one around which it had coalesced for nearly 50 years.
National political reporter Caroline Kitchener went inside this year’s march to see how the antiabortion movement is approaching this post-Roe moment, and how its possible paths forward may be diverging. With a sense of jubilation on one hand and an air of disappointment on the other, she found a movement wrestling with how to stay united and win a bigger battle: the hearts and minds of a country that largely favors abortion.
Antiabortion politicians are mounting efforts to further restrict abortion locally and nationally. Their efforts could restrict access to abortion even in so-called “haven states.” And an imminent federal district court ruling in Texas could have a “catastrophic” effect on access to abortion pills nationwide.
Caroline’s ongoing audio reporting with “Post Reports” was honored this week with a prestigious duPont-Columbia Award! You can listen to more of our coverage of this important issue here:
Preparing for a post-Roe America
In Oklahoma, a closing window to access abortion
Drafting the end of Roe v. Wade
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This podcast is supported by Google. |
| 0:06.4 | I just got here. It's about 9.30 in the morning and I'm in the Renaissance downtown DC hotel, |
| 0:14.0 | which is the official hotel of the March for Life. I was here exactly a year ago today and the mood |
| 0:20.8 | is very different. |
| 0:22.4 | Caroline Kitchener covers abortion for the post. Last month she went to the annual March for Life |
| 0:31.2 | in Washington, DC. In the past, it's been a protest with the stated goal of overturning Roby Wade. |
| 0:38.5 | Of course, this year things were a bit different. Wow, there's March for Life wallpaper. |
| 0:45.1 | Oh my gosh, there's March for Life T-shirts. Oh, a T-shirt that says real men protect life. |
| 0:52.4 | Definitely over 100 people just kind of milling around. They've got signs, they've got pins, |
| 0:57.2 | they've got banners. Over the post-show generation, yeah, I think we'll see a lot of that |
| 1:03.0 | sign today. Certainly there was an air of jubilation. For 50 years, the National Anti-Abortion |
| 1:15.9 | Movement has united around one central goal, overturning Roby and ending the constitutional |
| 1:21.9 | right to an abortion. Now that they've succeeded, Caroline has been trying to figure out, |
| 1:26.9 | what is the future of the Anti-Abortion Movement? Is it energized or ready to move on? |
| 1:35.1 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. I'm Kim Belware. It's Thursday, |
| 1:41.1 | February 9th. Today, the Anti-Abortion Movement at a Crossroads. We go to the March for Life |
| 1:56.0 | to find out where the movement is headed next. |
| 2:10.7 | So, Caroline, tell us about some of the conversations you had with people attending the March this year. |
| 2:16.7 | What stood out to you? |
| 2:18.8 | Hi, I'm a reporter with the Washington Post. I'm Caroline and we're just here trying to talk to |
| 2:24.8 | people about what brought them out. One early conversation that really stood out to me was |
| 2:31.2 | with a mom and a daughter who could come from Kentucky. Hi, my name is Monica Condit, |
... |
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