The Battle After Roe v. Wade

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2022

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

Assuming that Justice Samuel Alito’s final opinion in the Mississippi abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization gets majority support, there will be profound social, political, and health-care implications across the United States. Margaret Talbot, Peter Slevin and Jia Tolentino assess the world after Roe. Opponents will surely not stop by leaving abortion at the state level but will try to ban it under federal law. Tolentino discusses fetal personhood, the legal concept that a fertilized egg is entitled to full legal rights, which severely compromises the bodily autonomy of a pregnant woman. There is already speculation that access to birth control and same-sex marriage could be challenged. “If people feel panicked about all those things, I wouldn’t invalidate that,” Tolentino says. But focussing on the immediate post-Roe future, she says, presents enough to worry about. “This is a universe of panic on its own.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:10.4	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnick.
0:13.4	The leaked opinion from the Supreme Court on the Mississippi abortion case, dobs versus
0:18.2	Jackson Women's Health Organization, seems to promise a true transformation in this country.
0:25.1	Following the final opinion by Justice Alito, gets majority support and it, let's face it,
0:30.2	it very likely will.
0:32.2	We'll see the end of federal reproductive choice in America.
0:36.1	And that will change the country.
0:37.8	In many red states, abortion bans will take effect immediately, but this would also have
0:42.2	very real effects in blue states from New York to California.
0:46.2	In fact, Mitch McConnell has already talked about a complete nationwide ban.
0:51.8	I'm joined now by three New Yorker writers who have been considering where all this is
0:55.7	going.
0:56.7	Margaret Talbot, Peter Sleven, and GeoTolentino.
1:00.7	We'll start with Margaret Talbot, who's reported on the Supreme Court.
1:04.0	She's written about justices including Anson and Scalia, Elena Kagan, and most recently,
1:09.6	the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett.
1:12.4	You know, I think we're so used to these confirmation hearings where people are asked and Susan
1:18.5	Collins and Lisa Murkowski get some sort of promise from Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett
1:24.6	or wishfully think that they have heard them say, well, this is subtle law.
1:28.7	So it's, you know, story, decisives, respect for presidents.
1:31.4	We're not going to overturn this.
	...

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