The day Roe v. Wade fell
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2022
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned the fundamental right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. Today, we take you from a clinic in Houston to protests and celebrations outside the court, and explain what this decision means.
Read more:
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the most anticipated of the term. But while this was a stunning reversal — it wasn’t surprising. A draft of the decision was leaked in May, indicating that the majority of justices were prepared to take this drastic step.
The decision has sent shock waves throughout the country, and in at least a dozen red states, trigger laws are already in place to ban virtually all abortions within 30 days. Caroline Kitchener reports from a clinic in Texas, which is one of the states where the news this morning meant abortion providers had to halt operations immediately.
Meanwhile in D.C., a crowd gathered outside the Supreme Court to celebrate, or protest, in an outpouring of joy and rage.
Robert Barnes, who covers the Supreme Court for The Post, explains what this moment means for decades of conservative organizing around restricting abortion, and what the justices’ opinions could tell us about what happens next.
Transcript
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| 0:05.0 | This is John Kelly, Post-Local Columnist, and I'm writing columns now and into the new year |
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| 0:27.0 | Thank you from all of us at the Washington Post. |
| 0:32.0 | Thank you for calling Houston Women's Reproductive Services. |
| 0:47.0 | I regret to inform you that as of today, Friday, June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court is overturned |
| 0:55.0 | and the state of emergency services weighed a landmark decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago. |
| 1:02.0 | But that means we are no longer able to provide abortion care. |
| 1:12.0 | At this one abortion clinic in Houston, the news came a little after 9am central time. |
| 1:19.0 | Some patients were standing outside waiting for their appointments. |
| 1:23.0 | Other people already in the waiting room, our reporter Caroline Kitchener was inside the clinic too. |
| 1:29.0 | She went there knowing that this moment might come today. |
| 1:33.0 | I, of course, was obsessively checking my phone and I saw it like a minute before anybody did in the clinic. |
| 1:42.0 | So I knew they were about to find out and I didn't want to be the one to tell them. |
| 1:49.0 | Caroline has been covering abortion all year. She's been a lot of time in Texas because there was already a ban on abortions there after six weeks. |
| 1:57.0 | Caroline watched in real time today as the staff saw the news on a computer, gathered around the screen and started to cry. |
| 2:06.0 | And she turned on her recorder. |
| 2:08.0 | The phones just kept ringing and ringing and ringing and everyone just stared at them because no one wanted to pick it up. |
| 2:25.0 | I think they didn't have a plan because they didn't want to have a plan. |
| 2:28.0 | We did washrooms today. We go for a turn. We're done. Right now we're done. |
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