In 2022, the Supreme Court killed Roe v. Wade. But they didn’t act alone.
In the thrilling style of a classic murder mystery, The Nation’s Amy Littlefield investigates a trove of suspects who are really behind the death of abortion rights in the U.S. in her new book, Killers of Roe: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights.
Abortion, Every Day spoke to Amy about her new book in a livestream this week, where she talked us through the shadowy figures who pushed abortion out of reach years before Dobbs.
What surprised Amy most about what she learned? That while misogyny and patriarchy are at the heart of the anti-abortion war on our bodies and lives, some of the key architects of Roe’s demise are true believers who see ending abortion rights as the key to getting into Heaven.
As Amy put it: “Are we all in hell because they wanted to get into heaven?”
And remember how Killers of Roe is written as a murder mystery? Well, if you were expecting any of the ‘killers’ to give tearful confessions or show remorse—there isn’t much of that. Instead, Amy recounts confronting anti-abortion leaders with the stories of the women their policies have killed.
Some were sympathetic but resolute: one GOP lawmaker told Amy he was “sorry to hear” about a young woman who died from his abortion restrictions, but believed he’d “saved more lives than had been cut short.” Others suggested these women deserved to die for seeking abortions: Paul Herring, who helped write Hyde, said of Rosie Jimenez, “Well, you can’t kill someone just because you want to get a better education.”
Watch our full conversation above. You can also get a copy of Killers of Roe here, and be sure to follow Amy and her essential work on Bluesky and Instagram.
