"Killers of Roe": Amy Littlefield Investigates the "Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights" in U.S.

Despite widespread state-level bans and restrictions following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the total number of abortions in the U.S. has increased. This paradox is driven by the rise of medication abortion, with providers in 'blue states' mailing pills to individuals in 'red states,' circumventing local bans and expanding practical access.

Half of states have restrictions, but 'every year since the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion, the number of abortions in this country has gone up.' This is because 'eight states allow providers... to ship abortion pills anywhere in the country, including into states where abortion is banned.'

The Trump administration and other political figures have been hesitant to aggressively restrict medication abortion, despite calls from anti-abortion advocates. This reluctance stems from the recognition that abortion rights are 'super popular' and that taking a hardline stance on restricting pills is a 'losing issue for Republicans,' especially after the Dobbs decision.

Trump 'has not acted as quickly as abortion opponents would like to restrict medication abortion' because 'abortion rights are super popular, Amy? They are more popular than maybe the New York mayor is one exception, but just about every politician.'

The architects and allies of anti-abortion policies were often complex individuals, not easily categorized as 'good' or 'bad.' Examples include Senator Bob Packwood, a staunch feminist and pro-choice advocate accused of sexual misconduct, and Congressman Bob Bowman, who introduced the Hyde Amendment and later faced a sex scandal.

Senator Bob Packwood, 'women's greatest ally in the Senate,' was accused by '48 women... of sexual misconduct.' Congressman Bob Bowman, who helped introduce the Hyde Amendment, was later found by an FBI investigation to have been 'cruising the streets of Washington DC... picking up men and paying them for sex.'

The Hyde Amendment, which banned federal funding for abortion, was a defining anti-abortion policy that disproportionately affected poor women and women of color. It forced activists to raise millions for abortions and has been renewed by every Congress since its inception, becoming a 'mainstream accepted part of our politics.'

The Hyde Amendment 'cut off abortion access for poor women almost 50 years ago and shaped the abortion access landscape in ways that we take for granted today.' It 'endures to this day' and was 'renewed by every single Congress ever since.'

The pro-choice movement and Democrats are implicated in the long-term erosion of abortion access by not fighting policies like the Hyde Amendment and parental consent laws 'voseiferously from day one.' These policies led to preventable deaths, such as Becky Bell, Tiara Walker, Candy Miller, Porsche Gumazi, and Rosie Jimenez, highlighting the human cost of political compromises and inaction.

Part of the story of who killed Roe is also about 'democratic and pro-choice complicity' in the fact that the Hyde Amendment, 'the policy that we knew was deadly almost from day one,' endures. Becky Bell 'died because of a parental consent law in Indiana' that the 'pro-choice movement didn't fight as voseiferously from day one.'

Two surprising motives behind the anti-abortion movement were the belief among some men that their actions would help them 'go to heaven,' and the movement's origins as a reaction to the civil rights movement. This allowed them to use 'social justice rhetoric' to 'avoid confronting white supremacy' and instead 'save the fetus who they always imagined as white.'

Many men 'worked against abortion because they believed it was going to help them get through the door of heaven.' The anti-abortion movement 'was a reaction to the civil rights movement,' creating 'a civil rights movement for white people' to 'avoid thinking about whiteness, avoid confronting white supremacy, and instead save the fetus who they always imagined as white.'