We’re Not Going Back to the Time Before Roe. We’re Going Somewhere Worse

Jia Tolentino on the Supreme Court’s abortion decision. Plus: what the Court’s ruling on guns means for New York; and how “Elvis” plays the King. View in browser | Update your preferences Friday, June 24, 2022 In today’s newsletter: • Jia Tolentino on the Dobbs v. Jackson decision • New Yorker writers on abortion access after Roe • What the Court’s gun ruling means for New York Comment We’re Not Going Back to the Time Before Roe. We’re Going Somewhere Worse We are entering an era not just of unsafe abortions but of the widespread criminalization of pregnancy. By Jia Tolentino The End of Roe v. Wade: What You Need to Know About Abortion Access Photograph by Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty In a decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, announced this morning, the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling is expected to create a stark divide within the U.S., where abortion will be immediately illegal or severely restricted in as many as twenty states, affecting an estimated twenty-five million women of childbearing age. What will the future of reproductive rights in the United States look like, and what will the political impact of the decision be? Our writers offer answers to urgent questions. How will people in states where abortion is outlawed seek care? Even before the end of Roe, people have been forced to travel significant distances to obtain care. Stephania Taladrid follows the arduous and expensive journey of a fourteen-year-old girl named Laura, who was forced to travel seven hundred miles to visit a clinic. In a dispatch from Illinois, which has been a safe harbor for abortion, Peter Slevin writes about health centers rushing to accomodate a growing number of medical migrants, or “abortion refugees.” What are other possible collateral effects of the decision? “Every year, there are about a million miscarriages in the United States. Under the doctrine of fetal personhood, these common, complicated, and profoundly intimate losses could become legally subject to surveillance and criminalization,” Jia Tolentino writes, referring to how overturning Roe may strengthen the fight by anti-abortion groups for fetal personhood on the state and federal levels. What will conservative activists target next? Jeannie Suk Gersen writes that the overturning of Roe will “almost certainly fuel the broader fight to get fundamental moral issues out of the realm of federal constitutional rights and under the control of the states.” This effort might target same-sex marriage, other L.G.B.T.Q. rights, contraception, and more. Read more Support The New Yorker’s coverage of reproductive rights in America. Subscribe today » From the News Desk Q. & A. The Historical Cherry-Picking of the Supreme Court’s Gun-Rights Expansion A century-old New York law requiring individuals to prove “proper cause” to carry a handgun has been struck down. By Isaac Chotiner Our Local Correspondents What the Supreme Court’s Gun Ruling Means for New York On Thursday, a conservative majority struck down a hundred-and-eleven-year-old gun law restricting the ability to carry handguns outside of the home. By Eric Lach Editor’s Picks Personal History My Grandmother’s Desperate Choice My grandmother died of a self-induced abortion. Now, her story has taken on a new sense of urgency. By Kate Daloz Our Columnists The Case for Ending the Supreme Court as We Know It For most of its history, the Supreme Court, the branch of government least accountable to the public, has sided with tradition over more expansive visions of human rights. By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Culture Dept. The Current Cinema How “Elvis” Plays the King Baz Luhrmann’s film, starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, shows a revolutionary musician being absorbed into the mainstream, but does it critique that process or continue it? By Anthony Lane Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Liz Maynes-Aminzade Daily Shouts Aphorisms for the Anthropocene Don’t count your chickens before they’ve been inoculated with ten different antibiotics that allow them to grow to unnatural proportions. By Allegra Hyde Crossword A Themed Puzzle: Lit Reviews First-ever inaugural poet: five letters. By Finn Vigeland Daily Cartoon Bonus Daily Cartoon: Darkness Looms By Colin Tom P.S. “Well, we’re probably the first women ever to talk about our abortions in public,” one woman said. “That’s something, anyway.” In 1969, Ellen Willis attended a New York State Legislature hearing on abortion rights, which was interrupted by a powerful group of women demanding to be heard. Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.