Harsh Anti-abortion Laws Are Not Empty Threats
The history of the Comstock Act shows how activists can find ways to enforce laws that might appear superficially “unenforceable.”
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Scott Olson / Getty Abortion Restrictions Targeted at Minors Never End There
An Idaho law centered on residents under 18 may make justifying travel restrictions for all easier down the line.
Illustration by The Atlantic The Justices Pass on an Abortion-Pill Ban
Until they hear a better case.
Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters / Redux The Texas Abortion-Pill Ruling Signals Pro-Lifers’ Next Push
Get used to hearing a lot more about the Comstock Act.
Reginald Mathalone / NurPhoto / AP Roe Was Never Roe After All
The landmark decision never gave women the rights that people wanted to believe it did.
Joanne Imperio / The Atlantic; Getty; Library of Congress* Why Direct Democracy Is Proving So Powerful for Protecting Abortion Rights
Ballot initiatives—not party politics—are allowing new majorities to emerge in support of more lenient abortion policies.
Roberto Schmidt / AFP / Getty When Fetal Rights Are More Important Than Democracy
After Roe, the anti-abortion movement faces a new opponent: popular opinion.
Bettmann / Getty Why Exceptions for the Life of the Mother Have Disappeared
The absence of these exemptions is a sign of the anti-abortion-rights movement’s distrust of women and the medical establishment.
Luca Cserna / Getty If the Supreme Court Can Reverse Roe, It Can Reverse Anything
No one should get used to their rights.
The Atlantic; Getty The Conservatives Aren’t Just Ending Roe—They’re Delighting in It
This is the work of the Supreme Court’s emboldened, radical majority.
Getty; The Atlantic
