Slow Burn: Roe v. Wade

Season 7: Bonus Episode 2
Content Locked for Slate Plus members

How the Anti-Abortion Movement Gained Tremendous Political Power

By the 1990s, white Evangelicals and Catholics finally found ways to successfully push their agenda.

Episode Notes

In this member-exclusive episode, Slow Burn’s host Susan Matthews and associate producer Sophie Summergrad discuss researching the pro-life movement for Episode 2. Then, Matthews interviews Jennifer L. Holland, an assistant professor of U.S. history at the University of Oklahoma, about what happened with the anti-abortion movement since Roe v. Wade was decided, and how it became so intense and, at times, violent.

Mentioned in the episode:
Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement by Jennifer L. Holland

Production by Cleo Levin and Chau Tu.

About the Show

In the early 1970s, the future of abortion in America was far from settled. Some states were pushing to liberalize their laws. In others, women could be prosecuted for terminating a pregnancy. Unexpected and dramatic battles raged across the country, shaping the landscape of abortion—even before Roe v. Wade was decided.

For the seventh season of Slate’s Slow Burn, host Susan Matthews explores the path to Roe—a time when more Republicans than Democrats supported abortion rights. You’ll hear the forgotten story of the first woman ever to be convicted of manslaughter for having an abortion, the unlikely Catholic power couple who helped ignite the pro-life movement, and a rookie Supreme Court justice who got assigned the opinion of a lifetime.

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Host

  • Chau Tu is a former editor of Slate Plus.