This January marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the seminal and contentious decision recognizing abortion rights, which the Supreme Court overturned last June in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In this episode, scholars Mary Ziegler, author of the new book Roe: The History of a National Obsession, and O. Carter Snead, author of What It Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics, discuss the Roe decision in historical and constitutional context. They also explore how Roe v. Wade raised questions beyond abortion rights—including about the scope of the judicial role, religious liberty, the role of science in politics, and much more; and how the abortion landscape has changed since Dobbs overturned Roe. Host Jeffrey Rosen moderates.
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Today’s show was produced by Lana Ulrich and Bill Pollock. It was engineered by Greg Scheckler. Research was provided by Emily Campbell, Sophia Gardell, Liam Kerr, Sam Desai, and Lana Ulrich
Participants
Mary Ziegler is the Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law. She is the author of six books on abortion, including her newest book, out this week, Roe: The History of a National Obsession.
O. Carter Snead is professor of law and director of the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the author of What It Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics (2020), which was named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the “Ten Best Books of 2020.”
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Mary Ziegler, Roe: The History of a National Obsession (2023)
- Mary Ziegler, “Roe Was Never Roe After All,” The Atlantic, Jan. 21, 2023
- Carter Snead, What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics (2020)
- Roe v. Wade (1973)
- Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)
- Listen to “The Dobbs v. Jackson case – Part 1,” from November 25, 2021
- Listen to “The Dobbs v. Jackson case – Part 2,” from December 3, 2021
- Listen to “The Dobbs v. Jackson Case – Part 3,” from May 12, 2022
- Listen to “The Dobbs v. Jackson Case – Part 4,” from August 10, 2022
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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