Book Review: The Fall of Roe – America, Abortion and the Fight for a Nation’s Soul

In Britain, we are fortunate that on the matter of abortion and reproductive health, the

debate is fairly minimal; it is legal and accessible almost universally across the UK, it

is rarely a national debate, and its fate is not balanced on a knife edge in each

electoral cycle. But there are those voices that would change this, rising steadily in

their latest policy steal from across the pond, willing to put access to this crucial form

of healthcare on the line in their latest battle in the culture war. So how better to

understand this threat than to look to the crucible of the abortion battle, as we

approach the fourth anniversary of a generation-defining blow to reproductive rights.

The Fall of Roe – America, Abortion & the Fight for a Nation’s Soul is an in-depth,

exploratory work on the pro- and anti-abortion movements in the United States in the

previous decade and a half, and how each movement adapted to the changing social

landscape of 2010s and 2020s America. Written by New York Times journalists

Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer, based off of hundreds of interviews and testimonies

from those at the very hearts of the campaigns, it explores the preparations,

groundwork and careful planning that worked at the very heart of the US

Government to chip away at women’s reproductive rights, and the hidden plan to

strike down the stalwart of American legal precedent, Roe v Wade.

To say I am shocked, yet also begrudgingly impressed, would be an understatement.

The book begins in the 2010s, a decade before Roe v Wade was struck down, a

point that I initially thought would be far too early, pushing up the wordcount with little

contributing substance. Yet how wrong I was. To see the depths with which malign

actors had gone, for so long and so successfully, to undermine women’s rights and

reproductive rights were stark.

The book guides readers through a chronological assessment of the steps and

events leading up to the overturning of Roe v Wade, both locally and nationally, as

well as the key figures involved in both campaigns, including Dannenfelser, Pence,

Kavanagh, Coney Barrett and even Trump, from the security of the Obama years to

the turbulent Trump term and the final Supreme Court battle. Interspersed are hugely

person case studies from various periods during this time, helping to ground the

book not only in reality but in direct perspectives of those whom this political battle

would affect most.

It is also particularly striking for its depth and analysis of both campaigns over such a

significant period of time. Both Dias and Lerer have conducted themselves incredibly

well in the creation of this title, which should serve as a stark warning of what can be

at risk if care is not taken to preserve that which we hold dear. Even as someone

who immerses herself in political history, current affairs and campaigning , I was

shocked at the skill and mastery the American anti-abortion movement deployed in

achieving its goals, harnessing a once-in-a-generation chance to capture all

branches of the American judiciary, and the book’s presentation of this does well to

bring readers along and preserve understanding, without dragging them through the

mire of legal and procedural jargon unnecessarily.

Stark, shocking and incredibly timely, The Fall of Roe – America, Abortion and; the

Fight for a Nation’s Soul is a fantastic example of the murky world public life can find

itself wading through, and the powerful work that those who expose it do. Dias and

Lerer have crafted an engaging title that takes readers on a forensic journey of the

period that caused such a landmark ruling to fall, and the dark future it paints for

American progressivism and women’s rights. This book should be essential reading

for all who believe that rights are fixed and forevermore in our society and other

liberal democracies, and a call to arms for any who can also see the threats

appearing over the horizon in Britain.

Rating: ★★★★✩

The Fall of Roe – America, Abortion & the Fight for a Nation’s Soul is written

by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer and was published in July 2024.

Written by, Sophie Layton (she/her)