A COUNTRY FRACTURED
WHEN THE SUPREME COURT HANDED DOWN ITS OPINION OVERTURNING ROE V. WADE ON THE MORNING OF JUNE 24, THE NEWS STRUCK LIKE LIGHTNING.
Protesters on both sides of the debate bolted into the streets of most major American cities, and thousands coalesced in the plaza in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington. Anti-abortion advocates prayed and danced as young activists declared themselves the “post-Roe generation.” Meanwhile, abortion-rights supporters rippled with rage and despair. Many wept. Others held images of hangers, a grim reference to the dangerous abortions that took place before Roe was decided in 1973.
But if the searing emotions of that day resonated with most Americans, neither reference fully encapsulated our new reality. We are neither the post-Roe generation nor are we transported back to 1972. Technology has made the future of abortion in America both less horrifically grisly than it was a generation ago and more frightening than anyone could have predicted. The political and legal landscape we are now barreling headlong into will look nothing like it did 50 years ago. Rather, it will be a futuristic steampunk version of a deeper American past, as warring factions battle over new technologies and clash against a litany of new state laws that aim to dictate whose lives have value within their borders.
Abortion pills, which can now be
