Bitter Pill: Pregnancy and Personhood in a Post-Dobbs America

The landscape of abortion rights in America is unrecognizable in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Join us for our fourth episode this season as we navigate this tumultuous terrain, dissecting the seismic shifts and looming legal — and political — battles that promise to keep this issue at the forefront of national discourse. As states become battlegrounds with polarized stances on reproductive laws, how will the growing schism impact our collective moral compass and individual liberties?

Hold onto your seats as we examine the Supreme Court’s potential reshaping of federal authority over FDA-approved abortion medications like mifepristone and the state-level legislation redrawing the battleground of reproductive rights by either restricting or safeguarding abortion access, spotlighting Alabama’s legal contortions over fetal personhood and its deep entanglement with in vitro fertilization treatments that could eventually redefine reproductive autonomy. 

Special guests:

• Dale Cecka, director of the Family Violence Litigation Clinic at Albany Law School
• Chelsey Youman, national legislative advisor for Human Coalition Action 
• Grace Howard, associate professor of justice studies at San Jose State University
• Dana Sussman, deputy executive director at Pregnancy Justice
• Aziza Ahmed, law professor at Boston University

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.