‘Birds Still Sing Under Fascism’ - A Year Since the Fall of Roe
And why we’re going to win everything in 2024
I spent two years working with my investigative writing partner, Sian Norris, in 2021 and 2022, sounding the alarm that extremists were trying to overturn Roe v Wade — and that we better mobilize to defend our rights.
We investigated the dark money funding the assault on women’s health care rights, we investigated the misogyny, the racism, the white supremacy. From her home in the UK to my home in California, we were essentially saying, “You guys! Wake up! You think it can’t happen, but it’s happening!”
We spent sleepless nights reporting and reporting and reporting.
I will never forget the moment I understood just how real it was, and how seemingly inevitable, and how dismayed I was that we were obeying in advance. Here is an excerpt from our first report:
“Will this court overturn Roe v Wade?” asked Pro-Life Action League’s Eric Scheidler, speaking to USA Today. “It’s possible. But I think we’re more likely to see this court put more restrictions on abortion. I think five years from now, we’ll realise that Roe v Wade was slowly overturned without it ever making a big headline.”
“By taking this case, the court will be reviewing nearly 50 years of precedent guaranteeing our right to abortion,” said Alexis McGill Johnson.
The fate of women is being decided in September by mostly male jurists and three Donald Trump appointees whose sole purpose is to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling.
Sigh.
Our reporting together now exists in a vault — a time capsule of two women who knew, who passionately warned everyone.
Gradually, then suddenly.
Gradually, then suddenly.
Gradually, then suddenly.
We now know that Christofascist members of the Supreme Court are perfectly fine with being bought by billionaires — compromised by dark money men who had business on the Court and found extremist jurists easy to purchase. Unethical men deciding the most important matters of our time.
These unethical jurists are responsible for death. Women have died in the year since Dobbs — they have blood on their hands. In the year since the fall of Roe, 25 million women live in states with abortion bans and restrictions.
The Supremes who brought us this nightmare seem to be untroubled by what they are responsible for, but they should be troubled. Like Trump, whose lifetime of corruption is catching up with him — the haunting has begun.
Overturning Roe was the beginning of the end for the authoritarian right in America. They underestimated just how much both men and women in America care about women’s health — for it was never about life, was it… it was about control. It was sold as pro-life, but it was about dominion over women. If those who supported the fall of Roe were pro-life, they wouldn’t be posing with AR-15s at Christmas.
What better way to control half the population than to deny them bodily autonomy? We know who they are and what they did, and it was a gross miscalculation.
The backlash is clear — Americans don’t like to hear about 10-year-olds who were sexually assaulted and denied care. From Wisconsin to Kansas to Tennessee, people are rising up in defense of freedoms we once took for granted.
We won’t take them for granted anymore, will we.
A year ago, waking up to the news of the fall of Roe, I could hear the birds out my window singing away. In my devastation, I tweeted, “Birds still sing under fascism.”
We have work to do.
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“I say a silent prayer of thanksgiving as I walk upon the earth.”-Audrey Peterman.
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