New York Times reporters Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer provide a preview of their book, The Fall of Roe, in their newspaper today. It’s a very partial look at some of the legal activists and legislators involved in Mississippi’s challenge to Roe v. Wade.
Readers will have to slog through a lot of overwriting to get the story. This is one of those stories where the Christmas lights are “twinkling” and the hotel’s halls are “gilded.” The characterizations of the main players and their cause are, naturally, negative. “The anti-abortion movement had used the existing system to define the Constitution the way it saw fit.” What’s missing from that sentence is “. . . exactly as every other litigant in a constitutional case, from the ACLU to the NRA, does.”
Describing how a conference of pro-life activists saw itself, Dias and Lerer write, “Their work offered a vision of what a modern Christian empire looked like.” What a pity for the reporters, and the historical record, that nobody in the room offered a quote with that wording.