774: The Pink House at the Center of the World

This American Life

The Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade began with a lawsuit filed by a Mississippi abortion clinic. On the day Roe was overturned, we were there. Stories from the center of this moment of history, the day it happened.

• Prologue: Host Ira Glass reminds us that, before they change the country, all major Supreme Court cases start with just a person, in a place. (3 minutes)
• Act One: Documentarian Maisie Crow has been following the fight to stay open by the Jackson Women’s Health Clinic, for ten years. Now the Supreme Court decision is forcing their doors shut for good. She brings us inside as the staff prepares for the day the decision comes down, and then lives through it. (20 minutes)
• Act Two: Our producer Zoe Chace goes to Fairview Heights, Illinois, where Planned Parenthood has opened a massive new abortion clinic just across the river from Missouri. Abortion is banned in Missouri and lots of the surrounding states now that Roe has been overturned. Illinois is gearing up to get lots and lots of patients now. (5 minutes)
• Act Three: Zoe Chace spends time with a lawmaker in Missouri on the day Roe fell who’d worked her whole life for this moment and can’t believe it’s really here. (5 minutes)
• Act Four: Host Ira Glass walks through possible next steps with a pro-life activist who worked on the Texas SB8 bill, that set a precedent for enforcement of abortion bans throughout the country. (8 minutes)
• Act Five: Rebecca Grant introduces us to an abortion pill smuggler, who walks us through her undercover operation to mail pills to people who want medication abortions in places where it's hard to get them. (9 minutes)
• Act Six: Emma Green spends time with Anja Baker, who’s working on preparing Mississippi for the influx of babies it will have to absorb now that abortion is illegal in that state. (9 minutes)
• Act Seven: Maisie Crow is back to take us inside the Jackson clinic once again, as they rally themselves to see all the patients they’d scheduled for the next month to come in in the next ten days, before the ban goes into effect. (3 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org