Killers of Roe My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights

One reporter investigates the secret killers and hidden motives behind the death of abortion rights.

They are going to kill people, investigative reporter for The Nation Amy Littlefield knew, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. As a journalist covering abortion for more than a decade, she had already chronicled many near-death experiences caused by anti-abortion policy. After the anti-abortion movement’s staggering defeat of Roe, she became fascinated with their victory and why they seemed so much better organized than the pro-choice movement. She set out to investigate the murderers of Roe.

Merchants of Life chronicles Littlefield’s journey into the unexplored corners of the most successful social movement of our time. As in every good murder mystery, the killers turn out to be the people you least suspect, like a disgraced former Congressman obsessed with offshore tax evasion and an unknown suburban bureaucrat who wrote America’s most diabolical anti-abortion policy. She reports from a sweaty presidential tour bus in DC, a chaotic Michigan courtroom where a former fetus thief is on trial, and a Texas town that rejects an abortion travel ban. She encounters surprising characters who shed light on how we got to this moment of authoritarian rule: from the pro-choice superfans she meets at the Reagan library to the Senator who couldn’t stop kissing every woman he met. Along the way, Amy draws upon the stories of women who have died from anti-abortion policies and on her own experience as a mother to reveal the life-and-death stakes of America’s abortion wars.

At once clever and poignant reportage, this abortion whodunnit uncovers the deeper story of how we lost Roe—and how we can win back so much more.

Amy Littlefield is a long-time writer on abortion rights. She is the abortion access correspondent for The Nation. She has contributed to The New York Times Opinion and wrote the Times’ Sunday Review cover story “Where the Pro Choice Movement Went Wrong.” She is a frequent commentator on abortion for TV and radio news outlets and podcasts, including MSNBC and Democracy Now!. Littlefield was a lead reporter and narrator on shows for Reveal, NPR’s national investigative journalism show.