The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America

From two top New York Times journalists, the breathtaking untold story of the plan to overturn Roe v. Wade and the consequences for women, abortion, and the future of America

In June 2022, Americans watched in shock as the Supreme Court reversed one of the nation’s landmark rulings. For nearly a half century, Roe was synonymous with women’s rights and freedoms. Then, suddenly, it was gone.

In their groundbreaking book The Fall of Roe, Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer reveal the explosive inside story of how it happened. Their investigation charts the shocking political and religious campaign to take down abortion rights and remake American families, womanhood, and the nation itself.

Reeling from Barack Obama’s 2012 landslide presidential victory - and motivated by a spiritual mission - a small but determined network of elite conservative Christian lawyers and powerbrokers worked quietly and methodically to keep their true cause alive: ending abortion rights. Thinking in generational terms, they devised a strategic, top-down takeover at every level of political and legal life, from little-known anti-abortion lobbyists in far flung statehouses to the arbiters of the constitution at the highest court in the land. Broad swaths of liberal America did not register the severity of the threat until it was far too late. At a moment when women had more power than ever before, the feminist movement suffered one of the greatest political defeats in American history.

With stunning scope, journalistic rigor, and unprecedented access to the highest echelons of conservative and liberal power, Dias and Lerer chronicle the end of the Roe era. Their reporting stretches from inside abortion clinics to the halls of the White House, exposing powerful behind-the-scenes actors and recasting the actions of those already in the spotlight. The result is a sweeping and intimate narrative of secrets, power, jaw-dropping revelations, and a beacon to guide us forward.

As the National Political Correspondent for The New York Times, Lisa Lerer has covered American politics, power, and elections for nearly two decades. She has chronicled five presidential campaigns, the White House, Congress and innumerable state and local elections. The second woman to ever be named to that post, her work has paid particular attention to how liberal female political activists transformed American politics over the past five years.

Elizabeth Dias, the National Religion Correspondent for The New York Times, has covered American religion and its politics for more than a decade, with a special focus on the surging power and grievance of conservative Christianity that drives the Trump movement. Her sourcing among the Catholic and evangelical powerbrokers and grassroots of the anti-abortion movement is unparalleled. She is a Livingston finalist and received the top awards in 2021 from the Religion News Association.

Together Elizabeth and Lisa have chronicled the changing landscape of abortion in America over the past decade, joining their unique specialties on the right and left to paint the most comprehensive coverage of abortion politics. Now, they bring that expertise to the issue that affects tens of millions of American mothers and families: the Fall of Roe.