What the Anti-Abortion Movement Learned From Abolitionists

What the Anti-Abortion Movement Learned From Abolitionists

On this week’s podcast, Linda Hirschman discusses the problems of activism in a country divided against itself.

Jeet Heer
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

On this week’s episode of the Time of Monsters podcast, author Linda Hirschman joins the show to discuss the problems of activism in a country divided against itself. In the past I’ve described Linda as “the Cassandra of the American left” for her writing on reproductive freedom. She’s warned us of the moment that has now arrived, the end of Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood.

Lincoln said in 1858, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” That was true then, and it’s true now. It makes Linda’s new book on the abolitionist movement all the more relevant. It’s titled The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

Can we count on you?

In the coming election, the fate of our democracy and fundamental civil rights are on the ballot. The conservative architects of Project 2025 are scheming to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision across all levels of government if he should win.

We’ve already seen events that fill us with both dread and cautious optimism—throughout it all, The Nation has been a bulwark against misinformation and an advocate for bold, principled perspectives. Our dedicated writers have sat down with Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders for interviews, unpacked the shallow right-wing populist appeals of J.D. Vance, and debated the pathway for a Democratic victory in November.

Stories like these and the one you just read are vital at this critical juncture in our country’s history. Now more than ever, we need clear-eyed and deeply reported independent journalism to make sense of the headlines and sort fact from fiction. Donate today and join our 160-year legacy of speaking truth to power and uplifting the voices of grassroots advocates.

Throughout 2024 and what is likely the defining election of our lifetimes, we need your support to continue publishing the insightful journalism you rely on.

Thank you,
The Editors of The Nation

Jeet Heer Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The Guardian, The New Republic, and The Boston Globe.


x