Voices of the Fight: 45 Years Since Roe V. Wade

Coming up on today’s show:

• Monday marks 45 years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in the case Roe V. Wade, which guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion. Though it’s still the law of the land, Roe V. Wade has been significantly rolled back in recent years, says Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that advocates for reproductive health rights and policy in the United States. These rollbacks, she says, have made it much more difficult for women, particularly in the midwest and south, to access an abortion.

• It’s been a year of the Trump presidency, and all this week, The Takeaway will be looking at the tangible effects of the administration, and how it’s impacted people’s lives — from immigration, to the courts, the environment and more. First up: The economy. To get the facts of where President Trump has actually affected the economy, and most importantly, the lives of everyday Americans, The Takeaway speaks with Annie Lowrey, economic policy writer for The Atlantic.

• The federal government shutdown this weekend, after Congress was unable to pass a stopgap budget measure on Friday night. We take a look at the Senate’s efforts to find a solution with Lissandra Villa, a congressional reporter for BuzzFeed News, who joins the program to give an update on the ongoing situation.

• A year after the original Women’s March, Dana Fisher, who surveyed participants at that and other major demonstrations over the last year, shares her findings. They show meaningful increases in civic engagement over the course of 2017, with more people contacting elected officials, attending town halls, and getting involved in other ways beyond just voting. Fisher is a professor of sociology and director of the Program for Society and the Environment at the University of Maryland.

• The sentencing phase for the trial of USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar is still going in Lansing, Michigan. Overall, 140 women and girls have come forward saying that Nassar abused them. Parents and athletes at all levels of gymnastics are looking for accountability. Who knew what and when, and will anyone else be held accountable for the decades of abuse? Lindsay Gibbs, sports reporter at ThinkProgress and host of the sports and feminism podcast “Burn It All Down,” weighs in. 

• Under the Trump Administration, the United States this year is on track to receive the lowest number of refugees since the 1970s, despite the fact that the world is facing the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Matt Katz is a reporter for WNYC, and he recently spent some time examining how the U.S. government’s sweeping changes to refugee policy have affected the lives of a Congolese husband and wife.

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich