Sex, Abortion and Feminism, as Seen From the Right
For decades, the conservative position on abortion has been simple: Appoint justices who will overturn Roe V. Wade. That aspiration is now likely to become reality. The question of abortion rights will re-enter the realm of electoral politics in a way it hasn\u2019t for 50 years. And that means Republicans will need to develop a new politics of abortion \u2014 a politics that may appeal not only to their anti-abortion base but to some of the many Americans who believe Roe should stand.\n\nOne place those Republicans may look for inspiration is to the work of the legal scholar Erika Bachiochi. She is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, director of the Wollstonecraft Project at the Abigail Adams Institute and the author of \u201cThe Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision,\u201d where she argues for a \u201cdignitarian feminism.\u201d Bachiochi embraces women\u2019s gains in professional and civic life but holds that techno-pharmacological birth control, the sexual revolution and the legalization of abortion have created a sexual and family culture that has ultimately been devastating to women\u2019s well-being.\n\nIn hopes of improving that status quo, Bachiochi puts forward a policy agenda that could very well become the post-Roe playbook for some Republicans: tighter abortion restrictions combined with a robust slate of family policies \u2014 some of which would be even bolder than the Biden administration\u2019s proposals to date. Hers is not an argument I agree with, but it\u2019s one that I imagine will become increasingly salient in a post-Roe America.\n\nIn the third episode of our series \u201cThe Rising Right,\u201d we discuss Bachiochi\u2019s views on why the \u201cgender revolution\u201d has stalled; her belief that market logic has come to dominate our understandings of family, parenting, sex and feminism; her critique of modern \u201chookup\u201d culture; and her pro-family economic agenda. And we debate whether it\u2019s realistic to encourage the use of natural fertility regulation over hormonal contraception, how abortion relates to single motherhood and poverty, whether stricter abortion laws might benefit or hurt poor women, what role the law should play in teaching moral behavior, whether progressives have become too \u201cLockean\u201d in their understanding of bodily autonomy, whether the sexual revolution gave people too much choice and more.\n\nMentioned:\n\nDefenders of the Unborn by Daniel K. Williams\n\nGeneration Unbound by Isabel V. Sawhill\n\n\u201cEqual Rights, Equal Wrongs\u201d by Christopher Kaczor\n\nBook recommendations:\n\nRights Talk by Mary Ann Glendon\n\nFeminism Without Illusions by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese\n\nPublic Man, Private Woman by Jean Bethke Elshtain\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\n\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker and Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing and engineering by Jeff Geld; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. Special thanks to Kristin Lin and Kristina Samulewski.