Overview of The Wild, Untold Story of How They Made Abortion Political: Witches, Healers & Liars | Amanda with Jessica Valenti
This episode argues that abortion has been deliberately recast as a political wedge issue through a long history of power struggles—not primarily about fetal life, but about controlling women, consolidating institutional power, and protecting segregation and profit. Amanda and guest Jessica Valenti trace the history from witch hunts to the professionalization of medicine to the rise of the religious right, then connect that history to today’s attacks on abortion access, birth control, and women’s autonomy. The central message: abortion remains broadly popular, extremists are losing the public, and the fight is really about democracy, misogyny, and control.
The Core Thesis: Abortion Was Never Just About Abortion
Abortion as a tool of control
- The conversation frames abortion restrictions as a way to control women’s bodies, mobility, finances, work, family life, and political power.
- The hosts argue that anti-abortion politics are part of a larger project to force women back into private, dependent roles.
The “bait and switch” history
- Abortion has repeatedly been used as a cover for other goals:
- suppressing women’s independent healing knowledge,
- establishing a medical monopoly,
- defending segregation and white Christian power,
- and now reshaping gender roles and democracy itself.
Historical Timeline of How Abortion Became Politicized
1) Witch hunts and women healers
- In Europe and colonial New England, midwives and women healers were central to reproductive care.
- During the witch hunts, many of the accused were older women, widows, midwives, or herbalists whose knowledge and authority threatened church/state control.
- The episode emphasizes that these women were often targeted not because they were ineffective, but because they were effective outside official authority.
2) The rise of “modern” medicine and medical monopoly
- In the 1800s, male physicians and the AMA sought to eliminate competition from midwives and traditional healers.
- Anti-abortion laws were part of a broader campaign to:
- professionalize medicine,
- centralize authority in male doctors,
- and take reproductive care out of women’s hands.
- As medicine became licensed and standardized, midwives were increasingly pushed out, and abortion became criminalized almost everywhere.
3) Abortion becomes a political weapon through the religious right
- The episode argues that the evangelical anti-abortion movement was not initially driven by abortion itself.
- Instead, it emerged from backlash to desegregation and IRS pressure on racist private “Christian” schools and institutions.
- Leaders like Paul Weyrich and Jerry Falwell helped build the Moral Majority by mobilizing around segregation, taxes, and religious privilege first—then later using abortion as a more emotionally powerful rallying issue.
What Jessica Valenti Says Is Happening Now
Abortion is a democracy issue
- Jessica calls abortion a “canary in the coal mine” for democracy.
- The anti-abortion movement knows it does not have public support, so it increasingly targets voting access, state legislatures, and local ordinances instead of debating abortion honestly.
The public is not as divided as extremists claim
- A key point repeated in the episode: most Americans, including many Republicans, believe abortion decisions should be made privately between a patient and doctor.
- The episode argues that the “polarized nation” narrative is itself a strategic lie.
The real endgame: misogyny and forced dependency
- Beyond abortion, the movement is also attacking:
- birth control,
- no-fault divorce,
- sex education,
- women’s participation in work and education,
- and the ability to leave abusive relationships.
- The goal, as described in the discussion, is to reinforce white supremacist patriarchy and traditional gender hierarchy.
Concrete Harms Since Dobbs
Abortion access has not disappeared
- The abortion rate has not dropped, despite Dobbs and years of anti-abortion organizing.
- The main reason: medication abortion and telehealth.
- People in banned states are still getting care through:
- abortion pills,
- telehealth appointments,
- out-of-state providers,
- and grassroots logistical support networks.
But the healthcare system is getting worse
The episode highlights major consequences of abortion bans:
- rising maternal mortality,
- rising infant mortality,
- fewer OB-GYNs in anti-abortion states,
- maternity ward closures,
- pregnancy-related arrests,
- criminalization of miscarriages,
- and proposals to charge patients with murder.
Real-world examples of criminalization
- Women have been arrested over how they handled miscarriages.
- Some families have been threatened or investigated for seeking legal out-of-state care.
- The conversation stresses that surveillance and criminalization disproportionately hit poor women, Black women, and other marginalized groups.
Surveillance, Data, and “Soft” Enforcement
Digital surveillance concerns
- The episode warns against period-tracking apps that may collect and share sensitive data.
- Other threats include geolocation tracking, license plate readers, and camera networks.
Old-school surveillance still matters
- Child Protective Services and school systems can be used to intimidate or punish families.
- The hosts describe how state systems can quietly stop people from accessing legal care even without direct criminal charges.
Decoding the Language of Extremism
“Equal protection” and “abolition”
- These terms sound benign or even justice-oriented, but in this context they are used to advance fetal personhood laws.
- The goal is to legally define embryos and fertilized eggs as persons, which would criminalize abortion and expand surveillance over pregnancy behaviors.
“Fetal personhood” as a sweeping legal strategy
- If embryos are treated as legal persons, then:
- miscarriages can become suspicious,
- pregnancy behavior can become criminalized,
- and women’s ordinary decisions can be policed from conception onward.
Birth control attacks are part of the same project
- The episode says birth control is no longer untouchable.
- Some government agencies and political actors are now classifying common contraceptives as abortifacients or pushing “period tracking” and abstinence-style approaches instead.
What Listeners Can Do
Practical support actions
Jessica Valenti recommends:
- supporting local abortion funds,
- donating to independent providers and clinics,
- paying attention to state and local elections,
- tracking town ordinances and zoning changes,
- and watching school curricula for anti-abortion propaganda.
Advanced provision of abortion pills
- The episode strongly encourages people to keep abortion pills on hand “just in case.”
- These can be ordered in advance, often on a sliding scale, and may have a shelf life of several years.
Stay alert at the local level
- Anti-abortion efforts often happen through:
- school materials,
- zoning rules,
- local ordinances,
- and administrative pressure rather than headline-grabbing bans.
Key Takeaways
- Abortion has been politicized through centuries of attempts to control women’s knowledge, labor, and autonomy.
- The anti-abortion movement is tied to larger fights over segregation, patriarchy, and democratic power.
- Most Americans still support abortion access.
- Dobbs did not eliminate abortion access, but it did intensify surveillance, criminalization, and healthcare collapse.
- The best resistance is local, informed, and organized.
Notable Insight
“Abortion is the canary in the coal mine for democracy.”
That line captures the episode’s central warning: the fight over abortion is also a fight over whether ordinary people get to control their own lives.