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Amy Littlefield is the abortion access correspondent at The Nation and a freelance investigative reporter who focuses on the intersection of religion and health care. She is the author of Killers of Roe, a history of the anti-abortion movement told in the style of a murder mystery, due out in March 2026.

Killers of Roe

One reporter investigates the secret killers and hidden motives behind the death of abortion rights.

They are going to kill people, investigative reporter for The Nation Amy Littlefield knew, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After a decade covering abortion, she wanted to more deeply understand the motives, means, and opportunities behind the antiabortion movement's victory. So she set out to investigate the murderers of Roe.

"In an electrifying book that reads like a real-life whodunit, Amy Littlefield exposes the secret history of the demise of Roe v. Wade and tracks its deadly impact. Her nuanced, portrait-driven study of the assault on women's reproductive rights and health shows that the end of Roe is just the beginning--unless we act collectively to stop it."

―Katherine Stewart, author of instant New York Times bestseller Money, Lies, and God

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Essays

Features 

The Nation (cover story) •

What Would It Mean to Defend All Abortions?

Democrats love to avoid it, and Republicans love to lie about it. But later-abortion care has never been more important.On this episode of The Nation Podcast, abortion access correspondent Amy Littlefield joins D.D. Guttenplan to discuss the reality of later-term abortions—and how, even though Roe v. Wade may have been overturned, the conservative crusade to eliminate abortion access rages on.Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the wr...

Multimedia

The New York Times •

Opinion | Abortion Stories in Post-Roe America

The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade reshaped this country in ways we are just starting to understand. These are stories from the aftermath. My OB wanted to be able to do something but couldn’t. The system is buckling at the seams. I need help getting abortion pills. Why does it just have to be so hard? My colleagues are scared. None of our options feel like the good option. This Is Post-Roe America By Times Opinion What does it really mean to live in a country where...

Investigations

The Nation •

The Poison Pill in the Mifepristone Lawsuit That Could Trigger a National Abortion Ban

When the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade last June, they cited Victorian-era state abortion bans—which were nullified by Roe—to justify “return[ing]” the abortion issue to the states.

Not mentioned anywhere in the opinion is another Victorian-era law that was used to ban the mailing of abortion drugs and devices nationwide—and has never been repealed.

Now, the Comstock Act, which almost everyone except a handful of anti-abortion strategists and historians seems to
Lux Magazine •

The Struggle to Unionize Planned Parenthood in Texas

Last spring, several weeks after she was forced to lay off all six of her employees at Planned Parenthood’s North Austin Health Center, Katie Dickerson was summoned to a Zoom meeting. On the screen was a balding attorney named Michael Abcarian. His law firm, Fisher Phillips, helps employers with “maintaining your union-free status.” Dickerson would later write that the meeting left her so terrified for her job that she spoke of it only to her mother.

Radio

Media Appearances

Democracy Now! •

Will Abortion Rights Decide 2024 Election?

We get response from The Nation's abortion access correspondent Amy Littlefield and talk about 10 states with abortion rights on the ballot, including Arizona, Nevada, Florida, South Dakota and Missouri. Trump's remarks are a “succinct and clear definition of patriarchy,” says Littlefield. She argues the 2024 election will be decided in large part by white women and whether they will vote for abortion rights. Trump is “laying out the bargain that white patriarchy has offered for white women in this country,” says Littlefield. “He is saying, 'White women, we will protect you from Brown and Black men.'”
Crooked Media •

How to Restore Roe

The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade, access to abortion has collapsed across the country, and Democrats in Washington don’t have the votes to undo the decision right now. It’s a mess! But we may be able get Roe back sooner than it seems—if Democrats and their allies in the reproductive rights movement learn from years of their own missteps, and quickly. That will determine whether restoring the right to abortion takes six months or 60 years.