Roe and Our Dystopic Imagination

Abstract

As I write this it has been three weeks since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the original purpose of this forum — to revisit Roe retrospectively and contemporarily on its fiftieth anniversary — has taken on a new tone and meaning. When I proposed this short essay, I wanted to explore why dystopian narratives have become so popular for representing abortion politics over the last five decades. But the answer to that question seems obvious — what is about to happen in many states is dystopic. Indeed, Roe’s fall supports the idea that the genre is a form of realism, as Fredric Jameson has suggested.18 However, it is precisely because of the bleakness of this moment that I want to focus on the relationship between dystopian narratives and abortion politics. While antiabortionists and the Supreme Court may wish to frame Roe’s fall as a constitutional matter, this is a culture war, and how we talk about abortion in this moment will help set the terms of the debate going forward. So while I may no longer need to question dystopia’s appeal, I do have a related set of questions about its allegorical use in a post-Roe world. As headlines declare that we now live in The Handmaid’s Tale, it is clear that the genre has become a touchstone for representing abortion, but what are the effects of turning to dystopian tropes, themes, and storylines to make sense of anti-abortion laws and policies? What might this genre help us understand in this new moment of criminalization of pregnancies not resulting in births? First, I think the genre is a form of hyperrealism that clearly and purposefully engages with the real-life criminalization of abortion, which has been the reality for years and across many states, well before the Dobbs decision. Several authors of recent dystopian novels, for instance, have represented reproductive scenarios that are no more or less misogynistic and repressive than recent changes to the law. For example, Louise Erdrich’s recent novel, Future Home of the Living God, depicts a near-future United States where climate change has led to a fertility crisis. In response, the evangelical government bans abortion, invokes the Patriot