Mary Ziegler on the Conservative Legal Movement’s Longer Game
JUDJ-Prepared Summary from August 12, 2026 | Who Decides? Reproductive Rights, Democracy, and the Future of America. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the speaker.
In a recent America at a Crossroads discussion, Mary Ziegler, a UC Davis law professor, Guggenheim Fellow and leading historian of the American abortion debate, explored how the legal strategy that helped overturn Roe v. Wade may offer important clues about where other cultural and constitutional battles are headed. From IVF and contraception to transgender rights and sex discrimination, Ziegler argued that today’s legal fights should be viewed as part of a much longer struggle over the direction of American law.
Looking Beyond Abortion
Ziegler’s work has documented how abortion opponents spent decades developing the legal and political strategy that ultimately resulted in the fall of Roe. Now, she sees signs that some of the arguments emerging from reproductive-rights battles are moving into other areas.
IVF is one example. The Alabama Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling that frozen embryos could be considered children demonstrated how ideas about fetal personhood can have consequences beyond abortion.
Ziegler also pointed to proposals to reshape federal family-planning and sex-education policies toward encouraging conception and natural family planning rather than contraception.
From Transgender Rights to Sex Discrimination
Another area Ziegler is watching closely is the law governing transgender rights and sex discrimination.
Discussing the Supreme Court’s decision allowing West Virginia to separate school sports based on biological sex, Ziegler said her concern was not limited to transgender athletes. She pointed to the Court’s treatment of sex-based classifications and what that reasoning could eventually mean for sex-discrimination protections more broadly.
The legal principle matters because biological differences have historically been used to justify unequal treatment. Pregnancy, for example, is an undeniable biological difference but has also been used to justify firing, demoting or underpaying women.
Rethinking Established Protections
Ziegler sees signs that some conservative organizations are already looking beyond transgender issues toward reconsidering broader sex-equality policies.
She highlighted proposals questioning Title IX and the government’s role in promoting women’s athletics. While emphasizing that conservatives are divided on these questions, Ziegler believes the debate illustrates how arguments developed around one issue can eventually migrate into others.
Similar questions are emerging around reproduction. IVF remains broadly popular, yet there is no comprehensive national protection for access to the procedure. Contraception and family-planning policies could also become future battlegrounds.
The Lesson of the Long Game
For Ziegler, the history of Roe offers a lesson for both sides of today’s political divide.
Conservatives spent decades developing a movement capable of changing the Supreme Court and ultimately abortion law. Progressives, she said, are still developing a long-term strategy for the post-Dobbs era.
But controlling the courts is not enough.
“The court is not a strategy by itself,” Ziegler said. Courts can deliver enormously consequential victories, but they cannot independently change public opinion or create lasting political consensus.
The larger lesson from the fight over Roe is that durable change requires legal victories to be paired with political organization, public persuasion and a strategy designed to last for decades.
About America at a Crossroads
Since April 2020, America at a Crossroads has produced weekly virtual programs on topics related to the preservation of our democracy, voting rights, freedom of the press, and a wide array of civil rights, including abortion rights, free speech, and free press. America at a Crossroads is a project of Jews United for Democracy & Justice.