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A little over 50 years ago, Nancy Stearns, a young lawyer, was presenting a case in New York with a bold legal assertion: that the right to abortion was fundamental to equal rights for women.

She never got to conclude her argument — first New York changed the law, then came Roe v. Wade. Now, with Roe overturned, she describes how it feels to watch the right to terminate a pregnancy fall away.

Guest: Nancy Stearns, a lawyer who used an argument of equal rights to challenge the constitutionality of abortion bans.

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Background reading: 

• The United States almost took a different path toward abortion rights. Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz was the first case in the country to challenge a state’s strict abortion law on behalf of women.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.