post-Roe

adjective

After the decision of Roe v. Wade (1973) in the United States, generally protecting the right to have an abortion.

Similar

Meanings

adjectivepost-Roe or post-Roe (not comparable)
  1. not comparableAfter the decision of Roe v. Wade (1973) in the United States, generally protecting the right to have an abortion.

    In the post-Roe period, however, state authority was largely taken away by the federal courts (strict scrutiny analysis prevailed), yet abortion was a lively issue in many state legislatures.

    1992, Glen A. Halva-Neubauer, Legislative Agenda Setting in the States: The Case of Abortion Policy, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, page 3
    3 more examples

    Within 9 months of the Roe decision, 188 bills to restrict abortion were introduced in 41 states. As described in Chapter 5, post-Roe statutes included requirements of spousal or parental consent, hospitalization for second trimester abortions, mandatory waiting periods, and funding restrictions.

    1988, Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse, edited by Susan Elizabeth Davis, Women Under Attack: Victories, Backlash, and the Fight for Reproductive Freedom, Boston, Mass.: South End Press, →ISBN, page 55

    On July 3, 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld three key provisions of the Missouri statute and, though it didn’t overturn Roe, set back the “pro-choice” movement more than any decision in the post-Roe period.

    1994, William A[nthony] Donohue, Twilight of Liberty: Legacy of the ACLU, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2017, →ISBN

    Conversely, a substantively minimalist jurisprudence, allowing the outright prohibition of abortions, is equally unworkable; in the years before Roe, when nontherapeutic abortions were prohibited in nearly every state, abortions were almost as common as they are in the post-Roe period (albeit less safe).

    2005, Christopher J. Peters, Neal Devins, “Alexander Bickel and the New Judicial Minimalism”, in Kenneth D. Ward, Cecilia Rodriguez Castillo, editors, The Judiciary and American Democracy: Alexander Bickel, the Countermajoritarian Difficulty, and Contemporary Constitutional Theory, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, pages 62–63
  2. not comparableAfter the overturning of Roe v. Wade (2022).

    Our goal is to preview what a post-Roe landscape might look like.

    2022 June 6, David Leonhardt, “A Post-Roe America”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2022
    3 more examples

    It is probably safe to assume that the effort will begin again once the reality of a post-Roe America sets in.

    2019, Robin Marty, Handbook for a Post-Roe America, Seven Stories Press, →ISBN

    The post-Roe rise in births in the U.S. will be concentrated in some of the worst states for infant and maternal health. Plans to improve these outcomes are staggeringly thin.

    2022 December 16, Melissa Jeltsen, “We Are Not Prepared for the Coming Surge of Babies”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 05 Jan 2023

    Furthermore, he says, “in this #MeToo and post-Roe era [with the rollback of reproductive rights]^([sic]) we find ourselves in, the perceived risks associated with sex are higher, particularly for women.[…]

    2023 April 26, Emine Saner, quoting Justin Lehmiller, “The rise of voluntary celibacy: ‘Most of the sex I’ve had, I wish I hadn’t bothered’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2023

    Synonyms: post-Dobbs

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveAfter the overturning of Roe v. Wade (2022).

Similar
Also see

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

post-Roe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/post-Roe

MLA

“post-Roe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/post-Roe. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “post-Roe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/post-Roe.

Source: post-Roe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.