The overturning of Roe v Wade shows exactly what some men think of women

Yes, there are a lot of supportive and wonderful men but the change in abortion laws has emboldened those who think women are nothing more than objects, writes Holly Baxter

Pro-choice demonstrators protest outside the Supreme Court after Roe v Wade is overturned (Julia Saqui/The Independent)

Holly – not sure if you are aware but Chipotle is for people who are a shadow of their former selves. By the way, my neighbour thinks you are a misguided, self-absorbed, attention-seeking brat. I tend to agree with that statement after reading through some of your commentary. Have a great day.” This was an email I received on Monday morning, hours after I returned from a reporting trip to Washington DC.

When the news broke last Friday that Roe v Wade – the landmark legislation that made abortion a constitutionally protected right for American women – had been overturned, I packed up my Canon camera, my US press pass and my laptop and made my way to New York City’s Penn Station. Alongside our US video editor Julia Saqui and one of our intrepid news reporters, Rachel Sharp, I then boarded a packed four-hour train up to DC, so we could speak to protesters from both sides who were travelling from around the country to the Supreme Court.

I have written more extensively about what we encountered there elsewhere (and a mini-documentary that, among other scenes, features me chasing far-right agitator Jacob Wohl down the street with a microphone for Independent TV.) But I also shared snippets of what I saw on Twitter. I tweeted about how encouraging it was that so many men had travelled with their female partners or friends to protest (one man got up at 5am to take a train from Virginia to Washington with his wife. She was dressed in a rainbow tutu and a T-shirt that said “Pussy Power”; his shirt read “My girl can deadlift you”.) I also mentioned some of the more deliberately incendiary things Wohl said, such as, “Most of you women are too ugly to worry about getting pregnant anyway.”