I’m glad CP is coming back. But I’m hoping that it prioritizes abortion rights coverage. We should push Josh Shapiro to sign shield laws protecting telehealth providers in Pittsburgh and Philly who send mifepristone to women in Texas and Mississippi.

I’ll support candidates of any race or background—but not if they discriminate or give preferential treatment based on race or gender. That applies in every direction, whether traditional or flipped power dynamics. Fairness has to be the standard. Transform power dynamics. And help everyone.

The biggest failure of Democrats is they never fight for young people any more. The older leaders didn’t care if they succeeded. Now they don’t care if they go to war if it helps our allies in the Middle East.

It’s sad to me that the democrats are still as unappealing as they are even with as much a catastrophe as Trump is. They’re just betting he fucks things up enough that they’ll sweep into office through no fault of their own. It’ll happen in spite of them.

More praise for the book….

"I was trying to write a local feature about something that had nearly slipped from public memory: that before Roe v. Wade, coroners in Pittsburgh performed autopsies on women who died from illegal abortions. Wecht had done so himself." —@codymcdevitt.bsky.social pghrev.com/what-the-cor...

It’s time to invoke the 25th. You can’t allow nuclear genocide against 93 million people.

Favorite coffee shop in the Burgh right now.

If I'm being honest with you guys, I think you should support any and all writers who cover reproductive rights because with so many staff layoffs and newspaper closures, there aren't many people who know how to cover it and have institutional knowledge. So buy their books and subscribe.

I know we’re supposed to go along to get along, but how are we not supposed to be appalled when a comedian who never served calls for us to reinstitute the draft. No red carpet nepo babies will go. They’ll all get deferments. It’ll be poor and rural people dying there and coming home in body bags.

Idaho’s abortion rights fight is heading to the ballot. Volunteers have gathered tens of thousands of signatures, driven by personal stories and the real impact of the state’s ban. I spoke with campaign leaders about what voters are saying. reprorights.substack.com/p/idaho-abor...

Here’s a little about my personal journey with this book. open.substack.com/pub/reprorig...

I don’t want to say my book’s publication was anti-climactic. But I published it, and then just began working on a new one while still trying to publicize it.

That's cool.

Six years of reporting, hundreds of interviews, and one buried history—now told. Given No Choice traces abortion rights from back-alley deaths to the post-Dobbs fight unfolding today. Read more: www.amazon.com/Given-No-Cho...

There needs to be some effort by archivists at the Heinz History Center to document what remains on the Post-Gazette's website. Not all of that went into print, and there are stories of historical value. We won't have microfilm. You should also get the Pittsburgh Current and City Paper.

Pitt should hire Orlando Antigua as its head coach. Awesome dude. He coached at a basketball camp I went to led by Ralph Willard.

I made the final revisions to my book today. After the typesetter makes the adjustments, I'll have it up for pre-order. It's been a long journey that took me six years to learn about the history of the abortion rights movement. I became a better man because of it.

War correspondents once relied on notebooks, cameras, and whatever they could see on the battlefield. AI could change that—analyzing satellite imagery, verifying war videos, and mapping conflicts in real time. codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/how-artifi...

Reporters once covered machine politics, patronage, and legislative deal-making as everyday news. A 1932 journalism textbook shows how. AI might help rebuild those lost beats. codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/the-politi...

In 1932, Curtis MacDougall outlined the duties of political reporters: monitor government agencies, track elections, follow legislation and understand political machines. Those are exactly the kinds of information problems AI is good at solving. codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/the-1932-j...

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion didn’t disappear — it went underground. Police raided apartments turned into makeshift clinics. Doctors quietly treated complications. Activists exposed a hidden referral network helping women find illegal procedures. New story: reprorights.substack.com/p/what-were-...

I've heard from younger people that they're the first generation without pop culture figures. So I developed ideas for people in power to implement if they wanted to create bankable stars, as they did during the golden era. codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/why-hollyw...

In 1938, a London surgeon performed an abortion on a 14-year-old rape victim — then told the police: “I want you to arrest me.” The trial that followed, Rex v Bourne, quietly reshaped British abortion law decades before legalization. reprorights.substack.com/p/rex-v-bour...

For generations, exposing political patronage was a core part of the city hall beat. Reporters compared hiring lists, campaign donors, and government contracts. In this piece, I look at how AI could help bring back that watchdog role. codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/political-...

Thanks so much @codymcdevitt.bsky.social for this thoughtful breakdown of Killers of Roe, out everywhere books are sold on March 10! reprorights.substack.com/p/who-killed... "The kind of classic payoff in a murder mystery is it’s always the suspect you were least paying attention to."

I tried for years to get City Paper and In Pittsburgh Newsweekly added to newspapers.com. It's now owned by Block Communications, which is closing all operations in Pittsburgh. So alas, it probably won't happen. No one takes historical preservation seriously.

While researching abortion history, I tracked down a forgotten 1935 investigation called “The Abortion Racket.” It described a hidden world of doctors, midwives, police raids and corruption surrounding illegal abortion in New York decades before Roe v. Wade. reprorights.substack.com/p/the-aborti...

Well guys, the final proofread is done. It’s gotta be laid out, but I hope to have it up for pre-order by the beginning of next week. The release date is March 28.

In a small coal town in Pennsylvania, Dr. Robert Spencer performed 27,006 illegal abortions — in plain sight. I went to Ashland in 2020, walked its fading streets, and dug through court transcripts and private papers to understand how that was possible. reprorights.substack.com/p/the-doctor...

This could start a regional war in the Middle East and American military don’t have enough volunteers. America won’t stand for a draft.

Trump has usurped congress’s powers of war

I’m gonna be frank with the men of Hollywood. I expect some level of fortitude in standing up for a great actress and woman like Susan Sarandon. That would be a profile in courage because you could suffer consequences and a loss of luxury to stand for principle. Not seeing that.

Before the U.S. escalates with Iran, we must insist that Congress authorizes action, not the President acting alone. Our Constitution and our national interest deserve clarity, debate, and accountability — not drift into war shaped by foreign strategy. codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/who-decide...

I am not a fashion-forward man. It’s mostly boots, sweatshirts and jeans. But I’ve been thinking about what happens when AI meets fashion journalism — not trend-chasing, but analyzing decades of archives to trace culture through clothing. codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/how-ai-cou...

Boxing three days a week helps with ski conditioning. But there isn’t any workout that can prevent you from wearing out on the third day of skiing the Rockies unless you ski a hundred days a year.

That’s a fucking workout

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion was illegal in nearly every state. But juries often refused to convict. Why? Because the law said “felony,” and ordinary citizens weren’t always willing to treat it as such. New column 👇 reprorights.substack.com/p/why-juries...

Whistler Blackcomb

A Texas appeals court just heard arguments in the state’s first criminal abortion prosecution in 50 years — and the fight over whether the injunction that shuttered Maria Rojas’s clinics will stand is now a battle over procedure. @reprorights.org reprorights.substack.com/p/texas-firs...

When silence is treated as guilt, fear becomes the governing principle of public life. Thoughtful restraint isn’t complicity — it’s conscience. Read more 👉 codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/when-silen...

I'm not gonna lie. Every time people say they don't care what a celebrity thinks politically, I ask myself, then how the hell did Donald Trump end up president?

It’s got one more proofread and waiting on an index, then it’ll be up for pre-order. Aiming for a late March release.

When people ask me about white supremacy, I’m responding by what I’ve studied and heard from scholars like James Aho. So it’s not a thought experiment. It’s what I took away from experts.

I’m happy to talk about the Rosedale Banishment with anyone who cares to talk about it. I just don’t want to be used as an example on a two-hour talk show no one listens to so he can demonstrate a convoluted understanding of racism in which every form of it is interchangeable with white supremacy.

Even within your own party and movements, you'll do things that evoke hatred and strong reactions. There's no way to publicly defend Margaret Sanger without triggering a backlash. Should you do it? Yes. But people will then cast you as a racist or as defending a genocide. It's just part of it.

Right at a time in history when we need good men and women to step forward and lead, we’re creating a pallor and shame to public office by casting a former president and his wife, who is also historically important, in a false and defamatory light. These sex scandals just worsen our candidates.

I don't regret getting into the abortion debate. It opened my eyes and made me a better person by reading hundreds of books on abortion and speaking to seminally important women. But once you really get in, you're never viewed the same way again. You're always polarizing and not beloved.

When I sit here and say I want to write for a living, I don't want you to think that I'm miserable driving Uber. I've had a lot of great conversations and experiences, and I've learned a lot about the world. I've been able to travel. I'm just looking for leaders who can better utilize my skill set.