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ADF is not hiding its strategy. Alito, on the other hand, keeps to the stealthy shadows, attempting to advance arguments that promote fetal personhood while simultaneously insisting that this unprecedented expansion of personhood rights won’t come at the expense of women’s lives and autonomy. It’s a deception of the highest order and onlookers might be left to conclude that he either thinks we’re all too dumb to notice—or that he knows nothing can stop the 6-3 court from doing what it wants. (The latter attitude was quite evident in Thursday’s arguments over whether former president Donald Trump can claim immunity for allegedly orchestrating the January 6th insurrection.)

Alito seems to have a habit of trying to slip one over the American public. In the other abortion case this term, concerning the fate of the abortion drug mifepristone, he referred to the Comstock Act not by name, but by statute number, 18 U.S.C. 1461. Comstock is a dormant, Victoria-era law that the power-hungry folks behind Project 2025, the proposed agenda for a second Trump term, expect the former president to revive and enforce in order to ban the mailing of abortion pills—if not all clinic supplies—should he win a second term. Prelogar argued that case as well, and she made sure everyone knew what Alito was trying to pull. She responded, “I think that the Comstock provisions don’t fall within FDA’s lane.”

That interaction in March may help explain why Alito sounded so contemptuous Wednesday after the government’s lawyer called out his ulterior motives. Alito doesn’t like having his power challenged, and if you do it he’ll suggest you’re simply being hysterical. But make no mistake, anti-abortion activists like ADF, Project 2025, and, yes, Alito, are plotting to erase the personhood of women and pregnant people. They’re telling us loud and clear.