Twenty-nine years ago today the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States in the landmark case Roe v. Wade. The court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy allows a woman to decide her own reproductive fate. This legalization led to a dramatic decline in the number of injuries and deaths of women resulting from dangerous back-alley abortions.
Although access to safe and legal abortions has benefitted a significant population of women since 1973, subsequent Supreme Court decisions have begun to curtail a woman's right to choose by allowing states to legislate various restrictive measures. Abortion remains legal by a delicate 5-4 margin in the Supreme Court, but this margin is not static, and, tragically, Roe v. Wade may be overturned if President George W. Bush nominates an anti-abortion justice to fill a future vacancy on the Supreme Court.
I urge you to make this a day of remembrance--remember the brave women and men who have put their lives in jeopardy to fight against anti-abortion terrorism and to protect the right to choose. But Jan. 22 is also a day of celebration; let us celebrate the reproductive freedoms we have as American citizens and remain vigilant in protecting a woman's right to choose.
The writers are members of Students for Choice.
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