In 1973 the Supreme Court decided in Roe v Wade that laws against abortion violate a constitutional right. Although abortion is legal in America, Roe v Wade has always been under attack by pro-life supporters such as the Christian Right and by legislatures. Even 32 years later, the Supreme Court decision giving women the right to control their reproductive life is more in danger than ever before.

Roe No More

Norma McCorvey—a.k.a. Jane Roe—who helped legalize abortion, is now an anti-abortion activist. She and Reverened Phillip Benham, national director of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, have developed a friendly relationship. Through him, McCorvey became acquainted with the members of Operation Rescue. She accepted an invitation to attend church and converted to Christianity. She is now committed to “serving the Lord and helping women save their babies.�

The Government Attacks

In 2001 the Bush Administration immediately began attacking abortion rights. Bush imposed a Global Gag Rule that requires family planning organizations or clinics to sign an agreement that abortion should not be mentioned or discussed with patients. Only those who have signed the agreement will receive federal funding.

After the 2004 elections, the Bush Administration began to initiate more legal restrictions. For instance, the so-called Child Custody Protection Act. This legislation would make it a federal crime for an adult to help transport a minor across state lines for an abortion unless the minor has met all restrictions in her home state.

The Republicans are not the only ones who are responsible for the erosion of women’s right for abortion. The support of traditionally pro-choice groups such as liberal organizations and the Democratic Party is weakening. Some Democratic leaders have argued that their party should water down its pro-choice stance. Al From, founder of the conservative Democratic Leadership Council, told the New York Times, “I want to win some people who are pro-life, because they probably agree with us on a lot of other things.�

Hilary Clinton is taking Bush’s view on moral values when she said to a crowd of 1,000 on the 32nd anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision that faith and religion are “primary� reasons why teenagers would abstain from sexual relations and insisted that there “is an opportunity for good people of good faith to find common ground in this debate.�

John Kerry said that he was in favor of national legislation requiring parental notification for teens seeking abortion, as long as it had a judicial and medical exemption. The NARAL Pro-Choice America said that they would not oppose the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, which is in currently being debated in Congress. The UCPA Act would require doctors to offer anesthetic for the fetuses of women seeking abortions after 20 weeks, which is an attempt to give fetuses rights of a living human being and slowly erase away women’s right for abortion.

It’s a Serious Class Issue

Abortion is universally classified as a women’s issue, but it is also a class issue. No matter what restrictions are placed on abortions, not all women suffer equally. Class has always been the deciding factor in the right to choose an abortion.

Even if abortion was to become illegal, wealthy women will always be able to afford access to abortion. They have the money to travel, private physicians, and connections necessary to get around the law.

The women most in need of abortions tend to be young and poor. Poor and working class women account for the vast majority of abortions. The single most common reason why women choose to have an abortion is economic—they are unable to afford raising a child. The cost of an abortion increases the longer a woman waits to have the procedure. In 1997 the average cost of a first trimester non-hospital abortion was $316, but the price went up to $618 at 16 weeks, and triples to $1,109 at 20 weeks. These delays increase the risk of complications for the woman.

Restrictions on abortion rights since 1973 have mostly affected the poor and working class women. It is no accident that the same politicians who oversaw the erosion of abortion rights in the last decade also imposed huge cuts on social services and a large transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

How Abortion Rights Were Won

Expectations grew, especially for middle-class women, that university education would lead them to a high status professional career. But when college graduate women walked into the corporate world they faced many sexist attitudes and limited opportunities.

In the mid 1960s, women began to intensify their demands for equal opportunity and so a women’s movement started to form. The National Organization for Women also known as NOW was formed in 1966. On August 26, 1970, the women’s movement called for a national day of action—a Women’s Strike for Equality. It brought more than 50,000 women out to demonstrate for women’s rights across the country

The movement’s determination and increasing popularity of its demand meant that anti-abortion President Nixon could not stop abortion’s legalization in 1973. The persistence of the movement pushed the political balance in favor of abortion. So on January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in the Roe v. Wade case that legal abortion was constitutional.

Abortion is a woman’s right and indicates that a woman’s body is under her own control, not the control of the church, state, spouse, or parent. It is a woman’s control and nobody else’s because women with unwanted pregnancy bear the emotional, physical, and—most importantly—financial burden.

What Can We Do to Protect Women’s Right to Choose?

The future of legal abortion is uncertain and the government is constantly finding ways to take away poor working class women’s rights. We need to move and build pro-choice demonstrations whenever politicians try to pass new legislations against abortion. Even if there was an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court, that doesn’t mean they are willing to risk the consequences of actually taking away the right to legal abortion. The last thing they want is to start a large protest movement like the one in the 1960s.

That’s why building a large vocal movement is exactly what can keep abortions legal.