Roe v. Wade

Delaware Online News Journal, a story in the Local Opinion section reported a Catholic schoolteacher signed a petition supporting women’s rights to choose. The petition was published in The News Journal and the Catholic school she worked for found out. She was soon fired for her public show of support for something the Catholic religion does not believe in. The Kansas City Channel.com reported that a doctor from Kansas planned on giving free abortions to poor women in celebration of Roe vs. Wade. This doctor apparently offered this same free service last year.

Besides these individual cases, many people gathered in Washington for the anniversary. They gathered to show their feelings on the subject outside of Washington as well. Gary Younge in New York reported in his article for The Guardian that “activists on both sides of the abortion debate took to the streets throughout America yesterday to mark the 30th Anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion.”

It has been suggested by the Washington Post and other leading newspapers that pro-lifer’s who seek to change abortion laws feel this year will be a significant one for them. They believe that, since republicans hold the majority of governmental offices, the effort to overturn the laws on abortion may have a better chance. Many people have noted this change and are hopeful that the laws will soon be repealed. Washington Post.com reports on a fourteen year old boy who goes to the protest every year in hopes of a reversal on Roe vs. Wade and states he is “more hopeful this year”. While this fourteen year old attended the protest to give support by simply being there, others showed up to protest a little more abrasively. Some people showed up to protest with signs that read “Abortion is a Weapon of Mass Destruction” and “Osama Wants U.S. Citizens Dead. So Do Abortionists and Their Supporters.” Other protestors broke into the National Organization for Women’s rally in small groups shouting things like “pro-choice that’s a lie, you don’t care if babies die,” according to Washington Protest.com.

President Bush has made comments that support people’s new found hope in their fight against women’s reproductive rights. Gary Younge in New York reported for The Guardian, saying, “the president, who proclaimed last Sunday as a national sanctity of human life day, said America ‘must protect the lives of innocent children waiting to be born’.” President Bush also said in his State of the Union Address that he wanted to put an end to Partial-birth abortions according to an editorial on Media Link by Glenn Woiceshyn. People are aware of the fact that right now is a crucial period in the time since Roe vs. Wade was passed and are more alert to the current news surrounding abortion rights. Washington Post.com reported that Congressman Richard Gephardt of Missouri said, “The freedom to choose has never been more in peril than it is today”. This may be true but luckily organizations and people around the world are aware of this fact and show the same passion for supporting women’s reproductive rights that they have since the beginning. According to Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, people who are pro-choice can take hope because “we will not be the generation that both won and lost reproductive rights in our lifetime.”