RICK McKAY COX NEWS SERVICE At the 20th anniversary of `Roe vs. Wade' anti-abortion forceswere out in force in Washington.

The tilt may be turning to anti camp

  WASHINGTON - Twenty-five years after Roe vs. Wade guaranteed women theright to end an unwanted pregnancy, conflict has shifted from the SupremeCourt and Congress to the streets and statehouses - and abortion abolitionistsmay be winning.
  Abortion rights advocates warn that a majority of states have enacted lawsthat eroded reproductive freedom since the landmark 1973 ruling. Meanwhile,partly as a result of pressures from anti-abortion activists, there has been adramatic drop in the number of abortion clinics and of doctors who perform themedical procedure.

ABORTION
Roe vs. Wade didn't look like history maker

* The ordinary-turned -extraordinary case had an unusual cast of characters.

Norma McCorvey aka 'Jane Roe'

Henry Wade

DALLAS - The picketers were in place before the first word of argument wasspoken in the case of Roe vs. Wade. Outside the old federal courthouse inDallas, five members of the ``Women's Liberation Movement,'' as reported bythe defunct Dallas Times Herald , carried signs protesting the Texas law thatmade it illegal for doctors or anyone else to perform abortions.
  Inside the courthouse on that May day in 1970, two inexperienced lawyerswere preparing to tell three federal judges the Texas abortion law should bethrown out. Two more veteran lawyers, representing Attorney General CrawfordMartin and Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, were ready to arguethat the law should stand.

LOCAL
Abortion-rights camp concedes setbacks

* The tide of public opinion appears headed toward the other camp.

  As the 25th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade draws near, abortion-rightsactivists are counting their political and public-opinion setbacks in the warover abortion.
  In a state with relatively few abortion providers, Ohio abortion rightssupporters see medical advances - the use of pills and injections - as a wayto make abortion a more private matter.
   But neither side expects the new techniques will end the conflict.
   Last week, the Ohio Senate passed two bills that restrict access toabortion, and a New York Times/ CBS News poll found eroding public supportfor abortion at any time, for any reason.

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File Created: 1-19-1998
Prepared by: Dayton Daily News Library staff
Sources: DDN reports

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