`Roe v. Wade' after 25 years: a tide shifts

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

The tilt may be turning to anti camp

   WASHINGTON - Twenty-five years after Roe vs. Wade guaranteed women the right to end an unwanted pregnancy, conflict has shifted from the Supreme Court and Congress to the streets and statehouses - and abortion abolitionists may be winning.
   Abortion rights advocates warn that a majority of states have enacted laws that eroded reproductive freedom since the landmark 1973 ruling. Meanwhile, partly as a result of pressures from anti-abortion activists, there has been a dramatic drop in the number of abortion clinics and of doctors who perform the medical procedure.
   Indeed, there are no abortion providers in 84 percent of the nation's counties, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit group that studies the issue. Throughout the 1990s, there has been a steady decline in the abortion rate among women of child-bearing age.
   ``Today, due to political developments, the ability to exercise the right to choose is tenuous for all women and nonexistent for many,'' said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. ``We are returning to a pre- Roe patchwork of state laws.''
   ``Even though we lose battles in courts and legislatures, we are winning the war in the streets,'' agreed Rev. Flip Benham, director of Operation Rescue, a militant anti-abortion organization. ``This war is being won far beyond the pale of what's happening in Washington, D.C.''
   Without doubt, the Roe decision brought about significant social change. On Jan. 22, 1973, four states - Alaska, Hawaii, New York and Washington - guaranteed the right to an abortion.
   Most states banned or stringently restricted the procedure. In Georgia, for instance, the only way a woman could obtain a legal abortion was to ``go before a panel of physicians to prove the pregnancy was detrimental to her physical or mental health,'' recalled Kathleen Collumb, who was a family planning counselor at the Community Crisis Center in Atlanta in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
   Women of means flew to New York or Puerto Rico for abortions. Others suffered humiliation - and sometimes injury or death - undergoing illegal abortions.
   The 7-2 Supreme Court decision, written by Justice Harry A. Blackmun, summarily struck down all the state statues outlawing abortion.
   In the 20th century, the decision ranks with Brown v. Board of Education, which declared enforced racial segregation in schools unconstitutional, in terms of the court ``taking over responsibility of resolving a society-wide split,'' said David J. Garrow, an Emory University law professor and author of a history of the Roe decision.
   ``In truth, Roe has touched all of our lives in one way or another,'' said Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She said the decision is the ``key to a whole set of freedoms'' that women now enjoy.
   ``We have made progress,'' conceded Michelman. ``Women are not dying in back alleys.''
   Abortions quickly became a common and medically safe procedure. The number performed in the country peaked at 1.4 million in 1990 and dropped to 1.21 million in 1995, the latest year for which statistics are available. Still, about half of America's women have an abortion sometime in their lives.
   But the Supreme Court could not quell an emotionally wrenching issue where earnest people on both sides believe there can be no compromise. Abortion- rights advocates say women have a right to control their own bodies, including a fetus, and to end an unwanted pregnancy. Opponents argue that abortion equates to murder of an unborn baby.
   The Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to overturn Roe, and Congress seems unwilling to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion - which would have to be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures before taking effect.
   Law professor Barrow sees ``zero chance'' that it will stop being the law of the land.
   But, with tactics ranging from public praying to grassroots lobbying to bombing clinics, the anti-abortion movement has succeeded in making abortions harder to obtain all across America.
   While upholding the right to an abortion, the Supreme Court has allowed states to enact restrictions and regulations. Some state laws mandate a waiting period or counseling about the alternatives to abortion, for instance, while others require minors to notify a parent before ending a pregnancy.
   ``We have been able to do some things legislatively,'' said Wanda Franz, president of the National Right to Life Committee. ``We've been able to stop stop much of the public funding, for instance.''
   Congress is set to again consider a ban on late-term abortions which are relatively rare and occur late in a pregnancy. But Franz said none of the legislative successes ``actually prevents abortion,'' so the movement continues to push for constitutional change.
   ``Our theme for the 25th anniversary is that Roe was not a solution then and is still a tragedy today,'' she said. ``At the time the decision came down, it was argued that legalizing abortion would be the solution to many social problems. It would end child abuse, teen pregnancy, poverty for single women. Now it is clear abortion was never the solution.''
   For an assortment of reasons, the number of hospitals, clinics and doctors offering abortions have decreased in practically every state, as have the physician residency programs providing training in abortions.
   A ``campaign of violence and harassment'' by anti-abortion militants has succeeded in restricting access to abortions, said Vicki Saporta, executive director of the National Abortion Federation, the largest association of abortion providers.
   There were 25 instances of clinic blockades in 1997 - up from seven the previous year, but far below the peak of 201 in 1988. However, harassment was on the rise, with increases in hate mail, bomb threats and picketing, NAF reported.
   Doctors are being discouraged from performing abortions in other ways, Saporta said. For instance, anti-abortion activists hand out leaflets outside clinics soliciting women to file bogus malpractice suits, she said. The names of abortion providers are listed on some Internet sites - considered intimidation, since there have been five murders of abortion providers in this decade.
   ``They're trying to bully us into abandoning our patients,'' said Pablo Rodriguez, an obstetrician-gynecologist who performs abortions in Rhode Island.
   In addition, some communities have enacted ``excessive'' regulations aimed at making it too expensive to operate an abortion clinic, said Saporta.
   Operation Rescue's Benham credits the trend to ``gentle Christian living'' and calls it a cause for rejoicing.
   ``The words from our enemies are giving us every indication the war is being won. The gospel has always been harassment to them,'' he said. ``There is a graying of the abortion industry. No young doctors want to ruin their medical careers by doing abortions.''
   The decline in the number of abortions can be traced to a number of other factors, however. One is the aging of the Baby Boom generation, which means there are fewer women of child-bearing age. There has been an increased use of contraceptives, particularly among teen-agers, and thus fewer unintended pregnancies. Fear of AIDS has increased the use of condoms.
   In the absolutist debate over abortion, there are some areas where controversy might be diffused. For instance, legislation has been introduced in Congress that would require employment-related medical insurance to cover prescription contraception drugs and devices. Ironically, many of these insurers do cover the cost of abortions, but not the methods to prevent unintended pregnancies.
   There is also an expectation that ``morning-after'' abortion pills will eventually be approved for use in the United States - although their use would be opposed by many anti-abortion activists who believe that life begins at the moment of conception.
   Already, there is widespread use of birth-control pills as a ``morning-after'' method of stopping pregnancy. And the drug milfepristone, also known as RU-486, could provide a non-surgical alternative to ending early pregnancies. However, anti-abortion groups have promised to picket and boycott any drug company that manufactures or distributes abortion pills.
   So, the struggle continues.
   With its landmark decision, ``the court established two essential principles: that the government should remain neutral in women's reproductive decisions and that women's continued progress toward full equality could not be achieved without reproductive freedom,'' said NARAL's Michelman.
   But ``as we approach the 25th anniversary, Roe v. Wade has become a hollow promise for many women,'' she warned.