Sending it Back to the People

WIDELY expected to be a definitive ruling on the legality of abortion in this country, last week's Webster v. Missouri Reproductive Health Services decision accomplished the opposite--instead of deciding the issue, it opened the doors for further discussion.

The Supreme Court's nine justices, split as widely as the rest of the population, temporarily deferred on the issue of abortion to the people, through their state legislatures. Although some anti-abortion activists are claiming victory after Webster, the Court's decision to allow state legislatures to place some restrictions on abortion merely signals the start of the battle.

Now, both sides will have to fight for public support and votes, and the Court will be able to use the new laws passed by state legislatures to determine what alternatives are acceptable and workable.

NATIONAL opinion polls consistently demonstrate that a majority of Americans are pro-choice; that is, they favor a legal right to abortion, perhaps with some restrictions. But the emotional rallies, the fights, the sharply divided groups from East to West prove that the issue was not adequately settled by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that first established a constitutional right to abortion.

Forty-seven percent of people sampled in a Los Angeles Times poll after the decision agreed with the Court while 40 percent disagreed with it. In the same poll, 40 percent of people felt their state legislatures should tighten regulations on abortion while another 40 percent felt that their state laws should remain the same.

Agreement on the principle that women have a right to abortion at least under some circumstances may be wide spread, but the trimester system established in Roe to enforce the legality of abortion is too problematic to endure. As Chief Justice Rehnquist noted, "We have not refrained from reconsideration of a prior construction of the Constitution that has proved `unsound in principle and unworkable in practice.' We think the Roe trimester framework falls into that category."

RATHER than reproduce a legislative structure for legal abortion, the Court--led by the unwillingness of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to overturn Roe--established a political forum within which the forces on both sides of the issue can mobilize and establish clearly the aspects of abortion laws that Americans support.

Prior to Webster, all debate focused on whether or not Roe should be overturned, but no alternate systems for continuing legal abortion were considered. Now the issue has been reopened with nothing taken for granted, which is why anti-abortion activists view Webster as a victory, and pro-choice proponents are despondent.

But neither side has won, yet.

By choosing to accept three cases involving abortion in its next term, the Supreme Court has sent a clear signal that it is ready and willing to make a definitive decision on the issue of abortion when the time and political atmosphere are appropriate.

NOW is the time for political campaigns to galvanize state legislatures, for grass-roots campaigns to mobilize mass support and for candidates for high office to decide once and for all where they stand on the issue.

"I fear for the liberty and equality of the millions of women who have lived and come of age in the 16 years since Roe was decided," Justice Harry Blackmun proclaimed in his dissent. "For today, the women of this nation will retain the liberty to control their destinies. But the signs are evident and very ominous, and a chill wind blows."

A chill wind does blow if abortion restrictions are established which limit the opportunity for safe abortions only to the more affluent in our country. The breeze will become even more frigid if a woman's right to choose an abortion is stripped completely.

But this is where that pro-choice majority must seize the opportunity handed down by the Supreme Court to demand that their sentiments be represented in a workable legal framework.

George Will aptly called the Webster decision a "pre-climax." Whatever label you attach to it, the Supreme Court has established the greatest test for democracy, taking a controversial issue and returning it to the people. Whether or not you despise the rhetoric behind the decision, one must applaud the principle behind the decision.

For now, the citizens of the United States will decide on abortion. If Americans are truly overwhelmingly pro-choice, the days of the silent majority must end.