Marching For Choice

Since 1973, America has recognized a woman’s right to decide when she wants to have a child. But the Bush administration and a right-wing Congress have been working since their election to undermine the right to choose. Using tactics that, though technically legal, are underhanded at best, the president and his pals in Congress are slowly succeeding at doing what they couldn’t through open debate: limit women’s access to reproductive healthcare and lay the groundwork for overturning Roe v. Wade.

It was frustration with this slow erosion of reproductive rights that filled the streets of Washington, D.C. on Sunday with over 500,000 protesters and a large contingent of Harvard students. We are glad that so many activists have mobilized to protect reproductive freedom, and we hope Americans take notice.

The most recent, and possibly the most underhanded, anti-choice crusade has centered on the misnamed Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA). The legislation was pitched as a way to provide tougher punishments for criminals, but its real purpose was to set a precedent for referring to fetuses as legal entities with legal rights. Congressional Democrats offered a separate piece of legislation that would have provided equally strong sentences for those who injure pregnant women, but pro-life members of Congress killed the legislation. They didn’t want a bill that would punish criminals unless it would also help them redefine the legal status of a fetus. Congress is pretending the UVVA is about crime, not abortion, but most Americans shouldn’t have any trouble figuring out how a law granting legal rights to a fetus could have a chilling effect on a woman’s right to choose.

The Partial Birth Abortion Ban is another Orwellian innovation. Don’t waste your time leafing through medical textbooks for a description of partial birth abortion. The term is a political fabrication used to conjure a false image of crying babies being killed by evil doctors. The bill’s title loosely refers to an extremely rare medical procedure that is used as a last resort in the second or third trimester of a pregnancy, mostly when the fetus is already dead or when the mother’s life is in danger. Women’s rights advocates fear that the legislation will prevent doctors from performing partial birth abortions, even when the procedure is the safest way to protect a woman’s life. In their zeal to protect the rights of the fetus, pro-life members of Congress have endangered the health, and possibly the lives, of American women. This marks the first time Congress has limited a woman’s right to choose since Roe v. Wade. It is a disturbing precedent.

Last Sunday’s march showed that Americans care about reproductive rights. We strongly support the marchers, and we hope that all who support the right to choose will stand up against reckless attempts to take that right away.