As Seniors Graduate Into Post-Dobbs World, Harvard’s Class of 1973 Recalls Landmark Legalization of Abortion

On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing the right to an abortion nationwide and reversing all state laws — including in Massachusetts — that completely banned the procedure.

The decision was both a watershed moment for women’s rights and a catalyst for the conservative legal movement, which scored a major victory last summer when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade by a 5-4 vote in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson — rolling back a constitutional right that had been guaranteed for almost 50 years.

Though the decision did not stand on its 50th anniversary, graduates of the Class of 1973 — the first class to embark on their careers in the context of legalized abortion — said Roe v. Wade was met with relief and celebration on Harvard’s campus.

“We understood it changed our lives in terms of our possibility of making choices,” Andrea Kirsh ’73 said.

“When the decision came down, I just felt relief,” said Stephanie L. Rich ’73, who studied Biology at Radcliffe before attending Harvard Law School. “I said, thank goodness that’s over.”

Alumni said support for abortion was widespread at Harvard around the time of Roe. None of the six graduates of the Class of 1973 interviewed by The Crimson recalled campus demonstrations held by opponents of abortion.

“I don’t know anybody that was against it,” Lee Browning Allen ’73 said of abortion.

Harvard Law School graduate Daniel L. Feldman said support for legal abortion was “overwhelming” at the school.

Despite widespread support for abortion access, alumni said the decision in Roe did not jolt Harvard’s campus.

“It’s not something I ‘debated’ with my friends, including those involved in the women’s movement — it was more like a celebration,” Therese F. Steiner ’73 said.

Some alumni said other hot button political issues at the time, including the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, overshadowed discussion of Roe v. Wade and abortion rights at the College.

“The decision was not an explosion on campus,” Allen said. “There were too many other things going on, I think.”

Steiner also said topics that typically weigh heavily on the minds of seniors — such as post-college plans and writing a senior thesis — were “more of a focus” in the months following Roe v. Wade.

When Roe was decided, abortion became legal in Massachusetts for the first time. But for three years prior to the decision, students had been able to travel to New York, which legalized the procedure in 1970, to obtain healthcare.

Because New York had already decriminalized abortion, the possibility of legal abortion in the country “was not a giant shock” to Harvard students, according to Feldman.

“It wasn’t earth-shattering that the court would say people should have this right,” Feldman said.

Kirsh said that for those who had gotten pregnant and were seeking an abortion, New York was the obvious option due to its proximity to Massachusetts.

“That’s where one went if one needed an abortion,” Kirsh said. “And how that information circulated I can’t even tell you.”

“It was just sort of the known thing,” she added.

Alumni said Harvard University Health Services also provided birth control and emergency contraceptives, which were legalized for unmarried women in Massachusetts in 1972, at the time of the decision.

Linda Corman ’73 said after the legalization of birth control in Massachusetts, students could obtain emergency contraception from HUHS with “pretty much no questions asked.”

Steiner said there was greater access to birth control pills around her freshman year.

“There was more discussion about that,” Steiner said.

Kirsh said her generation was one of the earliest to have contraception “readily available.”

“We expected it to work,” she added. “But we also realized it didn’t work perfectly.”

Less than 50 years after Roe, the Supreme Court overturned constitutional protections for abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson, sparking pro-abortion protests around the country. By Julian J. Giordano

Today, an abortion in Massachusetts may be performed until the 24th week of pregnancy, with an exception for cases involving “physical or mental health” or “fetal anomalies.”

In December 2020, the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives passed the ROE Act, codifying abortion access into state law and lowering the age at which an individual can obtain an abortion without parental consent from 18 to 16.

Nationwide, however, the legal status of abortion following Roe’s overturning has shifted dramatically. Since the Dobbs decision last June, 14 states have enacted bans on most abortions, and lengthy legal battles regarding abortion are playing out in many more.

For some alumni, the overturning of Roe marked a painful setback for movements they had participated in while attending college.

“We really marched for very important things when we were in college — for us, it was the women’s movement, anti-war,” Steiner said. “We were thinking we were going to make real progress and make a real difference on a lot of things.”

“And what’s happening now is, like, how much have we really made?” Steiner added. “We can’t believe that everything we marched for and fought for in our own ways and believed in, and gave those values to our kids, is just being turned around.”

—Staff writer Michelle N. Amponsah can be reached at michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @mnamponsah.