On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court delivered a momentous decision in Roe v. Wade, affirming a woman’s right to control her own reproductive fate, including her right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Before Roe v. Wade, some 1.2 million women resorted to illegal abortions annually in the United States, and thousands of those women died from botched operations each year.

Since 1973, an anti-abortion right-wing movement has systematically attacked and impeded a woman’s right to a safe, legal and accessible abortion. In the last 32 years Congress and state legislators, of whom 78 percent are men, have passed hundreds of laws that have eroded and severely restricted full access to safe, legal abortion, prenatal care and family planning. These laws, which disproportionately affect young women, women of color and low-income women, force an untold number of women to resort to dangerous measures.

Today, even Roe v. Wade itself is in danger of being overturned, which would constitutionally end a woman’s right to legal abortion. The 5-4 balance in the court could change with the appointment of only one more anti-abortion justice, sending abortion decisions back to the state and the back alleys.

Vow this year to protect women and their constitutionally guaranteed right to control their own body. Join the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance on Friday on the ground floor of the Memorial Union, where we will be celebrating the 32nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Erica Carnes

Co-President

Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance