On Thursday, people around the country celebrated and protested the 25th anniversary of “Roe vs. Wade,” the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion — one of the most controversial issues of this century.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of “Jane Roe,” an unmarried woman who wanted to terminate her pregnancy legally. The law changed a Texas statue, which originally stated abortion was a crime unless a woman’s life was at stake.

For the past 25 years, the law has allowed a woman and her doctor to abort a pregnancy during the first trimester.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”

“The Roe vs. Wade decision deeply embodies the idea that every child should be a wanted child,” said Judith Rutledge, vice president of governmental affairs for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, in a press release. “It’s time for the nation and state of Iowa to move beyond the relentless battle over abortion.”

Penny Dickey, vice president for health services and education at Planned Parenthood of Des Moines, said she believes the majority of Americans believe in a woman’s right to choose.

“We truly need to hold on to the values of Roe vs. Wade,” Dickey said. “Americans do believe their choice is slowly being chipped away.”

Planned Parenthood of Des Moines held a celebration for the Roe vs. Wade decision last week, which featured several speakers who remember when the procedure was illegal.

Dickey said she hoped these speakers would relay the message that “we can’t take a step backwards.”

Dickey said she believes the majority of people feel abortion is an intensely personal issue.

“Americans believe abortion is a moral decision, not a political one,” she said. “When abortion is necessary, we strongly support a woman’s choice.”

Judy Dolphin, executive director of Iowa State’s YWCA, said YWCA is “firmly in the position of supporting a woman’s right to choose.”

“Our mission is to empower women, as well as to eliminate racism,” she said. “We want to empower them with their reproductive [rights], and provide information and support to make their decisions.”

Dolphin said when women come to YWCA with issues involving reproductive rights, the organization provides them with resources and referrals to health centers such as Planned Parenthood, which “can provide them with the most responsible information.”

According to information provided by Planned Parenthood of Des Moines, Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa’s Ames Center, which does not provide abortions, claimed 2,364 women between the ages of 20 and 24 as patients in the past year.

Although YWCA is supportive of a woman’s right to choose, Dolphin emphasized, YWCA doesn’t necessarily “encourage” women to have abortions.

“Being pro-choice does not mean counseling people to have abortions,” Dolphin said. “It means examining the options that are available to them.”

Dolphin said she hopes young people who did not live through the era preceding Roe vs. Wade — an era that was characterized by dangerous “back-alley abortions” — will be educated on this generation’s choices.

“Any organization that works with pregnant women is always going to choose life first, and that’s choosing,” she said. “I don’t think women today realize what life was like before Roe vs. Wade; I do.”

According to information collected by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, illegal abortions accounted for 200,000 to 1.2 million deaths per year before Roe vs. Wade. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, illegal abortions accounted for 17 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths in 1965.

Dolphin said although the legal decision allowed women the right to choose, local communities are making that choice more difficult for many women. She said citizens in Ames are fortunate to have reproductive health centers like Planned Parenthood in Des Moines, but for many women they are not available.

“I think that the anti-choice movement just continues to work away at making the law not really a decision area,” Dolphin said. “The law is the law, but it’s the circumvention of the law [that is a concern].”

Pamela S. Thomas, executive director of the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, said the center is a “feminist organization, so we believe in a woman’s right to choose what happens with her body.”

Like YWCA, the Women’s Center offers support and referrals for women who are troubled about a pregnancy.

“It’s the women’s decision; we give them the resources they need to make that sort of decision,” Thomas said.

As for the future of Roe vs. Wade, Thomas said, “I do hope that women’s right to choose is always protected.”

Considering the topic’s controversy, not everyone was pleased that Roe vs. Wade has reached its 25th anniversary.

“This is not merely a whole question of the unborn human lives that have been snuffed out,” said John Donaghy, campus minister at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. “There are other victims, and that includes many women.”

Donaghy added that in some cases, women are encouraged by their partners to have an unwanted abortion.

“Many men have used this as a way to get out of their parental responsibilities,” Donaghy said. “I think it is a tragedy for our country.”

He said society must work to eliminate a cultural “climate where human life, something is unseen, unknown, doesn’t have a value.”