SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"Let's not confine ourselves to opposing regressive legislation," writes Totten. "It is time to fight for proactive measures that represent our values." (Photo: ACLU of Oregon)
The Untold Story of the Roe v. Wade Anniversary
What's different about the Roe anniversary this year is the newly proactive abortion rights movement.
Jan 21, 2018
Today - January 22 - is the 45th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which recognized abortion as a constitutional right.
This year, as in every other, the media has focused coverage on the annual anti-abortion demonstration in Washington, even though it is not news. Clearly, there's nothing new or noteworthy about that.
What's different about the Roe anniversary this year is the newly proactive abortion rights movement.
Today, lawmakers from 25 states and 3 localities join together to announce they will introduce legislation to affirmatively protect women's fundamental right to abortion. This nationwide demonstration of resolve is just the beginning for 2018. Importantly, it's part of a larger movement-wide effort to take the offense on abortion rights.
In 2016, there were 81 proactive abortion rights measures introduced in 25 states. Last year, that increased to 133 measures in 33 states and four localities. This year, the Public Leadership Institute is pushing to increase the number of proactive bills and resolutions to 200 in nearly 40 different states.
Part of the reason for this increase is the distribution of the Public Leadership Institute's Playbook for Abortion Rights--the great majority of the policies introduced are similar to model bills published in that book. And part is the energy generated by the Women's March and subsequent organizing for women's rights.
This effort for the proactive is far from a symbolic. Just over the past year:
- Oregon enacted HB 3391, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which requires health insurance policies across the state to cover abortion, as well as contraception and other reproductive health services, at no cost to the patient.
- Illinois enacted HB 40, which provides Medicaid funding for most abortions, as well as insurance coverage of abortion for state employees.
- Hawaii enacted SB 501, which requires anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to post and distribute notices about the availability of abortion and reproductive health services in the state. Crisis pregnancy centers are anti-abortion offices disguised to look like medical clinics which offer services such as pregnancy tests and prenatal sonograms, and lie about medical facts, all in an effort to stop women from having abortions.
- Maryland enacted SB 1081, which provides financial support to abortion clinics if federal funding is cut. And California Treasurer John Chiang created a program similar to Maryland's, making Community Clinic Lifeline Grants available to facilities that provide abortion services.
- Delaware enacted SB 1, which guarantees the right to abortion under the Roe v. Wade decision. The law also repeals obsolete anti-abortion statutes.
Many of the bills announced today are similar to the new Delaware law. They would "codify" Roe, meaning they would write the constitutional right to abortion into state statutes. This is because the Supreme Court is just one justice's death or retirement away from reversing Roe.
If that ruling is overturned, individual states would decide whether women have access to legal abortion and, at present, only 17 states protect the fundamental right to abortion in their statutes or constitutions. In this potentially decisive election year, it is crucial to understand that such legislation is not just essential policy, it's extremely good politics. Polls consistently show that about 70 percent of Americans support Roe.
Our allies in the states say it better than I can: "Protecting abortion rights is essential to women's freedom, privacy and health. We've had enough of the attacks. Women deserve better," insists Michigan State Senator Rebekah Warren. "We have fought for 45 years to protect the right to abortion under Roe, and we are ready to fight another 45," declares NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri's Executive Director, Alison Dreith.
So let's all do more than demonstrate. And let's not confine ourselves to opposing regressive legislation. It is time to fight for proactive measures that represent our values, the kind of policies that make news, put our opponents on the defensive, and excite Americans who care about women's rights.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Gloria Totten
Gloria Totten is the President of the Public Leadership Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy and leadership center that hosts the largest network of progressive lawmakers in the nation.
Today - January 22 - is the 45th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which recognized abortion as a constitutional right.
This year, as in every other, the media has focused coverage on the annual anti-abortion demonstration in Washington, even though it is not news. Clearly, there's nothing new or noteworthy about that.
What's different about the Roe anniversary this year is the newly proactive abortion rights movement.
Today, lawmakers from 25 states and 3 localities join together to announce they will introduce legislation to affirmatively protect women's fundamental right to abortion. This nationwide demonstration of resolve is just the beginning for 2018. Importantly, it's part of a larger movement-wide effort to take the offense on abortion rights.
In 2016, there were 81 proactive abortion rights measures introduced in 25 states. Last year, that increased to 133 measures in 33 states and four localities. This year, the Public Leadership Institute is pushing to increase the number of proactive bills and resolutions to 200 in nearly 40 different states.
Part of the reason for this increase is the distribution of the Public Leadership Institute's Playbook for Abortion Rights--the great majority of the policies introduced are similar to model bills published in that book. And part is the energy generated by the Women's March and subsequent organizing for women's rights.
This effort for the proactive is far from a symbolic. Just over the past year:
- Oregon enacted HB 3391, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which requires health insurance policies across the state to cover abortion, as well as contraception and other reproductive health services, at no cost to the patient.
- Illinois enacted HB 40, which provides Medicaid funding for most abortions, as well as insurance coverage of abortion for state employees.
- Hawaii enacted SB 501, which requires anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to post and distribute notices about the availability of abortion and reproductive health services in the state. Crisis pregnancy centers are anti-abortion offices disguised to look like medical clinics which offer services such as pregnancy tests and prenatal sonograms, and lie about medical facts, all in an effort to stop women from having abortions.
- Maryland enacted SB 1081, which provides financial support to abortion clinics if federal funding is cut. And California Treasurer John Chiang created a program similar to Maryland's, making Community Clinic Lifeline Grants available to facilities that provide abortion services.
- Delaware enacted SB 1, which guarantees the right to abortion under the Roe v. Wade decision. The law also repeals obsolete anti-abortion statutes.
Many of the bills announced today are similar to the new Delaware law. They would "codify" Roe, meaning they would write the constitutional right to abortion into state statutes. This is because the Supreme Court is just one justice's death or retirement away from reversing Roe.
If that ruling is overturned, individual states would decide whether women have access to legal abortion and, at present, only 17 states protect the fundamental right to abortion in their statutes or constitutions. In this potentially decisive election year, it is crucial to understand that such legislation is not just essential policy, it's extremely good politics. Polls consistently show that about 70 percent of Americans support Roe.
Our allies in the states say it better than I can: "Protecting abortion rights is essential to women's freedom, privacy and health. We've had enough of the attacks. Women deserve better," insists Michigan State Senator Rebekah Warren. "We have fought for 45 years to protect the right to abortion under Roe, and we are ready to fight another 45," declares NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri's Executive Director, Alison Dreith.
So let's all do more than demonstrate. And let's not confine ourselves to opposing regressive legislation. It is time to fight for proactive measures that represent our values, the kind of policies that make news, put our opponents on the defensive, and excite Americans who care about women's rights.
Gloria Totten
Gloria Totten is the President of the Public Leadership Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy and leadership center that hosts the largest network of progressive lawmakers in the nation.
Today - January 22 - is the 45th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which recognized abortion as a constitutional right.
This year, as in every other, the media has focused coverage on the annual anti-abortion demonstration in Washington, even though it is not news. Clearly, there's nothing new or noteworthy about that.
What's different about the Roe anniversary this year is the newly proactive abortion rights movement.
Today, lawmakers from 25 states and 3 localities join together to announce they will introduce legislation to affirmatively protect women's fundamental right to abortion. This nationwide demonstration of resolve is just the beginning for 2018. Importantly, it's part of a larger movement-wide effort to take the offense on abortion rights.
In 2016, there were 81 proactive abortion rights measures introduced in 25 states. Last year, that increased to 133 measures in 33 states and four localities. This year, the Public Leadership Institute is pushing to increase the number of proactive bills and resolutions to 200 in nearly 40 different states.
Part of the reason for this increase is the distribution of the Public Leadership Institute's Playbook for Abortion Rights--the great majority of the policies introduced are similar to model bills published in that book. And part is the energy generated by the Women's March and subsequent organizing for women's rights.
This effort for the proactive is far from a symbolic. Just over the past year:
- Oregon enacted HB 3391, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which requires health insurance policies across the state to cover abortion, as well as contraception and other reproductive health services, at no cost to the patient.
- Illinois enacted HB 40, which provides Medicaid funding for most abortions, as well as insurance coverage of abortion for state employees.
- Hawaii enacted SB 501, which requires anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to post and distribute notices about the availability of abortion and reproductive health services in the state. Crisis pregnancy centers are anti-abortion offices disguised to look like medical clinics which offer services such as pregnancy tests and prenatal sonograms, and lie about medical facts, all in an effort to stop women from having abortions.
- Maryland enacted SB 1081, which provides financial support to abortion clinics if federal funding is cut. And California Treasurer John Chiang created a program similar to Maryland's, making Community Clinic Lifeline Grants available to facilities that provide abortion services.
- Delaware enacted SB 1, which guarantees the right to abortion under the Roe v. Wade decision. The law also repeals obsolete anti-abortion statutes.
Many of the bills announced today are similar to the new Delaware law. They would "codify" Roe, meaning they would write the constitutional right to abortion into state statutes. This is because the Supreme Court is just one justice's death or retirement away from reversing Roe.
If that ruling is overturned, individual states would decide whether women have access to legal abortion and, at present, only 17 states protect the fundamental right to abortion in their statutes or constitutions. In this potentially decisive election year, it is crucial to understand that such legislation is not just essential policy, it's extremely good politics. Polls consistently show that about 70 percent of Americans support Roe.
Our allies in the states say it better than I can: "Protecting abortion rights is essential to women's freedom, privacy and health. We've had enough of the attacks. Women deserve better," insists Michigan State Senator Rebekah Warren. "We have fought for 45 years to protect the right to abortion under Roe, and we are ready to fight another 45," declares NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri's Executive Director, Alison Dreith.
So let's all do more than demonstrate. And let's not confine ourselves to opposing regressive legislation. It is time to fight for proactive measures that represent our values, the kind of policies that make news, put our opponents on the defensive, and excite Americans who care about women's rights.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.