I want to applaud Johanna Costa for bringing attention to the importance of the 29th anniversary of Roe v. Wade that occurred on Jan. 22. The court's decision in Roe v. Wade ensured that women have a right to legal abortion through their constitutional right to privacy. The same right to privacy that gives women the right to choose abortion also gave all citizens access to contraceptives in the landmark case of Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965. This right to control the health and well-being of our own bodies is an American freedom worth great celebration and is a privilege known in few countries throughout the world.
Although abortion is an option that many Americans of our younger generation take for granted, only 30 years ago women faced grave health risks without safe, legal abortion. Worldwide over 200,000 women die every year from unsafe, illegal abortions in nations where they are denied access to this medical procedure.
This statistic points out two very important truths that anti-choice, or so-called "pro-life," supporters would prefer you ignore. First of all, women die every day because they don't have access to a very simple, affordable, and safe medical procedure. Secondly, outlawing or denying access to abortion procedures won't stop their occurrence.
Rather than stopping them, outlawing abortion would endanger the health of women -- women like ourselves or our mothers, sisters, friends, girlfriends, wives or any other woman in our lives who at some point may need to end a pregnancy for any number of reasons, from socioeconomic necessity to physical or even emotional health.
Don't let history be forgotten. Remember the importance of these rights for the health and well-being of all Americans.
Lucy Melvin
President
UNC-CH Choice USA
