Legal Abortion in Danger!
In the July 1974 publication of Ms. magazine, there was a small clip out slip titled, “Legal Abortion in Danger! Your Action Needed to Save It!” This was a cut out slip that educated readers on the current status of legal abortion in the U.S., post-Roe, and told readers how to protest the ban of legal abortion. At this point, the Senate was having hearings to ban abortion within the Constitution, effectively overturning Roe and many “Right to Life” conservative antiabortion groups had already gathered 70 signatures in the House of Representatives.[25] Legal abortion and Roe were in jeopardy.[26] The cut out advises readers of Ms. to write to Congress and express their opposition to the Constitutional Amendments and also to join the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).[27] NARAL was reinvigorated by the antiabortion movement that emerged post-Roe because safe and legal abortion was at stake.[28]
The issue of legal abortion was that abortion was not a constitutional right, instead it was a constitutional right to privacy, or more specifically, the privacy in making one’s own decision to have an abortion.[29] As easily as legal abortion could be granted, it could also be taken away, Roe was less of a landmark ruling and more of an impermanent right. The decision to actually have an abortion became a medical decision, women could obtain an abortion only with the approval and willingness of her doctor, this limited women’s ability to have ownership over their own health.[30] Medicaid no longer covered abortion procedures and as Senator Jacob Javits said, without proper funding, “the poor will use coat hangers and the wealthy will go to clinics.”[31] Criminalizing abortion again would never decrease the need for safe abortions. Dismantling welfare and requiring minors to get parental consent for abortions was a way to ridicule and hurt young women for engaging in sexual behaviour.[32] It is evident that at this point, just a year and a half after the legalization of abortion, access to safe abortion was at risk. The conservative and religious backlash that emerged almost instantly after Roe in 1973 would prove to be detrimental, women’s health rights were in need and this is reflected through the cut out to petition Congress offered in Ms.
To learn more about how the conservative backlash emerged incrementally, view "The Modern American Anti-Abortion Movement" exhibit by Will Foley.
