Despite the best efforts of the pro-life movement, the right to safe and legal abortions turns 42 today. In response, anti-abortion fighters are ramping up their efforts to make abortions illegal and life threatening again.
An estimated 500,000 people have descended on Washington, D.C. to march against a person’s right to control their own reproductive health. The 42nd annual March for Life takes place today, the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.
Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court decision, granted citizens the right to have safe and legal abortions, ending decades of dangerous black market procedures and DIY wire hanger operations.
The main mission of the March for Life is to repeal that right, sending the country back into the unsafe territory that criminalizing abortions creates — and the vast majority of the people marching will be young adults, thanks to the organization’s heavy recruitment of youth groups.
In addition to marching to repeal a person’s right to privacy (the crux of Roe v. Wade), the group is extending a special dedication this year to birth control, calling on leaders to take action against what they consider abortifacients — forms of birth control that cause an abortion.
But the types of birth control the group wants to outlaw are not considered abortifacients by the medical community. They prevent a fertilized egg, which March for Life views as a person, from implanting in a uterus, therefore causing an abortion to take place in the eyes of the organization.
And while abortion clinics state and nationwide are fighting just to stay open, government officials are constantly pushing to impose more and more restrictions on abortion.
Meanwhile, pro-life centers that masquerade as abortion clinics and disseminate false information, known as crisis pregnancy centers, are thriving. These centers knowingly lie to patients, telling them, for example, that abortions increase their chance of contracting breast cancer, which has been proven false by Planned Parenthood, the National Cancer Institute and Guttmacher Institute. They are under no regulations.
It’s now more important than ever for students to pay attention to the actions of the March for Life movement and their goals in the wake of these challenges to reproductive health care.
A common argument of pro-life advocates is if someone does not want to have children, they should refrain from having sex.
While it may seem sound, this argument is incredibly flawed. Multiple studies have proved abstinence-only sex education does not work, and people who are not prepared to raise children still want to have sex.
All forms of birth control are fallible, sans abstinence, which should really not be discussed as a form of birth control because it’s not a viable option for anyone wanting to have safe sex.
Sex is not a shameful act and is not something that anyone should be “forced to face the consequences of,” as pro-life rhetoric often states.
The Roe v. Wade decision has a contentious year ahead of it. Congress already has promised to pass a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks — and President Obama has promised to veto said bill.
More and more, people are fighting to take away a right that was declared inalienable 42 years ago today. As hundreds of thousands march toward the Supreme Court today, students should take the time to research the narratives of the pro-life movement and the harm it has caused and is continuing to cause nationwide.
Following the Roe v. Wade decision, the pro-choice movement rejoiced. “No More Wire Hangers!” became a celebratory chant. It has since become a cautionary reminder to pro-lifers of the darkness of a pre-Roe v. Wade world.
The decision has stood strong for 42 years, despite desperate fights to reduce it — and it’s going to take more than 500,000 people to block the reproductive rights of millions of women.
Logan Anderson is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Houston, Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LoganD_Anderson.