Roe v Wade 40th anniversary: activists reflect on the state of the debate

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/22/roe-v-wade-anniversary-activists-reflect

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On the 40th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision, the politics of abortion are more polarized than ever. To get a sense of what it's like on the frontlines of the pro-choice and pro-life movements, we've asked two activists – Jeanne Monahan from the March For Life and Charlotte Taft from Abortion Care Network – to take us inside their work. In the following interview, Monahan and Taft explain how their advocacy strategies have changed over the years and how they see the future of the abortion debate in the US.

<strong>Charlotte Taft, director of the Abortion Care Network.</strong>

Taft has been an abortion counselor since 1975 and is the author of the downloadable counseling DVD Before Abortion: <em>Making a choice you can live with and living with the choice you have made.</em>

<strong>Jeanne Monahan, director of the March For Life Education and Defense Fund</strong>

Before her previous job as director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, Monahan served in various capacities at the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Do you see Roe v Wade being overturned in the near future?

<strong>Charlotte Taft: </strong>In my 40 years as a pro-choice counselor I have often worried that Roe would be overturned. Though I don't see that happening in the near future, supporters of illegal abortion have found other ways to turn a personal decision into one controlled by politicians.

They have also spent 40 years and millions of dollars to make abortion illegal. And they have failed.

I have come to realize that Roe didn't create a right – it simply recognized one. Women have been making responsible decisions about pregnancy for thousands of years. Women have always been the gatekeepers of life. It is not just our right, but also our responsibility to decide when to bring new life into the world. Women who have abortions take very seriously the responsibilities that come both with birth, and with nurturing a child. Anti-choices extremists have made it especially difficult for women of color, poor women, and young women to access legal abortion.

<strong>Jeanne Monahan</strong>: We have hope that the human rights abuse of abortion will one day be brought to an end. In the past four decades abortion has taken the life of 55 million unique human lives and has wounded many mothers involved in such a decision. While the timing of this all is outside of our hands, we will continue to do everything possible to build a culture of life in the United States and to work ourselves out of a job!

How do you position yourself against the pro-life/pro-choice movement?

<strong>Taft</strong>: Ensuring that good women and their families can make this personal decision with dignity, safety, and respect is my calling and my life's work. It is the work of my heart. It is not a position, but represents the dream of a world in which women and children are truly valued. And it is not against anyone or any other ideas.

I have counseled with thousands of women. Whether they chose birth or abortion, their concern was always more about their responsibilities than their rights.

I have realized how important it is to speak honestly and courageously about even the most uncomfortable aspects of pregnancy and abortion. Those who support illegal abortion are clever and driven enough to exploit anything to their own ends, including the emotional and spiritual pain that some women experience with pregnancy. They shame women and try to trick them into their fake clinics, or make them jump through higher and higher hoops in order to access a medical service that is protected by the Constitution.

<strong>Monahan</strong>: Frankly I'm very new to the helm at March For Life and I don't consider myself a strategic leader of the pro life movement. I can't think of a time recently when I changed position based on what the other side has doing. We focus more on looking at our cause, and staying positive.<br />We've focused a lot more on ultrasounds and technology that aids us in seeing and communicating the humanity of the baby. I've noticed over the years that the opposition has begun to focus on the humanity of the baby as well. This might sound crass the but the opposition used to refer to the baby as lifeless blob of tissue. That is very different now that we know about the heartbeat and the blood flowing.

The other side has started to recognize the humanity of the baby over time and that's something we're all agreeing upon.

How do you think the rest of the world views the US's current stance on abortion rights?

<strong>Taft</strong>: I think most of the world is frightened, confused and horrified by the violence and arrogance of the anti-choices movement. It is hard to respect a movement that calls itself 'Right to Life' yet whose rhetoric has led to eight murders. The rest of the world cannot understand why politicians give authority to a movement that uses shame, stigma, outright lies, deception, intimidation and extortion. It is inexplicable that the Catholic church is given so much power in a nation founded on religious liberty. It is hard to comprehend a movement that purports to want fewer abortions, but whose politicians consistently oppose access to birth control, as well as social changes that would lessen the need for abortion.

In this country we have made abortion an extremely safe medical procedure.

Women's rights are human rights, and abortion providers are human rights defenders.

<strong>Monahan</strong>: Given the fact that the US has the least restrictive laws on abortion in the western world, I suspect that most non-Americans (along with the far majority of Americans) would prefer that we had some limits on such an invasive and life-changing procedure.

Describe the crux of the pro-choice fight today. What is the most important role of young pro-choice activists in that fight?

<strong>Taft</strong>: I believe the movement has a vision of a world in which the lives of women and children are valued---a world of true choices. In this world women make personal, sacred decisions about motherhood, and we trust them to do that. We recognize that women are not the enemies of our children—even the ones we choose not to bring into the world. Ensuring true choices includes creating a society with healthcare; access to effective birth control; education; childcare; affordable housing; parental leave; gender and wage equality; and shared care of children.

In this world of reproductive justice no woman has a baby because she can't afford an abortion; and no woman has an abortion because she can't afford a baby. This is the 'pro-life' world I dream of.

Young women and men who share this vision are infused with the same 'unquenchable fire' for justice that has long fueled this dream. My organization, the Abortion Care Network (independent abortion providers and allies) is fortunate to have passionate young voices on our board of directors and in our member clinics and organizations working with those of us who have been in the movement for many years.

All over the country we have seen young women and men participating in creative demonstrations and pushbacks against the Draconian abortion regulations enacted by members of the American Taliban. They bring humor, creativity, energy, networking talent, a fresh perspective, and a know-how for Social media that allows us to connect with allies in all kinds of progressive movements. They are the future!

<strong>Monahan</strong>: While we are somber reflecting upon the 55 million unique lives lost to abortion in the past forty years, we have much hope in that we are gaining tremendous ground, one state and one young person at a time. Nearly 200 pro-life laws have been enacted at the state level in the last three years. And opinion polls reveal that not only are the majority of Americans pro-life, but in particular, young people are leading the way.

I see young people as the generation that will change the tide on the human rights abuse of abortion.

I think generally they're the best ambassadors for the cause. They lack the cynicism of people like me. They're ready to change the world. Their desire to change the world that's so attractive and I would never want to hold them back or stand in their way.