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I remember the day we heard the news that the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade. I thought, Good. That’s over and done with. Next?

It’s not astonishing that nearly 50 years later we’re still discussing it because Roe v. Wade has never been over. It’s been whittled bit by bit in the hope that the right to an abortion can be killed by a thousand tiny cuts. Now that there’s a 5 to 4 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, it’s suddenly a hot topic again.

Back then, in 1972, it was a life and death concern. I knew women who had had to have abortions. Fortunately, I didn’t know any who had died in the process. I knew women who knew women who had, and that was close enough. I didn’t know any men who had died in Viet Nam either, but I knew people who knew men who had, and that was close enough to keep the anti-war protests focused.

At that time, while the draft was still in effect, I wanted females to have to register for the draft, just so that I could refuse. It seemed to me that the 14th Amendment – “…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”—applied to soldiers sent off to war. Similarly, the 14th Amendment was applied to Roe v. Wade and defended a woman’s fundamental right to an abortion.

The draft was so unpopular, so unjust, and so incendiary that it was abandoned the following year. Over and done with. Next?

Why are abortion rights still being tested?

Or more to the point, why do men get to have any say-so on the issue? Since abortion has absolutely nothing to do with males and only concerns a female’s life, liberty, and property, I do not understand why we allow a single man to open his mouth. If only women debated, voted, and ruled, I think we would come to some consensus. And I don’t permit any “viability” tests; until the umbilical cord is cut, the personhood belongs to the female and the female alone.

That’s how I felt then. That’s how I feel now. I’ve wept over abortions that maybe I would have considered keeping, but it wasn’t my decision. I’ve wept over the misery of women who make such a huge decision alone, but I honor their choices. I continue to weep for the threat of unwanted pregnancy hanging over women, and the lousy options they have.

In 1972, the Supreme Court decision felt like a fundamental right was affirmed. To my rational mind, the arguing was over and done with. Like a lot of fundamental rights – the right to vote, the right to assemble, the right to marry – we have to assert and reassert and defend and redefend over and over again. Of course, 1972 was the same year that the Senate approved the Equal Rights Amendment. Over and done with. Next?