For the past 28 years, January 22 has been an occasion to celebrate. It marks the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the historic Supreme Court decision that established constitutional protection for a woman's right to choose an abortion. Yet this year's celebration of that landmark decision, protecting private childbearing decisions from the whims of hostile legislatures, is tempered by the recognition that reproductive freedom is in grave jeopardy.
Reproductive autonomy is a fundamental right.
While the right to control one's reproductive destiny is embedded in the constitutional right to privacy, it is also critical to the guarantee of equality for women. The struggle to protect that right has been a long and dramatic battle. Roe v. Wade was not the end, but rather the opening salvo in what has been nearly three decades of litigation, lobbying and protest by the movement for women's equality. That work has clearly paid off. The vast majority of Americans now support the right to choose.