Abortion Rights

May, 1973: The abortion issue has been settled by the windfall Supreme Court ruling favoring early abortions--or has it? Do we really understand clearly the arguments for and against abortion? Supreme Court decisions are here one day and gone the next. 'The doubts and confusion will linger until they are resolved by careful examination....

A superprofit industry has been built around unwanted pregnancies, reaping rewards for institutions as diverse as the Catholic Church, the legal profession, the medical industry, and industries relying upon cheap captive female labor.... All of these people oppose abortion for the simple reason that abortion reduces their profits.... Let the profit takers beware the first fight took place in the "halls of justice." The second will return to the alleys where it began. We don't want laws and reforms any longeronly what is ours. (Mary Waxman)

June, 1973: The current abortion "reform" bill in Ohio is, to put it quite simply, a dirty trick. To quote the bill, it states "no person shall purposely take the ▾ life of a fetus born alive".... If this bill passes, it will be a sad day for women of Ohio.

September, 1973: Since the January 22nd Supreme Court rulings outlining a woman's right to abortion, the total number of bills calling for an anti-abortion amendment to the Constitution has reached 19.... Write your representative in the U.S. House today and let her/him know of your opposition to any form of constitutional amendment on abortion....

October, 1973: On Monday evening, September 24th, Cleveland City Council passed an emergency zoning law banning abortion clinics from single family, multi-family, and residential office districts in Cleveland.... Fairview Park and Mayfield Heights have forced a delay in the opening of proposed clinics in those two communities. Now a proposed clinic on Shaker Boulevard in Cleveland has been threatened.

February, 1974: It's 1 p.m. There are about 20 of us. We're marching in front of the bank in a circle. The TV reporter takes off his gloves to write and the photographer awkwardly adjusts the camera. And then they come...in full regalia...with 8x10 glossy pictures of feet held between 2 fingers and bloody fetuses.... (The Abortion Task Force)

March, 1974: On March 15, Preterm opened its doors for the first appointments....

July, 1974: The Wilkowski Bill 989 is now law in Ohio. It is an oppressive setback for the women's rights struggle and we should be aware of what our enemy has planned for us.... Now that this unconstitutional law has been passed, we must never assume that the anti-abortion forces will relent and allow us our civil rights....

and religious attitudes. (anonymous former Right to Lifer)

September, 1974: John Glenn said that he has an "open mind" on a Right to Life amendment, but that he does not believe in "imposing [his] personal beliefs by law in matters of personal conscience and morals." He is personally opposed to abortion, and believes that some laws are necessary "to protect unborn children," but only after the first four months of pregnancy....

January, 1975: Attorneys for the National Organization for Women and the ACLU at Columbus recently won the test case challenging Ohio's refusal to pay for physician-approved elective abortions for welfare recipients....

April, 1975: A recent conviction in Boston of Dr. Kenneth Edelin for a second trimester abortion will be a major defeat for the women's movement if not overturned. Two thousand women in Boston immediately turned out to demonstrate their support

IT'S A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE!

for him and for women's right to choose abortion. These late abortions have been performed legally for decades on endangered women,.... Thus, the Edelin decision will take away not only new rights, but rights which had existed well before the 1973 Supreme Court decision.

January, 1976: With its decision of 1973, the Supreme Court granted us abortion rights. Now, not quite 3 years later, it has undercut those rights by refusing to review a Beaumont, Texas ban on abortions....As has been the case with blacks and the civil rights movement, women are now seeing the fast erosion of whatever gains we made during the height of the women's movement....

August, 1974: When one talks about the possibility of changing anti-abortionists, one must first talk about changing one or more of their deep-rooted personal convictions. Unfortunately, openness and the ability to change are lacking in most people, particularly those with a strong dogmatism. However, it has happened before and it will happen again. I am living testimony to that. My hope is that as we begin to understand what makes the "Right to Lifers" tick, we can more effectively hit their soft spots in debate, and more accurately predict the future of the abortion struggle in the light of existing political, social at « some supportive men gathered at the State Office

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July, 1977: Abortion is the issue-in Congress, in the courts, in the streets. In Cleveland on Friday, June 24 at noon, a group of 100 to 150 women with

Building to demand the continuation of Medicaid funding for abortion in Ohio....

Concerted action is necessary now. On June 20, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 6-3 against state responsibility to provide Medicaid reimbursement for abortions.... The court also ruled that publicly supported hospitals may not be forced to provide abortion services, even though they provide other pregnancy-related care.... (Marycatherine Krause)

January, 1978: In October of 1977, an ordinance that will regulate abortions in Akron was introduced into City Council. It is reported...to be the toughest regulation in the country.... While the ordinance, if passed, would affect only women in Akron, it could ultimately affect every woman in the country. The compulsory-pregnancy pushers are using Akron as a testing ground...and have plans to introduce the ordinance around the country if they are successful here.

June, 1978: Serious prohibitions on Medicaid funded abortions have resulted from a House-Senate compromise which will allow payment only when a woman might die by going through a full-term pregnancy, for rape or incest victims who make prompt reports to police or health service agencies, and in cases where 2 doctors certify that a woman would suffer severe and long-lasting physical health damage because of pregnancy....

As Representative Henry J. Hyde and other antiabortionists celebrate the dubious distinction of denying aid to poor women, the government continues to finance abortions for servicewomen, wives and daughters of military personnel, and millions of civil servants and their dependents. As stated in The Cleveland Press, Hyde and other compulsory pregnancy proponents are "likely to find that denying treatment to articulate government workers is not so easy as denying aid to poor women"....

Although suffering major defeats this past year, pro-choice forces have demonstrated their ability to delay massive pieces of legislation for long periods of time....

March, 1978: It's becoming harder and harder to ignore the trend in anti-abortion legislation. Unfortunately it isn't a simple matter of thumbing your nose at a Right to Life motorcade to make yourself heard. It's standing up to a highly organized, highly vocal mass of people whose basic security is threatened-the security afforded by the system where women make babies and men make the world go around....

It's frustrating.... It's so much easier to withdraw into the women's community and hope that somehow the rest of the world will step into line. After all, there have been dedicated groups and individuals in the community who have been working for abortion rights for a long time. But since this issue affects every woman, each one of us must learn to be effective in the struggle....

March, 1978: The Concerned Women's Clinic in Cleveland was destroyed by a firebomb on February 18.... This is the 6th firebombing to occur in the past 6 months at a mid-western abortion clinic........

March, 1978: On March 12, 35 spokespersons from Ohio pro-choice organizations met in Columbus and formed Freedom of Choice of Ohio, a statewide coalition.... Immediate priority is to respond to Dr. Wilke's edict to Right-to-Life chapters to file "Akron" ordinances in every city where there is a Right-to-Life chapter....

March, 1978: Akron City Council passed the [Akron] ordinance by a 7 to 6 vote. Despite his careful assurances of support for the Akron Pro-

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