Originally published December 27 2005
Supreme Court case will set the tone for abortion rights in the U.S.
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Supreme Court is reviewing a New Hampshire law that restricts teenagers' access to abortion clinics, and many believe the outcome will influence abortion legislation at the state level for years to come.
If it votes to reinstate the law, the case will mark a fresh limitation on Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling which established a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy.
But in some states - notably Mississippi - local laws have already rendered the 1973 ruling all but irrelevant.
While some hospitals do offer the procedure in extremely limited circumstances, the majority of women wanting an abortion leave the state to get one.
For the US anti-abortion movement, Mississippi is an excellent example of how to achieve the aim of curbing terminations without waiting - potentially in vain - for the Supreme Court to overturn the historic ruling which made them legal.
After the woman has found hundreds of dollars to pay for the procedure, she is obliged to attend a counselling session, during which she is required by law to be told of a link between abortion and breast cancer.
The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice think tank whose findings are quoted by both sides, says abortion is only available in 13% of US counties.
Americans United For Life sees change at the state level as the most pragmatic way of proceeding.
Its president, Peter Samuelson, does not believe Americans are ready for an end to Roe v Wade - "not yet anyway", and does not in any case believe the ruling will be imminently overturned by the Supreme Court.
US ABORTION RIGHTS No state may ban abortion But state may regulate all abortions Curbs should not place "undue burden" on woman But up to women to prove if restrictions damaging Most common restrictions: parental consent, limitation on state funding, waiting periods "With each new state law public opinion moves with it.
"Pro-lifers have been incredibly successful on the PR front," admits Dr Wendy Chavkin, chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.
At the same time, the pro-choice movement has struggled to find the right language.
Its perceived shift towards portraying abortion as a "necessary evil" which women often find traumatic but unavoidable has been seized on by the anti-abortion movement to bolster its case that, far from being liberating, terminations are a terrible experience for women and should be banned for their sake.
It would force the pro-choice lobby to argue their case with voters at the state level, so the thinking goes, and stop them relying on unelected courts to impose their views.
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