Local abortion rights supporters remember Roe v. Wade anniversary
Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006
Members of the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the National Organization for Women and others who support abortion rights held a vigil Friday night to commemorate the 33 rd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Nearly 30 women and men stood in front of the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville with signs supporting abortion rights as they commemorated the landmark court decision made Jan. 22, 1973.
The group has the vigil every year, said Melanie Dietzel, president of the local chapter, who said one of the reasons it is held is to remember women who lost their lives before legalization. "It was a very important decision made on behalf of a woman’s right to have control over her own body and reproductive choices," Dietzel said. "It is more critical this year because we have a president who has made it very clear that he wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned."
If Federal Court of Appeals Judge Samuel Alito is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade could be overturned because he would be replacing moderate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Dietzel said this would change the "whole complexion" of the court.
Women will die, she said, if abortion is illegal. "No one is going to stop abortions from happening. The only difference will be they will no longer be performed by physicians in a sterile environment."
The right to an abortion, Dietzel said, is also about the right to privacy, a basic right for women to choose what to do with their own bodies. "And no one is pro-abortion, but we are pro-choice," she said.
She said it is disturbing to see men in the Bush administration and members of Congress being so judgmental about a woman’s choice. "These are choices those men will never have to make," she said.
The best way to prevent abortion, she said, is to better educate people so they do not have unplanned pregnancies.
Kate Kuff, from Newton County, said she came to the vigil to make sure abortion remains legal. "I think that a woman should have a choice as to whether or not she wants to have a baby," Kuff said.
Diana Rivers of Elkins said she attended the vigil because she really believes in women’s rights. "And I think a basic right is the right to control our own bodies," she said.
Steve Striffler of Fayetteville said, "It’s a basic human right, I think, to decide what to do with your body."
On the other side of the issue, churches throughout Benton and Washington counties will have Sanctity of Life Sunday, and a March for Life is scheduled in Little Rock, said Wayne Mays, president of Arkansas Right to Life.
The National Right to Life and the state organization have not taken a position on Alito and are not waiting for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, Mays said, adding that it has been a successful strategy of the organizations during the past 30 years to work on the state level with passage of laws such as those banning partial birth abortion and requiring parental consent. As a result, he said, abortion rates are down all over the country. "We’re not putting all of our eggs in that basket," he said of overturning Roe v. Wade.
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