On this day in 1973, in the Roe v. Wade case, the US Supreme Court ruled that women had the right to control their own reproductive health care, including the right to terminate a pregnancy:
Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) A person may choose to have an abortion until a fetus becomes viable, based on the right to privacy contained in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Viability means the ability to live outside the womb, which usually happens between 24 and 28 weeks after conception.
Then in June 2022, US Supreme Court, with three conservative justices appointed by Donald Trump, abandoned its duty to protect fundamental rights, including the right to privacy, and overturned Roe v. Wade, ruling there is no federal constitutional right to abortion. The ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abandoned nearly 50 years of precedent and marked the first time in history that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right.
I feel very fortunate to be living in Colorado where, in 2024, voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment which codified a constitutional right to abortion. It won’t help me, but it will protect my granddaughter and other female relatives in this state. It also protects the rights of women across the country who can afford to travel to Colorado. It is tragic that so many women are now being denied a basic right that all women enjoyed for 52 years.
________________
“Roe v. Wade Anniversary Day” is the official designation approved by the Colorado General Assembly. Outside of Colorado, other designations have been assigned by other groups.
Header image: Screenshot from The Women’s March at Freedom Plaza in Washington in 2024.
I, too, live in a state where the voters overwhelmingly voted to keep abortion legal by adding it to our state’s constitution. Despite this, the day after the election, our governor said, “They didn’t know what they were voting for.” I knew what I was voting for when I voted to the keep the option for women to obtain a safe abortion and protecting other people from being criminalized. Despite this, the state’s elected officials are constantly trying to dial it back and even pretend that the voters didn’t vote to codify abortion rights in the state’s constitution.
Of course, these are some of the same politicians who have ignored the two mandates, that passed overwhelmingly with 75 and 80 percent respectively, about anti-gerrymandering of the state, even changing the language of the third one on the ballot to make “YES” seem like “NO” and vice versa. (It failed and the state is still gerrymandered in both its state and congressional districts). So much for “we the people…”
Congrats to the people of Colorado for having politicians who actually listen to the constituency!
And to the people in your state, as well. I moved here from OK about 20 years ago, and they (OK) did the same thing with tricky wording on state questions. Your yes vote was likely to mean no, and vice versa. Sadly, that state is so red that only another federal law will change it.
let’s go! never go back, and claw our way back where we need to
Yes, seriously. It’s outrageous that rights — RIGHTS! — that I had to manage my own health care in private are now denied to more than 25 million American women.