Roe v. Wade at 30: what are the prospects for abortion provision?

Abstract

What then are the prospects for abortion provision in the United States in the next 30 years? Assuming that Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land there are grounds for both considerable concern and cautious optimism. The opponents of abortion are not going away and battles will continue to be waged on many fronts—vociferously in the halls of Congress and in front of clinics and more quietly in hospital administrators’ suites (as decisions are made about incorporating abortion services) and in offices of the small businesses (such as laundries) that are pressured by antiabortion groups not to service local clinics. Prochoice forces will win some of these battles and lose others. Certainly new technologies that have the potential to expand abortion access and to facilitate earlier abortions (and thus perhaps change the cultural meaning of abortion) are an important development as are the numerous activities of newly energized prochoice medical organizations. Ultimately however the prochoice movement’s greatest asset in this ongoing struggle is the extraordinary dedication of the health care professionals who have—in spite of everything—taken on abortion provision and developed a passion for their work that one rarely hears about in other areas of medicine. (excerpt)