Tonight! Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade at University of Texas at Austin
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, will deliver a speech on the importance of the future of the pro-choice movement tonight: Thursday, January 17 at 6:30 p.m.
I just posted a message from Sara Cleveland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, on the fabulous Burnt Orange Report, and I hope you'll take a few moments to check it out. Here's an excerpt:
So why is the anniversary so important this year, as opposed to others? Well, as this anniversary coincides with the 2008 presidential elections, we know the best way to protect a woman's right to choose for future generations is to elect pro-choice leaders who share these values.Nancy's address will talk about the need to make sure all Americans see a place for themselves in the conversation over a women's right to choose. It makes sense for this call to action to take place in Texas, where the Roe case originated. You will see generations of pro-choice supporters and hear from Nancy about the importance of uniting behind our common goal of protecting women's freedom and privacy to ensure future celebrations of Roe v. Wade.
And certainly, if you're in the Austin are, I sincerely hope you will join us. Here's the information:
Thompson Conference Center, University of Texas at Austin
2405 Robert Dedman Drive
Austin, Texas
January 17, 2008
6:30 p.m.
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I'm struck, and a little skeptical about Ms. Keenan's rather obfuscating phrase "...make sure all Americans see a place for themselves in the conversation over a women's right to choose." Does she mean the abortion question, and others related to it, should be opened to a genuine public debate, and decided by a vote of the people, either directly or through their elected representatives? If so it marks a seismic shift in approach by the liberal abortion movement. Up to now they've managed to keep abortion legal by doing the very opposite - preventing any meaningful expression of the people's will, by having the supreme court act like the supreme law-making entity in the nation.
Seven men in 1973 decided abortion should be legal for any reason, de jure during the first two trimesters, de facto throughout pregnancy. At the time, popular opinion was running against abortion, and abortion promoters were doing badly in state legislatures. Roe solved all that by making the legislature (and the people's wishes) irrelevant to the whole question. The courts are where the pro-abortion movement forced its will on the people. That's where their clout is. Why try to move back to the legislature, or to referenda (as Keenan's words seem to suggest)?