Principles Governing Reproductive Freedom

Abstract

Most cultures have systematically denied women an equal and autonomous voice on every issue from the election of public officials to the control of their own bodies and lives. When women have organized or spoken out, a degree of social change has followed. But these small steps forward to liberty and equality generate a powerful backlash. Indeed, it now appears that Roe's constitutional protection of the notion that women, like men, own their bodies, was only a brief historic interlude. For the foreseeable future, many women will again be denied
reproductive choice and the effort to achieve an enduring guarantee of reproductive freedom will be prolonged, costly, and will demand painful compromises. It is therefore important to articulate our goals and to understand
the nature of the opposition we will encounter before discussing and formulating strategies to be pursued.