by Sandra Fu

Thirty years ago, an ambitious twentysomething named Sarah Weddington took on the U. S. Supreme Court in the landmark case of Roe v. Wade and won, in turn establishing a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion. On that day, health activists across the nation celebrated, relieved and grateful that women with unwanted pregnancies had an option beyond illegal abortions either in another country or in the dangerous back-alleys of the United States. Prior to Roe, countless girls and young women who felt they had nowhere to go and no one they could trust had resorted to such self-inflicted attempts at birth control. These grim scenarios are a lamentable part of our history's past and that is where they should stay.

Yet many mistakenly believe that the threat to overturn Roe v. Wade is a bunch of paranoid, liberal-media hype, and that their rights are established freedoms set in stone. But the truth is that several judgments have been successfully appealed in the past -- and Roe v. Wade is no different. We must keep a vigilant guard on a woman's right to choose before it is taken away. January 22 should remind us all that a hanger wasn't the answer then and it shouldn't be the answer in the future.

Let's not forget that President Bush, a self-proclaimed born-again Christian -- something that usually happens to people who get DUIs and have histories of drug abuse -- supports the Anti-Choice movement (why is it those who sin are always so eager to point out everyone else's "sins"?). Further, in an alarming sign of changes to come that endangers not only Roe v. Wade but future racial and civil rights issues, President Bush is moving to nominate and confirm 100 conservative judges in the coming year.

Last year Bush nominated Judge Charles W. Pickering and Judge Priscilla Owen to lifetime seats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, but both were rejected by the Judiciary Committee due to certain controversial stances found in their respective records of service. Judge Pickering demonstrated a disturbing disregard for racial, civil rights and choice issues, while Judge Owen was rejected due to her troubling attacks on reproductive freedom, consumer's rights and worker's rights. Yet, in a move that displays a tenacious disregard for the decisions of not just America's judicial system but the will of its majority as well, these same two judges who were deemed unfit just last year have been callously resubmitted by President Bush, who is crusading to fill courtrooms across the U.S. with an ever-growing contingency of neo-conservative proponents. It is these same judges that will be making profound decisions that will affect all aspects of American life; the freedom, liberty and justice that we presume all U.S. citizens to have may be a distant memory for select groups of people.

You gotta fight for your right. Sarah Weddington paves the way for reproductive rights everywhere.

With sentiments like those of Senator Trent Lott becoming ever more pervasive -- beginning with those of his protégé Judge Pickering -- it is definitely time to take action. These controversial judges must be rejected and those who are concerned should show their support and urge their senators to filibuster if necessary. Go to the Act For Change website to make a difference and to make yourself heard. Too often, Americans take their rights for granted, assuming that the law will always be there for them when times get rough or injustices are visited upon them. But women especially should know better: let us never forget that just 30 years ago women were not in control of their reproductive rights and a mere 53 years before that, women were not even permitted to vote.

Let's stop the trend of destroying women's rights before it begins.

21 January 03