Legislation won't stop abortions

In this world, nothing is certain but death, taxes and abortion.

The reality is that no matter what we do or say, abortion will never go away. This is not theory; this is reality.

Jan. 22, 2012, is the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade . Before Roe , abortion was illegal, and women died from unsafe, botched abortions.

Nevertheless, those who oppose abortion continue their fight to make it illegal. Knowing that Democrats control both the White House and the Senate and that if Roe is overturned, decisions relating to abortion will go to the states, the strategy changed. Being ever resourceful and passionate in their efforts to ban abortion, their cause moved with renewed fervor from the federal level to the states.

With a focus on state elections, 2010 saw a significant increase in the number of anti-choice legislators, producing majorities in an additional 16 states. That led to the massive number of bills aimed at restricting women's reproductive rights in the 2011 state legislatures.

The strategy worked and reaped huge rewards for those opposed to abortion. State legislators paid unprecedented attention to issues relating to women's reproductive health care. Nationwide, they introduced 1,100 reproductive health and rights-related provisions, and 137 of these have been enacted.

Included are provisions requiring a waiting period. Five states use fear tactics such as the misleading information that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. North Carolina preys on a woman's fear by telling her that having an abortion can impair her future fertility and have mental health consequences. Several states — including Texas, Arizona, Florida, Kansas and North Carolina — adopted provisions mandating that a woman obtain an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. The Texas law even goes so far as to require abortion providers to display the ultrasound images and describe them in detail.

The 2011 state provisions restricting women's reproductive rights go on and on, including reporting requirements, medication abortion (RU486), insurance coverage and public funding as well as family planning programs. Five states moved to restrict eligibility for family planning funds for providers that have any association with abortion.

In Virginia, legislators have already successfully incorporated into the code many restrictions limiting access to reproductive health care, including a conscience clause for hospitals and doctors who choose not to perform abortions, parental notification, a 24-hour waiting period and informed consent, parental consent and clinic regulations.

What is next, and how does the state strategy affect Virginia?

In the November 2011 election, members opposed to abortion increased their numbers in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate, with anti-choice legislators now controlling both chambers.

So far, the bills filed in the 2012 Virginia General Assembly include mandatory ultrasound prior to abortion, repealing abortion funding for low-income women where the fetus would be born with gross and totally incapacitating physical deformity, prohibiting coerced or forced abortion, and a personhood bill that would grant a fertilized egg the status of a person — one can only imagine the repercussions. It would be like dropping a time bomb on women. Would it outlaw certain forms of birth control? Would emergency contraception be considered murder?

How the current makeup of the Virginia legislature will affect women's reproductive health care remains to be seen — but no matter what they do, abortion is on the agenda.

Restricting access to abortion and making abortion illegal is not the answer. Women deserve the full range of reproductive choices — including abstinence, contraception, motherhood, adoption and abortion. The way to reduce the number of abortions is to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by educating women and providing them greater access to family planning options.

Abortion is certain, and laws will not stop it. In the effort to stop abortions, restrictions such as waiting periods, ultrasounds and regulations are all exercises in futility. None of these will stop abortion, they will only make it less safe — and women will die.

Finally, reflect on the words of a woman who recalled her sister's experience prior to Roe: "My sister died in 1953 when she had an illegal abortion. The law did not stop her from having the abortion; it just prevented her from getting a safe procedure."

Happy anniversary, Roe v. Wade . Thank you for saving the lives of so many women.