COVER STORY ARTICLE |
"What women want"
January 21, 2006
What women want
For 33 years many American women have believed that what's legal must be OK—only to have their consciences, moments or decades later, tell them differently | Lynn Vincent
Hours before Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's confirmation hearings began Jan. 9 on Capitol Hill, Myra Myers sought a hearing of her own on the steps of the Supreme Court. She carried her message on a dark blue sign that read: "My abortion hurt me."
Mrs. Myers, now 61, was 28 and married when she learned she was pregnant with her sixth child in January 1973. Just weeks after the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, her husband persuaded her to have an abortion and later reassured her, "It was the only thing that could be done."
"I thought that because it was legal it might be OK," Mrs. Myers told WORLD. "And I believed the lie that the child I was carrying was not a baby." Both spouses now say it was the worst decision they ever made.
Aborted justice: Roe v. Wade timeline
1968: Birthright International, the first international crisis pregnancy service, is founded in Canada.
Jan. 22, 1973: Roe v. Wade legalizes abortion on demand. Doe v. Bolton rules the "health of the mother" includes emotional, psychological, and familial factors as well as age. Doe also strikes down the requirement that abortions be performed only in hospitals, giving rise to the abortion clinic.
1975: Care Net is founded.
July 1, 1976: Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth strikes state law requiring parents of minors or spouses to consent to the abortion.
July 2, 1979: Bellotti v. Baird leaves room for states to require that unmarried minors obtain parental consent for abortion.
Find out how to get instant access to this article and one month of WORLD for only $5.00! If you are already a subscriber, please log in below.
Receive instant access to this article and the WORLDMag.com Archives
Plus, enjoy 2 issues of WORLD Magazine for only $5.00*
Want a different
type of subscription? Click here for Online-Only
Subscription options. Or
here for Print
Subscription options
(which include online subscription access).