Pro-Abortion Group Plans for When Roe v. Wade Decision Overturned 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 7, 2004
San Jose, CA (LifeNews.com) — The next president could appoint as many as four new Supreme Court judges — potentially changing the face of the abortion debate for decades. However, abortion advocates aren’t waiting around to decide what to do if President Bush is re-elected and his judicial appointees overturn the infamous abortion decision.
Sponsored by a Planned Parenthood abortion business in San Jose, California, local pro-abortion leaders have put together a task force to monitor the situation and figure out how to respond.
Linda Williams, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte, has been meeting with a dozen pro-abortion colleagues.
The group, which bills itself as the "Post-Roe Service Delivery Task Force," is now adding leading abortion advocates from across the country, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News.
In what some detractors say is a ploy to influence the outcome of the presidential election, members of the group say so-called abortion rights would be severely curtailed if Bush wins and Roe is overturned.
"Before Roe there was no organized anti-abortion rights movement. The evolution of the anti-choice ideology, in terms of case law and the opposition stance of some public officials, would make it even more difficult to get a safe abortion than it was in the old days," Williams told the San Jose newspaper.
Williams says her task force found that abortion would remain legal in only nine states, including California, if Roe v. Wade fell.
However, that number may be larger than William’s colleagues believe.
Should the landmark decision be overturned, abortion law across the United States would move from uniformly allowing virtually all abortions to a hodgepodge of state laws.
While most states banned abortion prior to Roe, many repealed their anti-abortion laws after the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision. In about ten others, state Supreme Courts have interpreted privacy provisions in state constitutions to guarantee a sweeping right to abortion.
Still, Williams’ group is looking at ways to develop a network of abortion advocates — the "abortion underground" — who will provide travel or finances for women where abortion is banned to obtain abortions in states where it is legal.
"The most alarming thing we found out is that the post-Roe environment would be even worse for women than it was before the decision," Williams told the San Jose newspaper.
However, Kurt Entsminger, president of Care Net, a national network of pregnancy centers, disagrees.
Entsminger, told LifeNews.com that resources are in place at more than 2,000 pregnancy centers nationwide to provide women with practical pregnancy help — including medical care, education, and financial resources.
"If Roe v. Wade were ever to be overturned, an incredible infrastructure is in place to extend these services on a more widespread basis," Entsminger said. "It’s just a scare tactic to say that women would have no where to turn to help."
Related web sites:
Care Net – https://www.pregnancycenters.org
