COLUMN: We must all work to protect the promise of Roe

“So what do you have against dry cleaners?”, my medical school classmate asked.

I looked at him, puzzled, until I remembered the button on my backpack, with a picture of a coat hanger and a big red NO sign.

The coat hanger is a familiar symbol of illegal, unsafe abortion, but I wasn’t surprised that my classmate thought of dry cleaners instead. The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v Wade, issued 43 years ago this week, legalized abortion nationwide. I was born in 1981, and my generation has never lived in a time when receiving or providing abortion care was a criminal act. Even as opponents of abortion have steadily sought to restrict access to abortion at every level and to overturn Roe entirely, it can be easy to believe that safe, legal abortion will always be a reality.

As a physician who provides abortion care, I can say that’s not the case. I’m grateful to those who work tirelessly to defeat measures — six in 2015 alone — aimed at restricting access to abortion in Colorado. Despite multiple attempts by anti-choice activists to pass dangerous and medically unnecessary legislation, Coloradans seeking abortion care do not have to contend with laws already common in other states such as state-mandated delays that force women to wait days for their procedures, or medically inaccurate counseling authored by politicians.

Coloradans have also defeated several “personhood” measures that would severely restrict legal abortion and assisted reproduction.

However, Colorado abortion providers and our patients face ongoing threats and harassment.

When Robert Dear attacked a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic last November, leaving three dead, many dismissed the attack as the isolated actions of a mentally ill individual. It was not. Since 1990, there have been 11 murders and 26 attempted murders that were the result of anti-choice violence. Since the mid-1970s, there have been more than 200 abortion-related arsons and bombings of reproductive health care facilities that provide abortion care. Constant protests outside of abortion clinics are common.

Dear’s rampage was contained not only by the brave actions of law officers and bystanders, but also by precautions in place at Planned Parenthood due to decades of threats of violence.

But here’s the thing: Though highly stigmatized, abortion is a common medical procedure. One in three U.S. women will have an abortion in her lifetime. Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures; legal abortion has a 99-percent safety rate, with a less than 1-percent complication rate, and my colleagues and I work every day to make it even safer through training and research.

These facts compel me to write this call to action: In the face of the ongoing efforts by politicians to restrict abortion in Colorado and beyond, we can no longer take access to safe, legal abortion for granted. Consider that in 2015 alone, state lawmakers considered 396 restrictive laws in 46 states, of which 57 passed into law. Or take a look at Texas, where 23 out of 42 clinics have been forced to shut their doors since 2013 due to anti-abortion laws.

For the sake of my patients, their families, and all Colorado women, I will continue to provide abortion care and advocate for evidence-based health care policy regardless of the political climate. But everyone has a part to play in this effort.

Help end the stigma by using the word abortion in conversation without whispering, and by combating misinformation on social media and everywhere you see it. Elect lawmakers who support reproductive rights, and get involved with organizations like NARAL Colorado and All* Above All that work to advance proactive, pro-choice legislation. Tell your elected representatives that protecting access to comprehensive reproductive health care is important.

We can’t afford to take Roe v. Wade for granted any longer. Let’s work together to reclaim Roe and ensure that every woman who needs an abortion can get one.

Rebecca Cohen, MD, is a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist in the Aurora area. She is a Fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health.