Protect the sanctity of life

Last month marked the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court abortion decision. Forty years later, it is actually harder to get an abortion in many states. Access is extremely compromised in southern states; and here in Iowa, Republican lawmakers are introducing legislation to define a personhood as beginning at conception so doctors willing to offer women the full gamut of reproductive services can be charged with murder. This tactic comes from the decision itself, where Justice Harry Blackmun, a Midwestern Republican and staunch defender of reproductive access, wrote that only personhood could undermine abortion as a legal choice.

The 2013 Iowa legislative session opened Jan. 14 with calls for bipartisan cooperation on key issues, including a balanced budget, tax relief, education reform, and job development. Let's hope they remain focused and are not sidetracked by further eroding already imperiled access to reproductive services.

As we celebrate these 40 years, I hope it doesn't take another 40 years for the essence of Roe to be upheld - that the right to privacy extends to the decision of whether or not to have an abortion.

In this non-election year, I hope lawmakers will not use reproductive health as political currency. I hope they will trust women and their health care providers to make decisions in the best interests of their families. That is how we as a state can protect the sanctity of life from conception to death.

Raquel Baker

Vice Chair, board of directors

Emma Goldman Clinic

Iowa City