Ever since the US Supreme Court’s landmark decision on Roe vs Wade in 1973 established that most laws against abortion violate a constitutional right to privacy, the battle-line between the pro-life and pro-choice camps has been drawn.The crux of the issue rests on the assessment of when life actually begins. The divide over abortions in the past few years has only sharpened and spilled over into other arenas such as stem cell research, cloning, assisted suicides and similar issues. For instance, when US President George Bush chose to veto a senate bill allowing federal funding for stem cell research recently, he did so on the ground that it violated the right to life. He is, of course, not alone in making this argument. Pro-life groups, such as the American Life League Organization, believe that life begins at conception. They oppose contraception as a natural extension of their campaign for the right to life. Anti-choice pharmacists in some states have joined in the fray by refusing to fill prescriptions for the emergency contraception pill and other birth control measures.

Moreover, since conservatives also promote abstinence until marriage, this has also dragged the issue of sex outside of marriage into the fray. Some people view the abortion issue as all-out-war and as many as 14 state legislatures have introduced a variety of bills that would restrict abortion and contraception, thereby building the momentum for the possible overturning of Roe by the US Supreme Court.

One does not know how the new justices, Samuel Alito and John Roberts, will vote, but there may still be a slim pro-Roe majority. The nine-member court needs at least five votes for a majority and Roe is now perceived as hanging by a thread. If a pro-Roe judge vacates the seat, and is replaced by a conservative nominee, the balance could tilt. If Roe is overturned, states can then pass laws to ban or restrict abortion as they deem fit. While some states in the midwest or south would probably ban it, others like New York and California would keep it legal.

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