Abortion in Louisiana 30 years after Roe v. Wade

January 22, 2003 marks the 30th anniversary of the court case Roe v. Wade which granted women the legal right to abortion.
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, abortion has decreased 41 percent in Louisiana since 1981. However, abortion rates are highest among Black and Hispanic women.
According to the Louisiana Vital Signs Statistics overview, the majority of women who terminate pregnancy are between ages 20 to 24.
“I don’t think it should be legalized. If you choose to have sex, then whatever comes is what happens. You should take responsibility for your own child,” says Christy Brown, a junior nursing major from Marksville.
“It’s difficult for low income women to receive contraceptives. Of poor and uninsured women 25 percent of them receive birth control. Having a low income has a lot to do with it because they don’t have the option to prevent pregnancy,” said Julie Reitman, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood in New Orleans.
Out of a random sample poll, 43% agree that it should be a woman’s personal freedom to abort while 57% believe in a child’s right to life.
President George W. Bush’s stand to favor pro-life and end “the practice of partial-birth abortion” as he said in the State of the Union Address has some women scared and others relieved.
“That would put us back 30 years if the right to abortion was taken away. What about rape victims? It’s her body if she doesn’t want to be pregnant,” said Kimberly Logan, a freshman computer science major from St. Louis.