This year marks the 40-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade. That's 40 years of protecting every woman's fundamental right to make her own personal medical decisions. Forty years of ensuring that abortion remains a safe and legal procedure for a woman to consider, if she needs it. But plenty of politicians are still fighting to take that right away. Abortion and politics shouldn't still be an issue. We won't let them get away with it. On this 40th anniversary, those of us who trust women, who value women's health and rights, have something to tell them: Roe is here for good. Learn more: http://bit.ly/U6fArY Transcript: ©2013 Planned Parenthood® Federation of America "ROE V. WADE 40TH ANNIVERSARY: REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH-- PLANNED PARENTHOOD" - VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: TEXT: 40 Years, safe and legal TEXT: In 1965, illegal abortions made up nearly one-fifth of all pregnancy -- and childbirth- related deaths CECILE RICHARDS: I see doctors across the country all the time who unfortunately remember the days before Roe. They remember women dying in emergency rooms, women who didn't have access to legal abortion. And they are a great important reminder that this is a right that cannot take for granted. DR. MILDRED HANSON: - To be a patient of an abortionist was a crime in itself. It just didn't make sense, that we would be withholding a safe, legal procedure that would have eliminated all of this heartache and prominent threat to their lives. DR. EUGENE GLICK: We saw women coming in with incomplete abortions that had been obviously induced. DR. CURTIS BOYD: Women took chances with their life everyday. CBS BROADCASTER: In a landmark ruling the supreme court today legalized abortions. The majority in cases from Texas and Georgia said that the decision to end a pregnancy during the first three months belongs to the woman and her doctor- not the government. TEXT: On January 22, 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in its decision Roe v. Wade SARAH WEDDINGTON: There were lots of people all over the country who were having their own celebrations and getting together and talking about how much it would change life// because for women it meant they were the ones to make that decision, not the government. TEXT: Once made legal--deaths from abortion declined dramatically during the past three decades. TEXT: Today, less than 0.3 percent of women who end a pregnancy sustain a serious complication. CECILE RICHARDS: It's also so important on this 40th anniversary of Roe to recognize and appreciate the doctors and clinicians all across the country who take care of women everyday. TEXT: 40 YEARS SAFE AND LEGAL, BUT THE FIGHT FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH AND RIGHTS CONTINUES..... CECILE RICHARDS: Even as we celebrate the 40th anniversary and the importance that it's made in the lives of women in America, politicians are still trying to take women's access to healthcare. SARAH WEDDINGTON: As we move forward, who our elected officials our in terms of the president, the governors, the members of the house and senate at the congressional level, the state level- that becomes, I think, the most important thing because they are the ones who pass the laws who decides what's going to happen. CECILE RICHARDS: For a long time the pro-life, pro-choice labels have masked the complexity of this topic and how people authentically feel. DESTINY ROBINSON: Abortion is not a boxed in issue, it's a very complex issues it has a lot of different parts to it, a lot of decision making goes behind a woman deciding to have an abortion so putting a label on it is not fair. TEXT: 64 percent of voters younger than 30 said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. CECILE RICHARDS: A woman needs to be able to make her own decisions in consultations with her doctor, with her family about her pregnancy and we need to keep politicians out of making the most personal and private decisions that a family can make. TEXT: ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROE V. WADE WOMEN ACROSS GENERATIONS COMMIT... DESTINY ROBINSON: to make sure I am a young woman who knows the power of making her own decision. SARAH WEDDINGTON: to continued vigilance, continued protection, continued investment in those principles that we believe in. CECILE RICHARDS: to make sure that women of my daughter's generation have the same right that I've had in my life. TEXT: 40 YEARS SAFE AND LEGAL---LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY. END

• published: 18 Jan 2013
• views: 13747