Sarah Weddington - A Question of Choice

Published in 2013 by the Feminist Press

at the City University of New York

The Graduate Center

365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406

New York, NY 10016

feministpress.org

Foreword copyright 2013 by Cecile Richards

Revised and updated text copyright 2013 by Sarah Weddington

All rights reserved.

Originally published in 1992 by G.P. Putnam Sons.

No part of this book may be reproduced, used, or stored in any information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Second printing February 2014

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weddington, Sarah Ragle.

A question of choice / Sarah Weddington. 40th anniversary edition, revised and updated.

p. cm.

Includes index.

pISBN 978-1551861-812-1

eISBN 978-1551861-813-8

1. Abortion. 2. Weddington, Sarah Ragle. 3. Women lawyersUnited States--Biography. 4. LawyersUnited StatesBiography. 5. AbortionUnited States. I. Title.

HQ767.W38 2013

363.4'6 ' --dc23

2012043901

To those who are willing to share

the responsibility of protecting

reproductive privacy and freedom.

And with gratitude to those who have

contributed to the financial underpinnings

necessary to keep services available,

people like Betty Stephens and

Sheryl and Harvey White, each of

California, and many others like them.

Contents

Introduction

I first met Cecile Richards in Austin when her mother, Ann, was running for State Treasurer of Texas. Later, as a law student and Anns campaign fundraiser in New York, I worked with Cecile to elect Ann Governor of Texas. We were both young Texas women, born and bred, deeply committed to social justice and enhancing the roles of women. I was inspired by Ceciles indefatigable determination and enduring commitment to the positive transformation of the quality of life for women everywhere.

Cecile is a nationally respected leader who serves with honor and distinction as President of Planned Parenthood of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Under her leadership the number of supporters of Planned Parenthood has doubled to more than 7 million people.

In the intervening years, Cecile has cleared many paths on national and international levels, working tirelessly for and on behalf of women and teens. She was the Deputy Chief of Staff to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. In 2004, she founded and served as President of America Votes, a coalition of forty-two national grassroots organizations working to maximize registration, education, and voter participation. Cecile began her career organizing low-wage workers in the hotel, health care, and janitorial industries in California, Louisiana, and Texas. In 2012, Time magazine recognized Cecile for her extraordinary work and brilliance as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The best is yet to come!

Rebecca A. Seawright

Chair, Board of Directors

Feminist Press at CUNY

Foreword

A lifetime activist, teacher, lecturer, and leader, Sarah Weddington has chronicled the recent decades in the important and ongoing struggle for womens rights.

Forty years after the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, Sarah, who at the tender age of twenty-six successfully argued the case before the US Supreme Court, puts the continuing political fight for womens equality in perspective and looks at where women in America stand today with regard to reproductive health-care access and rights.

At a moment when the right to legal abortion hangs by a precariously thin thread in the federal courts, and when many states have enacted burdensome restrictions on women, intended only to humiliate and shame those who seek to end a pregnancy, Sarah has brought us full circle from the early days when women routinely died in emergency rooms across America due to unsafe and botched abortions. Despite decades of a constitutional right to abortion, American politics and politicians are still consumed with the issue and likely will be for years to come.

My first chance to get to know Sarah was when I was in high school, when she decided at a young age to run for the state legislature, and my mother, Ann Richards, agreed to run her campaign. Sarah had just argued Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court, and although the decision would not be announced for many months, she was already a well-known feminist leader in central Texas. And my mother, after patiently raising four kids, was ready to jump into the political fray.

With Mom as her campaign manager, Sarahs campaign became a family affair. Our dining room table was cluttered with precinct maps and canvassing plans. Sarahs weekends were spent going door to door and handing out Weddington stickers at PTA gatherings and neighborhood carnivals. In a hard-fought race, Sarah ultimately won, and my mother went to work full time to run her legislative office. It wasnt much later that Mom decided to run for office herself, starting out as County Commissioner in Austin, Texas. Eventually she was elected the first ever pro-choice woman governor of the state. The experience Mom gained from running Sarahs first campaign held her in good stead in her own political career.

What Mom saw in Sarah is precisely what this book revealsa driven, thoughtful woman committed to making the lives of all women better. The daughter of a Methodist preacher, Sarah has approached life with a kindness and openness, making a point of respecting her opponents, no matter how profound their disagreements. Sarahs generosity comes from the same place as her great conviction. Because for Sarah, this fight for abortion access is about the broader ability of every woman to make her own health-care decisions and to have the safest possible medical care.

Texas has produced some memorable women political leaders. These trailblazers include the writer Molly Ivins, Lady Bird Johnson, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, and Ann Richards.And any list of Texas women who changed history includes Sarah Weddington. Sarah didnt just spend her 20s fighting for women to have access to safe, legal abortions. Shes spent her entire career making sure women can make their own health-care decisions.

As a newly graduated lawyer, Sarah was asked by a group of university graduate students to advise them on helping young women access information about contraception and abortion. This community work was eye-openingSarah realized just how pervasive illegal abortions were in Texas, and just how many women across the state were ending pregnancies in unsafe conditions, risking their lives. Sarahs work with this group would inspire her to pursue Roe v. Wade , and she would go on to change womens lives in America forever, by winning the Supreme Court case that promises a future of legal and safe abortion.

There are still doctors who can recount their early medical days when in emergency rooms, women routinely died as a result of self-abortions and illegal abortions. But the memories of the women and men, doctors, religious leaders, and activists who led the fight for legal abortion have too often been lost to history. For those who can remember those days, it is unthinkable that we would revisit a right established decades ago. And yet the political battles over the right of a woman to make her own decisions about pregnancy are as intense as ever before.