The "choice" made in 1973 by attorney Sarah Weddington (early photo at left) has had a horrible influence in the brutal ending of millions of lives while perversely effecting many millions more.Serrin M. Foster, the President of Feminists for Life of America, writes about this sad and enormous iniquity in this provocative essay.
...As her arguments for abortion before the Supreme Court made clear, Weddington saw the discrimination and other injustices faced by pregnant women. But she did not demand that these injustices be remedied. Instead, she demanded for women the "right" to submit to these injustices by destroying their pregnancies.
Weddington rightly pointed out the unmet needs of students: "...there are many schools where a woman is forced to quit if she becomes pregnant." But Weddington didn’t argue against pregnancy discrimination or even for alternate solutions for a pregnant student.
Weddington did no better for women in the workplace. "In the matter of employment, she often is forced to quit at an early point in her pregnancy. She has no provision for maternity leave... She cannot get unemployment compensation under our laws, because the laws hold that she is not eligible for employment, being pregnant, and therefore is eligible for no unemployment compensation."
For women with serious medical needs, she further noted: "There is no duty for employers to rehire women if they must drop out to carry a pregnancy to term. And, of course, this is especially hard on the many women in Texas who are heads of their own households and must provide for their already existing children."
Weddington clearly saw the bind low-income women face when experiencing unplanned pregnancy: "At the same time, she can get no welfare to help her at a time when she has no unemployment compensation and she's not eligible for any help in getting a job to provide for herself."
Weddington repeatedly said that women need "relief" from pregnancy, instead of arguing that women need relief from these injustices.
What if Weddington had used her legal acumen to challenge the system and address women’s needs?...
