In this country, you can choose to be Baptist, Mormon, Catholic, Hindu, Atheist, or any other of the hundreds of religions practiced in America. And although there are often arguments and fighting between these religions no one would ever argue that you should not be able to make your own choice about which you belong to. And the decision in Roe vs. Wade three decades ago finally gave women the same sort of choice.

Roe vs. Wade said that bodies, male or female, are outside the jurisdiction of the government, that what you and your doctor decide is right for your body is nobody’s business but your own.

They told women that they finally had a choice.

And that’s what it’s all about, stopping forced pregnancies. From the moment that Roe vs. Wade passed, every child was a wanted child, because every mother had a choice. What women do during pregnancy and birth is heroic. They give up the autonomy of their bodies to nurture something else. They risk their lives to bring new life into this world, because women do still die in childbirth even in America.

To force a woman to take that risk when she does not want to is just as awful a miscarriage of justice as to force a woman to have an abortion when she doesn’t want it.

And although this topic provokes much debate, it has not always been civilized. Many in the pro-life movement continue to terrorize women, doctors and organizations that help women make educated choices. For example, Alex Kindell, the president of the pro-choice group on campus, has a file of more than a hundred death threats sent to her from various pro-life groups since she started a group to support her and many other’s views on this subject.

This I will never understand. America is set up so that if there is something you want to change it is possible to do so without the terroristic violence that the pro-life groups have become infamous for.

Besides if you truly wish to end abortion there are very simple ways to accomplish this. Use age appropriate accurate sex education in schools, provide affordable and effective birth control, set up clinics to help women deal with the medical costs of pregnancy and raising children, and take the steps necessary to end rape.

But most importantly: trust women.

We are capable of making decisions pertaining to our lives without your opinions. Do these things and you will see a significant decrease in abortions.

Until then the Roe vs. Wade decision is a reality that I, personally, am gratefully for.

Kathryn Wood senior geology