Melissa Reed: Further erosion of Roe v. Wade must be stopped

Melissa Reed is executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina.

In upholding the first-ever federal ban on abortion care last month, the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back key protections for women's health that have been in place since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.

This devastating blow to fundamental American values of freedom and privacy did not happen by accident. President George W. Bush and his allies in Congress pushed this ban all the way.

The Supreme Court -- with the addition two Bush appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. -- has moved in a direction that opens the door for additional political interference in our most personal, private decisions.

The court's ruling is a stark reminder that elections matter. Voters cannot be complacent about our most cherished and fundamental freedoms.

Anti-choice leaders in North Carolina are already pushing an aggressive legislative strategy that would allow pharmacies to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions and would deny our schoolchildren medically accurate sex education. These same leaders have promised to overturn North Carolina's 1967 law legalizing abortion as soon as they gain a majority in our state legislature.

But North Carolinians have elected numerous lawmakers dedicated to standing up to the attacks on women's reproductive health care that will continue to come from groups emboldened by the court's decision. These leaders support common sense measures that would prevent unintended pregnancy and, therefore, reduce the abortion rate.

NARAL Pro Choice North Carolina will seek to educate elected officials and policy-makers on ways to protect and improve upon women's reproductive health. We will mobilize a legion of activists to protect current pro-choice officials and to elect more candidates -- from the governor's office to the school board -- who share our values. Last year, voters helped increase pro-choice leadership in the state legislature. We need to build on this momentum by electing a pro-choice president and senator and increasing pro-choice representation in the House. That's the best way to stop assaults on personal freedom such as the Bush Federal Abortion Ban and to keep our hard-won reproductive rights here at home.

Nationally, pro-choice leaders in the U.S. Congress -- including Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina -- are co-sponsoring the Federal Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade into law. We will be working to educate voters about this act and will collect petition signatures in its support.

Please join me in ensuring we elect pro-choice candidates up and down the ballot -- not just in 2008, but in every election.