Ms. Magazine To Publish The Names of Women Who've Had An Abortion

On October 10, Ms. Magazine will release its fall issue with a cover story sure to spark a lot of debate. The magazine’s cover story, entitled “We Had Abortions,” will list the names of 1,016 women who have signed a petition stating that they have had abortions and support Pro-Choice legislation.

In addition to the print version of the issue, Ms. Magazine is also taking names for their online petition, the numbers of which are well over 5,000 and include some famous names such as Gloria Steinem and Kathy Najimy.

This is not uncharted territory for Ms. Magazine. Back in 1972, they ran an article listing the names of 53 women who had undergone abortions despite legislation making it illegal. At the time, those women signed that petition in support of women’s health rights in an attempt to reverse laws that forced women into having unsafe back-alley or self-induced abortions. Today’s campaign is in response to the flurry of legislation being proposed further limiting already restrictive state abortion laws and to “get women’s lives back in the picture,” according to Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal.

Currently, as many as 17 states are considering further restrictions on abortion rights – most controversial being South Dakota where the Senate passed a bill in February making it a felony for physicians to perform any abortion including cases of rape and incest. The proposed South Dakota legislation makes abortion legal only in cases where the woman’s life was at risk.

Many abortion advocates fear that Roe v. Wade could be overturned if President Bush has the opportunity to appoint another Supreme Court Justice. Anti-abortion advocates such as Judie Brown, President of the American Life League has stated that “the evil practically jumped off right the page,” in reference to Ms. Magazine’s campaign.