feature story
‘We Had Our Lives
on the Line’:
Abortion Activists Refl ect on 50 Years of Roe v. Wade
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
T of history where women’s rights were still precarious
and when college students found power in protest,
not voting, which, at the time, was only permitted
for those 21 years and older. Wite-Out was one of the
more revolutionary technologies of the time.

“Th e way we had our voices heard was not through the
internet; it was not through cell phones,” Daniels said.

Matriculating to New York University in 1966,
Daniels lived in a dorm where men and women were
separated; women had an 11 p.m. curfew and had to
sign in every night before bed.

Her sophomore or junior year, student protesters
tore down the wall between the gendered dormi-
tories, which eventually resulted in the school cre-
ating co-ed dorms. Daniels attended the March on
Washington in 1969 and opposed the Vietnam War.

“We had our lives on the line,” she said.

Th ough her time in college was marked by the
civil rights era and the Vietnam War, the Kent State
Massacre, when members of the Ohio National Guard
opened fi re and killed four and injured nine Kent State
University students in 1970, changed her world.

College campuses, much like in spring 2020, shut
down. Daniels graduated from NYU in 1970 pass-fail.

In August 1970, women’s rights had taken center
stage in the country. Daniels traveled to Washington
for the Women’s Liberation March led by Gloria
Steinem and Betty Friedan. Th e march did not
explicitly address abortion access but began to open
the door for women to speak about their bodies more
openly, to talk about and understand sex, which was
stigmatized at best and demonized at worst.

urbazon / gettyimages
his year feels a lot like 1970 for those who
remember it.

Memories of a controversial war with
consequences felt in the United States and a divided
country is unwelcome for those who experienced
the beginning of the Vietnam War and the series
of Marches on Washington, where waves of people
gathered to fi ght for civil rights.

Th e past weeks have stirred up more memories
than some of these elders had bargained for.

Aft er Politico published on May 2 the 98-page
Supreme Court draft by Justice Samuel Alito that
would overrule the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade,
Americans pored over the document, some applaud-
ing, others taking to the streets to express their dis-
content with the majority opinion.

Th e Jewish community was well–represented
among Americans in protest of the decision, which
would return the power to restrict access to legal
abortion to the states, almost imminently resulting
in the ban of abortion in the South and Midwest U.S.,
and potentially in Pennsylvania.

According to Senior Rabbi Daniel Burg of Beth
Am Synagogue in Baltimore, the new law of the land
would interfere with his interpretation of Jewish law,
which deems abortion permissible, as the life of the
pregnant parent takes precedence over the fetus.

“Each of us is created in the image of God, which
has infi nite value. Each of us is responsible for our
bodies, to treat them with high regard, and to treat one
another, as far as bodies, with high regard,” Burg said.

“Th at big takeaway from that is that we need to respect
the sovereignty of each person’s bodies with regard to
behaviors that are acceptable, according to Jewish law.”
Burg, a Reform-trained rabbi at a Conservative
synagogue, is not alone in his belief. Th e Orthodox
Union published a statement criticizing the Supreme
Court ruling, claiming that restrictions on abortion
would prevent the ability to protect the gestational
parent’s life, violated the Jewish principle of pikuach
nefesh, saving a life. Th e organization, however, did
not fully condemn the case and stated that it did not
advocate for “abortion on demand.”
On May 17, Burg and congregants, as well as doz-
ens of other Jewish organizations, will take to the
streets once more at the Jewish Rally for Abortion
Justice in Washington, D.C.

Th ough the march will take place only weeks aft er
the draft leak, it has been decades in the making,
with activists from half a century ago laying the
groundwork for the country’s next round of fi ghting
for abortion access and providing insights on how the
movement could look moving forward.

But the conversation around Roe v. Wade really
begins before the 1973 decision, Philadelphian Carol
Daniels, 73, claims.

Th e landmark court case was nestled in a period
20 MAY 12, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM