By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Newport Central Catholic students (from left) Michelle Osterhage, 16 of Dayton, Ky, Katie Coontz of Bellevue, Ky and Kami Younger of Bellevue sing at the Catholic Center before joining the March for Life in Washington. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

Thirty years after the U.S. Supreme Court gave women the right to an abortion, activists on all sides are counting on the next generation to fill their rolls with supporters.

In Greater Cincinnati, anti-abortion groups organized hundreds of supporters from churches to youth groups to high schools to make the trip to Washington, D.C., for today's annual March for Life.

At the same time, dozens more young people from this area are in the nation's capital, pushing to keep intact the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion on Jan. 22, 1973.

The activity comes as Congress considers banning a specific type of late-term abortion, a move that activists say is the precursor to future limits on abortion rights. And while people 30 years and younger have always lived with legal abortions, they have plenty to say about potential changes.

ROE V. WADE: 30 YEARS LATER

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 that a lower court's decision regarding a Texas statute that criminalized abortion in most instances violated a woman's constitutional right of privacy. The high court found that right implicit in the liberty guarantee of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. The case began in 1970 when Jane Roe, a name used to protect the identity of Norma McCorvey, instituted federal action against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where Ms. McCorvey lived. The court disagreed with the woman's assertion of an absolute right to terminate pregnancy. The court tried to balance a woman's right of privacy with a state's interest in regulating abortion. The court held that the Texas statute was unconstitutional because of its breadth. Challenges to the decision have narrowed the scope of Roe v. Wade, but it has not been overturned.

Groups from both sides are making sure of that.

For about two years, Ohio Right to Life organizers have been reaching out to youth across the state. At last year's statewide conference, one session was devoted to how to market the anti-abortion message to the group in Ohio at greatest risk of choosing abortion, which organizers say is the 20-24 age group.

"Now is definitely a pivotal time in the movement," says 22-year-old Cailin Hogan, a Xavier University graduate who serves as youth outreach coordinator for the Center for Life and Hope, an education arm of Ohio Right to Life.

"The opposition knows that as well. They're rallying grassroots organizations, too, and trying to get programs started because people haven't talked about it and there is potential, politically, to make moves."

She works with what the group calls "pro-life-minded" students and young adults from middle school to college.

Ms. Hogan connects with youth like Liz Galvin, a 17-year-old home-schooler from Harrison. She is opposed to abortion "essentially because I'm Catholic and a Christian," she says.

One of 10 children, Liz has attended anti-abortion marches with her parents, most recently over the summer. She and a group said the rosary outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in Mount Auburn.

"It's part of natural law," she says. "We're going to be the next generation of families. Life and conception belong in a family willing to accept children. For any reason, you don't reject that."

For Liz, rejecting abortion is about not messing with what God intends. And that includes contraception and human cloning, too.

UC senior Dave Seifert believes women should have the right to choose. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

"People just think they can take life into their own hands," she says. "You have to be aware of what God wants in your state of life. You should want the same things that God wants and not be rebelling against God's plans."

Abortion rights supporters are seeing increased interest among young people, too. Web site hits and phone calls are increasing, especially from college students wanting to start chapters on their campuses.

"We're finding a lot of interest," says Sue Momeyer, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky. "(Questions like), "What was it like before? What did Roe v. Wade accomplish? What did it do? How can we be involved in educating other students or in reaching out to elected officials and letting them know our views?"

That's why young adults like Allison Clary, a senior criminal justice major at Xavier University, are in Washington today to attend the Never Go Back Student Leadership conference, a networking and lobbying effort for college students who support abortion rights. The conference is sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation, which was founded in 1987 as an organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive health and non-violence.

"An obstacle to gaining support for the movement - other than the fact that we, as young people, haven't lived without Roe - is the definition of pro-choice," the Terre Haute, Ind., native says.

"Pro-choice isn't pro-abortion, and important for our campus, it isn't anti-Catholic or anti-family. Pro-choice is believing that women have the right and should have access to the range of reproductive options."

Dr. Martin Haskell, who has a clinic in Cincinnati, is one of the most well-known doctors who provide abortions in the United States. He performs a procedure late in the second trimester that his critics call "partial-birth" abortion. He worries that incremental changes in state laws, if ultimately permitted by the Supreme Court, will chip away at the right to abortion services he provides for local women.

"With regards to patients, I really get the sense that women don't believe that the right to have an abortion is at risk," he explained. "It's a choice they feel will always be there and that they may even take for granted. That's a dangerous view, in my opinion."

But Rebecca Lehman, 22, a master's student in health promotion and education at University of Cincinnati, said she is concerned about changes that could come from today's political climate.

"It scares me that some people use their personal beliefs as justification to take away my rights to these things," the Clifton Heights resident says.

"It scares me that people don't trust women with their own bodies. It scares me that the vast majority of the people who make decisions to limit my rights - senators, representatives, judges - are male because 100 percent of men will never get pregnant."

But men under 30, too, are becoming more active in both movements. Dave Seifert, 22, a fourth-year social work major at UC and a peer counselor on campus, grew up attending anti-abortion rallies with his mother. But now, he believes women should have the right to choose.

"Young people today definitely see the decision as relevant," he says. "We grew up debating abortion in school and we know where we stand. But, at the same time, people of my generation have a strong sense of self-determination. We don't want other people telling us what to do. If we feel abortion is immoral, then we won't have one. Many young people today seem apathetic, but if Roe vs. Wade were ever reversed, there would be an outcry.

"It's just going to take something like that to wake everyone up to what is going on."

New anti-abortion legislation at state and federal levels - including proposals to ban the so-called "partial-birth abortion" procedure and legislation making it a crime to cross state lines to avoid parental notification - are good starts, anti-abortion activists say.

But for Dan Egan, 26 of Clifton, it's about more than just changing laws. It's about fundamentally changing the way people look at life, how it's formed and why it should be valued. And that goes beyond the debate over abortion to the use of contraceptives and how the elderly are cared for. And he doesn't buy the claim that only women should have a say in the abortion debate.

"I'm opposed to abortion because it's murder," he says. "Everyone agrees we're killing. But what are we killing? A frog? No, a human being.

"I would say that because they're human (babies), I have a say in it because I'm part of the human race."

Dr. John Willke, the Finneytown resident who founded Right to Life movement 30 years ago with his wife, hopes more people begin to think the way Mr. Egan does. While the anti-abortion movement has made strides in electing legislators who support his group's position, he said, the battle is not over.

"We are not going to change this until a significant percentage of people in this country want it changed," he said. "But that is slowly happening."

Garnering support from people who can carry on their anti-abortion message will be key.

"Many in the pro-life movement are looking at this youngest generation now," he said.

E-mail kgoetz@enquirer.com