By Jennifer Kordela, Senior Staff Writer Within the past year, countless scores of bills, state laws andother drives have been implemented which could potentially influencethe final outcome of women’s abortion rights.

One of the more pressing issues at hand is the current state ofthe Supreme Court with regard to Roe v. Wade, which ruled theConstitution protects a woman’s right to decide to have an abortion.Nine justices are currently divided on the issue within the SupremeCourt.

The justices include Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80; JohnPaul Stevens, 84; Sandra Day O’Connor, 74; Antonin Scalia, 68;Anthony Kennedy, 68; David Souter, 65; Clarence Thomas, 56; RuthBader Ginsburg, 69; and Stephen Breyer, 66.

If one or more justices retire (within the next four or fiveyears), the replacement judge could overturn the issue of choice.

Mary Ellen Hamilton, vice president of community affairs forPlanned Parenthood in San Diego and Riverside counties, said thesignificance of this issue is pressing right now. She said whoever iselected will have the ability to change Roe v. Wade.

“This is a 30-plus year battle and it’s heated up since PresidentBush has been elected because he has said he will appoint justices tooverthrow Roe v. Wade,” she said. “The movement gets stronger andstronger, especially when you have a president who will lend hisvoice to it.”

The majority of Americans believe abortion should remain somethinghealthy, legal and rare, she said. Yet there is a small, very vocalminority who thinks abortion should be illegal, she said.

Hamilton said women should think about what it would be like ifabortion were illegal.

In poor countries, half the hospital beds are filled with womenwho have tried to terminate their own pregnancy, she said. This canbe unhealthy and often fatal, Hamilton added.

According to the Web site of the Women’s International League forPeace and Freedom, www.peacewoman.org/news/international, there areapproximately 700 abortions each day in Kenya, with most of the womenbeing adolescents and young adults. Many of the cases are so serious,the women lose the ability to have children or suffer psychologicaltrauma, the site stated.

It often goes unrecognized how much Planned Parenthood does everyday to prevent the need for abortion, Hamilton said.

“The numbers of abortions have been going down steadily in thepast few years,” she said.

A few more highly publicized issues are the Partial-Birth AbortionBan Act (2003), the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (2004), the ChildCustody Protection Act (2002) and the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act(2002).

The Partial-Birth Abortion Act is the first federal legislationsince Roe v. Wade to criminalize abortion with no regard to women’shealth, according to the Planned Parenthood Web site,www.plannedparenthood.org.

Currently, there are three main trials in progress: PlannedParenthood v. Ashcroft, National Abortion Federation v. Ashcroft andCarhart v. Ashcroft.

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act gives the zygote, embryo orfetus the same rights as a person, according to the site.

“It’s just an agenda to outlaw abortion completely,” AliSchlagetr, a social work graduate student, said.

Women’s studies professor Doreen Mattingly said the focus in theabortion movement needs to be shifted from the fetus to the woman.

“The media portrays women as having full rights and there being noproblem,” she said. “Young women have to be educated.”

Some other political elements that have recently been installedare the Child Custody Protection Act (2002) and the AbortionNon-Discrimination Act (2002).

The Child Custody Protection Act “would make it a federal crime totransport a minor across state lines for an abortion unless theparental involvement requirements of her home state have been met,”according to the Planned Parenthood Web site.

The Abortion Non-Discrimination Act “allows any health care entityto discriminate against any provider who provides or even givesinformation about abortion,” according to the Web site.

Another significant issue in focus is abstinence-only sexualeducation for federal funding. Only three states, includingCalifornia, refuse government funding.

Mattingly said she thinks young women take their rights forgranted.

She said she believes the main source of the problem with theabortion issue lies with sexual education.

Since 1996, the federal government has provided half a billiondollars to fund abstinence-only education utilizing a combination ofwelfare funding and other resources.

Mattingly said this deprived increasingly more young people ofsexual education in their school. Thus, she said, they don’t knowabout birth control or STDs, which contribute to more unwantedpregnancies.

“It’s a cause factor,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the fault ofwomen for believing mainstream cultural messages.”