Freeing the Prisoners

Although Norman Mailer claims the title for himself, women more than men are the prisoners of sex. The reason is simple. "Without the full capacity to limit her own reproduction," writes Lucinda Cisler in Sisterhood Is Powerful, "a woman's other freedoms are tantalizing mockeries that cannot be exercised." For centuries, organized medicine did little or nothing to ease this biological bondage--as it is regarded by many women today. That situation has changed drastically. Today new medical and legal attitudes are rapidly giving women virtually complete freedom from involuntary conception or motherhood.

Contraception is now more effective than ever, and it is likely to get even easier. As it has been since the early '60s, the synthetic hormone pill that prevents ovulation is still the favorite means of birth control. It is currently used by about 8,000,000 American women, and when taken properly, it is virtually 100% effective. Yet the Pill is not perfect. Changing hormonal balance is blamed for headaches and weight gain in some women. Of more concern are the British medical studies that have indicated a connection between the Pill and the formation of blood clots that can cause strokes.

Those studies, together with a 1970 Senate investigation of the Pill's side effects, caused some alarm, and the percentage of women using family-planning clinics who prefer the Pill fell from 76% to 70% (use of the intrauterine device, or IUD, and the diaphragm increased as a consequence). The wide concern about the Pill's side effects made many doctors more selective about which women should take them, and in what strength they should be prescribed. Physicians, however, generally are persuaded that the Pill is safe for most women, and so are researchers. They are working on such improvements as 1) a once-a-month Pill, 2) an injection that would function for three to six months and 3) a capsule implanted under the skin that releases hormones for a year or more.

The IUD, not as reliable as the Pill, is also being improved. One version now being tested is not a loop or spiral, but a "T." It is designed to be less easily expelled and less likely to cause cramps than present models. Some women believe that men should take responsibility for birth control. The old-fashioned condom is considered a bother and a distraction by many couples, however, and the male Pill is only a far-off possibility.

New Rulings. Even though good contraceptive methods are available, unwanted pregnancies still occur by the tens of thousands, and the campaign for legal abortion goes on. Led by Colorado, which took the step in 1967. 16 states and the District of Columbia have liberalized their abortion laws to some degree. The new statutes, and interpretations of them, vary widely. In states like New York and Hawaii, women may obtain abortions on demand. A second group of states adopted laws based on an American Law Institute model code (see map, previous page), which allows abortion to preserve the emotional or physical health of the mother, in cases of fetal abnormality and pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. But the effects are uneven because of differences in local medical policies. Thus it is more difficult to get an abortion in Arkansas than in Kansas, though both follow the A.L.I, model. Courts in three more states--Florida. Vermont and New Jersey--have in recent weeks knocked down restrictive laws. How free abortion will now become in these three states is still unclear, but the trend toward individual choice is certain.

Not that the opposition is giving up. A Roman Catholic law professor at Fordham University, Robert Byrn, a bachelor, had himself declared the legal guardian of all unborn fetuses whose mothers were awaiting abortions in municipal hospitals in New York. He sought to halt abortions only in public hospitals. Byrn won in the first court round, but abortions continued while the state appealed the decision. The professor then lost before the appeals court.

The U.S. Supreme Court could make all other challenges moot. Last December the court heard cases involving the Texas and Georgia abortion laws, but has not yet ruled. Should the court decide as expected, its action would nullify all anti-abortion laws in the country.

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