Abortion as a Political Issue.

The issue of relaxing laws restricting medical abortions was one of the many reforms raised in the seething climate of the 1960s. For some years efforts had been made to ease the restraint on abortion so that women would have access to safe medical termination of their pregnancies. Sexual reformers were joined during the decade by other groups, among them the new women's advocacy groups, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), which advocated the repeal of abortion laws at its second annual convention in November 1967. These groups demanded modification if not repeal of the various states' laws prohibiting the termination of pregnancy in order to increase women's freedom. Other groups concerned with the world's exploding population, such as Zero Population Growth, saw access to abortion a part of their larger goals. By 1969 there was sufficient interest to create...