COLUMN LEFT / FRANCES KISSLING : Pro-Choice Must Widen Its Agenda : Reproductive rights are in peril, not just abortion rights.

Ever since Roe vs. Wade assured women the right to a safe abortion without government intrusion, opponents have worked hard for its reversal. They sought a constitutional amendment, which Congress rejected. They wrote and secured passage of restrictive state laws, which the courts, more often than not, overturned. They tried to galvanize public opinion against legal abortion, with little success. When all else failed, they placed their bodies in front of clinic doors. In the end, these tactics mattered little.

Ironically, the fundamental right to choose was nullified in the same manner it was affirmed--in the rarefied atmosphere of the Supreme Court. The court’s decision in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey makes it abundantly clear that an unencumbered right to choose abortion no longer exists in this country. The three justices writing the majority opinion upheld the right to abortion but allowed restrictions that eviscerate it; the four justices in the minority still want to see Roe overturned.

The question of the circumstances under which a woman can legally obtain an abortion will now be determined not in a court of law but in the court of public opinion, where views become votes. Now the hard work begins for those who favor choice. If we are to achieve a long-term, sustainable resolution of the abortion dilemma, we must capture the hearts and minds of the American people. To do this, the pro-choice movement will need to look critically at how its message resonates with the majority of Americans.

The road from Roe to Casey was a long one. When Roe came down in 1973, the economy was expanding, and so were civil and individual rights. The Pill had wrought a sexual revolution. Public attention focused on limiting family size and postponing pregnancy. The consequences of illegal abortion to women’s lives and health were fresh memories. Now, as Casey is decided, the economy is contracting. Sex is suspect. Couples worry about infertility, not fertility. That which was given in better times is resented or rescinded. Fear of the future, not hope, moves us.

In this changed society, the pro-choice message falls on deaf ears. Our own mantra seduces us: “The overwhelming majority of Americans are pro-choice,” we proclaim. The fact is, most Americans are of two minds about abortion. They want it to be legal, but they want it to stop. They are disturbed by our country’s high rate of abortion, the number of repeat abortions and some of the reasons women give for seeking abortion. They are concerned for the well-being of the many teen-agers facing unintended pregnancies. They see the pro-choice movement as concerned with rights more than values.

These are not extremist opinions. To cast them as such diminishes the effectiveness of the pro-choice movement. We need to listen to and understand the feelings that fuel these views. And we need to acknowledge that we share their concern about values. After all, we do not like abortion any more than anyone else.

Until Americans know this about us, their desire that abortion be a last resort will continue to translate into popular support for ethically flawed restrictions such as those in the Pennsylvania law that the Supreme Court upheld Monday, from state-mandated waiting periods to directive, if not coercive, counseling.

Ours must be a cause committed to reproductive and sexual health. Always our guiding concerns, these things often have been lost in the abortion debate. We must press not only--and maybe not primarily--for access to abortion, but also, tirelessly, for measures that will reduce unintended pregnancy and allow women who want to have children to do so with dignity. We must call on those who oppose legal abortion to join us in expressing a vision of a society that provides adequate health care for women who continue pregnancies to term, where families can find affordable day care for their children, where health care is available to everyone, where children can count on a good education, where couples can afford safe, effective birth control.

It is time, too, for us to respond to another oft-cited concern--that women and men do not take seriously enough their reproductive capacity. Human reproduction is an intensely personal matter; it is also a phenomenon with public consequences. We must urge in clear, unequivocal terms that women and men who respect themselves, their partners and the community do everything in their power to avoid pregnancy when they are not prepared to parent. Our legitimate criticism of the limits of available contraceptive methods should not blunt this demand.

This is a genuinely visionary venture. And it is truly worth working for.