THE STAKES:

Abortion on the line in election (Joan Ryan, March 26, 2004, San Francisco Chronicle)

The message scrolled across Kate Michelman's cell phone as she sat in the Westin St. Francis Hotel ballroom Thursday afternoon. Around her, the room buzzed with the conversation and clicking flatware of 975 people, the largest turnout in the nine years San Francisco has hosted the NARAL Pro- Choice America lunch. Michelman, the longtime president of NARAL, read the message and let out a soft groan. [...]

If you looked across the enormous ballroom at the hundreds and hundreds of smart, accomplished, committed women, you might shake your head at the Bush administration's folly. How can it think it will succeed in making abortion illegal again? We won already. The Supreme Court said so 31 years ago. It's a done deal. Living in an America that forces women to back-alley butchers to end unwanted pregnancies seems as preposterous, in the year 2004, as living in an America that makes women wear burqas.

But the assumption of keeping this fundamental liberty could be the agent of its demise. [...]

"The situation is perilous,'' Michelman said. "It's very scary. There's a lot going on in the world, and this (unborn victims' act) might get missed. But this is a very, very serious setback. Pro-choice advocates have been too complacent that the right to an abortion can never be lost. Too many believe it cannot and will not happen. But the Supreme Court is not immune to social currents. This highlights how important it is to elect a pro-choice president."

San Francisco businessman and philanthropist Richard Goldman, a lifelong Republican, drove the point home. He walked to the lectern and announced publicly he was supporting Democratic candidate John Kerry for president.

"This is the most important election of my lifetime,'' said Goldman, a man not given to hyperbole. "There is no choice.''