Yet another anniversary has passed where, despite the attempts of two decades of court-stacking conservatives, the abortion rights encoded in the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision survive. Unfortunately, while pro-choice advocates react to the often successful attempts to erode those rights, it is Roe v. Wade itself that lays the groundwork for an ultimate, effective ban on abortion in the U.S. People who want legal abortions--not back alley ones--would do well to shift their focus to a woman's control over her own body, period.

The problem with Roe v. Wade is with the principle, basically invented by the Supreme Court as a way to finesse the issue, of fetal "viability." Viability doesn't mean today what it meant in 1973. Then, technology, on a good day, could save an infant delivered at seven months; anything earlier was a fluke.

Entering the 21st century, anything after the first trimester is often considered "viable." More importantly, the time will come soon--perhaps in the next decade--when any fertilized egg can survive, by being transferred from an unwilling mother to either a surrogate mother or a lab somewhere.

At that point, the prospect of a "viable human life" will trump abortion rights, and the inability of most women, under our crassly commercial health care system, to afford such hi-tech procedures will mean she has two choices: carry the fetus to term, or face murder charges for aborting a "viable" baby.

The reality is that abortions will continue, as they did in the pre-Roe v. Wade days, at a far greater health and financial risk to the women who have them. If anti-abortionists are truly interested in saving "the unborn" in the coming century, they'll advocate for universal health care so that more women will have the choice of adopting out without carrying to term. For reproductive rights activists, the mandate is much simpler: get encoded in law a woman's right over her own body and everything in it.

Otherwise, what parental notification and waiting periods couldn't do, technology will. A basic right that has saved many thousands of adult lives and made a vital difference for tens of millions will be gone entirely.