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"  Today marks the 40th anniversary of the historic Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court. You know the one stated that women had the right to an abortion &amp;quot;free of interference by the State.&amp;quot; Or perhaps you don&amp;#039;t. A recent Pew Research Center study showed that just 44 percent of those under 30 polled knew that the case was about abortion; 16 percent thought it dealt with desegregation; and 41 percent either say it involved another issue or didn&amp;#039;t know. Wow.  Even if you didn&amp;#039;t know before exactly what the landmark Supreme Court ruling was about (until now!), chances are you do have an opinion on the abortion issue. It is one that divides our nation, even more acutely during election cycles, and especially during this fall when many male politicians had rather interesting things to say on the matter. (Legitimate rape anyone?) But some recent research shows we may not be as far apart on many facets of the matter as it would appear at first glance. And it, in some part, come down to labels.  At a recent event, Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America told us, &amp;quot;The political labels &amp;#039;pro-choice&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;pro-life&amp;#039; are becoming obsolete and don&amp;#039;t get into the complexity of how people really feel [about the issue].&amp;quot; And studies they&amp;#039;ve commissioned are backing up that claim. In a survey of 1000 recent voters, nearly one-quarter did not identify with the traditional labels (this number was even larger among the 18-29 age group) and 40 percent said their personal view on abortion &amp;quot;depends on the situation.&amp;quot; The matter is clearly not black and white for a large number of Americans.  But one statistic that stood out both in the Pew research and Planned Parenthood&amp;#039;s polling is that the majority of those surveyed (and this includes Republicans, Democrats, different races, religious backgrounds, etc) want abortion to remain legal. This number rises to 69 percent (per the PP study) in voters age 18-29. And 80 percent of those polled agreed with this statement: &amp;quot;A woman should be able to make decisions about her own pregnancy.&amp;quot; The issue is complex and personal and maybe addressing it as such without the rigid labels of pro-life and pro-choice can lead to a healthier dialogue on women&amp;#039;s reproductive rights. Because as Richards herself said, &amp;quot;[This thinking] provides enormous opportunity to talk to a lot of people that we haven&amp;#039;t been talking to.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s certainly worth a shot, don&amp;#039;t you think?  Want more from Abby? Follow her on Twitter @abbygardner. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a11443/roe-v-wade-turns-40/?src=rss>