A Women's Life is a Human Life

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On April 23, 1981, Congress held hearings for a law to make abortion illegal, which they called the "Human Life Statute." This law would have subverted the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. There were no supporters of abortion invited to testify at the hearings. Three women from The Women's Liberation Zap Brigade attended and, while antiabortion doctors were testifying, they jumped up on their chairs and chanted "A woman's life is a human life." Their claim was that the bill was inherently unfair because it privileged some lives over others, while the title tried to make it look like it did not. They were found guilty of disrupting Congress, but were given probation because the judge was sympathetic to women's rights.