Columnist Nicole Colson writes:

On Sandra Day O'Connor

O'Connor was credited with "saving" legal abortion in the Webster v. Reproductive Health Services decision in 1989 that--by a 5-to-4 margin--upheld legal abortion.

Yet O'Connor doesn't deserve the tributes she got from liberals and pro-choice organizations after her retirement announcement....

[I]t should be pointed out that while her vote preserved the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, O'Connor has also helped anti-abortionists chip away at abortion rights--by voting to uphold restrictions such as mandatory waiting periods and parental consent laws for young women. In other words, while O'Connor voted to keep abortion legal, she made sure to severely limit the right of ordinary women to get one.

On Ted Kennedy and the Democrats

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) issued a challenge: "If the president abuses his power and nominates someone who threatens to roll back the rights and freedoms of the American people, then the American people will insist that we oppose that nominee, and we intend to do so." But in the same breath, Kennedy promised not to apply an abortion "litmus test" to any potential nominee--proclaiming, "I have voted for judges that have been pro-life."

None of this is surprising coming from a party that already "compromised" with Republicans to not block the most reactionary of Bush's federal court nominees.

On NOW and NARAL et al

While mainstream pro-choice groups responded quickly to O'Connor's retirement, they have done little in recent years to mobilize grassroots activism that could turn the tide against the attacks on our right to choose.

Last year, groups like NOW and NARAL had a golden opportunity to begin to rebuild the fight for abortion rights as 1 million people came together in Washington, D.C., for the pro-choice "March for Women’s Lives." But the opportunity was squandered.

Instead of calling for grassroots action, rally speakers did nothing more than urge a vote for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry--so that, as Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told the crowd, we could "avoid having to march again and again and again."

A year later, we're faced with a grave new threat to our rights. There's no time to waste. Marching "again and again and again"--and giving an active expression to the widespread support for keeping abortion safe and legal--is precisely what can put pressure on the courts and the politicians of both parties.

On Alberto Gonzalez

One early favorite [for Supreme Court nominee] was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales--the architect of the Bush administration’s torture policies in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Nonetheless, Gonzales is viewed as a moderate--because the hard-line conservative organizations that make up Bush's base consider him unacceptably pro-choice.