"There is no day quite like January 22, the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Today, millions of Americans will contemplate for good or ill the weight of a Supreme Court decision so engrained in American culture that the media no longer need remind us of its particulars. Roe will be the subject of many of today's sermons and the object of many prayers. Countless women will be reminded that they once held destiny in their hands by choosing abortion. Countless others who were pregnant before January 22, 1973 will recall that safe, legal abortion was not an option. For those of us who actively work for or against the Roe v. Wade decision, January 22 is the day we consider what the future may bring.

For at least one protester who stands outside the Roanoke Planned Parenthood Center, that future can be distilled from his one-word taunt: "Alito! Alito!" Samuel Alito's probable ascendancy to the Supreme Court may provide enough weight among the nine Justices to render Roe null and void. When and if that day occurs, a new anniversary will replace January 22. A new generation of women will contemplate the loss of a freedom that had once been granted that they had taken for granted. Such a loss will not be unprecedented. Until the mid-19th century, abortion had been legal under British Common Law in every state including Virginia.

An unprecedented loss will come with the imminent retirement of the first woman to ever serve on the United States Supreme Court. Sandra Day O'Connor provided prudence, patience and nuance in guiding the Court's many decisions on abortion law. While Roe v. Wade has been significantly weakened during her tenure on the Court, the sanctity of a pregnant woman's health and of her privacy remains intact. Justice O'Connor opted to approach Roe v. Wade with pruning snips. Samuel Alito seems inclined to wield an axe.

Fortunately, a reversal of Roe v. Wade will not result in a national ban on abortion. Instead, state legislatures would regain the power to constitutionally outlaw abortion. The Maryland legislature might uphold laws permitting most abortions. The Virginia legislature is more likely to ban abortion outright. For now, Virginia's legislators introduce dozens of small, incremental legislative measures designed to chip away at a woman's reproductive autonomy. Here are a few of the latest examples of this Lilliputian approach to legislation now being considered by the Virginia legislature:

-- House Bill 187 prohibits unmarried women from accessing artificial insemination, invitro fertilization or other medical technologies for the purpose of becoming pregnant.

-- House Bill 237 prohibits physicians who are licensed to practice medicine in Virginia from providing abortion services in Virginia unless they reside in Virginia, practice in Virginia and have practice privileges in a Virginia hospital.

-- House Bill 868 prohibits minors from receiving Emergency Contraception unless a parent or guardian provides written consent witnessed and authorized by a notary public and only after a mandatory delay of at least four hours from the time the parent or guardian has received information regarding any possible health risks of Emergency Contraception.

-- House Bill 1199 makes prescribing birth control pills to a minor without parental consent a felony in Virginia if pregnancy occurs as the result of an interaction with an antibiotic or some other prescription drug taken by the minor. (Current law permits a minor to obtain birth control pills without parental permission.)

Not all of these bills pertain to abortion. Instead, most anti-choice bills before the Virginia legislature are designed to restrict access to contraception, family planning and sexuality education. Choice means far more than abortion. The government cannot simply carve out the freedom to choose abortion without also affecting a woman's privacy, her health, the information she can receive and the extent to which the government controls her body and her destiny before, during and after pregnancy.

One freedom that will remain, however, is the right to choose our elected officials. If Virginia legislators zealously pursue further restrictions on women's rights, they ought to watch their backs. Northern Virginia Delegate Dick Black, famed for passing out plastic fetuses at the State Capitol, was voted out of office in November. His anti-choice colleague, Delegate Brad Marrs, was also defeated by Independent candidate Katherine Waddell, founder of the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition of Virginia. Republican Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia has since said if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ''you're going to have a lot of very nervous suburban candidates."

In the future, the most important anniversary regarding abortion may not be January 22. It may be Election Day." (David Nova, electronic mail, January 22, 2006)