Interview Reflects on 40th Anniversary of Roe Decision

January 23, 2013 — Terry Gross interviewed Carolyn Jones, a journalist who wrote in the Texas Observer about her experience obtaining an abortion in Texas two weeks after the state's ultrasound law took effect, NPR's "Fresh Air" reports.

Jones said she and her husband decided to seek an abortion after learning that the fetus had severe neurological defects that also affected physical development. She described complying with the law -- which requires physicians to inform women about the fetus' characteristics, describe alleged risks of abortion and play a recording of the fetal heartbeat -- as "traumatizing," adding, "That someone could invade upon that [decision] -- a politician, who has absolutely no jurisdiction over my private life -- that they could invade upon that and so reduce my dignity, I do feel that that's an incredible injustice; and I still do" (Gross, "Fresh Air," NPR, 1/22).