2003 was the 30th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. As you would expect, it was an especially busy year for me in doing benefits for various pro-choice groups. We were sincerely celebrating that the rights of women we secured with Roe still exist, even if in a weakened state.

The year was one for writing and being written about. Virtually every newspaper did a story on the anniversary, and I was quoted in every one of them I saw. TIME did a special issue on March 21, 2003, called “80 Days That Changed the World.” I was asked to write the story for l973 about a moment “that changed the world”: the moment Roe v. Wade was decided.

Several weeks earlier I had been on an airline wearing a button with a coat hanger in the middle and a red mark through it. In the 60's and 70's the pin was easily identified as a symbol meaning, “No more back alley, or coat hanger, abortions.” On this particular flight, the attendant looked at that button. She repeatedly looked surreptitiously, walking, circling, looking again, and kept repeating those motions. Finally she stopped me and asked, "What do you have against coat hangers?" That moment taught me that what women of my age take for granted has to be shared with those who are younger. My article used the button to make that point.

An article I wrote entitled Law: The Wind Beneath My Wings…One Woman’s Journey to Effectuate Change as an Attorney was published in the Thomas M. Cooley Law Review (vol. 20, no. 1, 2003).

One of the special evenings of the year was at the California home of a friend in Santa Barbara. She knew about my meeting Kirk Douglas in Atlanta at a birthday party for President Jimmy Carter several years ago. I went knowing that he would be the M.C., and, since I always thought he was really cute, I took my camera. I did get to meet him. He was cute with that dimple in his chin, and he was charming – but I did not ask for a picture. It turned out that he came up to my shoulder; I did not want a photo that would show I was larger than Spartacus!

My friend announced one evening that six people would be joining us for dinner; Anne and Kirk Douglas were among them. They are delightful, and he laughed with appreciation when I told him the story of our Atlanta meeting. As he was leaving that evening, he asked if I wanted a picture. He suggested the following: he told me to bend my knees as much as possible and he would make himself as tall as possible. I now have a picture from the waist up with Kirk Douglas – and he’s the taller one! I’m happy.

The year ended in San Miguel de Allende, a wonderful little town of 70,000 people northwest of Mexico City. About 4,000 Americans, most of them retirees, now live there. One of their favorite sayings is “People go to Florida to die; they go to San Miguel to live.” As New Year’s approached many of us congregated in the central plaza. There was dancing to a local band, bells ringing enthusiastically from the many churches, yard-long sparklers blazing and held aloft by hundreds of people, and at midnight fireworks bursting in a cloudless sky. 2003 also ended with fervent hopes that the 2004 election will protect the future of Roe v. Wade.