Anti-Abortion Protesters March on 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade; News Stomach Virus Strain Going Around
MALVEAUX: Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators are marching to the Supreme Court right now. You are seeing live pictures there. They are protesting the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision upholding a woman's right to an abortion. This week marks the 40th anniversary of that ruling. Roe v. Wade was a case brought on by a woman in Texas back in 1973. At the time, Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the mother's life. Senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, returned to the state where it all began and spoke to both sides.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Roe v. Wade originated in Texas and, 40 years later, the situation here and in much of the U.S. is complex. On the one hand, the governor has made this vow.</s>RICK PERRY, (R), GOVERNOR OF TEXAS: My goal and the goal of many of those joining me here today is to make abortion at any stage a thing of the past.</s>COHEN: On the other hand, this is the reality. (on camera): It's Elizabeth at</s>CNN. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on in.</s>COHEN (voice-over): I'm at the Whole Woman's Health Clinic in Austin where seven women will have abortions today.</s>AMY HAGSTROM MILLER, CEO, WHOLE WOMAN'S HEALTH CLINIC: Do we have anymore of the ultrasounds?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think we have anymore. I think they just did the last.</s>COHEN: Amy Hagstrom Miller started Whole Woman's Health 10 years ago and her business has grown. Now she has five clinics in Texas, offering gynecology care that includes providing abortions to 9,000 women a year.</s>HAGSTROM MILLER: My main goal is to provide an oasis where she feels safe, where she feels comfortable, where she can feel at peace.</s>COHEN: In the entire state, 72,470 women received abortions in 2011. In the U.S., nearly one in three women will have an abortion before the age of 45, according to the nonpartisan Guttmacher Institute. Elizabeth Graham is the director of the anti-abortion group, Texas Right to Life. (on camera): You have a lot more work to do?</s>ELIZABETH GRAHAM, DIRECTOR, TEXAS RIGHT TO LIFE: We do have a lot more work to do. Because we continue to miss this many women in Texas and in other places, we double our efforts.</s>COHEN: Anti-abortion groups like hers have been hard at work. Texas cut off funding to Planned Parenthood and women in Texas have to see a doctor and then wait 24 hours before having an abortion. Plus -- (on camera): -- before a woman is allowed to have an abortion, she has to come here to the ultrasound room. The doctor has to ask her do you want to see the image? Do you want to hear the heartbeat? She can say no, but she does have to listen to the doctor describe the image. Are there internal organs? Are there arms and legs? Is there a heartbeat? (voice-over): These restrictions haven't stopped people like Amy Hagstrom Miller, who provide abortions. (on camera): The anti-abortion movement here is so huge. They are so strong. Have they won?</s>HAGSTROM MILLER: I don't think so. We've had all of these attacks from the outside and we're able to manage to provide not only access but really good care for women.</s>COHEN (voice-over): Like in many other states, anti-abortion groups in Texas are working to pass legislation to make it even harder to have an abortion, which means a new fight in a state where both sides have vowed to never rest.</s>MALVEAUX: Elizabeth Cohen joins us. It's fascinating and surprising, actually. I learned a lot from your piece. These ultrasounds, I wasn't aware that was part of the process there. Does that make any difference? Do people change their minds because of that?</s>COHEN: I asked that question of the head of the clinic. She said, in her experience, not at all. She said women know what they're coming in for. They know they're pregnant. She said 70 percent of her patients are moms. They have had children. They know what's inside of them. They know what they're doing. But the people who are against abortion, those activists say, oh, yes, the ultrasound makes a difference. They say women do get up off the table and say, wow, now that I heard the heartbeat, forget it. I'm going not through with it. The answer depends on who you ask.</s>MALVEAUX: Does it surprise you that it is so dramatically different from state to state?</s>COHEN: The laws, right. The laws are dramatically different from state to state. In states like Texas, you have this waiting period. You have to come in, get the ultrasound and wait 24 hours and come back, which is the director of that clinic that does, she thinks, limit the number of abortions because some women can't do those two visits. Whereas, other states, there is not a wait at all. It depends on the politics of that particular state.</s>MALVEAUX: You are all things medical. Put on your other medical hat for a minute. Tell us about this as a nasty stomach virus going around.</s>COHEN: That's right. I won't get too graphic.</s>MALVEAUX: How do you know you have it?</s>COHEN: For those people, they'll never know they have it. They have the virus but they don't get sick.</s>MALVEAUX: Any way to protect yourself from this?</s>COHEN: Wash your hands a lot. I know we say that all the time and that's boring and really that's the big way to do it. In this case, use soap and water. You can use hand sanitizer if you want but don't replace soap and water. Still use soap and water.</s>MALVEAUX: Another thing we always hear about, eat fruit and veggies. There's another reason why that's a good thing.</s>COHEN: Right. This is a new study that came out that says, for one type of breast cancer, eating fruits and veggies seems to help. It seems to decrease the chance you'll get breast cancer. Yet another reason you should do it, for your heart, for your breasts, for everything.</s>MALVEAUX: Wash your hands and eat fruits and veggies.</s>COHEN: It all boils down to what mom said.</s>MALVEAUX: What your mom said. All right. Thank you, Elizabeth.</s>COHEN: Thanks.</s>MALVEAUX: It's winter and it's supposed to be cold. But folks in the east not adjusting too well. We've heard, Tennessee, under a state of emergency due to freezing rain, icy conditions. We'll look at the weather across the country.