Thirty years since one of the Supreme Court’s most important decisions, controversy over legalized abortion continues. But at least it has moved from in front of Oklahoma’s clinics, women’s health services officials said.

In the Jan. 22, 1973, decision of Roe v. Wade, the high court of the land wiped out the confusing hodgepodge of state laws involving abortion and made the medical procedure something that every woman could legally obtain. The justices voted 7-2 that abortion was a private matter and, as such, a constitutionally protected right. Women would not need to seek out back-alley doctors because they no longer faced the threat of imprisonment.

But law does not always perfectly match what individuals want. And since the issue entered public discourse, those opposing Roe v. Wade’s final outcome, calling themselves “pro-life,” have clashed with those supporting the decision, the “pro-choice” side. Arguments have been waged in court and in front of abortion clinics. Sometimes the fight has injured people on both sides, emotionally and physically.

Linda Meek, executive administrator for Reproductive Services in Tulsa, remembers protesters, “and lots of them,” when she began working at the women’s health care clinic just 13 years ago.

“They would lie down outside the door to block access to the clinic, or put glue in the locks, or yell at the patients with loudspeaker systems,” she said. Car tag numbers of patients and employees would be noted so that abortion protesters could track them to their homes, “telling neighbors how horrible we were, calling us murderers in our own communities,” Meek said.

“I don’t want to make someone think that we’ve had it too easy and encourage them to come attack us again, but I think we’ve been very lucky in the last few years,” she added. In Oklahoma, “we don’t have to put up with some of the harassment that facilities in other states have had to put up with. ... I knock on wood and count our blessings for that.”

Anita Fream, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma, agreed: “I think the dialogue is a little quieter here and more civil than in other places in the country.”

Fream said her agency is planning a retrospective of political cartoons addressing Roe v. Wade and reproductive choice. The display will be opened to the public 5:30-7 p.m. Jan. 22 at the First Unitarian Church, N.W. 13th and Dewey. Wine, soft drinks and snacks will be available. Tickets cost $20 at the door, and $10 for students.

Fream has been with Planned Parenthood for about five years. Although the agency does not provide abortion services, Fream has followed the development of the law closely.

“I’m old enough to remember when women had no legal options and to have known women who were so desperate that they would seek illegal means, and then pay health consequences for it,” Fream said.

“I’ve seen women struggle on whether to give a baby up for adoption or to have an abortion, and it’s not an easy decision. That’s not what Roe v. Wade changed. … There’s a myth out there that people would take a decision like this lightly, and I just don’t see that. … It (Roe v. Wade) was a landmark for women’s health,” she said.