As the inimitable Molly Ivins wrote in her syndicated column today, this Sunday’s March for Women’s Lives “is not just about choice on abortion but literally about life or death for women all over the globe.”

More than thirty-one years after Roe v. Wade, the number of US abortion providers has fallen to its lowest level in three decades, a trend many physicians ascribe to a hostile political climate, the surge of hospital mergers and a lack of enthusiasm for teaching the procedure at most medical schools.

Furthermore, the promise of Roe has been severely compromised on the ground by the more than 335 new state laws restricting a woman’s right to choose, which have been passed in the last eight years. As a result, eighty-seven percent of US counties currently have no safe abortion provider and twenty-four states have mandatory delays and state-prepared anti-choice propaganda.

It’s hard to believe, as the Nation editors write in the mag’s lead editorial in next week’s issue, that during the last presidential election the conventional view held that both Bush and Gore were essentially posturing on abortion to fire up their respective bases. Roe v. Wade was untouchable, countless pundits assured us: Republican strategists would never really go after abortion. They feared awakening the sleeping pro-choice electoral giant.

Well the sleeping giant is waking up this weekend. This Sunday, April 25, some 1,300 progressive and feminist organizations will spearhead what’s expected to be a massive March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC, drawing outraged women, men and children by the busload and carload from every corner of the country.

Click here for info on transportation, housing, volunteering and here for ideas on ways you can help promote and publicize the march in the next few days. Another great way to help is to make a donation to help defray costs. This march should not be missed.