In addition to some amazing Blogging for Choice, the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision inspired lots of other great pieces of reporting and commentary.

Sure, there was the routine coverage of major pro- and anti-Roe rallies. But not only in D.C. and San Francisco-- everywhere from Fayetteville to Long Island to Boise to Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale.

Local and state-level activism couldn't be more relevant. As a lot of conservatives love to point out, overturning Roe won’t make abortion illegal in all states. But it’s so difficult to obtain an abortion in huge swathes of the country, it might as well be illegal. As TIME notes, despite our (understandable) preoccupation with Alito's confirmation process, rural states are the real abortion battleground. The year-end reproductive-rights summaries from NARAL and the Guttmacher Institute are proof enough.

Some papers did a better job of showing reproductive choice on a personal level. From South Dakota-- a hotbed of anti-choice legislation-- comes this story about two rape survivors. One chose to take the EC she was offered in the emergency room. The other did not and became pregnant. (Guess which one doesn't want EC offered to rape victims at all?) This year, the South Dakota legislature killed a bill to make hospitals offer EC to sexual assault victims. Also, the New York Times Magazine has a son's tribute to his father, an abortion provider in upstate New York. Plus, this commentary from a future abortion provider is a good read.

The importance of Roe really hits home when I remember that abortions are still going to occur even if Roe is overturned. The stories of pre-Roe providers serve as a cautionary tale.

What really cuts through the rallying/ranting/raving about Roe is the 1996 documentary Jane: An Abortion Service, which tells the amazing story of an underground clinic run by Chicago feminists in the pre-Roe era. (Copies are hard to come by, so if you're interested, check out Laura Kaplan's book on the same subject.) I highly recommend it.