The period leading up to the 1970 passing of hotly-debated Referendum 20 saw many pro- and anti-abortion demonstrations in Washington State. Three years before the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that abortion was a constitutional right, Ref. 20 established a limited right to seek an abortion, and Washington became one of only a handful of states to permit abortions in the early months of a pregnancy and the only one to enact its reformed law through a vote of the people. Approved by Washington citizens with 56.49% of the vote, Referendum 20 succeeded largely because of a focused message of abortion as a issue instead of solely an issue of women’s choice.

In this image demonstrators urging legalization of abortion are shown parading and carrying signs in support of their campaign, outside the Legislative Building at Olympia, during the opening of the special session of the State Legislature.

Caption information source: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/referendum20.htm
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.