Here it comes: The attack on a woman's right to choose an abortion is no longer the stuff of theoretical debates. The U.S. Supreme Court has made it all too real with its ruling against a controversial and rare method of abortion.

The court's 5-4 ruling upholding a ban on a mid- to late-term abortion procedure is the beginning of the slippery slope of challenges to a woman's very personal decision on which she and her doctor agree. The court was not namby-pamby in its ruling. This the first time since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that the court did not provide an exception to protect a woman's health. The only exception is to save her life.